[Elecraft] Re： Re： [K3] K3 VS 7600 Sherwood List

[Johnny Siu]

Hello Guy,

Your comments are welcome and appreciated (I am now in an Elecraft mail reflector and I am a K2, K3 owner).

First of all, I am lucky that I live in another part of the world with no GST, VAT and any import tax.  Therefore, the prices for all your quoted icom rigs are 20-35% cheaper in Hong Kong. (Hello Readers: please don't ask me to buy one for you from Hong Kong because I am not a radio dealer)

Ham radio is such a fantastic hobby that there are many areas one can concentrate.  Since I am not a radio man by profession, my main interest (since I know little and hence want to learn more) to examine the architecture and performance of different radios under contest condition (or survivial among local big guns).  Again, fortunately, my financial power enable me to do so.  I just have the luck to do what I like in that particular ham radio area.

Therefore, buying those icom rigs (in fact, I owned a FTDX9000 two years ago) are for my own study and not for arguing with K3 owners, hihi ........  Why should I argue?  I am a K3 owner and like everyone here.

Secondly, I mostly operate in SSB and always openly admit that I seldom operate CW.  Having said that, I understand the joy of operating a SSB station just 3kHz away from a local 1kw big gun within line of sight.  Again, I do not see a day and night difference among ic7800, ic7700, ic7600 and K3.

Thirdly, I have no doubt about the credibility of Sherwood's figure.  In fact, in the past, he expressed his favourable comments about IC781 Vs IC7800.  I sent him my own product review report between IC7800 Vs IC781 which shown an entirely different conclusion with his.  Interestingly, we agreed to disagree.  We knew the stand points of each other quite well.  If any of you would like to see my report, please contact me off the list.

Fourthly, I had used the entire IC756 family (i.e. IC756 original to latest IC7600).  I fully understand how this family has been evolving.   Similarly, I notice improvements of K2 and K3 throughout the years.  My first K2 is #1146.  My K3 is the first batch when I paid half the price as deposit and waited for a couple of months to get my K3.

Finally, I like building kits and I am a kit builder.  I always express my interest to Elecraft that I am awaiting their KPA800 or KPA1600.  I like my own ICPW-1 but I more look forward to a linear amp kit which I can service it myself.

I trust I have already occupied enough band width in this mail reflector.  If any reader want to discuss further, please contact me off the list.  Of course, I know I am standing in front of a group of Elecrafter (come on, I am an Elecrafter too) but my view points are just some deviations from the norm.

cheers,

Johnny VR2XMC

 



________________________________
寄件人﹕ Guy Olinger K2AV <olinger at bellsouth.net>
收件人 Johnny Siu <vr2xmc at yahoo.com.hk>
副本(CC) Mike Harris <mike.harris at cwimail.fk>; Don Rasmussen <wb8yqj at yahoo.com>; elecraft at mailman.qth.net
傳送日期﹕ 2009 年 9月 6 日 星期日 上午 10:24:21
主題： Re: [Elecraft] Re： [K3] K3 VS 7600 Sherwood List

Try most recent firmware for some new NR on the K3.

In general are you talking about CW or SSB or both?  If SSB, I find
that the controlling aspect of close signals is transmitted splatter,
which no receiver can do anything to improve. Some really poor front
ends make that worse.

Will your Icom's nullify key clicks from adjacent clicky signals?

IC7600  $4000 US
IC7700  $8484 US
IC7800  $10600 US

Total    $23,084 US

Lot of money just to argue with K3 owners on the Elecraft reflector.

Interesting that you don't see any difference between the 7800
performance and a K3. As in math, there is no advantage to placement
for two things on either side of an equals sign.  As to the "heard"
performance with the better RX lab numbers, I'd have to say that I
only hear a differential in really bad CW situations in contests. It's
also abundantly clear that "heard" performance varies widely between
individuals and I don't think anyone is telling deliberate lies. That
is to say that if you say they sound the same to you, then they sound
the same to you.

Neither do I think Sherwood is telling any lies.  I don't think he has
a dog anywhere in that fight.

I note that Icom says outright that the 7600 is the replacement for
the Pro III and "improved the in-band IMD (Inter Modulation
Distortion) significantly over the IC-756PRO3."  For a disadvantage
they swore for years the Pro line didn't have, that's an interesting
admission.  Wonder what brought that on...

Maybe the 7600 is a really good rig for the dough, maybe they left
some things out.  Time will tell.

The other thing about a 7600, can you get it in a kit?

73, Guy.

On Sat, Sep 5, 2009 at 8:35 PM, Johnny Siu<vr2xmc at yahoo.com.hk> wrote:
> Hello Gentleman,
>
> I fully understand that Sherwood list is of high regard among many hams.
>
> Regrettably, I really do not experience what should be expected after studying Sherwood list.  In particular, I am referring ic7800, ic7700, ic7600 Vs K3.  All these 3 icom rigs are now in my stack and ready to do A/B comparison with K3 at any time.  I do not see any day and night difference among them even in the recent IARU contest.  Bearing in mind, Hong Kong is small and 1Kw big guns are everywhere (even within line of sight) under contest condition..
>
> On the other hand, there are distinct characterists between K3 and Icom rigs.  Personal preference and operation easiness would play in these areas.
>
> I am pleased to see that Elecraft keeps on improving the firmware which should bring more operation easiness and smoother learning curve.  I would expect further improvement in the Noise Reduction function of K3.
>
> If you feel this email offensive, please press your "delete" button.
>
> 73
>
> Johnny VR2XMC
>
> K3 + K2 s
>



      Yahoo!香港提供網上安全攻略，教你如何防範黑客! 請前往 http://hk.promo.yahoo.com/security/ 了解更多!