For many situations, no, the K3 does not need additional RF gain on 10 meters. However, in quiet locations additional gain is needed to pull weak signals further above the noise floor for good copy. The PR10 takes the MDS down to about -143 dBm and the addition of the internal pre-amp down to about -144.5 dBm. In the past two years, I've Beta-tested the PR10 in California on a very quiet ridge top QTH and in Aruba which is also very quiet much of the time. Primarily in contest conditions struggling to get weaker and weaker signals out of the noise floor. At times I've engaged the internal K3 pre-amp in addition to the PR10 to get enough gain to copy weak signals, even though the dynamic range of the system suffers and desense can be a problem. In the JARTS RTTY contest I only operated 10 and 15 meters for about 16 hours, and I had the PR10 and K3 pre-amp on the entire time from here in California. Copy was marginal on some of the signals but even the strongest signals didn't blast me.
Again, this much gain on 10 meters is not needed most of the time. The K3 RF gain on 6 and 10 meters is less than some other receivers in order to achieve the excellent dynamic range and desense specs. It is a good design trade-off, but there are times when more gain is needed on these higher bands. Ed W0YK Tim M0AFJ wrote: > Just a question, does the K3 really need a 10M preamp, I know > it's as deaf as a post on 6 but mine seems very lively on 10. ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
