[Elecraft] K3 "blur" was a no-show during ARRL 10m

[Bruce Beford]

I have read with great interest the threads regarding "mush" or "blur" that
some have experienced in pile-up situations where several callers were near
or at the noise level, and all blended together. 

I am not qualified to say whether or not I have experienced this specific
artifact. However, during last weekend's 10M contest I experienced some
interesting phenomena while working each day (at a leisurely pace) for about
3 hours on CW only. 

My antenna at the time was a 176ft doublet fed with ladder line, from the
K3/KPA500 (amp was not really needed, but it was there). I would
occasionally switch to a coax-fed G5RV at 90 degrees to, and below the
176fter. 

As these antennas are not unidirectional, I would often hear stations
short-path and long path at the same time, which would add to the perceived
"blur" or "mush".

It was also QUITE interesting to hear MYSELF call, as my own signal returned
to my receiver after circling the globe. The smooth QSK in the K3 made this
quite apparent.

Great fun.

72/73,
Bruce N1RX