[Elecraft] K3 to K3S Upgrade Opinions

[Wes Stewart]

I have both.  I haven't even upgraded the synthesizer in the K3,  which by 
general consensus is a must do.

The old K3 is deaf on 6 and 10 meters, if that matters to you.

The USB and internal sound card are nice in the K3S, but my serial-to-USB 
adapter worked fine and the shack computer sound card was as good on RTTY as 
some highly recommended external boxes like Tascam.  I also had less grief 
getting levels set with the old system.

I actually preferred the old tuning knob. I was able to glue in a larger felt 
washer in the knob and run it against the slick bezel and get reasonably good 
feel out of a primitive system.  The "soft-touch" knob and textured bezel are 
not amenable to this.

Personally, I don't think you're missing anything, but I'm sure the faithful 
will have other ideas.

Wes  N7WS

On 5/18/2018 10:21 PM, Frank wrote:
> I have a K3 with dual receivers that I purchased 5 years ago at Dayton. It is 
> the best radio I have ever owned hands down.  My main use for the radio is 
> chasing DX.
>
> I have read all the marketing materials about the improvements the K3S has 
> over the K3.  On paper and in the lab the radio is an upgrade.  But in day to 
> day operations at a home station can an operator tell the difference between 
> the two radios?
>
> Those who have upgraded what is your opinion?
>
> Would you upgrade the K3 with new parts or buy a K3S and transfer modules?
>
> I am leaning toward NOT upgrading the radio as the K3 seems to work great.  Am 
> I missing something?
>
> Thanks for taking time to reply.
>
> 73,
>
> Frank
>
> K6FW