K3 and the ARRL DX 'test
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I gotta say, the K3 has made a contester out of me. I've been a ham since '78 and avoided contests like the plague for over 3 decades - too much "mush"...inseparable stations, endless noise, etc - who needs the fatigue?!
But November's CQWW and this weekend's ARRL DX contests have been pure fun for me. I started out sticking my toe in the water during 1 or 2 smaller contests, then bought the K3 just under a year ago. Man, what a difference. I now see the attraction - and the addiction. This was also the first time I've ever operated QRO (AL-811). A fly in the ointment had me back at 100 watts for a while and, while I missed the power level, I was back to QSK. I wish there was an amp that offered 500 watts *and* QSK - I hear there may be one coming soon...! I'm in the market. John AE5X http://www.ae5x.com/blog ______________________________________________________________ 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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John you can add a QSK-5 from Ameritron to your existing amp. Works great
with my AL-80B 73 Doug N3QW -----Original Message----- From: John Harper Sent: Sunday, February 20, 2011 5:40 PM To: Elecraft Subject: [Elecraft] K3 and the ARRL DX 'test I gotta say, the K3 has made a contester out of me. I've been a ham since '78 and avoided contests like the plague for over 3 decades - too much "mush"...inseparable stations, endless noise, etc - who needs the fatigue?! But November's CQWW and this weekend's ARRL DX contests have been pure fun for me. I started out sticking my toe in the water during 1 or 2 smaller contests, then bought the K3 just under a year ago. Man, what a difference. I now see the attraction - and the addiction. This was also the first time I've ever operated QRO (AL-811). A fly in the ointment had me back at 100 watts for a while and, while I missed the power level, I was back to QSK. I wish there was an amp that offered 500 watts *and* QSK - I hear there may be one coming soon...! I'm in the market. John AE5X http://www.ae5x.com/blog ______________________________________________________________ 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 John Harper AE5X
It's in field test, John. I used it during the ARRL DX and it was awesome. I
wish I had had more time to operate, but in the 6 hours I had available the KPA-500 made nary a hiccup. Perfect QSK, instant band changing, instant-on. It was as if the K3 suddenly became a 500+ watt xcvr. /Rick N6XI On Sun, Feb 20, 2011 at 2:40 PM, John Harper <[hidden email]> wrote: > > This was also the first time I've ever operated QRO (AL-811). A fly in the > ointment had me back at 100 watts for a while and, while I missed the power > level, I was back to QSK. I wish there was an amp that offered 500 watts > *and* QSK - I hear there may be one coming soon...! > > -- Rick Tavan N6XI Truckee, CA ______________________________________________________________ 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 John Harper AE5X
Yes, the K3 is a marvelous rig even for contest ops who have been doing contests
for years. Here is my story about "THE AMP!" I went into the house (my shack is attached on the back of the garage) to get some refreshments. I had place the AL82 into standby and went into the house. I came back out and dropped in the chair at the operating station and noticed there was a new station on the air...a Venezuela station. 15 meters! I swung the beam down there and started calling. He was new so there were a lot of stations calling. Worked him finally after about 20 minutes in the pileup. My amp is off to one side and I looked at it for a moment and realized I did not kick it out of stand-by. Worked the YV qith 18 watts! I made sure I had the amp on after that. I love sunspots! Lee - K0WA http://home.swbell.net/k0wa =========================================================== In our day and age it seems that Common Sense is in short supply. If you don't have any Common Sense - get some Common Sense and use it. If you can't find any Common Sense, ask for help from somebody who has some Common Sense. Is Common Sense divine? Common Sense is the image of the Creator expressing revealed truth in my mind. - John W. (Kansas) ______________________________________________________________ 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 John Harper AE5X
I know what you mean. I too have been a ham since the mid 1970's and NEVER worked any contests. This past summer I decided it was time to upgrade to a 21st century rig and decided on a K3/100 with just the standard 2.7 filter, which was recommended for my very casual operating, along with a new vertical antenna. Then, while browsing the software section of Elecraft's site, I found N3FJP's contesting sofware just in time for the Texas QSO party. I decided to see how many counties I could work, and the software, linked to the K3, made for super easy logging and dupe checking. Now, I'm hooked on contesting! After working another state party, I decided the 2.7 filter was not cutting it so got the 8 pole 1.8. Then after working some of the RTTY contest this month, decided the manual tuner I had was not working for quick QSY, so installed the ATU this past weekend. Of course, had to have the Yamaha cm-500 headset as well. I am still amazed at some of the stations I have pulled out of pile-ups with the K3. Since I don't really like using VOX, I will be adding a foot switch this week so will be ready to work some of the upcoming state qso parties this weekend. I am also counting the days until the CQ WPX next month. Amazing how a good radio can really change your perspective on operating. I've never been a DX chaser either but snaged some new ones this past weekend so can add DX chasing to my list of things I have missed out on while hamming. The only down side..... it's getting expensive. The second receiver is looking pretty good and the new KPA500 coming out is on my possible list as well. Will probably need a tower, beam antenna, second K3........
Thanks Elecraft for such a fantastic radio. Larry KE5MO |
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In reply to this post by John Harper AE5X
I subscribe to reflectors for the K & Y brands of radios. I haven't seen any posts
bragging about those rigs in the 'test. :-P 73, Mike NF4L On 2/20/2011 5:40 PM, John Harper wrote: > I gotta say, the K3 has made a contester out of me. I've been a ham since '78 and avoided contests like the plague for over 3 decades - too much "mush"...inseparable stations, endless noise, etc - who needs the fatigue?! > > But November's CQWW and this weekend's ARRL DX contests have been pure fun for me. I started out sticking my toe in the water during 1 or 2 smaller contests, then bought the K3 just under a year ago. Man, what a difference. I now see the attraction - and the addiction. > > This was also the first time I've ever operated QRO (AL-811). A fly in the ointment had me back at 100 watts for a while and, while I missed the power level, I was back to QSK. I wish there was an amp that offered 500 watts *and* QSK - I hear there may be one coming soon...! > > I'm in the market. > > John AE5X > http://www.ae5x.com/blog > > ______________________________________________________________ > 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 Rick Tavan N6XI
On 2/20/2011 6:50 PM, Rick Tavan N6XI wrote:
> It's in field test, John. I used it during the ARRL DX and it was awesome. I > wish I had had more time to operate, but in the 6 hours I had available the > KPA-500 made nary a hiccup. Perfect QSK, instant band changing, instant-on. > It was as if the K3 suddenly became a 500+ watt xcvr. As part of that field testing, I had a KPA500 for CQWW RTTY, with instructions to beat it up by running it flat out for the duration. Same excellent performance here. The fan came on at a medium low setting about half the time during those slow periods in the middle of the night when I was CQing for long periods with no answers, and the amp stayed cool as a cucumber! Setup was super simple. Coax plus PTT from the K3, set the K3 for power by band, set drive levels on each band to get the desired number of lights lit on the KPA500 output power display, and operate. Several times during the weekend I gave it a load that was a bit mismatched, and the protection circuitry kicked in. I either corrected the mismatch or dropped the power a dB or so, hit the reset button, and kept on going. Never lost any time, or even a QSO. This is a lovely, well-behaved amp. 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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