Tom, I have three radio's in my shack besides the K3. I've checked their S-meters with the recommended XG1 and all have comparable readings. All four are equally quiet without an antenna connected and with a dummy load connected. When connected to an antenna the K3 has about 2 S units more noise indicated than the other radios connected to the same antenna (A/B switch) and the noise level sounds about that much louder. All volume controls are at about 9 o'clock. This applies to most bands. Strangely, WARC bands seem to be mostly excepted.
This afternoon I took the my K3, K2 and FT-857D mobile using a 54" Li'l Tarheel II screwdriver antenna tuned to 20 meters. I operated the K3 & K2 from a SLA battery with the van turned off. I was in a park with nothing electrical for at least a half mile. Volume was again set at 9 0'clock on all three. The K3 have a steady S1 with peaks to S3. The other radios had S0 with no peaks. Volumes sounded appropriate for indicated S-meter reading. I've almost completely disassembled the radio and reassembled it and done the EE INIT reset with no change. It's apparent this K3 is more sensitive to antenna noise than the other four radio's which are all about equal. This leads me to believe this particular radio is going to bury weak signals in noise making them harder to dig out than the other radios. I've exchanged several emails with support and next week I'm supposed to talk with someone higher up at Aptos. I'm trying to be patient with this but it has been over a month since I placed the initial order. During assembly I had to replace the DSP board for an unrelated problem. If the radio has to go back to Aptos it will be close to two months since ordering before I have a fully functional radio. Have a good day and 73, Jim, W0EM Radio Amateur N5GE wrote: > > On Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:18:33 +0000, Jim Harris <w...@q.com> wrote: > >> >>Hi All, >> >>I've had my new K3 up and running for about a week after replacing the DSP board during assembly due to the 5vdc rail being shorted to ground. The S-meter shows about S-2/3 noise and there is about an equal level of noise from the speaker. I have an IC-756ProIII sitting beside it and it shows S-0 with minimum noise from the speaker. Of course, I'm using the same mode and have set the filters in both to the same width. I have played with the preamp and attenuator in both and the K3 always shows a higher noise level with accompanying S-meter reading. >> >>My K2 is extremely quiet and does just great on the many portable trips I take. I may well be missing something on the K3 in all the myriad menu settings of the K3 but don't have a clue at this point as to how to proceed. I sure don't want to think this $2000 radio has such a noise problem and I'm going to have to live it. Does anyone have any information that may help? I would be most appreciative. >> >>Thank you, have a good day and 73. >> >>Jim, W0EM >> > [snip] > > Have you compared the two rigs with their antennas disconnected? Are > they both on the same antenna? Have you calibrated the Icon/K2 > S-Meters with a known 50 microvolt signal? What band are you on? > > Just a guess, but it sounds like the K3 has a more sensitive RX than > the other two. > > 73, > > Tom, N5GE > > n...@n5ge.com > K3 #806, K3 #1055, PR6, > XV144, XV432, KRC2, > W1 and other small kits. > > 2 W2's on order > 1 K144XV on order > > http://www.n5ge.com > http://www.swotrc.net > > > ______________________________________________________________ > 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 > > -- View this message in context: http://n2.nabble.com/K3-S-Meter-and-Noise-tp3706850p3762588.html Sent from the [K3] mailing list archive at Nabble.com. ______________________________________________________________ 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
