[Elecraft] To those that have the K2 and K3

[Gary D Krause]

Wow, that's the first time I've done that to my own call sign.  Thanks for the 
input Jack.  A K3 just may be in my future yet.

Gary, N7HTS


On Wed, 4 Nov 2009 12:05:00 -0800
  Jack Brindle <jackbrindle at earthlink.net> wrote:
> Gary;
> 
> I have both. The K2 now serves as a backup to the K3, but I also use  it for 
>development work, so I probably don't count in the overall  statistics. I 
>plan on giving the K2 to my son (KG6YMN) when he goes to  college in a year 
>or so. That way he will have to work a bit harder to  ask me to send money 
>(rather than just picking up the phone)...
> 
> I was very skeptical about the K3 receiver being better. Wayne kept 
> assuring me it was. Then I got my K3, and discovered the truth. It is  way 
>better. There are several things. In contests it simply does not  crunch, 
>even when someone is relatively close by (both frequency and  distance). The 
>filters allow me to block folks out when I need to, but  mostly they allow me 
>to reduce the excess noise that tends to give me  a headache. I can eliminate 
>the super lows to get rid of rumble, and  the highs that are just pure noise. 
>And when there is a signal up  there that bothers me, I just close the 
>bandpass down a bit and get  rid of it. I wish I could do that on the K2, but 
>the DSP just doesn't  have the capability. I found the noise blanker to be 
>better on the K2  for getting rid of power-line noise, but an update from 
>Lyle about  three months ago changed this. The K3 now does a very good job. 
>Of  course it has many more settings for the _two_ noise blankers (one in 
> hardware, the other in DSP), and you have to play with it to get a  good 
>feel for what is going on. I tend not to use the noise reduction,  and 
>several other things simply because they require more thought  power than I 
>am willing to give them on most days to figure them out.  In that vein, some 
>time ago I was playing with the auto-notch function  on SSB (it works pretty 
>well), then changed to CW. I couldn't  understand why I couldn't copy any CW 
>signals for a little while. I  believe Wayne has fixed the software so it 
>turns off the auto-notch in  CW. Better to actually hear CW signals that way.
> 
> The K2 sat on my workbench for a while, but it was too lonely. So I  moved 
>it back to the operating bench (where I do most of my  development work 
>anyway) where it looks quite nice next to the K3. And  I actually use it from 
>time to time (usually for testing KRC2 issues  and the like).
> 
> By the way, I see I'm not the only one who tends to type two letters 
> backwards once in a while. But really, did you have to bust your own  call? 
>;-)
> 
> 73!
> 
> Jack Brindle, W6FB
> 
> 
> On Nov 4, 2009, at 11:39 AM, Gary D Krause wrote:
> 
>> Why do you still have both?  The K2 is my main station rig.  I  
>> recently
>> considered buying a K3 and even went to the Elecraft web site to  
>> order it.
>> Each time I backed off so that I could think more about it.  In the  
>> end, I
>> decided to add a couple of options to my K2.  I could still order a  
>> K3 if I
>> want but, I'm afraid my K2 would just sit and gather dust.  I don't  
>> want to
>> sell it after spending all that time putting it together including the
>> options.  I see comments that the reciever is so much better on the K3
>> compared to the K2.  How much better?  I don't know of anyone that  
>> has a K3 to
>> listen to.  I've watched and listened to the Youtube videos but, the  
>> sound is
>> only as good as my pc speakers and the camera that recorded it so,  
>> that's not
>> much to go by.  The specs look better on the K3 compared to the K2  
>> but, not by
>> much.  For the kind of operating I do, the K2 is great.  The K3 is  
>> always
>> there in the back of my mind, though.  In some respects, the K3  
>> really sucks!
>> ;-)
>>
>> Gary, N7THS
>>
>>
>>
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