http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/6673
Elecraft is amazing! (I almost hate to write this review. I'd like to be the only person in the world with a K3.) I like raw performance. I like working weak DX stations on low bands. I like contests. Because I have guest ops that aren't always accustomed to the radios I have, the radio has to be easy to use. With contacts coming three or four a minute for hours on end, with over a dozen antennas to pick, the radio can't be difficult to use or distracting. It also has to be top notch. This is a demanding situation with large antennas in a very quiet location. The location and large antennas demand uncompromised receiver and transmitter performance. Some top-of-the-line radios selling for three times the price of the K3 only lasted a few days here. Some have had serious design problems like so-called diversity that does not actually phase lock. Some only offer a crummy sub-receiver that isn't even worthy of being called second rate. By "sub" they must mean "sub-standard". Some have transmitter keying issues or unreasonable transmitter IM on SSB, many have receiver close-spaced strong signal handling issues. I purchased one brand new top-of-the-line high-dollar radio, assured by the sales people it was the best radio ever, and the thing was not as good as my 15 year old FT-1000D in several different ways. I thought I was destined to spend my life going back to the FT1000 and heavily modified solid state mixer and IF section diversity R4C's. Enter the K3. I measured around -35 to -38 dB SSB transmitter IM3, better than my other radios. The transmitter is flawlessly clean on CW also. The raw receiver performance on HF is second to none. It is significantly better than radios costing three times as much as a loaded K3. The K3 is an incredibly easy to use radio, and it is very simple to upgrade firmware. Just a couple mouse clicks and the new firmware is located on their website and loaded into the radio. Elecraft is also super fast in updating and improving firmware, their response to suggestions is like nothing I have ever experienced. I didn't like the way a few controls functioned in diversity mode. The knobs required a little more operator attention than I liked. Unlike other companies, when I e-mailed Elecraft they listened and agreed. Within a week a firmware upgrade corrected the difficulties. Now it is smooth as silk. Can you imagine any other radio manufacturer in the world responding like that? It's unheard of today! I'm going to make a prediction. Within a few years all the successful serious contesting stations and DX chasers will have K3's. This is the first time I've bought a radio and not been disappointed. As a matter of fact, I'm ecstatic about the K3 performance and Elecraft's service. I've waited almost 20 years for the next major improvement in radios, and this is it. Not only is the radio great, the service and support exceeds all reasonable expectations. _______________________________________________ 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
