[Elecraft] K3s in WPX M/S - WOW!

[Bob Evans]

Ken,

I just got a note about this from Vic, K2VCO, which I hope he posts to the
reflector.  This is, apparently, a known bug in the firmware which will be
fixed in the future.  For the time being, the workaround is to set IIR to ON
in the FL:x menu.  After Vic mentioned that, I sort of remember it crossing
the reflector, but had dropped to the bottom of my priority bucket.  ;-)

Thanks for the note and I'll do the workaround until the firmware fix
arrives.  I really don't use anything less than 150 Hz very often, but it
will be nice to have it available when I'm playing around.

73,
Bob K5WA 

-----Original Message-----
From: Ken K3IU [mailto:kenk3iu at cox.net] 
Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2008 11:51 AM
To: Bob Evans
Cc: Elecraft Reflector
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3s in WPX M/S - WOW!

Hi Bob:

Thanks for the report!

Re: your comment regarding the 50 and 100HZ bandwidth. I am surprised to
hear what you report. I have the 200Hz filter in FL5. I just put the
Elecraft XG-1 on ANT1 and tuned to the 7040 freq. With the bandwidth set to
NORM (400 Hz) I show a S9 signal and an audio level (dbV Alternate
display) of 31.7. When I narrow the bandwidth to 50 Hz, signal strength
stays the same at S9 and the audio level stays the same. I do have 8 dB of
gain set into FL5 where the 200 Hz filter lives. Without that additional
gain, the S meter drops to S7 and the audio level drops to
30.5 dB when that filter switches in. I found it very usable at the 50 - 100
Hz bandwidths.

73,
Ken K3IU
K3 #202
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bob Evans wrote:
> I finally had a chance to put both of my K3s on really good antennas 
> (2 el 40@ 140', 5 el 20 @ 130', 5 el 15 @ 120, 5 el 10 @ 110', 3 el 80 
> (delta
> loops) @ 110', 140' shunt fed on 160M, 600' beverage pointed NE).  Our 
> main goal was to find out how the K3s interacted and whether I need to 
> put in the overload mod on the KXV3.  We ended up with 2002 contacts 
> and 733 multipliers (2.8M points) even though I got sick in 
> mid-contest and had to take 12 hours off.  There were only two of us 
> operating, so that was a severe blow to our score.  Anyway, the K3s 
> both had I.C.E. multiband band pass filters and we were able to 
> operate without bothering the other op.  In most cases, we never knew 
> the other op was on except when we were at a second harmonic.  I actually
only heard it when we were on ~7020 and ~14040.
> These 2 antennas were 10 feet apart and both rigs were at 1 KW.  Even 
> then, we were able to operate within 10 KHz of the second harmonic.  I was
amazed.
>  
> Additionally, from our Texas location, we were routinely able to hear 
> the VERY weak DX station right next to (or under) a loud East Coast 
> station.  I never thought I'd be so happy with a 150 Hz filter 
> bandwidth.  Honestly, the 100 Hz and 50 Hz bandwidths were useless 
> though as the signal level dropped significantly.  It seemed much 
> better a few firmware versions ago, but 150 Hz worked fine for us...I 
> was just getting "greedy" by trying to use the 100 and 50 Hz BW.
>  
> The other thing I proved to myself was that I need to put the KXV3 
> overload mod on my S/N 234.  No problem on S/N 752, but #234 indicated 
> a HI PA TEMP when we transmitted on the 160 tower and used our 
> beverage antenna which was only 100' away from the tower.  The PA TEMP 
> was not high, but apparently the overload made it appear that way.  I 
> believe I remember that the rig dropped itself down to 5 watts when 
> this occurred.  I don't want to analyze the failure, I'm just going to
install the mod kit (which I've already gotten).
> This test was simply to make sure I needed to do the mod before I 
> opened things up.  ;-)
>  
> We had 2 amplifiers fail, some computer glitches and the KRC2 wouldn't 
> drive the 6 pack switching arrangement (could be bad wiring on my part 
> or low voltage), but the K3s seemed bulletproof and felt VERY solid 
> throughout the contest.  I just keep getting happier and happier with my
K3s every time I
> put them to a new test.   Now for Field Day....  How many insects can a K3
> handle before the fan speed goes into overdrive?  ;-)
>  
> Bob K5WA
> K3 #234 and #752
> K2 #4687
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