[Elecraft] K3 #2887 - first impressions
Doug
k0zu at comcast.net
Sun Apr 19 22:17:07 EDT 2009
I do miss the remote vfo pod though...
-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Ellington [mailto:n4lq at carolina.rr.com]
Sent: Sunday, April 19, 2009 7:36 PM
To: Doug; 'Gary Hinson'; elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 #2887 - first impressions
Doug
Having had the Orion II, what are the differences you have experienced?
Steve Ellington
N4LQ at carolina.rr.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Doug" <k0zu at comcast.net>
To: "'Gary Hinson'" <Gary at isect.com>; <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, April 19, 2009 8:09 PM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 #2887 - first impressions
> Just put sn:2950 together this weekend and would agree 100% with your
> comments Gary. Also I would add that a picture showing the sub assembly in
> expanded (blow-out)form would be nice. I am pretty sharp most of the time
> but I sat looking at both shells wondering what the hell I was supposed to
> do with them because I only ever saw one in the pictures.
>
> Having assembled a KX1 with options in the past I was worried that I would
> get the K3 3/4 assembled just to have to tear 1/2 of it back down to
> install
> something that could have been done earlier. Kudos to Elecraft for option
> breakouts in the manual preventing this from happening.
>
> More clarity on the J92 setup on the sub assembly would be nice. I hooked
> the aux RF port up and taped the tmp connector as instructed. Then it was
> never referenced again. Then you get to the sub rec assembly and it has
> j92
> connecting to J63 on the KAT3. Left me wondering what the hell to do. In
> the
> end both got disconnected and taped up as I am not setup with two antennas
> at the moment and will just use the main for input for the time being.
>
> A Matrix up-front in the K3 assembly instructions showing the 3 options
> might not be a bad thing.
>
>
> What a bad ass little radio. Coming from an Orion II this is a real treat.
>
> Off to drink more Kool-Aid as they say.
>
> Cheers
> Doug K0ZU
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
> [mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Gary Hinson
> Sent: Saturday, April 18, 2009 4:54 AM
> To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: [Elecraft] K3 #2887 - first impressions
>
> Hi all.
>
> K3 #2887 lives! Config: K3/100, ATU, subRX, 250Hz + 400Hz filters (main
> and
> subRX), KXV3, DVR.
>
> The kit build was relatively painless, certainly easier than the K2.
> Package open to 1st QSO took me 1 fairly intense but enjoyable day
> (Wednesday just gone). While they are still fresh in my mind, these were
> the most significant problems I experienced with the build:
>
> 1. If I had realized I would need them, I would have bought the
> antistatic
> wrist-strap and desk pad between ordering the kit and it arriving in the
> post, instead of having to go shopping after opening the box! Perhaps a
> little reminder about which tools customers will need could be included in
> the "Thanks for ordering your K3" email? [Maybe it was and I missed it in
> the excitement!]. Alternatively, could these be another option to buy
> from
> Elecraft?
>
> 2. It wasn't immediately obvious that most boards/options come with their
> own hardware in little envelopes, and several bits took a little while to
> find (e.g. the bits for the standoffs near the display, fig 37 in the kit
> assembly manual). I eventually got the hang of it but having a bunch of
> spare bits left over and constantly changing from bag to bag got me a bit
> confused at times.
>
> 3. It's not entirely clear what the display light blocker strips are
> meant
> to achieve, hence exactly where they should be fitted - should they stick
> to
> the main board, the edge of the display panel, or the strip of flexy foil
> sticking out of the LCD panel? The manual, even with a photo, didn't
> help.
> The finished K3 looks fine now so I guess I made the right choices by
> luck.
>
> 4. My LCD panel had some smudge marks. I very carefully and gently
> cleaned
> it as best I could with a cleaning cloth used for spectacles, and the few
> marks that remained are invisible now under the Perspex face ... But I
> wonder if perhaps it ought to have been shipped with a pull-off plastic
> film
> protector?
>
> 5. Fitting the chassis stiffener towards the end is tricky because the
> topmost screws are horizontally aligned with other boards or the rear
> panel
> edge. Maybe I should have found a slimmer Phillips #1 screwdriver? Maybe
> some other method of fixing it would help.
>
> 5. The step-by-step instructions kind of lost the plot towards the end in
> respect of fitting the 100W PA and subRX. Up til then, the "install
> option
> X now or move ahead to page Y" thing worked just fine. [I was getting
> tired
> by then: it was probably me losing the plot not the instructions!].
>
> 6. The subRX is a tight squeeze, making it awkward to ensure the
> connectors
> are fully aligned and cables are out of the way. No easy solution there.
>
> 7. Every option, I think, came with an installation manual plus its own
> page/s of errata. It's annoying to have to go through and fix the manuals
> before starting. The odd correction/clarification I could understand but
> why so many? Could the base manuals be updated and printed more often??
>
> 8. The Anderson Powerpole connectors refuse to snap fully home into the
> body of the connector, so the power lead sometimes slips out. I probably
> over-did the solder. I think I'm going to have to cut them off and buy
> some
> more, if I can even find them in ZL ...
>
> The manual was definitely up to expectations and extremely helpful,
> especially all those annotated photos that must have taken someone many
> hours to produce. BTW my "full inventory" consisted of checking that the
> requisite main parts and options were present - I didn't bother trying to
> count all of those little screws and washers (lesson learnt from the K2!
> Kudos to the little army of Elecrafty packers and checkers - fantastic!).
>
> There's a few minor niggles, queries or suggestions for the actual rig so
> far, some no doubt due to my obvious inexperience with it after just a few
> days behind the wheel:
>
> 1. At first the SubRX worked on every band *except* 40m ... until I
> re-checked it this evening and mysteriously it is now working fine on all
> bands. Don't know what happened there. It didn't seem to be anything as
> obvious as ATT on, wrong antenna selected, crazy filtering etc. There was
> audio hiss but no signals, not even very weak sigs as far as I could tell.
> I re-did the subRX synth calibration business this afternoon so maybe that
> fixed it (after a power cycle too)?
>
> 2. At first the S-meter was randomly flickering up to mid to full-scale,
> a
> bit like if there is static on the coax. This anomaly disappeared within
> an
> hour or two of running the rig and has not reappeared since. Maybe it
> *was*
> static?!
>
> 3. On semi-QSK, I've noticed occasional glitches with CW keying when I
> release the PTT foot-switch. The sidetone seems to indicate shortened
> characters sometimes when I release the switch while still sending, but I
> don't yet know if it affects the RF going out (it could just be a
> temporary
> mute of the sidetone). Although it's nice to be able to define the
> built-in
> CW memories from the PC using the K3 Utility program, I'm currently using
> my
> trusty old MM3 Morse Machine for keying, mostly because it has an external
> memory trigger unit on a flying lead sitting on the desk near my
> non-paddle
> hand (which would be a handy option for the K3 too!). The MM3 always
> sends
> complete characters so I know *that's* not the cause of this problem.
>
> 4. Is there a simple way to step through the memories, manually i.e. not
> using the scan and without doing the whole M>V + select-next-memory + M>V
> thing? I'd like to be able to select the memory bank, then tune up and
> down
> through the bank one memory at a time, perhaps using the clarifier knob
> (not
> the VFO as it's useful to be able to tune away from a memory), to listen
> to
> the memorized channels as I step through them.
>
> 5. The memory label function is handy but has too few characters for the
> callsigns for many of the 10m beacons I watch. How about making it scroll
> to the left, just like the power-up banner function, if I input more than
> 5
> characters?
>
> 6. I miss the dedicated "Quick Memory" function from my TS850 already.
> I'd
> really like to program PF1 and PF2 or two other buttons for this function
> i.e. press one button to store the current freq etc. in a dedicated Quick
> Memo Last-In-First-Out bank, press another button to recall the info to
> the
> VFO (optionally using the clarifier knob to select previously-stored
> values). [This is an easy way to store and later recall interesting but
> temporary frequencies when tuning around the bands, without all the
> button-pressing needed to store them in a main memory].
>
> 7. On the TS850, I've got used to using LSB for CW reception but the K3
> uses USB. Short of changing my ways, I know I can hold the ALT-mode
> button
> to change to CW REV, and this setting is remembered on each band, but I'd
> prefer to be able to select LSB as my default, particularly as the K3 now
> automatically reverts to USB for CW when I click an interesting spot in
> Logger32.
>
> 8. The auto-spot function works OK but tends to search a bit widely, and
> is
> not consistent on the stop frequency, sometimes tuning some way off (even
> on
> seemingly reasonable strength 20+WPM sigs). It would be handy to have an
> instant "undo-auto-spot" function a bit like the "undo-RIT-cancel" thing
> to
> reset the VFO to the pre-auto-spot frequency if it fails to spot
> accurately.
>
> 9. The maximum tuning rate on CW is not fast enough for my liking e.g.
> scooting between the CW end and beacon sub-band on 10m. I know I can use
> the memories to go directly to a stored channel but it suits me to QSY
> quickly through the band on the VFO. I'm confused by the FINE and RATE
> controls. I'm not keen to change modes to change QSY rates. I'd prefer
> just to be able to set the clarifier-QSY function to step in, say, 5 or
> 10kHz or 12.5kHz steps, ideally with the first step being to the nearest
> "round value" (e.g. if I'm on 28003, the first step would be 3kHz to 28005
> then 5kHz to 28010 etc.). [This is another idea borrowed from the TS850.
> I
> know I know, I'll get over it! I've had 15 years of it!]. Alternatively,
> how about an optional VFO accelerator go-faster function to speed up the
> QSY
> rate if I 'spin' the main knob?
>
> 10. I discovered by trial-and-error that sending from the internal CW
> memories can be cancelled by clicking the REC button in the middle. Not
> entirely obvious (why not screen-print CNCL or CANCEL under or around the
> REC button?).
>
> 11. I haven't figured out what the type I and II filtering is all about
> yet, nor how to manually tune the notch filter, but I'm confident it's all
> in the manual somewhere ...
>
> 12. There's a noticeable delay between putting in the headphones and
> muting
> the speakers.
>
> Those minor issues aside, the stereocode CW and NR functions are good, the
> subRX is extremely helpful (I've already bagged S04R on 2 more bands much
> more easily than otherwise thanks to being able to listen in the pileup
> and
> to the S0 at the same time) and the no-ring filtering down to a few Hz is
> great. Overall the K3 RX sounds fantastic and I'm definitely looking
> forward to the next big contest!
>
> 73
> Gary ZL2iFB www.g4ifb.com
>
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