Hi Bill,
I found myself in very much the position you described. I operate DX on CW most of the time and sort of semi serious contesting but no skimmer or other assistance. So, with limited hobby funds available I had to decide, 2nd RX or P3. I argued that adding the visual dimension to a band is much more important than a second RX at this stage. I found in the past when I had 2 complete contest stations running that the listening to one rig on the left and the other on the right, or even switching between the 2 was fine but man is that exhausting and would ware me out before long. The stress on the sense of hearing was just too much and VERY fatiguing.. I ordered my P3 middle July and expect delivery towards end of Sep - - and am very excited.
The A/B and REV feature of the K3 is more than sufficient to work split pile ups etc.
Remember that there is a requirement to have the KXV3A installed and also the resistor swop on the main board. I did both in preparation for the P3. The resistor swap was a bit tricky, but with a LOW wattage, very sharp tipped soldering iron and a good magnifier, worked out fine. I did not shatter the existing resistor with side cutters to remove it. Instead I used an Exacto knife tip under one end of the resistor while heating and it let go, did the other end and was left with 2 clean pads for receiving the new SM component. To hold the replacement in position for soldering I used a 'third hand' and a modified spring out of a ball pen. I bent the spring so that it had a point facing down, which held the new resistor in place for soldering.
Vidi - ZS1EL
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