Re: [Elecraft] K3 Sensitivity

2017-01-29 Thread ab2tc
Hi, Frankly I'd be skeptical about all those numbers. They are way better than those measured by ARRL and Sherwood and some are a physical impossibility. The thermal noise floor (kTB) at 400Hz is -148dBm so any number at or below this is physically impossible. To me it looks like all your numbers

Re: [Elecraft] K3 Sensitivity

2017-01-29 Thread brian
Jay, As promised, I went ahead and measured my K3 sensitivity. It is really a K3S-. It doesn't have the USB I/O board but has the rest of the K3 -> K3S upgrades. There general coverage bandpass filter board is installed. Here are the results on 20-6M. The sensitivities are as expected and

[Elecraft] K3 Sensitivity

2017-01-28 Thread jay Miller
I assembled my K3/100 with the second receiver in December of 2010. The weak signal performance was much better than my original IC-756 rig. I did not install the automatic antenna tuner. I have continued to download the software changes since then. Two years ago I installed the general cove

Re: [Elecraft] K3 Sensitivity problem on 75/80 and 160 meters

2015-03-16 Thread Don Wilhelm
Jan, Check your antenna selections - ANT1 vs. ANT2 or RX ANT on vs. off. The amount of attenuation you hear is about the same as the isolation between the antenna selection in the K3 (40 to 50 dB). The antenna selection is on a per band basis. 73, Don W3FPR On 3/15/2015 8:41 PM, Jan wrote: I

Re: [Elecraft] K3 Sensitivity problem on 75/80 and 160 meters

2015-03-16 Thread Jan
Joe, Bill, and Buzz: Check RX ANT selection on 80 Meters? Of course I che Never mind. Thank the three of you for fixing the problem that has plagued me for two months. 73, Jan, KX2A __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://m

Re: [Elecraft] K3 Sensitivity problem on 75/80 and 160 meters

2015-03-15 Thread Joe Subich, W4TV
> Can someone clue me as to how to chase this down? The easiest, most accurate way is to actually measure sensitivity using an XG-2 or XG-3 signal generator. You can check the S-meter on 80 and 160 compared to 20 meters and calculate the MDS on each band following the method in the signal gener

[Elecraft] K3 Sensitivity problem on 75/80 and 160 meters

2015-03-15 Thread Jan
I have a K3 that works fine on all bands except 75/80 and 160. I have a backup rig, an IC-730 from the 1980's, that has 75/80 but not 160. I did an A/B with the two rigs on 80 meters, and both the S-meter and my ears tell me that signals are 5-7 S-units weaker on the the K3. S/N is clearly

Re: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity below 40 meters

2012-11-14 Thread Richard Fjeld
essage - From: "Scott Manthe" To: Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2012 12:02 AM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity below 40 meters > The real problem is that N0CE made his comment about "resonant" antennas > to protect the feelings of his insecure buddies, at l

Re: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity below 40 meters

2012-11-13 Thread Scott Manthe
The real problem is that N0CE made his comment about "resonant" antennas to protect the feelings of his insecure buddies, at least one of whom reads this list, so they wouldn't be offended by the fact that his K3 hears better on 40 meters than the "good equipment" (read: high dollar rigs) that

Re: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity below 40 meters

2012-11-13 Thread David Gilbert
appropriate level of other receivers?" > > Now I know why people reply off line. > > Rich, n0ce > > - Original Message - From: "David Gilbert" > > To: > Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2012 6:12 PM > Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity below 40 me

Re: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity below 40 meters

2012-11-13 Thread Richard Fjeld
To: Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2012 6:12 PM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity below 40 meters > > Even that misses the point, I'm afraid. Remember that the original > comment referred to the receive capability of an antenna. > > The only thing that matching or &qu

Re: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity below 40 meters

2012-11-13 Thread David Gilbert
Even that misses the point, I'm afraid. Remember that the original comment referred to the receive capability of an antenna. The only thing that matching or "tuning to resonance" does is improve the amplitude of the combined signal and noise feeding the rig ... it does not improve the signal

Re: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity below 40 meters

2012-11-13 Thread Don Wilhelm
Yes, I agree. Given a bit of "benefit of doubt", I would think the poster would have better said, an antenna "tuned to resonance" rather than a resonant antenna. Many very good antennas are not inherently resonant, but resonance (and therefore good power transfer) is achieved by means of some ki

Re: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity below 40 meters

2012-11-13 Thread David Gilbert
Particularly as far as receiving goes, that's a totally erroneous statement that has been dispelled many, many times. There is nothing magical or beneficial about a resonant antenna short of the fact that it sometimes makes it easier to match. Check out how (and how well) a Beverage antenna

Re: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity below 40 meters

2012-11-13 Thread Rick Stealey
> > In summary, even a good radio needs a resonant antenna. > Nah. Rick K2XT __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mm

Re: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity below 40 meters

2012-11-13 Thread Tony Estep
On Tue, Nov 13, 2012 at 1:13 PM, Richard Fjeld wrote: > ...even a good radio needs a resonant antenna. > = It's true that reception is often better if the antenna is matched, but this doesn't mean that the antenna has to be resonant. An antenna's resonance or non-resonance does not

Re: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity below 40 meters

2012-11-13 Thread Richard Fjeld
Wilhelm" To: Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2012 12:05 PM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity below 40 meters > The K3 S-meter can be calibrated with either the preamp on or off. I run > with SMTR MD set to ABS, and I calibrate the S-meter with the preamp > off be

Re: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity below 40 meters

2012-11-13 Thread Richard Fjeld
nce I got the P3 and can see the signals beside my passband that I am not hearing, I have been amazed. In summary, even a good radio needs a resonant antenna. Rich, n0ce - Original Message - From: "Richard Fjeld" To: Cc: "elecraft posting" Sent: Tuesday, Novemb

Re: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity below 40 meters

2012-11-13 Thread Don Wilhelm
The K3 S-meter can be calibrated with either the preamp on or off. I run with SMTR MD set to ABS, and I calibrate the S-meter with the preamp off because of that. 73, Don W3FPR On 11/13/2012 12:39 PM, Richard Fjeld wrote: > I think it may be due to my final comment, but first, some info. > > M

Re: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity below 40 meters

2012-11-13 Thread Guy Olinger K2AV
Preamp on K3 is 11 dB, not 20. The range, using preamp or ATT, is 20 dB. I always run the attenuator on 160 and 80 TX antennas, and the preamp on some of my listening antennas. 73, Guy On Tue, Nov 13, 2012 at 9:39 AM, wrote: > > Conventional wisdom historically has been that a receiver preamp

Re: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity below 40 meters

2012-11-13 Thread Richard Fjeld
vember 13, 2012 8:39 AM Subject: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity below 40 meters > > Conventional wisdom historically has been that a receiver preamp is not > used at 40 meters and below primarily because it is not needed, indeed > it would typically degrade receiver performance. So why is

Re: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity below 40 meters

2012-11-13 Thread Fred Smith
craft@mailman.qth.net Subject: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity below 40 meters Conventional wisdom historically has been that a receiver preamp is not used at 40 meters and below primarily because it is not needed, indeed it would typically degrade receiver performance. So why is it necessary to engage the 20 dB p

Re: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity below 40 meters

2012-11-13 Thread Don Wilhelm
The original question was *NOT* about the K3, but the KX3 which is different than the K3 due to a different design architecture. 73, Don W3FPR On 11/13/2012 9:39 AM, k...@charter.net wrote: > Conventional wisdom historically has been that a receiver preamp is not > used at 40 meters and below pr

[Elecraft] K3 sensitivity below 40 meters

2012-11-13 Thread kt5d
Conventional wisdom historically has been that a receiver preamp is not used at 40 meters and below primarily because it is not needed, indeed it would typically degrade receiver performance. So why is it necessary to engage the 20 dB preamp on the K3 to get it to hear an S9 signal at the appr

Re: [Elecraft] K3 - Sensitivity on 10 Meters

2012-10-01 Thread Wayne Burdick
Hi Dave, Our PR10 preamp module has an MDS in the -143 to -144 range on 10 meters. It doesn't get much better than that on any ham transceiver. (Using it with a K3 requires a KXV3 or KXV3A module as well, since it gets patched through the RX ANT IN/OUT jacks.) The stock MDS of the K3 on 10

[Elecraft] K3 - Sensitivity on 10 Meters

2012-10-01 Thread Dave Hachadorian
During the CQWW RTTY Contest this past weekend, I got the feeling that the K3 receiver could have used some additional RF gain. I was using the 250 Hz filter with +4 dB of I.F. gain dialed in. Switching the preamp on and off produced just a barely perceptible change in the background noise. I

Re: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity on 10M

2010-11-28 Thread Ignacy
OOps. I had the antenna connected via MFJ-1026, so turning on dummy still let the reference antenna in. After switching MFJ-1026 off, turning from dummy load to 2 ell quad increases the noise level by about 5 db. Enough at this QTH. Ignacy -- View this message in context: http://elecraft.365

Re: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity on 10M

2010-11-28 Thread Ignacy
Changing from dummy load to 2-el quad increases the noise marginally; about 1-2 db on P3. Definitely not enough gain. I am not sure whether anything short of increased gain in RF amp would work. Perhaps one can modify the 6m external preamp to work on 10m also. The low noise made me happy. It m

Re: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity on 10M

2010-11-01 Thread Ron D'Eau Claire
Are you confusing "sensitivity" with "overall gain"? Typically the higher frequency bands are much, much quieter than the lower frequency bands but a 0.1 uV signal will produce the same volume from the speaker on 10 (or 6) meters as it will on 80 meters (if you can hear it in the band noise :-)

Re: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity on 10M

2010-11-01 Thread Jorge Diez - CX6VM
...@mailman.qth.net [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] En nombre de Barry N1EU Enviado el: Lunes, 01 de Noviembre de 2010 03:42 p.m. Para: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Asunto: Re: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity on 10M Dave Hachadorian wrote: > > when I got to 10 meters, I got the distinct f

Re: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity on 10M

2010-11-01 Thread Barry N1EU
Dave Hachadorian wrote: > > when I got to 10 meters, I got the distinct feeling that I wasn't hearing > enough > band noise. > I've had the same experience and have commented in the past that I thought the K3 needs to dial in a little extra gain on 10M. I've resorted to cranking CONFIG Filter

[Elecraft] K3 sensitivity on 10M

2010-11-01 Thread Dave Hachadorian
I've had a pair of K3's for a couple of years now, but this past weekend in the CQWW SSB was their first serious test on 10 meters. I used the 1.8 filter all weekend, but when I got to 10 meters, I got the distinct feeling that I wasn't hearing enough band noise. I didn't have the time or equipmen

Re: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity + preamp: looking for wisdom

2008-12-15 Thread Milt, N5IA
DOUGLAS ZWIEBEL'" ; "'Elecraft Reflector'" Sent: Monday, December 15, 2008 11:14 AM Subject: RE: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity + preamp: looking for wisdom Keith is quite right. All receivers generate internal noise in their amplifiers. The goal is to make sure this int

RE: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity + preamp: looking for wisdom

2008-12-15 Thread Evert Bakker (PA2KW)
7:15 To: Elecraft Reflector Subject: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity + preamp: looking for wisdom Hi... The following request for information is not specific to the K3 (or even to Elecraft). Please craft your response to be generic. Despite being an active ham/contester for over 40 continuous years (

[Elecraft] K3 sensitivity + preamp: looking for wisdom

2008-12-15 Thread Ken Kopp
Hi Ron, This was an -excellent- layman's language explanation about the functioning of front ends and pre-amps. Tell the boss you need an "atta-boy" and a raise! Merry Christmas! Ken Kopp - K0PP elecraftcov...@rfwave.net ___ Elecraft mailing list

RE: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity + preamp: looking for wisdom

2008-12-15 Thread Ron D'Eau Claire
Keith is quite right. All receivers generate internal noise in their amplifiers. The goal is to make sure this internal noise does not compete with the received signal so the only thing that limits the ability to hear weak signals is the unavoidable atmospheric or "antenna noise". Of course, the

Re: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity + preamp: looking for wisdom

2008-12-15 Thread Julian, G4ILO
DOUGLAS ZWIEBEL wrote: > > Hi... > > The following request for information is not specific to the K3 (or > even to Elecraft). Please craft your response to be generic. > > Despite being an active ham/contester for over 40 continuous years > (but not being an ee), I just do not understand how

Re: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity + preamp: looking for wisdom

2008-12-15 Thread WILLIS COOKE
sometimes, harmful at others. I hope this helps. Willis 'Cookie' Cooke K5EWJ --- On Mon, 12/15/08, DOUGLAS ZWIEBEL wrote: > From: DOUGLAS ZWIEBEL > Subject: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity + preamp: looking for wisdom > To: "Elecraft Reflector" > Date: Monday, D

RE: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity + preamp: looking for wisdom

2008-12-15 Thread Darwin, Keith
craft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of DOUGLAS ZWIEBEL Sent: Monday, December 15, 2008 11:15 AM To: Elecraft Reflector Subject: [Elecraft] K3 sensitivity + preamp: looking for wisdom Hi... The following request for information is not specific to the K3 (or even to Elecraft). Please craft your resp

[Elecraft] K3 sensitivity + preamp: looking for wisdom

2008-12-15 Thread DOUGLAS ZWIEBEL
Hi... The following request for information is not specific to the K3 (or even to Elecraft). Please craft your response to be generic. Despite being an active ham/contester for over 40 continuous years (but not being an ee), I just do not understand how a "preamp" works. It is not a "smart" devi

[Elecraft] K3 sensitivity

2008-07-02 Thread N7ZG
I am using the Elecraft XG1 signal generator to calibrate my K3's S meter. I followed the instructions (pre-amp on, filters broad, etc) but the best I do is calibrate to S-7 for 50mv. When I turn the XG1 down to 1mv the S-meter reads 1 instead of 2-3 S units. I noticed that I had to add about 4

Re: [Elecraft] K3 - Sensitivity drop between Low and Hi power

2008-06-28 Thread max iw0gxy
Seems I've found the problem but I should wait till monday to try to fix it. As suggested by Gary at Elecraft I've checked some components and I found Q9 on the KPA3 board broken. I think Q9 is both responsible of the power instability I've found and the drop in a S point when KPA3 was enabled. I'

Re: [Elecraft] K3 - Sensitivity drop between Low and Hi power

2008-06-27 Thread Vic K2VCO
max iw0gxy wrote: Hi all, I connected the XG2 signal generator to my K3 and I've injected 50microV into the antenna. I have the standard S9 but when I rise the power to 13 and up signal drop down to S8. If I turn the knob to 12W or less signal turn back to S9. I've noted this behavior on signal

[Elecraft] K3 - Sensitivity drop between Low and Hi power

2008-06-27 Thread max iw0gxy
Hi all, I connected the XG2 signal generator to my K3 and I've injected 50microV into the antenna. I have the standard S9 but when I rise the power to 13 and up signal drop down to S8. If I turn the knob to 12W or less signal turn back to S9. I've noted this behavior on signals on air but to be

[Elecraft] K3 : Sensitivity

2007-06-02 Thread Dwight
Question from today at local hamfest: On the webpage: Is it possible to phase lock the two K3 receivers? They run off the same reference oscillator and are phase locked. Do you loose sensitivity on either receiver doing this way? Not sure I understood his question, but is volume level effecte