[Elecraft] Elecraft K3S: First Impressions

[Byron Peebles]

I've played with the new K3S for a little over a week now.
I'm still gainfully employed, so my hours of operation have been limited.
But, I think it's probably the proper time for "initial impressions".

First, the Elecraft people are beyond impressive.  Whether it was 
pre-sale advice, the offer of extra support when the radio arrived, or 
the way they approach continuous improvement, these folks are tops.  
They would need to make a pretty crappy product to not have a loyal 
following just based on their own attitudes, and the products are well, 
awesome, too.

I thought this was my first Elecraft, but I used a K2 briefly about ten 
years ago.  It was used, not functioning perfectly and for some reason I 
sold it before the magic took hold.  Instead, I've been using Kenwood, 
Yaesu and TenTec top-line rigs that I've found used from local hams.  
Each of those righs served me well, and each change was an upgrade in 
technology and performance.

The Elecraft K3S is a significant advance for me.  Over the years I had 
grown quite accustomed to use of the Orion II features, and in contests 
and DXing it was the best radio I'd ever owned.  But as the TenTec aged, 
and future service options seemed to be dimming, I shipped it off to the 
TenTec folks for service and ordered the K3S.  I went on vacation so the 
lack of a radio didn't cause a nervous breakdown.  Hello, Disney.

I'm a DXer and a single-op contester.  I haven't been the srious 
contester I was at one time, but I still value those skills in both 
operators and equipment.  So, I made sure to try the K3S in one or two 
contests, even if only for a few contacts.  The North American QSO Party 
wasn't much of a challenge for the radio. Since *most* operators run 
without their amplifier, the signals tend to be better spread out, and 
since it's mostly a domestic contest, it seems there's a more casual 
element operating.  The Elecraft almost made HF seem "channelized" in 
that I'd tune in a signal and that's all I'd hear.  One signal.  Tune 
again, one signal.  Tune again.  And so on.  I was starting to think it 
needed buttons like the car radio.  I experimented with the CW reader, 
without much luck.  I've seen videos of others using it, but never got 
it to work as well as my brain (no comments, please) so I quickly gave 
up.  Yes, I did the CWT and SPOT and all that. I will try that again 
some slow night.

I later tried the Worked All Europe.  While I operating the NAQP on 40m 
QRP, I did WAE on 40m at 100W.  I worked everyone I heard in one call. 
and although the bands were more crowded, there were no times when I had 
any trouble squeezing out the noise for the signal I wanted.  The 
filtering is pretty intuitive when you realize how it works, a usability 
impro9vement over the Orion. So, two contests of far different style, 
but in both cases I felt the receiver, the audio and the filtering were 
a vast improvement.

I started working to get my headset mic working.  Initially the audio 
was much too low for people to hear me, and I played with TEST mode and 
MONitoring to get that improved.  That made QRP possible again, and also 
made any call under power a one-call contact.  Pileup, what pileup? Very 
nice.  Audio from the recevier also excellent.

It too 15 minutes to get my computer software properly configured after 
the Windows 10 upgrade and the change of radios.  But everything that 
worked before the change works at least as good afterwards.  It took 
some time to get the K3 Utility on the proper port (USB), but once I had 
that up and running, things were better.  Loading CW memories and 
(rotating) Macros was easy, and once I realized what the button numbers 
were for the macros I was reprogramming the PF keys at an irrational 
pace. HI

I've only used the K3S on CW and SSB.  I never did get a decent DATA 
station going with my previous radios, but this one seems worth a try.  
So, that's my next challenge: getting on RTTY/PSK and getting my first DX.

So, this is a very solid transceiver.  This one (10072) is configured 
with both receivers having 2.8, 2.1, 1.0, 0.5 and 0.25 filters.  It 
includes the ATU and the 100W option.  It works really well.

There is a lot of talk about how expensive it is.  I hesitated because 
of that factor, but I don't jhave one ounce of regret. And how you know 
why I'm still gainfully employed.  This is one of those rewards!

(100) 72, Byron