K3 - on the bands

Now I am concerned about the performance of my K3.  This weekend...signals were weak and at times "wattery" on 20 meters.  I wonder what other people thought.  There was very little propagation to Europe...heck...even to Oh or MI.  So, are the bands crappy or should I have an issue with my K3, coax, or antennas.  Yes, I could work people, but the 20 meter band was not very good.  Is that right or am I off?

Lee - 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?
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[N5GE]

On Mon, 31 Aug 2009 08:48:46 -0700 (PDT), Lee Buller <[hidden email]>
wrote:

>Now I am concerned about the performance of my K3.
> This weekend...signals were weak and at times "wattery" on 20 meters.  
>I wonder what other people thought.  There was very little propagation to
>Europe...heck...even to Oh or MI.  So, are the bands crappy or should I
> have an issue with my K3, coax, or antennas.  Yes, I could work people,
> but the 20 meter band was not very good.  Is that right or am I off?
>
>Lee - K0WA
[snip]


The bands were not good over the weekend.  My experience was the same
as yours from 30m up, except for 17m which seemed pretty good, but not
as good as usual.

Tom, N5GE

[hidden email]
K3 #806, K3 #1055, PR6,
XV144, XV432, KRC2,
W1 and other small kits.
http://www.n5ge.com
http://www.swotrc.net

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[Robin Diane Goldstein]

OMG, Lee!  sounds like your K3 has contracted the dread Ham Flu Virus
(close relative to swine flu, but you need to take a test -before-)
i'll be happy to take it off your hands for $100... you can send the
rig and $100 to...

(smile)

seriously though (comedians rule: never say 'seriously' unless you're
going to tell another 'joke) propagation is pretty much awful pretty
much everywhere.  if you don't already use it, N0HBH has a nice
little widget that'll give you current conditions (A index, K index,
sunspots plus a whole bunch of other info) and 'predicted' band
behavior, here:

http://www.hamqsl.com/solar.html

G4ILO has something similar here:

http://www.g4ilo.com/webprop.html

and qso.net has a rolling display that shows current F2 max compared
the average for the same time of day, here:

http://qsonet.com/propadex.html

i've grabbed all three and put them on a simple page that i can
easily view on my iphone, and i'm happy to share the link

http://bit.ly/sun24

like the Beatles sang, "got to admit its getting better... its
getting better all the time (it couldn't get no worse)"

cheers
robin (K9RDG)

On 8/31/09, Lee Buller wrote:

>Now I am concerned about the performance of my K3.  This
>weekend...signals were weak and at times "wattery" on 20 meters.  I
>wonder what other people thought.  There was very little propagation
>to Europe...heck...even to Oh or MI.  So, are the bands crappy or
>should I have an issue with my K3, coax, or antennas.  Yes, I could
>work people, but the 20 meter band was not very good.  Is that right
>or am I off?
>
>Lee - K0WA
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[P.B. Christensen]

> Now I am concerned about the performance of my K3.

You may want to consider purchasing the Elecraft XG2 RF generator.  With
this device, you can record and compare a 1 uV signal level on 80m, 40m, and
20m.  Better still, use the XG2 in conjunction with the AT1 switched
attenuator to really get the XG2's output down to the K3's MDS levels.  The
next time you feel the K3 is sub-performing, simply connect the XG2 to the
K3 and compare previously recorded notes.

Paul, W9AC

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