[Elecraft] K144XV (K3 internal 2-meter module)

[Wayne Burdick]

Hi Tom,

I'm glad your K144XV installation went well. Let me know when you've  
completed W.A.S. on 2 meters with the K3. Still working on this  
myself :)

For the benefit of those who have installed the 2-m module (or are  
thinking about it), here are a few operating tips:

1. The K144XV has its own very low-noise preamp, and it will dominate  
in setting the overall receive noise figure. In many cases the K3's  
regular preamp, operating at the 10-meter I.F., can be left off. If it  
is turned on, you'll realize a small improvement in NF, as well as  
more overall receive gain, but dynamic range will be better with it  
turned off.

2. If you have several repeaters in your area, you might consider  
setting up channel-hop VFO tuning or scanning. This is covered in the  
K3 manual, but just a reminder: you'll need to use an asterisk (*) as  
the first letter of each memory name in a group of channels to be  
scanned.

(By the way, we're working on a memory editor for the K3 that will  
make this easier.)

3. The K3 saves VFO coarse tuning increments on a per-mode basis. You  
might want to set CONFIG:VFO CRS to 5 or 10 kHz in FM mode.

73,
Wayne
N6KR


N5GE wrote:

> I just last night finished installing a K144XV in S/N 806 and have
> just finished on the air testing.
>
> The installation was easy once I finished the KXV3A installation.  If
> I had it to do again I would have done the KXV3A while waiting for the
> delivery of the K144XV.  The installation of the K144XV was about a
> one and a half hour job including the calibration and testing.
>
> The unit works well on SSB, CW and FM.  On FM I tried it out on a
> repeater and it worked very well.  The repeater required a tone and
> that too worked as I expected.
>
> Another no problems installation...