[Elecraft] Is the K3 a "fun" radio to operate ?

[Jim Brown]

On 1/16/2013 10:55 AM, Phil Hystad wrote:
> No Jim, I have heard right.  I hear a lot of people say that the K3 is menu driven and therefore not easy to operate.  On Eham for example, just about every time someone suggests the K3 as a good radio to have, someone else or multiple someones will raise that complaint about the K3.  If I am in some QSO and give my rig as the K3 someone might ask if it is hard to use with the menus and all that.

Again, you have heard wrong.  It's the "oft repeated lie" that if 
repeated often enough is believed as gospel. People repeat what they 
have heard, and often from folks who have no knowledge of the facts (in 
this case, don't own the radio). Anyone awake during our recent 
political campaigns heard MANY examples of this.

I own three K3s, two of them for at least three years, and I almost 
never use the menus except to set VOX levels. I operate about 20 
contests a year, CW, SSB, RTTY, run SO2R for most of them. During the 
week I do DXing on CW and SSB, use JT65, mostly on 160, and occasionally 
use several of the WSJT modes on 6M.

Before the K3s, I've owned FT1000MPs, IC746s, TS850s, K2s, an Omni V.9, 
and Omni A, and an FT100D.  I've also used, briefly, an IC7000 in my 
neighbor's mobile setup. The 746, IC7000,  and FT100D are so "menu 
driven" for normal on-the-air functions that they are almost unusable. 
The MP menus are no thrill, and the radio is FAR less versatile and a 
good notch down in performance.   .

73, Jim K9YC