[Elecraft] K3 for CW

[Andrew Moore]

I too am CW only, have had a K2 for years, and when I went for the K3, went
through the usual "which filter" questions.

I come from a 250/500 Hz background (mostly Ten-Tecs).

I opted for 200 and 400 Hz along with the stock 2.7 kHz.

My thinking was that I wanted each filter to have, more or less, a
dedicated purpose, in the interest of simplicity.

2.7k: tuning around, casual listening, not engaged in QSO, not listening to
a specific QSO
400: listening to a specific QSO or engaged in one
200: engaged in a QSO and interference occurs or I need to pull weak signal
out

I was pretty certain that 400 was something I wanted, so the real problem
was whether to get 200 or 250.  I opted for 200 because 250 seemed "too
close" and I figured that if you need to kick in the 200, you really NEED
narrow.

I have zero regrets about the setup and will likely never consider another
for my style of CW ops. Nice knowing it's done and I can focus on the QSOs
instead of the filter choices. My only concern about the 200 was that it's
so narrow that I might hear ringing or some other undesirable
characteristics. I find this to be 100%, without a doubt, false.  The 200
on the K3 performs better than any 250 I've tried on other rigs
(admittedly, all Ten-Tecs plus an IC-706MkIIG)

My 2 cents.

--Andrew, NV1B
..





On Wed, Jul 4, 2012 at 7:36 PM, Don KB1YBG <thompsondd45 at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> I'm about to place order for k3 kit.  I'm currently only interested in CW,
> have a K2 I built, and want to spring for a K3.
> Currently my order includes the KAT3, KDVR3, 400 & 250 8-pole filters.
>
> I've been following P3, 2nd Rcvr here but am not ready for those yet.  My
> question is 1) best filters for CW and 2) any other must-have options.
>
> I've read Wayne's article about filter selection but still unsure.  It
> seems
> the 400 and 250 may be close to same and 1000 and 400 a better choice.  Or
> 500 5-pole?  I'll be adding Sec Rx so what about filter matching?
>
> 73,
> Don,  KB1YBG
>
>