[Elecraft] K3 with the w2ihy audio gear

[Lu Romero]

Regarding the Gate on K3... This is no longer the case.  And
the issue that KA9ZAP describes is a mic pattern issue, not
a gate issue.  

The gate now has great hysterisis on release and is
extremely smooth ramping the audio.  It has none of the
nervous hunting it used to have. And the issues with
autonotch and distortion have been fixed, as far as I know. 
I have a very noisy shack, with hard reflecting walls (Im in
the garage) and using TXGATE with my amp on, at 18, it is as
good as any RDL, Aphex or dBX professional audio gating
product I have ever used.

As far as the Equalizer, I like Julius' products, they work
well for the average ham.  But this rig doesnt need the
help. I tweak the W2IHY gear at NQ4I for phone contests
(Rick's 20, 40 and 10m run stations using Orions are all
W2IHY processed).  At home, I previously had a rack full of
Behringer and dBX gear.  It now sits idle. I dont need it
anymore. 

With the Yamaha CM500 boomset, gate, "CMP" and EQ in the
rig, I find that K3 audio is 99.5% perfect for my needs. Be
advised that mic placement and mic technique goes a long way
to maximizing the audio within this rig. It likes consistent
input levels for good modulation depth.  Dont be afraid to
light up all the lights on the CMP meter so that the last
one only flickers.  I keep CMP below 25 and with my CM500
and voice, Mic Gain at no more than 30...YMMV.

The rig can make most any mic and voice sound great all by
itself.

And Im rather picky...

Lu Romero - W4LT (currently /VE3)
K3 - P3 - K1


===========================

Message: 10
Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2012 12:16:56 -0500
From: Art Nienhouse <ka9zap at gmail.com>
Subject: [Elecraft] K3 with the w2ihy audio gear
To: Elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Message-ID: <50099288.7030802 at gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

Scott
I have been using Julius 8 band box since he first came out
with it and 
still have it driving K3.
The main reason is the noise gate is better than the gate in
the K3, the 
gate in the K3 needs to have more
canceling on the back ground noise I can literally watch tv
with the 
volume low four foot from the mic and talk on the radio with
out the tv 
audio coming in over my voice, and its easier / faster to
turn off the 
audio effects or change the gate as well.
It will surly killed the amplifier fan noise as well used to
chase grids 
on 144 mHz the Command II fan was very noisy
the Julius box gate fixed that problem.

I use the ATR 30 which I bought for $22  a few years ago and
it came 
with a 16 ft cable XLR to 1/4 in plug , I have a GOLDLINE
PRO as well 
the only difference is the PRICE.


Regards
Art
ka9zap