[Elecraft] Using K3's Pre-amp

[Dave Yarnes]

I'm just curious how others are using (or not using) the K3's pre-amp.  I 
have found few, if any, situations where I felt the pre-amp really improved 
a signal vs. the additional noise that is associated with turning on the 
pre-amp.  It takes a lot of balancing, in my view, between the RF gain and 
the AF gain to enhance a weaker signal, and I don't find the pre-amp to be 
all that helpful.  Having said that, I'm pretty happy with the results I get 
w/o using the pre-amp.  Also, signals on the K3 w/o pre-amp compare very 
favorably to signals on my Orion II with the pre-amp on.  The K3 still seems 
to hear just a tad bit better.  So, I'm wondering if I'm missing some other 
trick or setting that would make the K3's pre-amp more beneficial.  I can 
tell you that 90% or more of the time I tend to have my RF gain at 50% or 
less (at about 12 o'clock), and make very slight adjustments of the RF gain 
from there.  I suppose much of this might depend on one's noise floor. 
FWIW, mine is about S4.

Dave W7AQK