[Elecraft] KX3 vs K3 etc.

[John Ragle]

Jim...

     It is a serious mistake to compare the KX3 with the Flex 3000. I 
have owned a K2 and a K3, and intend to get a KX3 as soon as they become 
available. I have also owned a Flex 3000.

The Flex 3000 has several very serious flaws. (These are not matters of 
opinion.)

1. The antenna tuning unit in the Flex 3000 will not handle even 
well-matched antennas at 10 or 6 meters. This is because the designers 
skimped on components and the L/C values that are switched in/out to 
achieve matching are too coarse to give a good match on the higher 
frequency bands.

2. The unit was advertised as QSK (break-in) capable, but it is not. It 
acts more like those older rigs that were advertised as "semi-break-in" 
capable. To anyone who operates serious CW this is a bad blemish.

3. I found that the keyer circuitry in my Flex 3000 would not properly 
follow my paddles, and that I had to do CW from the computer keyboard. 
This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is surprising, to say the 
least. I do not have this problem with myK3, and did not have it with my 
K2 or my TenTec rigs, so it can not be blamed on geriatric ineptitude.

4. The Flex 3000 uses a IEEE 1394 (Fire Wire) interface to the computer, 
and set-up is arcane, to say the least. One needs a pair of virtual 
audio channels, and I found that I had to repeat the set-up about once 
or twice a month because it would simply lock up or quite working. This 
is quite annoying when it happens in the middle of a QSO, as the set-up 
takes several minutes to accomplish. (I should remark that I am using a 
fairly up-to-date computer and OS.)

In summary, it looks to me like the Flex 3000 was destined (and 
designed) to be a rig for SSB or AM operators on the low-frequency bands.

John Ragle -- W1ZI

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James Muldoon wrote:

Hi, I'm new to HF and am looking at the KX3. On the video online at 
Elecraft the owner or developer stated that the performance of the KX3 
will be similair to the Flex 3000 sdr but with some twists. I'm not 
really sure what performance specs he's referring to. Also, how do you 
think the performance of the KX3 will be compared to the K3? thanks