KX3 - My first time to play with one on an antenna.

[K5WA]

A friend asked me to install the antenna tuner and paddle options on his new
KX3 and I jumped at the chance to play with one...after installing the
tuner/paddle, of course.  As a disclaimer, I have 3 K3s and a K2 of my own
so I'm definitely a long time Elecraft cool-aid drinker but this KX3 was
SWEET!  

It was fairly intuitive to operate/setup given my K3 exposure and it sounded
great in my Bose headset as well as the internal speaker.  I saw the post a
few days ago from a guy that felt his KX3 was buzzing and I have to think he
had something wrong because this one sounded great.  I had no problem using
the speaker to operate on CW or SSB.  I adjusted the AGC settings to my
liking from my experience with the K3 AGC settings.  It sounded great.

I also had the programming cable from my K3's 2M option and decided to see
if it fit the KX3's RS-232 port.  Sure enough, Elecraft used a consistent
standard and I got the latest firmware loaded for my friend.  Loading was a
breeze and no problems occurred.

I'm not a QRP type guy but I tried the KX3 at 10 watts and semi-easily made
contacts with whoever I wanted on CW, SSB and PSK (with paddle) over a three
hour period this afternoon with the best DX being an LY on 15M and PY on
20M.  That may not sound like much but my home antenna is simply a 40M
dipole wrapped around a 25' tree...so I was impressed that the tuner could
get it resonant for the KX3's 10 watts.

Now, what I didn't like was the VFO noise on 15M and up.  I know Elecraft
engineers are working on this but if you tune around a lot, it is annoying.
I'm a tuner-arounder (we talk funny in Texas) and I had to turn on the VFO
noise filter as well as limit bandwidth to make it tolerable.  This was with
my Bose Noise Cancelling headset which is admittedly very sensitive.  When I
switched to the speaker, I had to listen hard to hear the noise.  It was
very acceptable and almost not noticeable except on 6M.  I would assume
non-noise cancelling headsets might act closer to the speaker than my
sensitive noise cancelling ones.  The manual says it is noticeable on "quiet
bands" and I guess that means crowded bands.  The bands were NOT crowded
today.  I don't know the electronics behind the cause but it was baffling to
have an extremely quiet VFO rotation below 15M and noisy at 15M and up.  I'm
sure a fix is in the works.  

Also, the rig mounted paddle is probably not what you would want to use for
long 35 wpm QSOs.  I found it a bit crude for extended CW work but the KX3
was designed with trail hopping in mind so I can understand it being rugged
over artistic (eye of the beholder not withstanding).  I made my contacts
and adjusted the paddle several times to reach an acceptable compromise.

One thing I never figured out was under the CW WGHT menu setting.  I found
selection 5 (VFO NOR/OFS) to be the only "additional function" that worked
in this menu.  I'm not sure if it has not been implemented yet or I misread
the instructions.  I seem to remember in the early days of the K3 that some
features in the manual were not yet in the firmware and maybe this is the
case here.  I don't read the reflector very closely unless I see something
that affects me so maybe there has been a full blown thread previously and I
missed it since I didn't have a KX3 (still don't have one of my own).

Bottom line: Would I buy one?  You betcha!  I'm just holding off till I
finish my K3/0 remote project which hasn't progressed off my home workbench.
Sneaking more UPS boxes in the door without setting off the XYL alarm is
tough when projects are stacked up on the bench.   ;-)

My two cents for the day.  YMMV.

73,
Bob K5WA

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