My AF knob was 'funny' earlier in the week. Scott at Elecraft talked to me Friday on the phone and patiently waited for me to stop sobbing. Later in the day the knob 'crumbled' just before the contest started. A panic run to the hardware store provided a 'jury rig' solution that I will probably use as a permanent knob. ...or until Elecraft offer knobs with brass sleeve inserts to absorb the stress caused by the set screws.
Echoing others on this thread, the DSP at 250Hz with the 250Hz 8 pole filter was used most of the time. Sweet! ...I also did notice many signals had monstrous sidebands due to 'key clicks'. As for the RIT comments... My special needs placed an entirely different cast on the fine tuning issue. Being in the "golden" years, and being confronted with the on-rush of "Mad Cow's" malady (ask Denny Crane if you need any elaboration) I am hopelessly challenged in contests by the vast majority of 3-letter stations who operate at 30+ wpm, who send everything once-especially serial numbers, who use those clever non-numeric codes for numbers to spare their electronic keyers the extra heat overload, and by the time I get the call sign written down I have forgotten the serial number...... ....sigh.... TO the RESCUE!!! The CW decoder on the K3 is my sweet savior! I can work the high speed guys whose dot streams sound like amplitude modulated dashes. 100% accurate copy. With CW decode the K3 puts me in the contest. And when you use CWT centering maximizing the decoding accuracy, you get spot-on, consistently repeatable tuning. No RIT needed. Of course that assumes search and pounce is the preferred style of operation. If you park on a frequency and call CQ you surrender tuning control to the other guy. You choose the fight the pile ups you hope will come to you. ...me, I am a 'control freak', I will pounce, thank you very much. I will probably never be highly competitive in CW contests, but the K3 puts me in the hunt. ...and that is enough to satisfy me. ....now if the K3 could only send CW using electrical sensors inside my green eye-shade visor.... How about that Wayne? ...this contest was the most fun I have ever had in 55 years of ham radio. Thank you very much Elecraft!!! 73's and 88's to the gang there, Richard K5BWV ==================================================================== ______________________________________________________________ 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
