Hi all, I'm a new K3 owner, and haven't really even used the radio yet. It's at Elecraft right now getting the Synthesizer upgrade, and I need some help making a decision on filter configuration. My primary usage will be SSB and CW contesting, and very occasional SSB and CW DXing.
I will have vertically polarized transmit antennas on 160m, 80m, and 40m, as well as a yagi or two on 40m. I will have beverages available for receive on all 3 bands. I would like to take advantage of diversity receive when running on the low bands in a contest. I am assuming that signals sometimes fade across polarities, so I thought it would be useful to listen on the transmit antenna on the main RX and listen on a beverage or other horizontally polarized antenna (e.g. dipole) on the SubRX. First question: Do any of you contesters do this, and is it useful? Second question: Assuming the answer to the first question is yes, what filters do I want to have at my disposal for this? Currently, my Rig 1 Main has 13 KHz, 6 KHz, 2.8 KHz, 400 Hz and 250 Hz, and my SubRX has 2.8 KHz, 2.1 KHz, 400 Hz, and 250 Hz. Elecraft will be removing the 13 KHz, which enables me to have them move the 2.1 from the Sub to the Main if I want to do that. I just bought a second K3, call it Rig 2, that only has a pair of 2.7's and a pair of 250's. So I was thinking about pulling the 400 from the SubRX of Rig 1 and putting it in the Main of Rig 2, and moving the 2.1 from the Rig 1 SubRX to the Rig 1 Main RX. Then I might want to also buy another 2.1 for the main of Rig 2. By doing this, I would end up with essentially identical filter configurations in both radios: Sideband filters plus 250's in both main and sub, plus a 2.1 and a 400 in the main of both radios. What I really need to know is: For SSB, do I really need (want) to have a pair of matching 2.1's in both main and sub for diversity, or is a pair of 2.8's / 2.7's sufficient? For CW, do I really need (want) to have a pair of matching 400's in both main and sub for diversity, or is a pair of 2.8's / 2.7's plus a pair of 250's sufficient? If having matching 2.1's and/or 400's in main and sub is needed to get the most use of the Diversity feature, then I would just need to add a 2.1 in the main of Rig 1, but then buy a whole bunch of new filters for Rig 2. So I guess the question boils down to: Do I want to spend $140 or $420 or $700 ? :-) Input from contesters with diversity receive experience would be most appreciated. Have you made contacts using a pair of 2.1's or a pair of 400's in Diversity mode that would have been difficult or impossible using a pair of 2.8's or a pair of 250's? I want to get this right the first time, as I don't want to need to open up the radio a second time to make further changes. 73, John W2ID ______________________________________________________________ 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
