Hi All,
There has been a fair amount of discussion here about which accessory for
the K3 trumps the other --a P3 or a 2nd RX. I don't have an answer, but I
do have an opinion.
I have the full K-Line here, but due to neighborhood restrictions, my
antennas are modest. I use an R8 and a vertical dipole (Sigma 40XK) set up
for 40 meters. That gives me decent coverage from 40 meters up, but nothing
really fancy--and not a sure fire pile up buster! I'm certainly no threat
to the "honor roll!" Hi. I think I have been a bit cavalier about relying
too much on the P3 to spot DX listening frequencies with just the P3. I
love the P3, but I can't say I have been particularly accurate by using it.
I do turn on the 2nd RX fairly often, but more often than not, I get lazy
about doing just that.
The recent K1N Dxpedition was sort of a wake-up call for me about using the
2nd RX more. I'd use the P3, and think I had ID'd the listening freq., but
it just wasn't producing any results. Their split was very wide, and
besides that, stations were calling and calling, even though they weren't
the station K1N had acknowledged. That' nothing new, but it was
particularly bad on this operation. I was getting a lot of "false" readings
just using the P3. For days I had "zero" success. Eventually I went to the
2nd RX, and the results improved dramatically. I got 5 band slots in fairly
short order by doing so. There just doesn't seem to be a really good
substitute for knowing exactly which freq. the DX station is listening on at
the time. It doesn't guarantee success, but it sure gives you a leg up!
I think, in my case at least, the 2nd RX may be the more advantageous for
this kind of thing. Stations with more power, and bigger antennas, have a
definite advantage. They can be picked out of the pile much more readily
than I can. Some of the big guns have signals so strong they are like
magnets! I think anyone in my shoes, who is trying to nab a good DX contact
here or there, is apt to find the 2nd RX to be a great accessory, and more
productive than the P3 for that particular purpose. Chances are I'm not
using the P3 to it's best advantage, but I am trying to get better at it.
I'm sure there are "tricks" I'm not aware of.
Since the K1N DXpedition, there have been 4 or 5 other situations where the
2nd RX got me a contact in fairly short order--a couple of them just this
weekend. Anyway, I'm getting more and more convinced that the 2nd RX was a
good move on my part. The P3 was too, but it is more useful to me for other
reasons. If I had it to do all over, and could only get one accessory, or
only one at a time, I would start with the 2nd RX.
By the way, on the KX3, the "dual watch" feature is priceless, and very
effectively emulates a 2nd RX! K1N probably stretched the limits of that
feature (15 khz), but generally that is more than adequate. The KX3 is just
a super slick radio, and with the PX3 you have a dynamite combo!
Dave W7AQK
______________________________________________________________
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
Message delivered to [email protected]
