[Elecraft] K3 FM filter required for full AM receive width

[Bill W5WVO]

Vic K2VCO wrote:
> Stewart Baker wrote:
>
>> Now I know that it is worth making even a fairly loose LC filter
>> just for occasional AM reception.
>
> Keep in mind that you can copy AM stations quite well in SSB mode by
> zero-beating the carrier and choosing the better sideband (some SWBC
> stations seem to transmit only one sideband plus carrier).
>
> I'm not suggesting that this provides high-fidelity reception, but it
> is surprisingly good, especially for speech.

I'm becoming increasingly amused by this back-and-forth about AM short-wave 
broadcast reception and what is "right" in terms of receiver performance. As 
an SWL for nearly 50 years, let me put this in perspective by asserting that 
there are two kinds of short-wave listeners:

There is the guy (if a ham, he is probably a DXer) who wants to dig out that 
weak, garbled signal from some obscure African republic that is hiding 5 kHz 
from (and about 60 dB below) 40-over-S9 Radio Nederland.

And then there is the guy (if a ham, he is probably a rag-chewer) who wants to 
put on his smoking jacket and slippers, sit back in his favorite armchair with 
a pipe and a snifter of brandy, and actually LISTEN to Radio Nederland.

I have great affinity for both these approaches to SWLing! No need to argue 
about it. :-)  They do require two entirely different and fundamentally 
incompatible approaches to receiver design and performance. If you can embody 
both approaches in one receiver by providing adequate configuration options, 
so much the better. That's one of the things I'm really looking forward to in 
the K3 once the AM options are completely fleshed out.

Bill W5WVO