Hey Steve, I didn't really baptise the K3 with SS. It was just the first serious contest opportunity I've had time for.
And you're right - weird conditions prevailed. matt On Mon, 19 Nov 2007 10:38:16 -0800, you wrote: > Opinions are like noses. Everyone has one. So here is mine. I have been > licensed since 1965, and have been a contester, both phone and cw, almost > from the begining. My first contest was the 1966 Novice Roundup. > > Matt has some good points here. However, you may not wish to baptise a > new rig or contest logging program in a major contest. Sweepstakes is > probably one of the biggest of the year. Perhaps a state qso party, sprint > or the North America QSO Party might be a good place to start. You might > also wish to try starting out at the high end of the appropriate band, and > work your way down as you become more comfortable. > > Band conditions for this just completed sweepstakes were some of the > strangest that I have ever seen. Especially on 80 and 40 meters. Contacts > between 50 and 200 miles were often difficult because of long skip. I am > surprised that more people didn't try 160 meters. It is a legal band. Just > my zwei pfennings worth. > > 73, > > Steve Brandt N7VS ex: WN6QYP and WB6VVS > > Portland, Oregon >This may or may not answer the question, and is certainly only one ham's >opinion. > >I operated both Sweepstakes - CW and Phone. Did this on purpose, to >compare the K3's operation in both regimes. Contests like this can be >intense, and Q's are difficult in the best of conditions because of >band crowding. BCI on 40m doesn't help much either. > >Picking a contest to get one's feet wet with a new rig isn't a >half-bad way to go. You are faced with all the normal problems, >greatly intensified and magnified in a way that's hard to describe - >but it's sort of like a time-compression effect. It's the best way to >get yourself acclimated to a new transceiver and make the most of its >best features, because you have to make adjustments quickly and have >it come out right the first time. > >I found the K3 easy to use in both CW and Phone contests. After a few >miscues, I was quickly dialing in the DSP filter, notches (needed a >lot in CW), etc. The AFX set to Delay 3 or 4 helped a lot, both on CW >and SSB. Now ease of use is one thing, but what did I accomplish? > >CW: Operated 2.5 hours - 48 Q's. >SSB: Operated 4 hours - 109 Q's. > >Of the two, I enjoyed the CW contest more. My CW skills need >sharpening, that's for sure. But I can tell you that the K3 makes it >easy to bring them up to par. > >I have the plain-Jane K3/10 with only the 2.7 KHz roofing filter. The >antenna is a 195 foot long wire, end-fed with an MFJ tuner. It's only >up about 30 feet. No amplifier except what's in the exciter. > >Yeah - we're near the bottom of the sunspot cycle, but so what? If 12 >Watts on a Wet Noodle antenna works, the bottom is not as bad as I >remember from 1976 or so. I can say now with certainty that he K3 >makes even the bottom of the cycle a joy to operate in - and in any >mode you care to choose. > >73, >matt - WA6EGJ >K3 #24 > > > > >On Sun, 18 Nov 2007 15:44:11 -0500, you wrote: > >>I understand that Elecraft transceivers to date have really been a CW ops >>dream, which leads me to the following question re the K3: Will phone (SSB) >>operators find this rig as wonderful with regard to voice as CW operators do >>with CW? >> >>Thanks >_______________________________________________ >Elecraft mailing list >Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net >You must be a subscriber to post to the list. >Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > >Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm >Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
