One thing I look for is audio stage hiss. Disconnect the antenna, turn down the AF gain to minimum and listen using hi-fi headphones. You should not hear anything. The K3 is dead silent. The FT-7000 has some hiss. I use a headphone attenuator on the FT-7000 to drop the hiss out of my hearing range. Next, with the antenna still disconnected, turn down the RF/IF gain to minimum and increase the AF gain. The K3 is silent. Most Yaesu's, FT-1K series, tend to have a "milky" hiss coming from the last IF stage. Changing the RF gain has no effect. I had an FT-1Kmp and that IF stage hiss drove me to sell it quickly. There is a mod that reduces the gain of that IF stage but that seems like a poor solution. With the ant. still disconnected, turn up the RF gain. Most receivers will present some noise. This is generated by the RF amplifier. The K3 will provide plenty of this. Turn on the pre-amp. Now you'll really hear some noise. I believe the quietest overall I've seen for this test is the IC-7800. That thing is really quiet. In the end, being able to hear weak signals is what matters but hearing them with no noise generated by the radio makes it even better. Steve Ellington n...@carolina.rr.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dave Hachadorian" <k...@arrl.net> To: "Elecraft reflector" <elecraft@mailman.qth.net> Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2009 10:08 AM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] [K3] K3 RX audio on voice modes <oh no here we goagain>
>I have a friend who is considering buying a K3, and last > Saturday I brought one of my K3's over to his house to > compare with his FT-1000 Mk V. We were able to switch an > antenna back and forth between the two rigs and just listen > to snr on weak signals, while playing with NB, NR and > shift/width. We were listening on the rigs' built-in > speakers. Neither rig had a decided advantage in our little > test. He also has heavy line noise from a nearby HV line, > and neither rig was able to help much with that problem. > > However, I was astounded at the difference in audio > characteristics between the two radios. The K3 had much more > accentuation of high frequencies. One person might call that > "crisp," while another might call it "harsh." In contrast > the Mk V might be labelled by one person as "mellow," or by > another as "muffled." I tried to get the two radios to sound > the same by playing with their shift/width, but was not > really successful. > > I'm not sure which sounds better, especially for long-term > listening, but they sure do sound different. > > Dave Hachadorian, K6LL > Yuma, AZ > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > . > > ______________________________________________________________ > 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 ______________________________________________________________ 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
