I don't do much shortwave listening, but I have had the opportunity to directly compare receive performance between the K3 with general coverage receiver option, the K2 and the venerable Kenwood TS-930s. I am also solely into voice.
My general point is the difference between hearing and not hearing a small increase in receiver quality can make a major difference. Comparing the K3 and K2, I have noticed the K3 hears dramatically better. This means I was able to hear transmissions on the K3 that I could not hear with the K2. The TS-930s had a wonderful receiver and great analog sound. It is an old school transceiver with no DSP filtering. The TS-930s hears better than the K2. I could find and tune in transmissions with the 930 that I could not find with the K2. I was able to put the TS-930s and K3 next to each other in the same shack with top quality antennas. The K3 could hear everything the TS-930s could hear and a little more. The difference was not dramatic but it was there. The K3 has features that allow digital filtering of noise and adjacent signals so you could do a lot more with the K3 to bring the signal up more cleanly. At the same time, the TS-930's natural sound is pleasant listening even if you can't completely eliminate the static with DSP. With a K3 you are pretty much at the state of the art in amateur receiver performance. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Paul Clay Sent: Friday, February 24, 2012 9:18 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [Elecraft] Need help to justify desired purchase :=) Hi. Been thinking about getting a K3. Have been an extremely pleased builder-ower of a K2-100 for several years now. Listening to it now, and it is a real pleasure! To be honest, for HF hamming, the K2-100 (w/DSP module) is just fine for me. The K3's addition of 6 meters, and more importantly for me, and ability to add 2 meters are a plus, but PROBABLY not enough alone to justify the hefty price of ownership. What's going to justify the purchase for me, nor not, is the ability to use the K3 as SWL tool. Knowing that a lots been written on the Reflector in the past on this subject, I'd really like to have some opinions from owners of the latest versions of the K3 on its performance receiving broadcast stations. Specifically, I'm interested in the current state of the K3's receive audio bandwidth, distortion, and other similar performance characteristics, and in the performance of its Synchronous AM detection. One way of getting at this would be for me to know how the K3 would compare performance-wise (especially audio performance-wise) to some of the more popular SW receivers, e.g. the Drake R8 series, the Icom R-75, etc., or to other transceivers lauded for their receive audio performance (e.g., the old Kenwood TS-870). Thanks! Paul N6LQ ______________________________________________________________ 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 ______________________________________________________________ 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
