Hi Dick and other contesters who might be potential buyers but who are now concerned by Dick's post:
You said, "but there are many parameters that need to be available at-a-glance: both VFO frequencies, bandwidth, shift/PBT, RIT/XIT power, vox, AGC, RF Gain, preamp, notch, NB, receive antenna status, power, etc. " Well, I think that I'm a pretty serious contester and completely disagree (except for the QRG of both VFO's). I am able to hear the different characteristics you mention. Narrow BW sounds a lot different than wide. I'll adjust it (not that I do that much) based on what sounds right; not by looking at a display or "the numbers." Who cares what those are...it has to sound right. Same with shift/pbt. As for RIT/XIT, for me, the only thing that matters is if it is ON or OFF. If I twiddle either, it will be for a specific QSO. And as soon as I'm done with that Q, I zero it by tapping the clear button. If I feel that I need to twiddle it again for another Q, well then the offset does automatically show up (as I understand it...I don't have my K3's yet). Power? Why do you want to monitor that. Isn't it "set it and forget it?" Vox? Are you turning vox on and off during a contest? Why? Basically, I just do not see why these are important to you unless it's just a matter of that is what you are used to now. You also said, "I can't afford to spend time twiddling knobs to determine the current state of the transceiver." I agree! In fact, I would say that during a contest, you can't afford to be twiddling knobs period. If you are adjusting AGC, Shift, Bandwidth RF gain, Preamp, Notch, etc during a contest, sounds like DXing more than contesting to me. Time spent twiddling knobs is time not making Q's. I won't dispute that these may be (seem?) "important" to you now, but I know tons of contesters who simply "do it by ear" and usually don't twiddle knobs at all. Like K3ZO, on cw I like to select one BW (usually fairly wide) and that's how I operate the entire contest. If I have to narrow it for one situation, I immediately "put it back" as soon as that Q is done. So that's MY style of contesting. The purpose of this post is simply to present another POV (mine). de Doug KR2Q _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [email protected] 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
