[Elecraft] [K3] need help with hiss on ssb receive

[Bill Clarke]

Hiss is my biggest complaint regarding my K3. To cut down the irritation 
I send the audio to a pair of Behringer amplified studio speakers and 
cut back on the highs on the internal speaker equalizer. I also have 
played considerably with the K3's RX Eq and with the AGC. Further, I 
have set the AGC back so that it does not immediately rise the 
background noise when a loud signal stops. Don't forget to add the ATT 
into the mix - it can really help when the noise is bad.

The "noise" is, to me, the background band noise - with QRM and QRN. I 
live in a rural area where the typical daytime noise level is less than 
S1. At that level, I don't think there should be anything coming from 
the speakers. When the bands are noisy - well, simply put, the K3 is 
hard to continue listening to.

I have listened to a TS590 and it IS a quieter receiver and more 
pleasant to listen to for hours at a time. I own a couple of TS480s and 
they are both more pleasant to listen to in the long run. All that said, 
my settings have brought the K3 to _nearly_ as good as the Kenwoods - 
which is _nearly_ acceptable. To be fair, both the Kenwoods and the K3 
need operator made menu settings to attain the desired RX audio.

I have the P3 and some extra SSB and AM filters and boards - so I am 
deep into life with the K3. Everything is extra on the K3 (filters, SWL 
listening, AM, tuner, etc.) - but - - -after about $3600 I have a rig 
that is about equal to the TS590. Ya Ya!  I know that is a harsh 
statement, but for my purposes it is quite accurate.

I operate only on 160, 75, and 40 meters. Nets and rag chew. Hence, I 
enjoy serious armchair copy.

Someone asked the other day if I would rather have a 590 and I replied 
in the affirmative. However, I am not about to take a thousand dollar 
licking as punishment for having wanted a USA made product. 
So................ I'll be keeping my K3.

Bill W2BLC