[Elecraft] K3 6m pre-amp

[Toby Deinhardt]

Hi Bob,

> It looks like you may have gotten your column headings reveresed :-)

Yep - mea culpa...

> I read the K3 comparison the BCC group did earlier.  You mentioned
> you would be trying out the K3 in the 160m contests.

Yes we have and we have also used it in several other contests.

> Did you ever write up a report on that?  I'm very curious to see your
> experiences on 160m with the K3.

Not really, but to give you a feel for the general opinion of the BCC 
members who have used it: The K3 is a very capable contest rig.

During the Russian DX contest, DL8OBD said he was not always happy with 
the AGC. He was working mainly CW and I did the SSB parts. I have not 
had a chance to talk with him after the contest yet, to find exactly 
what he did not like. All others, e.g. DL2MLU, DL6RAI, DK4YJ, DG7RO, 
DK3YD, etc., have been happy with the default values for and action of 
the AGC in CW and/or SSB.

One wierd comment was that one OM did not like the way some of the 
knobs, e.g. PWR/CMP, feel. He said they feel wobbly to him. This has 
never bothered me.

I can not remember any other negative comments, apart from the SSB 
modulation, which is well on its way to being solved in the last couple 
versions of the firmware. I hope the SSB power level offset will solved 
soon as well.

What else can I say...

During CQ 160m CW the K3 was used as a secondary RX. I did not partake 
in this contest but was told that everything which could be heard with 
the K3 could also be heard with a TS-850 and vice-versa.

And during the 160m SSB contest, the highlight was DL6RAI and DG7RO 
working Ducie Island about 20 minutes or so after our local sunrise! We 
could hear them working stations in the south western part of the USA, 
and that they heard us says a lot about the rigs (K3s), antennas and 
operators at both ends.

Without having a direct A/B comparison, during a 2-meter contest I 
really had the strong impression I could still read SSB signals, which I 
would not have been able to read with a TS-850 as the backend. The 
transverter at our club station is a bit on the old side, but still 
quite good. The 2m contest was otherwise a bit of a disappointment, 
because the TX/RX switch of the 144MHz 500W PA malfunctioned.

I was also very happy with the K3 in the RTTY WPX. I could get very 
close to a very strong local station and still dig out weak signals. The 
400Hz roofing filter performed well in this role from our local club 
station, where we have a large contest station less than a mile away. I 
did not miss having a smaller roofing bandwidth. The dual passband RTTY 
DSP filter was not as useful as I had expected. It was nice to have, but 
I don't think I ever really needed it.


vy 73 de toby
-- 
DD5FZ (ex 4n6fz, dj7mgq, dg5mgq, dd5fz)
K2 #885
K2/100 #3248
K3/100 #67