On Sun, 20 Sep 2009 09:57:59 -0700 (PDT), Julian, G4ILO wrote: >The K3 comes with support for FM and, having paid for the crystal filter, I >can tell you that it does a very fine job of receiving FM, better than any >dedicated FM transceivers. Why would I want to use another transceiver for >my FM operation?
For the operational reasons you've noted -- it is not designed nor optimized for operation on repeaters. >Elecraft is also now offering an internal 144MHz board as >you surely must have noticed. Do you really think that it is just negative >carping to complain that the K3 does not provide the same convenience of use >when used for VHF FM that you expect on SSB and CW with your second >receiver? Yes, it is carping, because the K3 was not DESIGNED to be a 2M FM radio for operation on repeaters. The 2M board is a nice AFTERTHOUGHT, a nice package for remote use that obviates the need for an outboard transverter. Something that appears to have escaped you and other critics. Adding features to a product costs money, whether in the form of hardware, design costs, or programming. Elecraft products are NOT designed to be all things to all people. The K3 is designed as a competition-grade HF radio, and is optimized for the functions associated with HF operation. The fact that it can be ADAPTED to be a nice bed for VHF and UHF transverters is a nice feature. I don't know what common ham practice is in the UK, but here in North America, most hams who use competition-grade radios and transverters are using them for weak signal modes -- CW, SSB, and data modes like WSJT. Again, square peg, round hole. Yes, there are radios that work 160M to 2M (or even 440 MHz) with "nice features" for FM repeater operation. All that I know of are either 1) vastly inferior to the K3 with respect to RF performance or 2) FAR more expensive or 3) both. Last I looked, there were more than 50 coaxial cables in the Belden catalog, each of them optimzed for a specific use. Sure, Belden could manufacture a single cable type that would be optimum for the vast majority of those uses, but it would be FAR more expensive. Every product (or construction project, or antenna, or the setup of an operating position) has design compromises. What -- you don't have five SO2R operating positions with dedicated towers and antennas at 150 ft for each band? Only three Beverages? They're only 200m long? I'm apalled at the compromises you've made! >By the way, I would be really interested to learn why it would be useful to >use TX and RX EQ (and specifically the SAME TX and RX EQ selected for >optimum SSB transmission and reception) in data modes. I don't see that the SAME EQ should be used for all modes, and I've privately advised Elecraft to develop the software to allow DIFFERENT settings for the various modes. Elecraft is a small company and has limited engineering staff. Sure, they could hire more engineers and do more wild and wonderful things, but that increases their cost of doing business. I'd far rather have a company that is financially stable and able to support their products than one that over-expanded and went out of business. As to specific reasons for EQ: Many hams have strong magnetic fields (mostly from big power supplies) in close proximity to their operating desk, and the K3 uses unshielded audio transformers on audio I/O. TXEQ that rolls off the low end can prevent the 50/60Hz field from modulating the transmitter when a computer sound card is used as a data modulator. RXEQ can be set to provide additional filtering ahead of the sound card to reduce the effects of QRM and QRN. As it turns out, the TXEQ that I find ideal for almost any practical mic includes full cut of the three lowest octave bands. Any mic with "flat" high end response also needs boost of the two highest 2/3-octave bands. The former is quite effective at attenuating the hum that my power amplifiers couple into the line input; the latter is a negative for data modes, and can increase the sidebands produced by distortion in the sound card. BTW -- I long ago also advised Elecraft to lose the transformers and 600 ohm resistors and to eliminate their pin 1 problems. 73, Jim Brown K9YC ______________________________________________________________ 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
