[Elecraft] Need help to justify desired purchase :=)

[George A. Thornton]

I don't do much shortwave listening, but I have had the opportunity to
directly compare receive performance between the K3 with general
coverage receiver option, the K2 and the venerable Kenwood TS-930s. I am
also solely into voice.

My general point is the difference between hearing and not hearing a
small increase in receiver quality can make a major difference.
Comparing the K3 and K2, I have noticed the K3 hears dramatically
better.  This means I was able to hear transmissions on the K3 that I
could not hear with the K2.  

The TS-930s had a wonderful receiver and great analog sound.  It is an
old school transceiver with no DSP filtering.  The TS-930s hears better
than the K2.  I could find and tune in transmissions with the 930 that I
could not find with the K2.

I was able to put the TS-930s and K3 next to each other in the same
shack with top quality antennas.  The K3 could hear everything the
TS-930s could hear and a little more.  The difference was not dramatic
but it was there.  The K3 has features that allow digital filtering of
noise and adjacent signals so you could do a lot more with the K3 to
bring the signal up more cleanly.  At the same time, the TS-930's
natural sound is pleasant listening even if you can't completely
eliminate the static with DSP.  

With a K3 you are pretty much at the state of the art in amateur
receiver performance.  

-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Paul Clay
Sent: Friday, February 24, 2012 9:18 AM
To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Elecraft] Need help to justify desired purchase :=)

Hi.

Been thinking about getting a K3.  Have been an extremely pleased
builder-ower of a K2-100 for several years now.  Listening to it now,
and it is a real pleasure!

To be honest, for HF hamming, the K2-100 (w/DSP module) is just fine for
me.  The K3's addition of 6 meters, and more importantly for me, and
ability to add 2 meters are a plus, but PROBABLY not enough alone to
justify the hefty price of ownership.  

What's going to justify the purchase for me, nor not, is the ability to
use the K3 as SWL tool. Knowing that a lots been written on the
Reflector in the past on this subject, I'd really like to have some
opinions from owners of the latest versions of the K3 on its performance
receiving broadcast stations.  Specifically, I'm interested in the
current state of the K3's receive audio bandwidth, distortion, and other
similar performance characteristics, and in the performance of its
Synchronous AM detection.

One way of getting at this would be for me to know how the K3 would
compare performance-wise (especially audio performance-wise) to some of
the more popular SW receivers, e.g. the Drake R8 series, the Icom R-75,
etc., or to other transceivers lauded for their receive audio
performance (e.g., the old Kenwood TS-870).

Thanks!
Paul
N6LQ
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