The experts will weigh in better than I. One can buy an Escalade or one
can buy a Tahoe. The Escalade has more bells and whistles, but doesn't
drive better or haul more than a Tahoe.
The 7800/FTdx9000 have something for everyone. A knob for every function
(or nearly). What they also have is an upconversion receiver, which is
where the difference in receiver performance begins. It is not yet
possible to make narrowband multipole filters at VHF that are as good as
narrowband multipole filters at the K3 8MHz first IF, that the amateur
community wants to afford. That is why the narrowest 7800 first IF
filter is (if memory serves) 3KHz. So the K3 starts out with a huge
filter advantage because its first IF filter can go to whatever is
available, like 250Hz. (I avoid the term 'roofing filter' to honor
Wayne's preferences.)
The remainder of the K3 receiver front end advantage, i.e. inside the
1st IF filter specs, is the result of what Wayne wants in a radio. He's
been designing stout front ends as long as I've known him coming up on
20 years. The competition makes their design compromises in accordance
with objectives, cost effectiveness (i.e. good enough for who its for)
etc. while the K3 design seems to lean toward no compromise in
performance. I note that the 7800 first appeared with something like a
6KHz first IF filter, got hammered in the press, eham etc. for lousy
close-in performance, and quickly added a 3KHz 1st IF filter option.
Some of the K3 front end specs are up there near the very top line
spectrum and network analyzers from industry luminaries like
Rohde-Schwarz, Agilent etc. which cost $50,000 to start (that's like the
base K3), running up towards a quarter million with decent options.
Not to say the very expensive radios are not good. They are, and they
fit well in the livingroom entertainment system as well. Whereas the
K3's appearance is more attuned to 'the shack' or the backpack, a
utilitarian tool. Let's not forget Wayne is first and foremost a QRP
backpacker. The 10 watt K3 version is surely the very highest
performance rig serving the portable market, and fortunately the
DX/contest market as well. Plus one can buy 3 or 4 K3's for the price of
a livingroom appliance (lest I get hammered on the appliance remark, I
happily owned a IC781 for many years).
I do hope I haven't said something stupid here. If so, it's all my fault.
73 Art
Snip
Shane wrote:
Message: 7
Date: Thu, 15 May 2008 21:06:15 -0700 (PDT)
From: Shane White <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Elecraft] The K3 in comprison to the Big Guns
To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
That's it, I'm going to ask the silly question.
How can the K3's receiver outperform that of the Icom IC-7800 and Yaesu
FTDX9000? These two radios cost in excess of $11,000 and weigh in at over
25Kg (55lbs)! The K3 costs about $2000 and weighs about 4Kg (8.5lbs). Yes
the K3 is deficient of a screen, internal PSU and some knobs but why on
earth is there such a difference in price and weight? Given this, how can
the K3's receiver outperform these other radios?
These questions keep bugging me. Those glossy Yaesu and Icom brochures
certainly don't help!
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