Hi Y'All: It's been a long while since I've posted a message here, but I wanted to share my first impressions of the K3.
I’ve had the privilege of field testing all of the Elecraft products since the inception of the company, and have matching serial number 00005 of the K1, K2, KX1 and K3. (I have a confession to make, though. Travel to Japan and Europe necessitated my coming into the Field Test with one of the later rigs, but Elecraft saved serial number 00005 for me so that I would have a matched set). As has been Elecraft’s practice, I learned about the K3 during the earliest stages of product planning with the understanding that I would not reveal anything about the radio until it was almost ready to ship. I haven’t breathed a word…until now. My interests in ham radio are old fashioned DX’ing, contesting and expeditioning. I have all DXCC entities confirmed (with the exception of a good QSL from Yemen having two 7O1 QSL's that don't count) working most countries on the Yaesu FT-1000, and have over 200 countries confirmed QRP on the K2 and K1. Elecraft’s objectives for the K3 were simple: put a world class, competition class, DX’pedition class, “no-compromises” digital transceiver in a 4-inch X 10-inch X 10-inch package weighing 8 pounds and drawing under 1 amp of current on receive. Personally, I thought the guys at Elecraft were off their rockers, but I thought it would be a great idea if they could pull it off. During the past weeks I’ve been field testing K3 #0005, and I think that Elecraft may have actually pulled it off, and be in the process of redefining the look of the competition class transceiver. My first impression is how small the radio is. It looks like the big brother of my K2. It sports a carry handle, and could easily fit into a Pelican case for travel and DX’pedition work. Comparatively, my (beloved) FT-1000 is a behemoth, weighing in at 65 pounds with the built-in power supply. Not only wouldn’t I take the FT-1000 on an expedition, it’s had two minor problems for the past ten years, and I haven’t bothered to ship it back to Yaesu because I didn’t want to haul it down to the UPS store. For that matter, I’ve been reluctant to even move the FT-1000 within my shack. The K3 is on an entirely different size and scale. I’m almost 50 years old and don’t carry 65 pound packages any more, so this really matters to me. Aside from the smaller physical package, the world-class features combined with the light current drain have major overtones for the power supply requirements while the radio is on expeditions (as compared to 3 to 4 amps of other radios in its class). On the Air My first test was to see how the K3 would perform on weak signals. I tied one hand behind the K3's back, and compared the FT-1000's 250 Hz mechanical filter to the K3's 400 Hz filter. The K3 had better signal to noise ratio on weak signals, and I was able to dig out an Oceania signal much easier. (I could not copy the call sign with the FT-1000. It was a threshold signal.) Then, I used the K3 DSP at 250 Hz and 50 Hz. That's where the K3 really differentiated itself. I've never "driven around" the band at 50 Hz, because it's just so narrow for scanning the band. But it's really great to scan around at 400 Hz and tighten up the width of the filter on a weak signal, or in an environment of heavy QRM. Like the major competition class radios, the K3 has dual tuning knobs for VFO A and VFO B, a larger main dial, and a smaller dial for the second VFO and sub-receiver. You also get total control of the VFO’s with every feature under the sun including split, A/B, A>B (and even B>A in a menu entry you can assign to a 1-tap programmable function.) The radio has tons of flexibility on the rate of tuning, and has 100 memories plus four quick memories per band located on the front panel. The DSP controls are front-panel main controls, so the radio gives you exquisite control of incoming signals in a control panel that is right in front of you. This includes filter selection including a selection of your favorite DSP settings saved in memory, along with width, shift and other parameters. Other features are front panel selectable, including Noise Blanker, notch, noise reduction, etc. The RIT/XIT controls are just slick. You’ll have to try them to see what I mean. When you push RIT or XIT, a green LED lights up above the RIT tuning knob. When you turn it, you simultaneously get (i) an LED indication if you’ re above or below the main frequency, (ii) get another LED that lights up whenever the increment is non-zero, (iii) see the increment on the VFO B indicator and (iv) see the actual frequency on the VFO display. It’s dazzling and very user friendly. Early signal reports suggest the VFB CW and SSB audio quality that you would expect. The K3 features an equalizer for transmit (microphone) and receive. The K3 features a RTTY and CW decoder built into the radio, with copy that scrolls along the VFO B display. This gives you the ability to have digital QSO’s without a computer. Very nice. That eight-pounds includes the optional ATU, which works rapidly and handles a wide range of antennas. In a nutshell, if anything is missing from the K3, I’m not sure what it would be or why anyone would actually need it. The radio is extremely feature-r ich, and (like the K2 and all other Elecraft radios) has a very intuitive user interface and menu program for setting up the radio and changing settings. My greatest disappointment with the K3 is that the user doesn’t have the opportunity to build it from scratch. The circuitry is just too complex, and there is just too much surface mounted hardware to allow this to happen. I know that some of the traditional Elecraft kit builders will share my disappointment that they won’t have a new mountain to climb. But the fully wired radio will enable many more people to own an Elecraft, previously reserved for those amateurs who could build one. And the experience of building the radio using board level components will be reasonably satisfying to many people. So the K2 retains the title of being the world’s leading component-level kit building experience. As of the writing of these first impressions, I’m awaiting the arrival of the sub-receiver board so that I could operate under “dual-watch” and the digital voice recorder module, and am of course frustrated by the delays in being able to install and field-test these features. Like the radio itself, I’m sure they’ll be worth the wait. But, all-in-all, WOW! I think the K3 has the potential to redefine the size and shape and scope and price of the “world class” transceiver. I expect to begin seeing these radios winning contests and being taken to exotic places like South Sandwich Island. (And perhaps somebody will take one to Yemen for The Deserving which includes ME). In the meantime, I look forward to working some K3 to K3 QSO’s soon. Drop me a note if you have any questions. 73 & DX, Rob, W3DX ************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
