[Elecraft] VP6DX -- the true story ?

[Eric Scace K3NA]

   Some reported hiccups with the radios should be put into perspective:

1.  We ran 8 radios x 24 hours x 16+ days of operating: over 3,000 hours 
on the air in total... plus additional hours for some units on board ship.

2.  Some glitches were unique a specific radio, or at most two radios.  
As an example, late in the operation one radio seemed to show a T/R 
relay problem where the receiver signals were down temporarily (or 
longer) after a transmission.  Another radio didn't want to power off -- 
it would immediately come back to life after shutdown.
   The "high noise level" was another singleton issue.  One radio, only 
on 30m, and only while in FSK mode, and only when operating split, would 
have its receiver go into oscillation at the end of a FSK transmission.  
If any one of those three conditions did not exist, the radio worked 
fine.  Obviously we moved that radio away from the position with the 30m 
4-square antenna control.  We didn't see that particular quirk on any 
other radio.

3.  We were operating in a demanding field environment: hot temperatures 
in the tents during the day, salty and dusty breezes almost non-stop, 
and perhaps some voltage burbles when the generators ran out of fuel 
unexpectedly.
   On the later point, we did have sealed batteries floated across the 
supply lines, which allowed us to continue operating (without the 1.5 kW 
amplifiers) when generator re-fueling or oil changes were made.  Those 
certainly helped smooth out any power supply variations.

4.  Some items were equipment interaction issues.  For example, our CW 
keying (external to the K3) sometimes hung.  We learned this was due to 
RFI entering the laptop USB port via the external mouse cable, and 
irritating the USB device driver for the microKeyer and/or the microKeyer.

   Almost all of the operators ran the K3 with AGC off (all modes).

-- Eric



on 08 Mar 10 Mon 09:50 Mario Lorenz said the following:
> Hi,
>
> besides the "official" report as quoted on the web,
> on the BCC mailing list, reports from members of the VP6DX
> expedition were slightly less stellar.
>
> While confirming superior receiver sensitivity, problems reported
> were with pileup CW reception & AGC,  in T/R switching, 
> and internal noise of S9+20 that went away after powercycling
> the K3 ???
>
> Since I've just ordered my K3, I'd like to hear whether this has
> been confirmed, and hopefully fixed...
>
> Mario
>
>