[Elecraft] [KX3] A Comparative Performance Assessment (of Aftermarket KX3 Heatsinks)

[Gary W. Hvizdak]

On Tue Sep 2 2014 at 13:19:20 EDT, Al Lorona  (W6LX) posted ...

Here's a dumb question ... does 1° deg C. really matter? 
 
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Al,

    On the contrary, you've asked an excellent although slightly ambiguous
question.  Are you referring to the one degree C difference between the top
three heatsinks, or are you referring to the roughly 1 degree C difference
between the factory heatsink and the heatsink that came in last place?

    FYI, the purpose of this testing was primarily to determine how the
various offerings compared to one another.  In addition, Adrian didn't want
to unnecessarily overstress his PAs in the process.  Had he chosen higher
power levels, then the separation between each of the candidates would have
been greater.  In fact, it very well might have been possible to break the
tie for second place.

    Keep in mind that this testing was particularly challenging due to the
KX3 firmware's 1 degree C displayed temperature resolution.

    BTW, I know that the PAs generated 8.5 Watts of waste heat running 5
Watts out on 20 meters, and I used a polynomial approximation to estimate
that they generated 9.3 Watts of waste heat while running 0.5 Watts out on 6
meters!  (No, that's not  a typo!) 

73,
Gary  KI4GGX
webmaster http://www.ve7fmn.ca/

P.S.  Don, Adrian's test report clearly states that he conducted all of his
tests in "still air" and that the ambient temperature remained between a
half degree of 25 degrees C.