K3 Kit #4043 QRV

[Edward R Cole]

I received my kit from Elecraft by UPS on Thursday, March 11 (took
one week delivery which is normal for UPS-ground to AK).  I waited
until Monday to begin assembly so that an anti-static matt could be
delivered.  I finished on Thursday evening with approx. 11-hours of
actual time spent.  I took my time and read instructions fully before
performing each step.  Excellent instructions (and I used to be a
tech writer for Hughes Aircraft so have some experience, here).  A
step up from Heath kits in my opinion!

I was very impressed how precisely the hardware alignment was made;
no holes needed re-drilling or tweaking of panels to get things to
fit.  Even the front panel went together pretty nicely considering
the multiple connectors.  Problems?  The aux Rx was dead (no audio)
at first then I realized that I had not calibrated the second
synth.  I had a PL2 Error which cleared when the second synth. was
calib.  Pretty complicated configuration process, which was helped by
the sw once I got the USB/RS-232 cable drivers installed (that was a
battle for short time on the Dell laptop -Vista).  Not clear start-up
procedure: start sw, connect USB, power on radio (that last step
allowed the sw to find the com-port assignment).  I could not find
the configuration where one enables/disables mic bias (using Heil
HM-10 mic), but adjusting mic gain and compression I finally saw some
RF output (TUNE button worked right off).  I calibrated the Tx power
to be a max of 16w out 80-15m, 8w on 10-6m.  Using Bird-43 100H
element probably not too accurate at low levels.  I set mic=30,
comp=15 and ALC peaks 5; good on air report on 80m net running only
12w!  I have not set either Rx or Tx equalizers, yet.  Speaker audio
is a bit harsh sounding but I will use an old National Speaker,
eventually.  Headphones sounded good.

My K3/10 came with the KXV3, KBPF3 and KRX3, 13, 2.8, and 400-Hz on
the main board and 13, 2.8-KHz filters in the aux Rx.  My main use
will be on 144-eme and 1296-eme using transverters.  I installed the
KTCXO3-1 for frequency accuracy at microwaves.  The dual Rx will
permit using two 2m transverters for dual-polarity diversity
reception with a sw program looking at a 13-KHz bandpass on USB (thus
the two 13-KHz filters).  It will take till summer to get this fully
installed and functional.

I am also using the K3 on 500-KHz (WD2XSH/45) to drive a surplus 100w
NDB xmtr (non-directional aircraft beacon).  The NDB was xtal
controlled so I inserted drive at -6 dBm to move the unit to 495-510
KHz.  The NDB is basically a linear amplifier with 46-dB gain.  The
-3 dBm K3 output at the XVT Tx output will easily drive the NDB.

And, of course the K3 will be used on HF and 6m.  I didn't chose the
KPA-3 but instead am building a 300w amplifier kit that cost me about
$150.  It runs on 28-vdc using two MRF-422 xsistors.  I am curious to
try psk-31 on 14.070 with 12w (should be fine with my 3-element
beam).  CW memory scripts will be handy for running CW beacons on 500-KHz.

I purchased an ARR P50VDG preamp (again with a savings over Elecraft
model).  It hasn't arrived so haven't tried 6m, yet.

So, with two days of use ---- yeah!  Especially liked tuning out QRM
with the DSP filters.  The 400-KHz filter is great on CW!

73, Ed - KL7UW, WD2XSH/45
======================================
  BP40IQ   500 KHz - 10-GHz   www.kl7uw.com
500-KHz/CW, 144-MHz EME, 1296-MHz EME
DUBUS Magazine USA Rep [hidden email]
======================================

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[Mike Reublin]

Ed,

The more you use it, the better it gets. I'm curious about your final
amp. What/where?

The mic bias info in on p52 of the manual in the Main menu functions
section, Mic Sel.

I found that downloading the pdf of the user manual and searching in
that was usually faster than trying to find stuff in the printed manual.

73, Mike NF4L

Edward Cole wrote:

> I received my kit from Elecraft by UPS on Thursday, March 11 (took
> one week delivery which is normal for UPS-ground to AK).  I waited
> until Monday to begin assembly so that an anti-static matt could be
> delivered.  I finished on Thursday evening with approx. 11-hours of
> actual time spent.  I took my time and read instructions fully before
> performing each step.  Excellent instructions (and I used to be a
> tech writer for Hughes Aircraft so have some experience, here).  A
> step up from Heath kits in my opinion!
>
> I was very impressed how precisely the hardware alignment was made;
> no holes needed re-drilling or tweaking of panels to get things to
> fit.  Even the front panel went together pretty nicely considering
> the multiple connectors.  Problems?  The aux Rx was dead (no audio)
> at first then I realized that I had not calibrated the second
> synth.  I had a PL2 Error which cleared when the second synth. was
> calib.  Pretty complicated configuration process, which was helped by
> the sw once I got the USB/RS-232 cable drivers installed (that was a
> battle for short time on the Dell laptop -Vista).  Not clear start-up
> procedure: start sw, connect USB, power on radio (that last step
> allowed the sw to find the com-port assignment).  I could not find
> the configuration where one enables/disables mic bias (using Heil
> HM-10 mic), but adjusting mic gain and compression I finally saw some
> RF output (TUNE button worked right off).  I calibrated the Tx power
> to be a max of 16w out 80-15m, 8w on 10-6m.  Using Bird-43 100H
> element probably not too accurate at low levels.  I set mic=30,
> comp=15 and ALC peaks 5; good on air report on 80m net running only
> 12w!  I have not set either Rx or Tx equalizers, yet.  Speaker audio
> is a bit harsh sounding but I will use an old National Speaker,
> eventually.  Headphones sounded good.
>
> My K3/10 came with the KXV3, KBPF3 and KRX3, 13, 2.8, and 400-Hz on
> the main board and 13, 2.8-KHz filters in the aux Rx.  My main use
> will be on 144-eme and 1296-eme using transverters.  I installed the
> KTCXO3-1 for frequency accuracy at microwaves.  The dual Rx will
> permit using two 2m transverters for dual-polarity diversity
> reception with a sw program looking at a 13-KHz bandpass on USB (thus
> the two 13-KHz filters).  It will take till summer to get this fully
> installed and functional.
>
> I am also using the K3 on 500-KHz (WD2XSH/45) to drive a surplus 100w
> NDB xmtr (non-directional aircraft beacon).  The NDB was xtal
> controlled so I inserted drive at -6 dBm to move the unit to 495-510
> KHz.  The NDB is basically a linear amplifier with 46-dB gain.  The
> -3 dBm K3 output at the XVT Tx output will easily drive the NDB.
>
> And, of course the K3 will be used on HF and 6m.  I didn't chose the
> KPA-3 but instead am building a 300w amplifier kit that cost me about
> $150.  It runs on 28-vdc using two MRF-422 xsistors.  I am curious to
> try psk-31 on 14.070 with 12w (should be fine with my 3-element
> beam).  CW memory scripts will be handy for running CW beacons on 500-KHz.
>
> I purchased an ARR P50VDG preamp (again with a savings over Elecraft
> model).  It hasn't arrived so haven't tried 6m, yet.
>
> So, with two days of use ---- yeah!  Especially liked tuning out QRM
> with the DSP filters.  The 400-KHz filter is great on CW!
>
> 73, Ed - KL7UW, WD2XSH/45
> ======================================
>   BP40IQ   500 KHz - 10-GHz   www.kl7uw.com
> 500-KHz/CW, 144-MHz EME, 1296-MHz EME
> DUBUS Magazine USA Rep [hidden email]
> ======================================
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
> 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:[hidden email]

This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html

[DF1AL]

Ed -
congrats to your K3 ! I agree with your positive comments on it. You wrote you were going to set two transverters for diversity reception on 2m. Did you suceed?
I have the internal K144XV and wish to facilitate a second external transceiver connected to the SUB-RX through the KXV3A. However, after configuring the K144XV for XV1 and the external transceiver for XV2, when I switch to 144mc, the K3 always adresses XV2 and does not leave me a chance to choose which transverter to use with either RX input.
What did you do to solve this issue?
Any suggestions welcome!
73 Joe DF1AL

[Bill W4ZV]

Edward R. Cole wrote

I could not find
the configuration where one enables/disables mic bias (using Heil
HM-10 mic), but adjusting mic gain and compression I finally saw some
RF output (TUNE button worked right off).

Page 20 of the latest manual under "MIC".

73,  Bill