[Elecraft] K3 - remote control head

[iain macdonnell - N6ML]

On Mon, Apr 29, 2013 at 7:51 AM, Bill <bill at w2blc.net> wrote:
> Will the "mini" be able to perform the same job the control head on a
> Kenwood 480 does? Put the radio on a back shelf and only have a 2" deep
> control panel to drag around the desk? Maybe a blank panel cover for the K3
> and a remote kit that will provide for this?
>
> There are days when I am not feeling too sparky and I use my 480 because I
> can drag the control panel over to my recliner and put it on a TV tray. Life
> would be great if I could do the same with the K3.

I'm not familiar with the details of the K3/0 mini, so the following
is *speculation*....

The K3/0 should allow you to control a K3 over a RS232 connection,
which could be a fairly long cable (up to 50 feet, perhaps?), but it
will not get audio (RX or TX), keying (PTT or CW) or DC power over the
RS232 cable, so you would have to handle those separately (more long
cables, and probably a wall-wart by the recliner).

I doubt that there will ever be a blank front-panel option for the K3.
The K3/0 (mini) does not replace the functionality of the "real" front
panel. I suppose there could be a version with no
display/buttons/knobs, but it seems unlikely that that would be worth
the development effort...

73,

    ~iain / N6ML