[Elecraft] K2 vs K3 ?

[Stephen W. Kercel]

John and other Elecrafters:

I am an extremely happy K2 owner. I have operated a K3 and I intend to 
get one someday, but I am not in a particular hurry. In the interest of 
full disclosure, I am strictly a CW guy, and any voice quality 
advantages that K3 might have over the K2 are lost on me.

As other posters have mentioned, the K3 has many features that all work 
somewhat better than the K2.

To the question of whether or not there is any good reason to go to the 
K3, there is one good basic engineering reason. It has better dynamic 
range. On the weak signal end, the K3 local oscillator has lower phase 
noise than the K2. That means that in low ambient noise situations such 
as 10 or 6 meters, the K3 will hear weak signals that the K2 does not 
hear. On the strong signal end, the K3 has a saturation level as good as 
(or marginally better than) the rigs that sell for $10K+. That is 
significant in low band DXing and contesting; when you're trying to hear 
that weak signal on 80 meters for that rare multiplier and "W5 Texas 
Kilowatt" fires up the "big rig" a few 10s of KHz down the band from 
where you're listening, the K3 is much less likely than the K2 to be 
"desensed" (meaning that your ability to copy the rare multiplier 
suddenly vanishes whether or not you can actually hear the interfering 
signal) by his (somehow, very few of these honking big signals are 
transmitted by women) booming signal.

Anyway, what you're paying the big bucks for is dynamic range. If you're 
interested in copying extremely weak signals (in the presence of large 
but undesired signals) in either the high bands or low bands, then the 
added dynamic range of the K3 is well worth the $3400 (or so) for a 
fully tricked out K3. If you mostly operate in a less demanding setting 
the added dynamic range might not be worth the extra cost.

Some posters have noted that the K3 is designed to be the ultimate 
contest rig. Compare it to car racing. Race cars cost more than cars for 
highway driving. Unless you actually plan to race it, do you need to buy 
one?

73,

Steve Kercel
AA4AK

> The K2 was the former one.
>
> But I can make a qrp rig for $770 K2 kit instead of $1400 K3 semi-kit
> and I am an electrical engineer.
>
> Is there any good reason to go to the K3?
>
> VE3GYV John
>
>