[Elecraft] Help sell me on the K3S

[Reuben Popp]

I want to express my thanks to all who replied to my original question; my
apologies in the slow response.. It's been a nutty two weeks and I wanted
to take a bit of time to mull things over and do some more research.  With
that in mind... my head hurts <g>.  I've read reviews, looked at specs, and
pretended I knew an ounce of what the Sherwood Engineering lab reports
actually are indicating and/or mean and watched a few [nonstop] days worth
of Youtube videos on various rigs.  Needless to say, I'm in over my head a
bit.

I'm curious to see/hear what the breakdown on primary operating mode for
most K3S users is:  voice, cw, data, [like me, just] swl... mixed?  How
many use it strictly for contesting, and how many use it as their "daily
driver"?

The higher-end SDR is an option I suppose, but I already have too many
receivers as it is.  Two R-390A's, three SP-600 variants, two BC-348s and
in the garage two R-1051-B sets.  Yes, I might have neglected to mention
before that when I first got into the hobby I was instantly drawn to the
boatanchor camp (having been in the Navy myself some years ago).  Needless
to say, my K2/10 is the smallest, and most definitely, _lightest_ radio I
own.  This coming from the guy who moved most of these into storage in the
past two weeks to make room for the baby boy arriving in nine weeks.  Yes,
my back is still recuperating, but my chiropractor?  She loves me.  ;).

I *will* get my ticket, it's just a matter of when, so if I'm in for a
penny on a receiver, I'm in for a pound and I might as well get a
transceiver.  I can never seem to make it out of the house early enough for
the tests, most (if not all) of which are scheduled at some ungodly hour of
the morning, usually long before even the birds start waking.  Okay, maybe
not that early, but it sure seems awfully close...  Either way, that puts
the kabosh (for a bit at least) on contesting, let alone ragchewing.

The KX{2,3} is appealing as well, but as nice as they are, they don't offer
me an upgrade path, or rather, it's limited, and there's no general
coverage module; signal reception is (from what I understand) similar to
the K2 in that regard.  Portable, yes, and quite possibly lower down on the
list, but not something I want or need immediately.

I figured that I can get a K3S/10 with the K3 Panadapter, the general
coverage module, the 2.8Khz filter,  and the SVGA kit for the P3 for
~3400... the approximate cost (or a little under) for a used IC7700 or a
FTDX5000.  Argh, choices!!

Thanks again to all and 73
Reuben




On Sun, Jul 3, 2016 at 4:44 PM, Reuben Popp <reuben.popp at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hey everyone, happy early 4th to you and yours!
>
> I'm looking for a bit on input here.  I've had my K2 now for quite some
> time now; built it myself and love it still to this day.  But, because
> every guy and gal needs a new radio every now and then, I've got that itch.
>
> I've had my eye on a K3 probably since I first saw the advertisement in
> QST some years back.  I'm not a contester.. heck, I *still* don't have my
> ticket, so my main use is SWL and running up and down the bands to listen
> in on some of the nets.  My antenna is just a half size G5RV slung along
> the apex of my roof.... but I've wanted to get my hands on the K3... that
> is until now.
>
> In the past week I found out about the Icom 7300, which for all intents
> and purposes is one heck of a nifty radio too.  And at $500 less than what
> the 10W K3S.  That's a nice chunk of cheddar in these days and times,
> doubly so as Popp #2 will be arriving here come September (on my birthday
> no less, hah).  The downsides are (at least to me) is that there's little
> in the way for adding on new features to the set short of via software
> updates.  There's no second antenna option, etc, etc.
>
> Granted, I'm not looking at getting either one anytime in the immediate
> future.  Or, if I miraculously get one somehow, something is seriously
> wrong, and someone has replaced my XYL with the Stepford model... come
> please make sure I'm okay, lol.  But in all seriousness, help me decide
> here.  Which is the better bang for the buck in the long run?  I'm willing
> to bet that this will be the last rig I get for quite some time yet, so I
> had best make it count.
>
> Thanks in advance to all and 73
> Reuben
>