I do miss the remote vfo pod though... -----Original Message----- From: Steve Ellington [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Sunday, April 19, 2009 7:36 PM To: Doug; 'Gary Hinson'; [email protected] Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 #2887 - first impressions
Doug Having had the Orion II, what are the differences you have experienced? Steve Ellington [email protected] ----- Original Message ----- From: "Doug" <[email protected]> To: "'Gary Hinson'" <[email protected]>; <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, April 19, 2009 8:09 PM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 #2887 - first impressions > Just put sn:2950 together this weekend and would agree 100% with your > comments Gary. Also I would add that a picture showing the sub assembly in > expanded (blow-out)form would be nice. I am pretty sharp most of the time > but I sat looking at both shells wondering what the hell I was supposed to > do with them because I only ever saw one in the pictures. > > Having assembled a KX1 with options in the past I was worried that I would > get the K3 3/4 assembled just to have to tear 1/2 of it back down to > install > something that could have been done earlier. Kudos to Elecraft for option > breakouts in the manual preventing this from happening. > > More clarity on the J92 setup on the sub assembly would be nice. I hooked > the aux RF port up and taped the tmp connector as instructed. Then it was > never referenced again. Then you get to the sub rec assembly and it has > j92 > connecting to J63 on the KAT3. Left me wondering what the hell to do. In > the > end both got disconnected and taped up as I am not setup with two antennas > at the moment and will just use the main for input for the time being. > > A Matrix up-front in the K3 assembly instructions showing the 3 options > might not be a bad thing. > > > What a bad ass little radio. Coming from an Orion II this is a real treat. > > Off to drink more Kool-Aid as they say. > > Cheers > Doug K0ZU > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Gary Hinson > Sent: Saturday, April 18, 2009 4:54 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [Elecraft] K3 #2887 - first impressions > > Hi all. > > K3 #2887 lives! Config: K3/100, ATU, subRX, 250Hz + 400Hz filters (main > and > subRX), KXV3, DVR. > > The kit build was relatively painless, certainly easier than the K2. > Package open to 1st QSO took me 1 fairly intense but enjoyable day > (Wednesday just gone). While they are still fresh in my mind, these were > the most significant problems I experienced with the build: > > 1. If I had realized I would need them, I would have bought the > antistatic > wrist-strap and desk pad between ordering the kit and it arriving in the > post, instead of having to go shopping after opening the box! Perhaps a > little reminder about which tools customers will need could be included in > the "Thanks for ordering your K3" email? [Maybe it was and I missed it in > the excitement!]. Alternatively, could these be another option to buy > from > Elecraft? > > 2. It wasn't immediately obvious that most boards/options come with their > own hardware in little envelopes, and several bits took a little while to > find (e.g. the bits for the standoffs near the display, fig 37 in the kit > assembly manual). I eventually got the hang of it but having a bunch of > spare bits left over and constantly changing from bag to bag got me a bit > confused at times. > > 3. It's not entirely clear what the display light blocker strips are > meant > to achieve, hence exactly where they should be fitted - should they stick > to > the main board, the edge of the display panel, or the strip of flexy foil > sticking out of the LCD panel? The manual, even with a photo, didn't > help. > The finished K3 looks fine now so I guess I made the right choices by > luck. > > 4. My LCD panel had some smudge marks. I very carefully and gently > cleaned > it as best I could with a cleaning cloth used for spectacles, and the few > marks that remained are invisible now under the Perspex face ... But I > wonder if perhaps it ought to have been shipped with a pull-off plastic > film > protector? > > 5. Fitting the chassis stiffener towards the end is tricky because the > topmost screws are horizontally aligned with other boards or the rear > panel > edge. Maybe I should have found a slimmer Phillips #1 screwdriver? Maybe > some other method of fixing it would help. > > 5. The step-by-step instructions kind of lost the plot towards the end in > respect of fitting the 100W PA and subRX. Up til then, the "install > option > X now or move ahead to page Y" thing worked just fine. [I was getting > tired > by then: it was probably me losing the plot not the instructions!]. > > 6. The subRX is a tight squeeze, making it awkward to ensure the > connectors > are fully aligned and cables are out of the way. No easy solution there. > > 7. Every option, I think, came with an installation manual plus its own > page/s of errata. It's annoying to have to go through and fix the manuals > before starting. The odd correction/clarification I could understand but > why so many? Could the base manuals be updated and printed more often?? > > 8. The Anderson Powerpole connectors refuse to snap fully home into the > body of the connector, so the power lead sometimes slips out. I probably > over-did the solder. I think I'm going to have to cut them off and buy > some > more, if I can even find them in ZL ... > > The manual was definitely up to expectations and extremely helpful, > especially all those annotated photos that must have taken someone many > hours to produce. BTW my "full inventory" consisted of checking that the > requisite main parts and options were present - I didn't bother trying to > count all of those little screws and washers (lesson learnt from the K2! > Kudos to the little army of Elecrafty packers and checkers - fantastic!). > > There's a few minor niggles, queries or suggestions for the actual rig so > far, some no doubt due to my obvious inexperience with it after just a few > days behind the wheel: > > 1. At first the SubRX worked on every band *except* 40m ... until I > re-checked it this evening and mysteriously it is now working fine on all > bands. Don't know what happened there. It didn't seem to be anything as > obvious as ATT on, wrong antenna selected, crazy filtering etc. There was > audio hiss but no signals, not even very weak sigs as far as I could tell. > I re-did the subRX synth calibration business this afternoon so maybe that > fixed it (after a power cycle too)? > > 2. At first the S-meter was randomly flickering up to mid to full-scale, > a > bit like if there is static on the coax. This anomaly disappeared within > an > hour or two of running the rig and has not reappeared since. Maybe it > *was* > static?! > > 3. On semi-QSK, I've noticed occasional glitches with CW keying when I > release the PTT foot-switch. The sidetone seems to indicate shortened > characters sometimes when I release the switch while still sending, but I > don't yet know if it affects the RF going out (it could just be a > temporary > mute of the sidetone). Although it's nice to be able to define the > built-in > CW memories from the PC using the K3 Utility program, I'm currently using > my > trusty old MM3 Morse Machine for keying, mostly because it has an external > memory trigger unit on a flying lead sitting on the desk near my > non-paddle > hand (which would be a handy option for the K3 too!). The MM3 always > sends > complete characters so I know *that's* not the cause of this problem. > > 4. Is there a simple way to step through the memories, manually i.e. not > using the scan and without doing the whole M>V + select-next-memory + M>V > thing? I'd like to be able to select the memory bank, then tune up and > down > through the bank one memory at a time, perhaps using the clarifier knob > (not > the VFO as it's useful to be able to tune away from a memory), to listen > to > the memorized channels as I step through them. > > 5. The memory label function is handy but has too few characters for the > callsigns for many of the 10m beacons I watch. How about making it scroll > to the left, just like the power-up banner function, if I input more than > 5 > characters? > > 6. I miss the dedicated "Quick Memory" function from my TS850 already. > I'd > really like to program PF1 and PF2 or two other buttons for this function > i.e. press one button to store the current freq etc. in a dedicated Quick > Memo Last-In-First-Out bank, press another button to recall the info to > the > VFO (optionally using the clarifier knob to select previously-stored > values). [This is an easy way to store and later recall interesting but > temporary frequencies when tuning around the bands, without all the > button-pressing needed to store them in a main memory]. > > 7. On the TS850, I've got used to using LSB for CW reception but the K3 > uses USB. Short of changing my ways, I know I can hold the ALT-mode > button > to change to CW REV, and this setting is remembered on each band, but I'd > prefer to be able to select LSB as my default, particularly as the K3 now > automatically reverts to USB for CW when I click an interesting spot in > Logger32. > > 8. The auto-spot function works OK but tends to search a bit widely, and > is > not consistent on the stop frequency, sometimes tuning some way off (even > on > seemingly reasonable strength 20+WPM sigs). It would be handy to have an > instant "undo-auto-spot" function a bit like the "undo-RIT-cancel" thing > to > reset the VFO to the pre-auto-spot frequency if it fails to spot > accurately. > > 9. The maximum tuning rate on CW is not fast enough for my liking e.g. > scooting between the CW end and beacon sub-band on 10m. I know I can use > the memories to go directly to a stored channel but it suits me to QSY > quickly through the band on the VFO. I'm confused by the FINE and RATE > controls. I'm not keen to change modes to change QSY rates. I'd prefer > just to be able to set the clarifier-QSY function to step in, say, 5 or > 10kHz or 12.5kHz steps, ideally with the first step being to the nearest > "round value" (e.g. if I'm on 28003, the first step would be 3kHz to 28005 > then 5kHz to 28010 etc.). [This is another idea borrowed from the TS850. > I > know I know, I'll get over it! I've had 15 years of it!]. Alternatively, > how about an optional VFO accelerator go-faster function to speed up the > QSY > rate if I 'spin' the main knob? > > 10. I discovered by trial-and-error that sending from the internal CW > memories can be cancelled by clicking the REC button in the middle. Not > entirely obvious (why not screen-print CNCL or CANCEL under or around the > REC button?). > > 11. I haven't figured out what the type I and II filtering is all about > yet, nor how to manually tune the notch filter, but I'm confident it's all > in the manual somewhere ... > > 12. There's a noticeable delay between putting in the headphones and > muting > the speakers. > > Those minor issues aside, the stereocode CW and NR functions are good, the > subRX is extremely helpful (I've already bagged S04R on 2 more bands much > more easily than otherwise thanks to being able to listen in the pileup > and > to the S0 at the same time) and the no-ring filtering down to a few Hz is > great. Overall the K3 RX sounds fantastic and I'm definitely looking > forward to the next big contest! > > 73 > Gary ZL2iFB www.g4ifb.com > > ______________________________________________________________ > 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 ______________________________________________________________ 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
