[Elecraft] Still lacking

[Wayne Burdick]

Hi Terje,

The KX3 is a completely different radio from the Vertex 1210. It is  
much smaller, lighter, and has far less current drain. It can even be  
used hand-held. There's simply no room for a 20-W PA and/or a large  
battery.

The 1210 is a channelized "man pack" radio, which definitely has its  
advantages for certain operating situations.

However, the 1210 is about 4 times larger than the KX3 by volume, and  
about 5 times heavier. It draws about 3 times as much current when  
receive is active (it draws less in "Saver" mode, but this is with the  
receiver squelched, periodically looking for channel activity).

Despite the KX3's much smaller size/weight/current drain, it has  
several major advantages over the 1210 as a general-purpose ham  
transceiver: 6 meter coverage (and possibly 2 m, 4 m, or other bands),  
FM and data modes, large display, large VFO knob, controls for many  
more functions, optional attached keyer paddle, and optional narrow  
roofing filters for high dynamic range. Of course there's also the  
external 100-W PA.

The KX3's current drain is low enough that it can function well with  
an extremely light battery pack (8 AA cells, internally, or your  
choice of external batteries). We went with AA cells because of their  
flexibility and ubiquity. You can always borrow some from other  
electronic devices in a pinch. You can power the radio for 5-10 hours  
of typical transceive operation or 16 hours receive-only from a set of  
nonrechargeable lithium camera batteries. Or you can use NiMH, with  
the internal charger keeping them ready to go.

So it's really an apples/oranges comparison, in my heavily-biased  
opinion  :)

73,
Wayne
N6KR

>
> As a portable user of the K2 and Vertex 1210, I was thrilled to hear  
> about
> the new KX3.
>
> After reading the preliminary specs however, I think I´ll stick to my
> existing radios. Why?
>
> - 10 W is insufficient power for portable SSB operation on the lower  
> bands,
> at least in Europe. 20-25 W as the 1210 has is still low, but  
> acceptable in
> terms of balancing power with current consumption.
>
> - My old 1210 has built in Lithium batteries which are light, high  
> capacity
> and fast charging. Why not in the KX3??
>
> AA1QG/LB7FA