[Elecraft] KX3 SSB operating notes

[Wayne Burdick]

Believe it or not, every once in awhile I get a break from firmware/ 
manuals/etc. and actually get on the air.

I was just listening on 40 m SSB this morning with the KX3 and decided  
to do a little experiment. I shut off the 13.8-V external power supply  
I usually use with the KX3, so the rig was running from the internal  
NiMH pack. I set power to 5 W, which the KX3 can deliver even with the  
supply voltage reading around 9 volts key-down. I located one of the  
many daytime nets on 40 m LSB, tuned up the internal ATU on my random  
wire (not on frequency, of course!) and checked into the net. No  
sweat. I got a 5-7 report from the net control station, a few hundred  
miles away, despite my electrically short antenna that's only 15 feet  
off the ground.

For this contact I was using a Radio Shack headset/mic designed for  
use with computers. It has two 3.5-mm stereo plugs, one for mic, the  
other for stereo audio. The sound quality is surprisingly good. One  
really nice thing about this particular headset is that I don't need  
to touch the MIC BIAS or MIC BTN settings that I use with the Elecraft  
MH3. I just switch to VOX rather than PTT.

Dual watch also comes in handy on 40-m LSB at this time of day. While  
I was listening to a net on 7268.5 with VFO B (in the right audio  
channel), I was tuning around looking for other nets or CQs +/- 15 kHz  
from this frequency with VFO A (in the left channel).

As I was writing this, the KX3's AUTO-OFF timer kicked in and shut  
down the rig, saving my batteries :)

73,
Wayne
N6KR