On Jul 4, 2008, at 5:38 AM, Lee A Crocker wrote: > I was over on the Elecraft site looking at the K-3 and how it's > configured. I don't have any first hand experience but this is > what I was able to figure out.
I have been trying to decide between the Flex5000 and the K3 for some time now. I have a K2 (well, the ARRL donated one to our school and the kids and I built it -- it is sitting in front of me right now) so I have a feeling for Elecraft. A couple of friends now have the K3 and one who just got his is bringing it by the school for me to play with. Elecraft has superb support and their radios do what they say they are going to do. I don't think you can buy a better receiver for CW reception than the K3. > There was a recent mention of how you could configure the K-3 for > point and click so I decided to see what that was all about.. To do > that you need to add a $100 dollar board to the K-3, you need to add > N8LP's Lpan board for about $225 and you need to add a $300 sound > card. So to get a crappy version of what we get for free you need > to spend an extra $625 for hardware PLUS they use a version of PSDR > to run the whole kludged up mess. Sure it is. It was never designed that way. A lot of people are doing it with a softrock board attached to the K3's IF. That costs a lot less and is still a kludge. Welcome to different architectures. > If you want to add a second receiver its $599 plus up to 4 > additional crystal filters adds another 350 or so (we have all the > filtering already built into our second RX) > > If you want to add a digital voice recorder its $99 We have one > built in. > > If you want to add a full compliment of crystal filters it looks to > be around $700 You don't really need the filters at all. The DSP will provide the selectivity. The filters are just there as roofing filters to keep unwanted signals out of the A:D so that you don't have an unwanted signal clipping the A:D while you are trying to listen to something down near the noise level. The only time you really need the extra filters is when you know you will be dealing with a very strong signal very close to a desired signal. Most of the time the stock 2.7KHz 5- pole roofing filter will do everything you want. > If you want to add general coverage to the receiver its $130 We > have that built in Well, consider that the K3 was never designed to be general coverage. It was optimized for ham band coverage. General-coverage in the K3 is a hack. But it does work. If you want casual listening to short-wave, WWV, maybe some of the aeronautical mobile or maritime mobile, it is just fine. > a 2M transverter is 369 > > a 432 xverter is 399 > > a ATU is 329 They are in production and you can buy them now. The transverters for the K2 are very well thought-of. > If you want to add their "really good oscillator" (not as good as > the stock one in the F5K) its 100 But is it really needed for what most people are doing? > Near as I can tell looking at the back panel the K-3 is far more > rudimentary as far as the antenna switching/amplifier management > goes. It has 2 antenna outputs one RX ant input one transverter I/O > and no steering of the control signals for things like amps etc. As > far as I know the K-3 is not designed to be full triplex so you > won't be able to take advantage of that at any price. (not even the > measly 130 bux of the HRFIO board trade out deal) No it is not. OTOH, a K3 is a *MUCH* less expensive radio than a Flex5000. Don't forget that all the processing for the K3 is already in the box. If you really want to compare you probably should compare the Flex5000C with the K3. So you pay your money and you take your choice. And yes, most of us already have computers in the shack that can be used to provide the necessary processing power for the Flex5000A so you don't need to spend the money on that. Still, it is a resource that is being tied up and your Flex5000A won't run without it so factor it in. > If anyone thinks they are getting screwed why don't they just go git > 'em an Elecraft and see what a good shellacking is REALLY all about. There is no "shellacking". Elecraft produces a very good product. It is worth what you pay for it. Flex Radio produces a very good product. It is worth what you pay for it. IMHO, both give you more bank for your buck than any of the other manufacturers. Beating up on either manufacturer is counterproductive. > I think I read somewhere you could get you some Elecraft "air" > straight out of their factory for an additional 100 bux. If you stay in the ham bands and stick to modes that fit within the confines of a traditional HF transceiver for the ham bands, the K3 is probably a better radio than the Flex5000. But the K3 has a closed software environment and cannot do many things that the Flex5000 can do or will do when more software is written. The thing is, if you want a knob-based, classical desktop HF amateur radio transceiver, you can't beat the K3. It is the quintessential evolution of the Collins KWM2 which started the whole single-box, desktop, HF transceiver market. But if you are interested in having an SDR that will do new and interesting things, it appears that the Flex5000 is the more interesting product but it is not going to do quite as good a job copying CW. The bottom line is that both are excellent radios but for different purposes. Here's a question that might help -- which is better: a thoroughbred race-horse or a model-T Ford? -- 73 de Brian, WB6RQN Brian Lloyd - brian HYPHEN wb6rqn AT lloyd DOT com _______________________________________________ FlexRadio Systems Mailing List [email protected] http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/flexradio%40flex-radio.biz/ Knowledge Base: http://kb.flex-radio.com/ Homepage: http://www.flex-radio.com/
