Hi Ken, Have you joined the Elecraft-K4 groups.io reflector? This is the place to get your K4 questions answered. In the files section of the reflector there are files for setting the K4 up for digital modes and setting the K4's various parameters. Bob, N6TV, one of the K4 testers is there to answer lots of questions. Wayne is also on this reflector and answers questions. Check it out if you haven't already.
73, Mark, WB9CIF K4D #743 -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Kenneth Christiansen Sent: Thursday, October 20, 2022 12:48 To: [email protected] Subject: [Elecraft] K4 thoughts after 3 months of use. I ordered my K4 the first part of March 2022 and received it the middle of July 2022. I ordered it with the 100 watt amplifier and antenna tuner. I have a great K3S with the matching panadapter, 100 watt amplifier and antenna tuner. I kept this radio and promoted it to my camper. I also have a KX3, KXPA100 with tuner and PX3. This always worked well but was hard to set up and get all the cords in the right places. I have a HY-GAIN HY-TOWER and a g5rv that is only 20 ft off the ground at home. For camping I use a 32 ft vertical mounted on the hitch of my 16 ft Scamp fiberglass trailer. I have a 4 to 1 UnUn at the base of the 32 ft vertical and operate against the metal frame of the camper as a counterpoise. I have a S5 noise floor on the vertical at home and my first pleasant surprise was the much lower noise floor when camping. One place had a noise floor of S1 and the other places were S2 to S3. I think I get about the same transmit performance from the Hy-Tower at home and the camping vertical but I soon came to realize with the K3S that I was working many CW signals that were below the noise at home on the S Meter. I enjoyed the 4 camping trips this summer. At home I did work on improving my operation. The better S meter on the K4 along with the built in panadapter worked well. I found if I hooked up my MFJ 974H to the K4 antenna 2 and the G5RV that I can hear stations that I can not hear on the K4 antenna 1 which is the HY-TOWER. This seems to be true on all bands from 160 to 20 meters, I am having nice CW contacts that I would have missed before using only the vertical. The K4 has a better AF filter than the K3 and it lets me copy CW stations with difficulty that do not even move the S meter. I am now working a lot more stations from home then I ever could before. My only SSB contacts are on the Sunday morning 160 meter net and the SSB is perfect both transmit and receive and I am impressed by the contacts I make both transmit and receive. The K4 sure works well with the KAT500 and the KPA500. The K4 remembers the tune level for the KAT500, barefoot power of the K4 and the proper drive level for each band for the KPA500. It is just a pleasure to use. I find the mouse is nice to use on the K4. I feel that having the K3S for camping and the K4 for at home is just what I always wanted in my 56 years as a ham. I have always like to CW rag chew all these years and with the exception of the ARRL field day as 5 watt battery I avoid any contests and 30 second contacts that are so common. I can see that the K4 would be perfect for those contacts as the fast CW sounds so good and the digital seems to work well even though I do not bother to make any of the FT8 type of contacts. The only thing I can see that would make the K4 better would be if I could more easily learn how to use features that are there and I don't even know they are there. I am not having any luck searching the internet for help. The filters seem to work just as well as the K3S CW filters and of course they are much better than the Drake 2B, Heathkit SB102, TenTec, and Ic746 rigs I have used over the years. The K4 appears to be the most frequency stable of any rig I have owned. I hope my observations will help anyone that is thinking of a K4 and what they should consider if they have a K3S. Ken W0CZ ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fmailman.qth.net%2Fmailman%2Flistinfo%2Felecraft&data=05%7C01%7C%7Cb8bec4b2717140d1ee4e08dab299bc4c%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638018670613613746%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=M1rdPjuElpYMc61sTU3jSNu5pPVUndlCQvBVQlKD%2F1Y%3D&reserved=0 Help: https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fmailman.qth.net%2Fmmfaq.htm&data=05%7C01%7C%7Cb8bec4b2717140d1ee4e08dab299bc4c%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638018670613613746%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=3GBMcnzBiRPp3vl0MTt9q9ZMqLBYRJ1lKr%2BQHSifyJE%3D&reserved=0 Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.qsl.net%2F&data=05%7C01%7C%7Cb8bec4b2717140d1ee4e08dab299bc4c%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638018670613613746%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=6rexHAIQwaOyRbCuyjFIJtyt46H8JE27umuMX5LDwjk%3D&reserved=0 Please help support this email list: https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.qsl.net%2Fdonate.html&data=05%7C01%7C%7Cb8bec4b2717140d1ee4e08dab299bc4c%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638018670613613746%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=Y9YSeULhd9c3q5zRgFIYwcjbVz%2B6u%2FNnvWqkUp6qJEU%3D&reserved=0 Message delivered to [email protected] ______________________________________________________________ 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]
