[Elecraft] K3 Kit #4043 QRV

[Edward Cole]

I received my kit from Elecraft by UPS on Thursday, March 11 (took 
one week delivery which is normal for UPS-ground to AK).  I waited 
until Monday to begin assembly so that an anti-static matt could be 
delivered.  I finished on Thursday evening with approx. 11-hours of 
actual time spent.  I took my time and read instructions fully before 
performing each step.  Excellent instructions (and I used to be a 
tech writer for Hughes Aircraft so have some experience, here).  A 
step up from Heath kits in my opinion!

I was very impressed how precisely the hardware alignment was made; 
no holes needed re-drilling or tweaking of panels to get things to 
fit.  Even the front panel went together pretty nicely considering 
the multiple connectors.  Problems?  The aux Rx was dead (no audio) 
at first then I realized that I had not calibrated the second 
synth.  I had a PL2 Error which cleared when the second synth. was 
calib.  Pretty complicated configuration process, which was helped by 
the sw once I got the USB/RS-232 cable drivers installed (that was a 
battle for short time on the Dell laptop -Vista).  Not clear start-up 
procedure: start sw, connect USB, power on radio (that last step 
allowed the sw to find the com-port assignment).  I could not find 
the configuration where one enables/disables mic bias (using Heil 
HM-10 mic), but adjusting mic gain and compression I finally saw some 
RF output (TUNE button worked right off).  I calibrated the Tx power 
to be a max of 16w out 80-15m, 8w on 10-6m.  Using Bird-43 100H 
element probably not too accurate at low levels.  I set mic=30, 
comp=15 and ALC peaks 5; good on air report on 80m net running only 
12w!  I have not set either Rx or Tx equalizers, yet.  Speaker audio 
is a bit harsh sounding but I will use an old National Speaker, 
eventually.  Headphones sounded good.

My K3/10 came with the KXV3, KBPF3 and KRX3, 13, 2.8, and 400-Hz on 
the main board and 13, 2.8-KHz filters in the aux Rx.  My main use 
will be on 144-eme and 1296-eme using transverters.  I installed the 
KTCXO3-1 for frequency accuracy at microwaves.  The dual Rx will 
permit using two 2m transverters for dual-polarity diversity 
reception with a sw program looking at a 13-KHz bandpass on USB (thus 
the two 13-KHz filters).  It will take till summer to get this fully 
installed and functional.

I am also using the K3 on 500-KHz (WD2XSH/45) to drive a surplus 100w 
NDB xmtr (non-directional aircraft beacon).  The NDB was xtal 
controlled so I inserted drive at -6 dBm to move the unit to 495-510 
KHz.  The NDB is basically a linear amplifier with 46-dB gain.  The 
-3 dBm K3 output at the XVT Tx output will easily drive the NDB.

And, of course the K3 will be used on HF and 6m.  I didn't chose the 
KPA-3 but instead am building a 300w amplifier kit that cost me about 
$150.  It runs on 28-vdc using two MRF-422 xsistors.  I am curious to 
try psk-31 on 14.070 with 12w (should be fine with my 3-element 
beam).  CW memory scripts will be handy for running CW beacons on 500-KHz.

I purchased an ARR P50VDG preamp (again with a savings over Elecraft 
model).  It hasn't arrived so haven't tried 6m, yet.

So, with two days of use ---- yeah!  Especially liked tuning out QRM 
with the DSP filters.  The 400-KHz filter is great on CW!

73, Ed - KL7UW, WD2XSH/45
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  BP40IQ   500 KHz - 10-GHz   www.kl7uw.com
500-KHz/CW, 144-MHz EME, 1296-MHz EME
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