[Elecraft] Unhappy With Your KX3?

[Phillip Shepard]

I have a recent bit of evidence.  I have kit built s/n 268.  I love this
radio.  Today, it did what I needed from a top of the line trail radio.  I
was activating a SOTA summit in the foothills of the Cascades here in
Oregon.  This summit was covered with radio installations of various kinds.
RF noise was horrible in the 20M CW band segment.  I was interested in
summit to summit (S2S) contacts since a lot of SOTA folks were active today.
This means both sides are QRP with low wire antennas.  In other words, weak
signals are the norm.  The noise (QRN) was a problem; but with the KX3
connected to either of the antennas I was using (a 20M EFHW wire and an
88'inverted V doublet fed with twin lead, up about 30'), I was able to crank
the bandwidth down to 500 Hz or narrower and significantly reduce the noise
level, allowing the SOTA stations to come through.  The internal antenna
tuner was great at getting a match too.  The radio had enough tools to allow
me to have a succesful activation with several S2S QSOs in the mix.  A lot
of radios would have not been so forgiving.

Is the radio perfect?  I don't know, but it gets the job done well.  Before
the KX3, my trail radio was a K2 - not too shabby itself, but the KX3 seems
better.  The legs always work correctly for me as I sit on the ground and
work SOTA stations.  I don't usually use the speaker, but it isn't bad when
I do.  This radio is smarter than me, I think.  Thanks to Elecraft for such
a leap forward.

73,
Phil, NS7P
K2, K3 and KX3 ownwer, so I guess I drank the cool aid!

-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net]On Behalf Of Wayne Burdick
Sent: Friday, August 03, 2012 6:53 PM
To: Harry White
Cc: elecraft at mailman.qth.net; 'Kevin Kleinfelter'
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Unhappy With Your KX3?


Harry White wrote:

> I think far too many people are looking at the KX3 through rose
> colored glasses....

Harry,

I'm sorry your experience with the KX3 has been less than rosy.

I agree that Elecraft customers can be an enthusiastic bunch, but
praise for the KX3 is not limited to our reflector -- KX3 users' posts
in blogs, on eHam, etc. have been highly positive. We're very pleased
with the response. Of course we always learn from from critique than
praise, so thank you for not pulling any punches.

Note that you could return the rig to have any and all issues
corrected immediately, under warranty. Meanwhile, I'd like to respond
to a few of your comments.

Fortunately, the kit and documentation issues you mentioned have all
either been corrected or are in the works. We revise the printed
documents very often, and anything that is an immediate issue for
builders is posted as an alert.

KX3 audio from the headphone jack with powered speakers should
absolutely not be distorted. (On the contrary, we get raves daily from
users about how clean it is.) You may have AGC THR set too high in
combination with high AF and RF gain. Try AGC THR = 4 or 5, and also
make sure AGC is turned on (AGC MD = ON). With external powered
speakers or 'phones you should get tons of outstanding audio.

The internal speaker is intended as a backup, not as the primary
transducer. It is of necessity quite small, and should be used at
lower volume levels. I have already apologized for the issue with the
speaker grille (we removed it, then added back in when we determined
that it was not the main cause of vibration some users had
experienced). If you have an issue with case vibration even at very
low audio levels, please contact support.

Regarding the legs: They are admittedly unusual, but were heavily
optimized for the application. They are both rugged and lightweight,
something that isn't always easy to achieve. Once you've used them a
few times, deploying them becomes second nature.

Again, if you still have unsolved issues, please take them up with
support (or with me) so we can get the benefit of your feedback.

73,
Wayne
N6KR


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