[Elecraft] K3/0-Mini - Experiences?

[John K3TN via Elecraft]

I've been using the Remote Rig interfaces with my K3 for several years and
the K3/Mini for the past 6 months or so. I'm a big fan of the Remote Rig
devices, not a fan of the K3/Mini.

I started out doing remote operating with the K4VV group using an all
software approach and the Remote Rig devices are an enormous improvement -
reduction in latency, better audio quality, the ability to essentially just
have a very long mic/key/headset cords vs. doing remote PC control.

You still need a decent Internet connection. The Remote Rig interfaces will
**not** correct for packet loss or high jitter (variable latency) Internet
connections. If your round trip delay is much over 150ms, or varies widely
from ping to ping, or if you lose packets, CW in particular will not be
usable. 

The Remote Rigs also have a gazillion parameters and the manuals don't quite
get you there - almost everyone has to resort to the "million monkeys
randomly hitting keys" approach to get everything going. The forums on the
Remote Rig site are very helpful and W1UE in particular has posted a lot of
good K3 guidance.

The K3/Mini has been a big disappointment, especially at the price - I
should have just gotten a bare bones K3. The major problem has been the
audio on both TX and RX when connecting the headset to the Mini (vs.
connecting to the RemoteRig). On TX, I get loud hum and on RX, the audio is
20db down compared to the audio coming out of the RemoteRig.

I sent the Mini back, Elecraft sent it back saying it worked fine. (They
didn't even contact me, which I objected to and they are fixing that problem
in their process.) On RX, apparently that audio loss is due to a filter that
was put in to deal with digital noise getting in the audio, but running the
AF gain at 90% on the Mini is not acceptable to me - distortion up and no
head room for low signals or turning off AGC, etc.

So, I have to connect the headset to the RemoteRig, then audio is fine - but
the cabling is less convenient and messy. Part of the reason I justified
spending the $700 was to be able to essentially use the Mini just like I
would a "real" K3, but I can't do that. I may bring along the Mini and
Remote Rig set up on travel some day if I keep the Mini - that portability
is about the only reason to keep it.

Others have had the same audio issues, others just naturally connect their
headset to the RemoteRig, others have had no problems with the Mini - your
mileage may vary. 

73 John K3TN



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