Well said!! Pete, NN9K
-----Original Message----- From: flexradio-boun...@flex-radio.biz [mailto:flexradio-boun...@flex-radio.biz] On Behalf Of Jack Haverty Sent: November/14/2010 2:34 PM To: Drax Felton Cc: flexradio@flex-radio.biz Subject: Re: [Flexradio] Comparing Flex to K3 for contesting On Sun, 2010-11-14 at 12:47 -0500, Drax Felton wrote: > Very interesting post. I wonder how the Flex compares against the almighty > Elecraft K3. > I've been contesting with the Flex-3000 for 18 months now, and like it a lot. I haven't used a K3 in any contest, but the K3 certainly seems to be the standard for serious contesters. Most of the contest stations seem to use a K3, often 2 or 3 of them, as well as more as spares. If you look at the posts on the "3830" contesting list, there's lots of discussions of stations and how people use them in contests. I've thought about getting a K3 for contesting - but I'm not a "serious contester" at this point, and maybe will never be one. Here's what I've learned....IMHO of course. In contesting, the Flex doesn't compete against the K3. You have to look at the whole station as it is used in contests. A serious contest station might have several K3s, many antennas and amps, switching gear, rotor controllers etc., and a software complement as well - Writelog or N1MM, Internet spotting support, and maybe even a CW Skimmer. A Flex-based contest station would have a similar complement of components. Even a simple contest station has several pieces of hardware and software. The comparison has to be between the total stations, not just between one of the components. The Flex panadapter is very cool - but contesters are now adding the Elecraft panadapter to provide similar functions. I's not nearly as good as the PowerSDR display, but I wouldn't be surprised at all to see a PC-based add-on K3 display that enables the use of standard widescreen LCD displays through the same K3 interface. The comments from contesters after they first use a K3 panadapter indicate that such a display will become standard for contest stations. Once you have experienced being able to "see" the contest, you can't survive "blind mode" anymore. In contesting, the primary station interface today is the computer, just like with the Flex. But the software that provides the user interface is the "logger", e.g., N1MM or Writelog. These contest-optimized programs are highly tuned to contesting, and do far more than just logging. During contests, there's little need to actually use the knobs and buttons on the radio - i.e., either the K3 front panel or the PowerSDR screen. Everything is done through the "logger". Many stations use multiple radios - "SO2R" or Single-Op-2-Radios, which are operated simultaneously in a highly coordinated fashion. Multi-op stations often have several such stations, all interconnected by a LAN, and coordinated by the software. In other words, a "contest SDR" uses Writelog or N1MM as the primary user interface, often controlling a complex station with with multiple radios, in the same way that a typical Flex station uses PowerSDR with a single radio. The K3 has become entrenched, and such complex stations are by now well understood and integrated. It all works "like a Swiss watch". In contrast, I've been using my Flex-3000 with N1MM for contesting - PowerSDR's window full of virtual controls plays the same role as the K3 front panel in the typical contest station. I.E., a very small role - you rarely need to touch the "knobs and buttons", both the physical ones on a K3 or the virtual ones in the PowerSDR window. When I contest, I'm mostly typing at the N1MM window, and mousing on the PowerSDR panadaptor. In the PowerSDR/N1MM integrated world, contesting works, but it's a somewhat contentious marriage compared to the K3. E.G., using the same mouse/keyboard with 2 user interfaces can become unwieldy keeping the focus in the right place. Little things become annoying - e.g., the need to bring up the separate Mixer window just to mute/unmute the speaker. Or the fact that the PowerSDR window insists on consuming so much screen real estate, when all I really want is a short, wide window showing the panadapter. It's a watch, but not Swiss. Also, CW is very important to contesters. and the lack of full break-in is noticeable. I've worked CW contests with the Flex, and I often can tell that a full QSK system would be much preferable. A "serious contester" would not be pleased with the Flex-based contest system as it works today in CW. Contesters who are struggling to create or improve their CW skills (contests often run at 30 wpm), are also attracted by features like the built-in CW decoder on the K3, which converts CW into text. I suspect I could do that with my Flex station by finding and integrating another piece of software, but it's already built-in with the K3, and works well enough to serve as a crutch for struggling CWers. The Flex compares very very favorably to the K3 for contesting when you look at price. By the time you buy things like panadapters, narrow filters, etc., there can be $thousands of difference. A new ham, who got interested in contesting, asked me recently if I'd recommend the Flex for contesting as his first HF rig. I basically told him what I just said above, and recommended that he get a Flex because it will be a good way to learn contesting, and it's a lot cheaper. If he becomes a serious contester, he can always get his K3(s) when that happens. Somewhat down the road things will be different, in both the K3 and Flex worlds. Some very powerful features could be done with better integration of the Flex into contesting systems. The K3 is the incumbent, and it will improve too. But my crystal ball is too cloudy to tell what the comparison will become Meanwhile, contesting with my Flex-3000 is a lot of fun, and a good choice especially for new or casual contesters. 73, /Jack de K3FIV _______________________________________________ FlexRadio Systems Mailing List FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/flexradio%40flex-radio.biz/ Knowledge Base: http://kc.flexradio.com/ Homepage: http://www.flexradio.com/ _______________________________________________ FlexRadio Systems Mailing List FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/flexradio%40flex-radio.biz/ Knowledge Base: http://kc.flexradio.com/ Homepage: http://www.flexradio.com/
