[Elecraft] [K3] decisions, decisions

[John Ragle]

Pf...

The ATU is a superior add-on, and a good choice for HF operation. 
Regarding the PR6, at my location, the preamp was needed to bring the 
antenna noise up to the noise floor of the receiver. That is, prior to 
installation of the PR6, it was difficult to tell the noise level with 
the antenna disconnected from that with the antenna connected, but with 
the PR6 there is a substantial difference, and now I am sure I am 
hearing "antenna" noise.

Regarding the extra filter and digimodes, my K3 does have the 2.7, 1.0, 
and 0.5 filters installed, but I never use the narrower filters on PSK. 
The software itself effectively eliminates normal adjacent-channel 
interference, and nothing will eliminate the splatter of the occasional 
PSK operators who push things 'way too hard.

The 500 Hz filter is sometimes useful on CW. I do not have much 
experience using BPSK31 on 6 meters, but Contestia should work well, at 
least according to the most recent QST. BTW the latter is much less 
conservative of bandwidth than BPSK31, but that should not be a 
consideration on 6 meters. JT65-HF is a good choice if all you want are 
"hello/goodbye" QSOs.

If I were doing things over again, I would again definitely get the 
K3/100, the PR6, and the ATU, in that order of priority. If your 
5-element Yagi is well matched, you may not need the ATU. I have the ATU 
and use it on HF, but don't use it for 6 meters. I carefully adjusted 
the matching "transformer" at the beam, using a VNI at the TX end (my K3 
is feeding a 350 watt amp with no SWR protection, so the ATU would be 
useless anyway, as the K3 is looking into the amplifier input not the 
antenna).

Good luck!

John Ragle -- W1ZI

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On 3/13/2011 5:44 AM, Pierfrancesco Caci wrote:
> Finally having enough money to get a K3, but not enough to get all the
> options I'd like to have from the start, I need to decide what to get.
> I've read many comments on this mailing list that suggest not to do away
> with the ATU, for a variety of reasons, so I'll get that.
> I would like to know how important is the PR6, I like 6m and it's the
> only band for which I have a decent antenna (a 5el yagi).
> My activity is a mix of dx chasing, some contesting without
> sweating it too much and the occasional random qso. Mostly cw/digimodes
> lately due to small kid and screaming into a microphone not mixing well :-)
> So I would also like to know how important is to get one extra roofing
> filter (maybe a 500Hz one) from the beginning, or if I can do without
> that for the next few months until I can spare some more money for the
> hobby and get a round of upgrades.
> I'm also considering going for the k3/10 and get the filters/preamp
> instead of the k3/100 without the options, if it would give me better
> results.
>
> I'll appreciate your suggestions
>
> Pf, ik5pvx
>
>
>
>