[Elecraft] I'm glad!

[Lynn Lamb, W4NL]

I'm glad to have both the K3 and Orion, not to be tacky.

Orion for weak CW DXing and the K3 for all the digital modes with MixW, 6 
meters and back-up.  SSB, what little I do is a split.  The K2 for QRP DXing 
is a keeper for the past 8+ years.  The FT-450 is an outstanding rig too. 
BTW, some other fine rigs have only UCW and I like LCW far far better.

I never saw or used a rig I didn't like relative to at least one or two 
features over others.  The Orion and K3 could use a good DMU, right?  hi. 
I'd buy one for each in a heart beat.

73, lynn W4NL


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Doug" <k0zu at comcast.net>
To: "'Steve Ellington'" <n4lq at carolina.rr.com>; "'Gary Hinson'" 
<Gary at isect.com>; <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, April 19, 2009 10:31 PM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 #2887 - first impressions


> And miss band stacking registers as well.
>
> Small price to pay 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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