[Elecraft] KX3 Serious Errors in the Manual

[Jim Brown]

I took the KX3 manual into the smallest room in the house for a few 
minutes this morning, and was quite dismayed by what I read under the 
heading of "Grounding and ESD Protection."

The manual says "A ground system using buried rods and/or a ground 
counterpoise (wires radiating out from the antenna) can reduce receive 
interference and help prevent electrical shock or damage due to 
electrostatic discharge (ESD)."

A connection to earth DOES provide ESD protection and lightning 
protection, but it is NOT part of a solution to noise elimination, and 
does NOT make an antenna work better. Those wires extending out from the 
antenna are correctly described as radials or a counterpoise, but they 
are NOT a "ground,"  and they DO make the antenna work better by 
providing a return for antenna current, and for the EM field produced by 
the antenna. Indeed, the earth is really a big resistor, and any current 
that flows in it results in wasted transmitter power. Indeed, an 
important function of a good radial system is to SHIELD the antenna's EM 
field from the lossy earth!  And those radials do NOT reduce receive noise.

A couple of paragraphs later talks about "Pedestrian Mobile Ground" and 
says "if you plan to transmit, you'll need a trailing ground wire to 
serve as a minimal counterpoise and greatly improve your transmitted 
signal."  Again, that wire IS a counterpoise, it IS part of the antenna, 
and it DOES improve your transmitted signal, but it is NOT a "ground" wire.

Earlier on the page, under the heading of "Antennas," is the statement 
"If you use a short whip, vertical, or a single wire, a ground of some 
kind is necessary (described at right) to provide good transmit 
efficiency. Dipoles, inverted Vs, beams, quads, and similar antennas 
have an inherent counterpoise, making ground optional, though still 
desireable."

Again, the word "ground" is the wrong one to describe radials or a 
counterpoise. And a connection to earth is desirable ONLY for lightning 
and ESD protection -- it does NOT make the antenna work better, nor does 
it reduce noise or RFI.

These paragraphs demand a serious and immediate rewrite. Yes, we've seen 
serious errors in equipment manuals for as long as I've been a ham, but 
we expect more from Elecraft. It is yet another example of confusion and 
muddled thinking resulting from using the word "ground" when other 
words, like "radial" and "counterpoise" convey the correct meaning.

73, Jim K9YC