During a serious effort this week end in the 10 meter contest and
fighting snow static I had a lot of experience with the pre-amp and snow
static and the NB! We had a blizzard here all Saturday night and Sunday
and a bit below zero and lots of snow blowing around so I really could
only use the 5 element at just below 200 feet which was pretty much
above the blowing snow. Early on when it was still dark on Sunday
morning it was snowing some and even the NB did not take care of it.
For those of you down south when it is cold the snow is "dry" and the
snow static is much worse. Anyway I had to turn the pre-amp on and off
depending on the snow static noise. Several times I was having trouble
hearing people and I would notice the pre-amp was off and would turn it
on and be able to copy them. Before turning the pre-amp on I had the
volume really cranked up and when it was quiet I would turn the volume
down and turn on the pre-amp and it definitely made a difference. What
I am saying is that I could copy signals with the pre-amp on that I
could not copy with the pre-amp off no matter what I did if I did not
have the snow static. The bottom line is I had the pre-amp on as much
as I could. For me I had more trouble with what I would called NB
induced splatter than on 160M CW but I think it was a factor of the wide
filter 2.8 khz and the DSP at 2.1. I tried the 1.8 filter a few times
but I seemed to have trouble hearing the weak ones and when you are
trying to survive it is not the time to be learning how to use your
radio. We had great success using the 1.8 khz filter in SS but 10
meters with trying to copy weak signals and having someone strong right
next door and using the NB and Pre-amp I just did not get it figured out
how to use the 1.8 filter. I will have to try and learn this summer
during the better sporadic "E" season but it is nearly impossible to
simulate the 10M contest.
I have a lot of people calling me that I just can not pull out. The
truth is with 1500 watts it is impossible to hear someone running a few
watts if they are just barely hearing me. I am sure there were a lot
that called that I did not hear and there were others I just could not
copy calls, etc. I do everything I can with having quiet rcv conditions
and 7/8" heliax but the heliax just makes me louder on transmit so
really no help there on hearing the weak ones. Anyway last year before
the K3 arrived this summer I used the FT-1000D for a number of years
and previous to that a TS-950SDX and the K3 is much better on 10 meters
than they were. On another note I did notice the K3 puts out full power
on 10 meters which a lot of radios do not. I was amazed at how cool the
K3 stays.
FWIW I operated split in the contest a lot as it is a lot easier tuning
for those off frequency of which there seems to be a lot on 10 meters
than using the small RIT knob. The RIT on the K3 is better than other
radios I have used but going split is a lot better. Just like the
FT-1000D tuning the "SUB" in the right ear is not the most "FUN" with
the small knob. I see that physically there is room for a bigger knob.
Is there someway one could but your "CQ" frequency in memory and use the
main knob for the "SUB". I think I am dreaming but with the firmware
lots of things are possible.
For those in the NE my heart goes out to you with the "ICE". I have had
ice here and it causes a lot of work to be destroyed in a short time!!!
Ed W0SD
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