I have a feeling something may have changed in later K3 firmware, possibly as a result of calibrating the receiver gain via the K3 Utility. Previously I have been able to calibrate the S-Meter from around S6 to S9 +60 and have it almost perfect, now it doesn't seem to be possible to get it that good.
Anyway, these are actual measured results from my K3, which is using the latest pre-release beta firmware (v3.41). These measurements seem OK to me and the K3 doesn't seem any noisier than other radios on my 80m dipole. The S-Meter has been calibrated without the pre-amp in use. It is quite hard to set it correctly all the way from S1 to S9 +60... AGC set to default values. SMTR OFF = 027, SMTR SC = 010, SMTR PK = OFF and SMTR MD = ABS (the latter makes no difference to the S-Meter readings below). S1 is solid at -115 dBm, S2 is solid at -109 dBm and S3 is solid at -105 dBm. These are using CW with the pre-amp off on 80m, 2800 Hz filter. There is about 1 S-point drop using either the 400 Hz or 250 Hz filter. MDS (3 dB SINAD) is -135 dBm in a 400 Hz bandwidth with the 2800 Hz filter, pre-amp off. An input of -126 dBm gives 10 dB SINAD for the same settings. SINAD is signal to noise and distortion. The K3 is sensitive enough on the lower bands to not need the pre-amp, which of course would give rise to higher noise levels. 73 Dave, G4AON K3/100 #80 ______________________________________________________________ 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
