[Elecraft] Need help making K3 purchase decisions

[Dave, G4AON]

Welcome to the Reflector Jeff!

The K3 will work with almost any microphone or headset, you will benefit 
from trying a few cheap ones before splashing out. Depending on your 
voice you will probably find the ordinary computer headsets work great. 
Hook up another receiver to your computer and transmit into a 50 Ohm 
load with your K3 and make a few test recordings and hear the results 
for yourself. My favourite headset is a cheap Labtec Axis 302 with the 
electret insert replaced by a Heil HC5 insert, which in turn is covered 
by a sponge windshield. However, it's only marginally better than the 
original electret insert with my voice. I wired it to fit the front 
panel 8 pin socket for convenience. For a fist microphone, the Kenwood 
MC-43S is low cost and works without modification (and sounds good too).

Computer integration and rig control is built into the K3, it doesn't 
need any additional interface. Programs such as Ham Radio Deluxe will 
directly control a K3 via the serial lead doing the transmit/receive 
control via a serial command. The line in/out of the K3 connects 
directly to a computer sound card line in/out, a pair of stereo 3.5mm 
leads from an electronics store are all you need (the line in is mono, 
but a stereo cable works just fine).

You can route the receive signal via a KXV3 to an external receiver with 
a home made ferrite splitter, if you are going to use just a pan 
adapter, such as LP-Pan, it's not really necessary to use the 
transverter interface to have the IF presented on the rear panel, a 
single hole BNC socket will fit the blanking panel and just needs a 
single coax to the underside of the main RF board (the KXV3 has a direct 
connection between the IF out socket and the main RF board).

I have the general coverage board and a 6 KHz filter, I hardly use 
either so they were a bit of a waste of money for me. The image 
rejection of the K3 receiver is up to 10 dB worse when operating outside 
the ham bands (when using the general coverage board), which may or may 
not be an issue for yourself.

Happy shopping!

73 Dave, G4AON
http://www.astromag.co.uk/k3/
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This is my first submission to the Elecraft reflector. I intend to place an
order for my K3 today, but I need some help making the final decisions of
which options I should purchase at this time.