K3 RX Audio
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Hi All
I am allmost ready to order my K3 but I keep reading about people that are unhappy with the RX audio, Is this still a problem or has there been changes made to slove it, Can someone point me to a good guide on how to set the RX up to remove the harsh sounding audio. I will mainly be using a headset as DXing is my main interest. Thanks Trevor EI2GLB ______________________________________________________________ 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 |
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Trevor,
I purchased a used K3 (s/n 281) a bit over two years ago and have never had a complaint about receive audio. I love this rig and will, in all likelihood, never buy another rig again. Good luck with your purchase decision. 73, --Ian Ian Kahn, KM4IK Roswell, GA EM74ua [hidden email] K3 #281, P3 #688, KPA500 #1468 HRD v5.x/6.0 Test Team On Fri, Jul 19, 2013 at 7:16 AM, Trevor Dunne <[hidden email]>wrote: > Hi All > > I am allmost ready to order my K3 but I keep reading about people that are > unhappy with the RX audio, > > Is this still a problem or has there been changes made to slove it, Can > someone point me to a good guide on how to set the RX up to remove the > harsh sounding audio. > > I will mainly be using a headset as DXing is my main interest. > > > Thanks > Trevor > EI2GLB > ______________________________________________________________ > 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 |
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In reply to this post by Trevor Dunne
Trevor
My #930 has always sounded nice to me with a pair of high end sennheiser headphones with far less background hiss than either the ts480 or IC7000 which preceded it. I did the dsp board swap a couple of years ago and that made it even more pleasant to listen to. In my opinion, even for its size, the built in speaker in the k3 is disappointing and I don't use it. 73 Stephen G4SJP Full of typos from my iPhone On 19 Jul 2013, at 13:16, Trevor Dunne <[hidden email]> wrote: > Hi All > > I am allmost ready to order my K3 but I keep reading about people that are unhappy with the RX audio, > > Is this still a problem or has there been changes made to slove it, Can someone point me to a good guide on how to set the RX up to remove the harsh sounding audio. > > I will mainly be using a headset as DXing is my main interest. > > > Thanks > Trevor > EI2GLB > ______________________________________________________________ > 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 |
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In reply to this post by Trevor Dunne
Hello Trevor,
The audio of K3 may be ok for CW but it is only acceptable for SSB voice mode. Comparing K3 with my Icoms, I would prefer the audio from my Icoms. Having said that, I still used K3 in the recent IARU contest because of it excellent selectivity. I used CM500 during the contest. Actually, I was not quite care about the audio during the contest as long as I could copy weak signals among the big guns. Apart from audio, the manual notch of K3 is NOT within AGC loop and I consider it is the major short coming of its design. During the contest, I had a strong carrier adjoining my desire weak signal, the strong carrier desensed the AGC making the copy difficult. K3's manual notch was useless in this situation. I eventually chose the turn off the AGC to cope with this difficult suitation. TNX & 73, Johnny VR2XMC ________________________________ 寄件人︰ Trevor Dunne <[hidden email]> 收件人︰ "[hidden email]" <[hidden email]> 傳送日期︰ 2013年07月19日 (週五) 7:16 PM 主題︰ [Elecraft] K3 RX Audio Hi All I am allmost ready to order my K3 but I keep reading about people that are unhappy with the RX audio, Is this still a problem or has there been changes made to slove it, Can someone point me to a good guide on how to set the RX up to remove the harsh sounding audio. I will mainly be using a headset as DXing is my main interest. Thanks Trevor EI2GLB 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 |
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In reply to this post by Trevor Dunne
I am mostly a rag chewer and enjoy "armchair copy" audio. To that end, I
found the K3 was sadly lacking in good receive audio. Too much hiss and too tinny sounding. In a word, "tiring" to listen to for long periods of time. I thought about giving up and going back to my trusty TS480 with its inherent excellent audio. However, as good as the 480 is, when the chips are down for lousy conditions, the K3 shines. It is so flexible in operation. Therein lies the K3's strengths - flexible. I spend a long time trying many different settings with the K3 (learning a lot about the K3's operations along the way), I eventually found some settings of the K3's menus that do the job for me. My settings can be found at: http://www.w2blc.net/K3.htm However, note these are my settings, and you may not like them. They are meant for the 75 and 40 meter rag chewer - not the typical DX or contest settings. Your enjoyment may vary. I had a long-term power outage here the other day and had to resort to using the 480 (which had been gathering dust for several months). It works very well and does the job well for me - however - (yes, however) it just doesn't do as well as the K3 when it comes to summer static and adjacent channel interference. It doesn't have a P3 either. This got a little longer than I intended, but the K3 is the best rig I have ever used - and I have been using for over well fifty years. Bill W2BLC ______________________________________________________________ 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 |
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Bill,
Are you using headphones or a speaker? And can you please describe? 73, Ted W4NZ -----Original Message----- From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Bill Sent: Friday, July 19, 2013 9:48 AM To: [hidden email] Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 RX Audio I am mostly a rag chewer and enjoy "armchair copy" audio. To that end, I found the K3 was sadly lacking in good receive audio. Too much hiss and too tinny sounding. In a word, "tiring" to listen to for long periods of time. I thought about giving up and going back to my trusty TS480 with its inherent excellent audio. However, as good as the 480 is, when the chips are down for lousy conditions, the K3 shines. It is so flexible in operation. Therein lies the K3's strengths - flexible. I spend a long time trying many different settings with the K3 (learning a lot about the K3's operations along the way), I eventually found some settings of the K3's menus that do the job for me. My settings can be found at: http://www.w2blc.net/K3.htm However, note these are my settings, and you may not like them. They are meant for the 75 and 40 meter rag chewer - not the typical DX or contest settings. Your enjoyment may vary. I had a long-term power outage here the other day and had to resort to using the 480 (which had been gathering dust for several months). It works very well and does the job well for me - however - (yes, however) it just doesn't do as well as the K3 when it comes to summer static and adjacent channel interference. It doesn't have a P3 either. This got a little longer than I intended, but the K3 is the best rig I have ever used - and I have been using for over well fifty years. Bill W2BLC ______________________________________________________________ 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 |
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In reply to this post by Bill Clarke
Ok, I see it on your website.
73, Ted W4NZ -----Original Message----- From: Ted Bryant [mailto:[hidden email]] Sent: Friday, July 19, 2013 11:02 AM To: '[hidden email]' Subject: RE: [Elecraft] K3 RX Audio Bill, Are you using headphones or a speaker? And can you please describe? 73, Ted W4NZ -----Original Message----- From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Bill Sent: Friday, July 19, 2013 9:48 AM To: [hidden email] Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 RX Audio I am mostly a rag chewer and enjoy "armchair copy" audio. To that end, I found the K3 was sadly lacking in good receive audio. Too much hiss and too tinny sounding. In a word, "tiring" to listen to for long periods of time. I thought about giving up and going back to my trusty TS480 with its inherent excellent audio. However, as good as the 480 is, when the chips are down for lousy conditions, the K3 shines. It is so flexible in operation. Therein lies the K3's strengths - flexible. I spend a long time trying many different settings with the K3 (learning a lot about the K3's operations along the way), I eventually found some settings of the K3's menus that do the job for me. My settings can be found at: http://www.w2blc.net/K3.htm However, note these are my settings, and you may not like them. They are meant for the 75 and 40 meter rag chewer - not the typical DX or contest settings. Your enjoyment may vary. I had a long-term power outage here the other day and had to resort to using the 480 (which had been gathering dust for several months). It works very well and does the job well for me - however - (yes, however) it just doesn't do as well as the K3 when it comes to summer static and adjacent channel interference. It doesn't have a P3 either. This got a little longer than I intended, but the K3 is the best rig I have ever used - and I have been using for over well fifty years. Bill W2BLC ______________________________________________________________ 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 |
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In reply to this post by Bill Clarke
Maybe I'm just deaf to the hiss everyone complains about, but I have to say my impression of K3 receive audio is considerably different. I do have the modified board, etc. And I haven't used the internal speaker since the first day I finished the radio.
I do use a pair of RCA 40-5035 speakers that were sold by RatShack some years ago but are long discontinued. These look like the old Minimus 7 but are larger and MUCH better, with a 5" speaker and leaf tweeter. (I have 4 of these in the shack, and use them on everything). The K3 has enough gain to drive them with plenty of audio. In any case, the audio is full, clean, lacking in hiss, and just generally good. I do keep the bandwidth opened up to 3Khz or more if conditions are suitable, and the station(s) on the other end aren't using a straw for a transmit audio filter. I generally find that if the receive audio is "tinny" it's because of what's being transmitted … YMMV, of course Grant NQ5T On Jul 19, 2013, at 8:47 AM, Bill <[hidden email]> wrote: > I am mostly a rag chewer and enjoy "armchair copy" audio. To that end, I found the K3 was sadly lacking in good receive audio. Too much hiss and too tinny sounding. In a word, "tiring" to listen to for long periods of time.\ ______________________________________________________________ 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 |
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In reply to this post by Trevor Dunne
Trevor Dunne wrote:
> I am allmost ready to order my K3 but I keep reading about people that are unhappy with the RX audio, > > Is this still a problem …. Hi Trevor, No, it is not still a problem. When the K3 first shipped, it had a few issues affecting audio that have all since been corrected. First, we added a balanced audio low-pass filter to the DSP board to remove sampling artifacts above 8 kHz that some operators could hear. Next, we made two rounds of firmware changes to improve in-band audio IMD. These changes included new AGC algorithms and a bug fix that corrected AGC attack/decay linearity. The K3's speaker amplifier is a type-AB linear device that can put out considerable power into a pair of 4-ohm speakers. While it's true that amplifiers in this class can have some low-level IMD products in the -60 to -80 dB range, I personally cannot hear them, and I have excellent hearing. The headphone amplifier is fully class A and will be even cleaner. What we hear from most K3 owners is how much they enjoy the full-stereo output of the radio, which applies to both speakers and headphones. We provide audio effects unique to the K3, including simulated stereo and left/right phase inversion (AFX MD menu entry), and full control over main/sub RX audio panning (L-MIX-R menu entry). These features can reduce fatigue and create a much richer audio experience. There is a small statistical probability that I'm biassed, so seek other opinions as well :) 73, Wayne N6KR ______________________________________________________________ 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 |
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On 7/19/2013 8:45 AM, Wayne Burdick wrote:
> No, it is not still a problem. I'm a retired audio professional, and I've always been happy with the K3's audio. I have always used headphones for serious operating, and have outboard speakers for "armchair" monitoring. The only issues I have had with the K3 audio relate to really dumb implementation of the I/O (RF chokes in series with cable shields, transformers where they are not needed, 600 ohm resistors in series with transformer primaries, 600 ohm termination of inputs), some of which have been corrected. 73, Jim K9YC ______________________________________________________________ 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 |
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In reply to this post by Trevor Dunne
>...I found the K3 was sadly lacking in good receive audio. Too much hiss and
>too tinny sounding... "tiring" to listen to for long periods of time. My sediments exactly, when I first got my K3 (#1823). I'm an ex-audio pro too. However, after the audio board upgrade, and the 'newer' software (4.51?), I'm happy with the audio quality. Definitely a worthwhile mod. Only one thing left to do to make me ecstatic - separate audio gain menu settings for headset and speakers. "Lo" gain setting is best for my headset, but nowhere near loud enough for a speaker (I've tried many external speakers). "High" gain setting hurts my ears inside my headset, but has good level for speaker monitoring while I'm in the shack. You could consider this a "feature request". Ralph, VE7XF ______________________________________________________________ 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 |
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In reply to this post by Stephen G4SJP
Trevor,
With the 8 band EQ settings I think most operators either forget or are unfamiliar with how much the received (perceived?) audio can be tailored to the individuals hearing. Sure you can use stereo headsets (which I do) and or use the internal speaker provided. Again, audio is really dependent on the individuals hearing and this of course varies widely. I have Tinitus (no, I am not complaining, well, too much) and this reduces somewhat my ability to "hear" many of the frequencies "others" might hear but having said that, the K3 produces good quality audio IF you take the time to adjust the audio via the EQ, AGC, Slope and other subsets as detailed in the manual. I doubt any internal speaker in any of the current crop of offerings will produce a full rich sounding audio and I will leave it to "others" to comment on why as I think most of us understand why anyway. The CM500 headset does a real nice job for me and I have also used stereo computer speakers as well. Both work well and the internal speaker is OK but as others will testify it is not designed or intended (my opinion only) to produce broadcast quality audio. It is a communications device. After market Pro Audio gear from Behringer and such used for transmit doesn't help anyone's receive audio in my view, it just consumes bandwidth and on the P3 it does not look real flash either. I have tried changing the settings in the EQ when listening to these operators and it does improve the audio quality somewhat but at the expense involved for those using Pro-Audio gear I don't see the "bang for your buck" justification at all. Just my rambling thoughts on the subject...YMMV...:-) Regards, Gary (Deaf as a post) On 19 July 2013 21:32, Stephen Prior <[hidden email]> wrote: > Trevor > > My #930 has always sounded nice to me with a pair of high end sennheiser > headphones with far less background hiss than either the ts480 or IC7000 > which preceded it. I did the dsp board swap a couple of years ago and that > made it even more pleasant to listen to. In my opinion, even for its size, > the built in speaker in the k3 is disappointing and I don't use it. > > 73 Stephen G4SJP > > Full of typos from my iPhone > > > On 19 Jul 2013, at 13:16, Trevor Dunne <[hidden email]> wrote: > > > Hi All > > > > I am allmost ready to order my K3 but I keep reading about people that > are unhappy with the RX audio, > > > > Is this still a problem or has there been changes made to slove it, Can > someone point me to a good guide on how to set the RX up to remove the > harsh sounding audio. > > > > I will mainly be using a headset as DXing is my main interest. > > > > > > Thanks > > Trevor > > EI2GLB > > ______________________________________________________________ > > 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 > -- *Gary - VK1ZZ Skype: Gary.VK1ZZ http://www.qsl.net/vk1zz Motorhome Portable The Shack* *Elecraft K3 P3 Panadapter KPA500FT KAT500FT** * ______________________________________________________________ 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 |
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In reply to this post by Ralph Parker
Yes, please! Irritating when I've been on speaker and then put on
headphones and blast myself with my own sidetone. A fixed L-R balance adjustment somewhere in a menu would be great too, for guys like me who have one weak ear. Can't find a headset that I like that also has individual volume controls. 73 -- Carl WS7L On Fri, Jul 19, 2013 at 3:49 PM, Ralph Parker <[hidden email]> wrote: > Only one thing left to do to make me ecstatic - > separate audio gain menu settings for headset and speakers. > "Lo" gain setting is best for my headset, but nowhere near loud enough for > a speaker (I've tried many external speakers). > "High" gain setting hurts my ears inside my headset, but has good level for > speaker monitoring while I'm in the shack. > > ______________________________________________________________ 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 |
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Hmmmm...that would be a huge improvement for all I reckon.
I have always had to be careful when switching from speaker to headphones. Didn't always turn out too good though. Gary On 22 July 2013 16:04, Carl Clawson <[hidden email]> wrote: > Yes, please! Irritating when I've been on speaker and then put on > headphones and blast myself with my own sidetone. > > A fixed L-R balance adjustment somewhere in a menu would be great too, for > guys like me who have one weak ear. Can't find a headset that I like that > also has individual volume controls. > > 73 -- Carl WS7L > > > On Fri, Jul 19, 2013 at 3:49 PM, Ralph Parker <[hidden email]> wrote: > > > Only one thing left to do to make me ecstatic - > > separate audio gain menu settings for headset and speakers. > > "Lo" gain setting is best for my headset, but nowhere near loud enough > for > > a speaker (I've tried many external speakers). > > "High" gain setting hurts my ears inside my headset, but has good level > for > > speaker monitoring while I'm in the shack. > > > > > ______________________________________________________________ > 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 > -- *Gary - VK1ZZ Skype: Gary.VK1ZZ http://www.qsl.net/vk1zz Motorhome Portable The Shack* *Elecraft K3 P3 Panadapter KPA500FT KAT500FT** * ______________________________________________________________ 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 |
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In reply to this post by Trevor Dunne
Thank you all that replied to me direct and via the mailing list, There is too many to reply to,
There was a good balance between positive and negative, But I think I can be happy to proceed with getting a K3 and not worry about this issue. Thanks again Trevor EI2GLB From: Trevor Dunne <[hidden email]> To: "[hidden email]" <[hidden email]> Sent: Friday, 19 July 2013, 12:16 Subject: K3 RX Audio Hi All I am allmost ready to order my K3 but I keep reading about people that are unhappy with the RX audio, Is this still a problem or has there been changes made to slove it, Can someone point me to a good guide on how to set the RX up to remove the harsh sounding audio. I will mainly be using a headset as DXing is my main interest. Thanks Trevor EI2GLB ______________________________________________________________ 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 |
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Hi All,
Just wondered if anyone had a spare top cover for a K2 complete with all the fittings that they may have spare after building and installing a KPA100. I have installed my KPA100 and KAT100 into a EC2 enclosure and need a complete cover to finish the project. The original top cover did not come with the K2/KPA100 when I bought it s/h. 73 Tim gm4lmh ______________________________________________________________ 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 |
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For sale a M-Audio Delta-44 Professional 24 bit, 96khz, 4 port in/4 out
sound card. Card plugs into a PCI bus and uses an external interface unit which is included. Detailed specs and information in the manual at http://www.m-audio.com/images/global/manuals/Delta44_Manual.pdf Asking $65 which includes priority postage. Paypal OK 73 Bob W7AVK ______________________________________________________________ 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 |
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