Dale Your missing the better receiver of the 5000 on 10m, and yes I live in the country on a farm with 7 elements on 10m at 60'. My suggestion would be for you to buy a 5000 and then you would hear the difference this is not a knee jerk statement but one that was checked over many months with instant A/B antenna switching to the same antenna. What are you using for your comparison between the 2 radios other than an A/B side by side? I also have a P3/SVGA and an SDR-IQ on the FTDX-5000 for a Panadpter for measurements.
For starters you might put up a better antenna a little higher and from the sounds of it find somewhere that is in a quieter location to take advantage of weak signal work. I'm very happy with my K3's and the K2, KPA500 and plan on keeping them but there is no perfect radio all have their faults and strong points. I don't know why some refuse to believe that a radio can be lacking in any area no matter who made it, I have never had that problem. I am not a brand loyal person but one who buys what he feels is the best performing radio that meets his needs and a company he likes. For now Elecraft meets my needs and are responsive to its customers with products and support. I do believe that if Wayne or Eric thought that a 10m preamp was not necessary they would not have one on the planning boards. For all their feedback to customers is why I choose Elecraft they do not hide their head in the sand. 73, Fred/N0AZZ -----Original Message----- From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Dale Boresz Sent: Friday, October 26, 2012 5:01 AM To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3-PR10 Fred, You must have an enviably quiet QTH (or a very poor antenna) if you find that the K3 can benefit from a preamp on 10m. I work a lot of weak signal CW on 10m with a simple Hex Beam up about 45 feet. Even with the Hex Beam's low gain, I can see the noise floor drop by about 9 dBm when I disconnect the antenna from the K3 with the antenna pointed to the quietest part of the sky in the early morning hours when the band is clearly not open. These measurements were taken using both the P3 and the K3's built-in AFV amd dBV measurement functionality. Based upon the above measurements, the band noise is already one and a half S-Units above the receiver's noise floor, so it seems to me that in terms of improving the signal to noise ratio, a preamp would be of little value. What am I missing here? (perhaps a quieter location ;-) ) 73, Dale WA8SRA On 10/26/2012 4:51 AM, Fred Smith wrote: > Tim > > I can address this a little comparing my FTDX-5000MP and my K3's the > k3's receivers are not up to the level of the Yaesu 5000 on the high > bands. But quite the other way around on the low bands in IMHO but > 6/10m really needs a good preamp for sure. > > 73, > Fred/N0AZZ ______________________________________________________________ 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 ______________________________________________________________ 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
