Scott, the three rigs use different design formats: The K3 and K2 and conventional superhetrodyne formats with an Intermediate Frequency in the H.F. range and crystal filters to set the passband. The K2 has an adjustable crystal filter and the K3 uses fixed crystal filter bandwidths. The basic K2 bandwidth is established by the crystal filter while the K3 adds an adjustable DSP filter after the crystal filter. (The K2 has an optional audio DSP for enhanced filtering.)
Although you will often see Elecraft rig owners refer to "roofing filters" the Elecraft rigs avoid them, using an I.F. in the H.F. range instead that avoids a lot of the compromises involved in up-converting to a first I.F. in the VHF range with a VHF "roofing filter" to set the initial selectivity. The KX3 is quite different. It is a high-performance direct conversion receiver using phasing to suppress the unwanted sideband followed by filtering of the resulting audio. I'm a casual, mostly QRP operator who avoids pile-ups (and so contests) and enjoy all three. If I had to settle on one or the other I'd probably take the KX3 as my first choice because of its small size, the "transparent" sound of a direct conversion format and options such as the PX3 panadapter. My second choice would be my trusty and ever dependable 15 year old K2 simply because I'm basically an "analog" sort of guy. But I have no complaints about the K3/K3S. I'm sure others who enjoy busting "pileups" will have more to offer about the advantages of the K3/K3S. For detailed test comparisons check out the results published by Sherwood Engineering on their web site: http://www.sherweng.com/table.html -----Original Message----- From: Elecraft [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Scott Gillen ZL1CHM Sent: Friday, December 11, 2015 1:09 PM To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: [Elecraft] Receivers? Can anyone compare the receivers in the KX3 versus K3 versus K2? Is there a significant difference? I am considering the KX3. 73 Scott N0HOK / ZL1CHM Auckland New Zealandx Sent from my iPhone ______________________________________________________________ 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 Message delivered to r...@cobi.biz ______________________________________________________________ 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 Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
