[Elecraft] K3 Preamp observation

[ni0c]

Steve Ellington, N4LQ, wrote:

"In spite of everything we've learned over the years, the Preamp on the K3 
actually helps  when it's not needed. For example: I just worked a station 
on 160m. The QRN is peaking 20 - 40db over 9. His signal averaged S7 to S9. 
Normally under these conditions you would certainly not want to use a preamp 
however when I engage the preamp, the CW actually rises above the noise 
level and is much easier to copy. I've done this a dozen times. I also use a 
more narrow filter and the NR helps a lot also but that preamp helps more 
than anything. It's strange why the extra, unneeded gain would help but for 
some reason it does. I think the NR actually responds better when there's 
more noise! whatever....I'm happy."

Steve,

Others (including myself) have noticed that the K3 NR seems to work better (at least on CW)
with some additional gain in the signal path.  But this does not have to come from the preamp.
Other ways of adding gain include raising the AGC THR, filter gain compensation, and RX EQ
settings.  

73,
Chuck  NI0C
K3/100 s/n 1061