[Elecraft] A few thoughts on the K3 as an AM SWBC receiver

[Bill VanAlstyne W5WVO]

Chuck,

The antenna I'm using is the Alpha-Delta DX-SWL sloper. It is 60 ft long and 
has two strategically placed resonators (coils) which cause it to be 
resonant in or near the SWBC bands down to 90 meters. Because our ham bands 
tend to be right next door to SWBC bands (40/41 meters, 30/31 meters, 20/19 
meters 15/16 meters, etc.), it's also easy to load it up using the K3's KAT3 
unit, and I use it to work 30 meters CW mostly. Also loads up on all other 
HF ham bands except for 160. The KAT3 is a recent addition to my K3, and 
it's a wonderful little autotuner. The DX-SWL isn't a real efficient ham 
transmitting antenna for these bands, but it does load. My primary ham 
interest is 6 meters and I have stacked yagis on that band, so this little 
wire antenna is mostly for SW listening -- but it does work as a TX antenna, 
and seems to work best on 30/40 meters.

When using it for SWBC listening, I either put the KAT3 in BYPASS mode, or 
just leave it tuned up on the closest ham band. I see no difference in 
signal strength either way. There is, to the best of my knowledge, no way to 
"tune" the KAT3 outside the ham bands. If there is a way, maybe somebody 
would like to share that. :-)

Bill W5WVO


--------------------------------------------------
From: "callen1155" <callen1155 at yahoo.com>
Sent: Sunday, May 02, 2010 7:14 AM
To: <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] A few thoughts on the K3 as an AM SWBC receiver

>
> Interesting post Bill, and thanks for the url.
>
> I also enjoy listening to SWBC. I don't have the K3 general coverage 
> module
> nor the 6k filter. I listen to SWBC with my Radio Shack DX-394 receiver.
> I've thought about using the K3 for SWLing. I wonder how the K3 would
> perform compared to the DX-394?
>
> Also, I'm currently using a  non-resonant dipole of about 200 ft in 
> length.
> I switch this back and forth between the K3 (with internal ATU) and the
> DX-394 (kind of a pain).
> How does your dedicated SWL antenna differ?
>
> And lastly, do you use an antenna tuner with you K3 SWBC listening?
>
> Thanks and hope you don't mind the questions.
>
> chuck
> af4xk
>
> -- 
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> Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
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