[Elecraft] The K3 in comprison to the Big Guns

[David Yarnes]

I had a chance to get a pretty good look at the Icom 7700 at Dayton this 
year.  Also, a friend of mine who has one (and also has a K3) gave me a 
pretty good demo of the 7700's features.  I must say, the 7700 is 
impressive.  Big beautiful display, and lots of very interesting bells and 
whistles.  It's not hard to see why many folks gravitate towards a radio 
like this.  Interestingly, when I asked the Icom reps there what, besides 
only having one RX, was the difference between the 7700 and the 7800, they 
universally responded "not much"!  I haven't studied the 7700's performance 
ratings, but apparently they are not nearly as good as the K3.  But there 
are numerous features on the 7700 that will really tempt you--much of them 
are associated with that nice, big display.  It was easy to see the 
advantage the 7700 has over most Yaesu radios--much simpler menu access, 
etc.  Clearly the K3 can't fill everyone's want list, but I'm still pretty 
happy with my choice.  A 7700 (or maybe even a 7800) might be nice to have, 
but I still think my K3 does 95% of what I really want and need.  And I love 
the fact that I can just pick my K3 up and move it around with ease.  You 
won't be doing that with the 7700!  It's really apples and oranges, and each 
rig has advantages as well as gaps.  But I think from a purely performance 
standpoint, you just can't get much better than the K3.  There are plenty of 
nice extras on the K3 to remind you that it isn't just another ordinary 
radio.  But picking one over the other will be a real dilemma for some 
folks.  The only way to solve that problem is to get both, like my friend 
did!

Dave W7AQK

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bob Serwy" <bob at n9rs.com>
To: "'Shane White'" <shanewh at gmail.com>; <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Friday, May 16, 2008 1:09 AM
Subject: RE: [Elecraft] The K3 in comprison to the Big Guns


> Maybe you need to ask Icom and Yaesu why they charge so much for their
> rigs.
>
>
> Bob Serwy - N9RS
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
> [mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Shane White
> Sent: Thursday, May 15, 2008 11:06 PM
> To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: [Elecraft] The K3 in comprison to the Big Guns
>
>
> That's it, I'm going to ask the silly question.
>
> How can the K3's receiver outperform that of the Icom IC-7800 and Yaesu
> FTDX9000? These two radios cost in excess of $11,000 and weigh in at over
> 25Kg (55lbs)! The K3 costs about $2000 and weighs about 4Kg (8.5lbs). Yes
> the K3 is deficient of a screen, internal PSU and some knobs but why on
> earth is there such a difference in price and weight? Given this, how can
> the K3's receiver outperform these other radios?
>
> These questions keep bugging me. Those glossy Yaesu and Icom brochures
> certainly don't help!
> --
> View this message in context:
> http://www.nabble.com/The-K3-in-comprison-to-the-Big-Guns-tp17267266p1726726
> 6.html
> Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>
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