Hello all, I'd appreciate some advice as to several matters of interest as I seriously consider purchase of a K3. I have posted on and looked at the K3 Yahoo site in this regard as well as gotten some suggestions from other K3 owners. I am presently using an Omni 6+, a US Interface Navigator, and an old AL-80A amp. I operate almost exclusively cw, and enjoy some contesting. I very occasionally like to dabble in SSB contests. I also occasionally work some PSK31. I like N1MM, HRD, and the DX Lab suite. I am about to switch to Win7 64 bit OS.
First, I cannot afford the second RX. (I am not a 'big gun' contester anyhow, and am not presently interested in contesting with two receivers.) I was contemplating the following EIGHT-pole filters: 2.8, 1.8 (or 1.5), 1.0 (or maybe not if I got the 1.5), .5 (or .4), and .25. I have heard from some that the 1.8 or 1.5 does just fine for SSB contesting (particularly in conjunction with the high cut or SHIFT). Unless I'm mistaken, both these filters are spec'd at 1.6 : 1 shape factor. I must say I am a bit worried about the 1.5, especially, as being too narrow for good intelligibility. However, if I opted for the 1.5, I might forego the 1.0 (which I contemplated using for casual cw operation) and save some money. I've been persuaded by comments on the Yahoo K3 group site that the EIGHT-pole 400 and 250 Hz filters are so close in bandwidth that it makes little sense to get both. I have thus been considering the Inrad EIGHT-pole 500 Hz filter and the EIGHT-pole 250 Hz filter. I like to run in cw contests when I can (40 is my favorite band), and I find I am bothered sometimes by strong stations starting up several hundred Hz from my established run frequency. As to the .5 Inrad filter, does anyone know whether that comes with the exact same board as Elecraft uses for, say, the 400 Hz filter? I appreciate your advice. On another topic, my computer has a com port, but no sound card (rather a VIA VT2010 chip on the motherboard); I was under the impression that I could dispense with the Navigator for interfacing the K3 with the computer and the software I like to use (as detailed above). Am I right about this? or will I need (or benefit from continuing) to use my Navigator? Thanks for any input/ comments. 73, -Rich, W2EG ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
