[Elecraft] A comment about Receiving

[Richard Fjeld]

For me, receive capability was an important factor, among others, in the decision to buy an Elecraft. The model is irrelevant to this post. For years, I have been studying comments made about receiving, as opposed to those who think a radio is 'good to the last watt'. Recently, there was a rather lengthy thread about whether a K3 user was having receive problems or not.  I'd like to share an experience with the group.

Over the years, I have used coax fed antennas and lived with compromise SWR figures. I wanted an all-band antenna so I recently changed the 80 meter dipole so that it is center fed with homebrew 450 ohm ladder-line to a tuner. I use an MFJ Matchmaker (TM) to 'tune the tuner'.  While it puts out a white noise, I tune for minimum S-meter reading. When finished, a quick transmit reveals the SWR. 

One day while tuning close to optimum at the frequency I was on, and because I receive while I tune, I began to hear a weak CW signal. At first, I thought it had just come on frequency, but as I listened, I realized that the station had been in qso for awhile, but I didn't hear it until I reached optimum resonance with the tuner. I knew a resonant antenna was important, but I was surprised at the difference it could make in receiving. A good receiver is wasted if the signal doesn't get to it. 


Richard Fjeld, n0ce
rpfjeld at embarqmail.com
I'd rather be learning.