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Nifty Ham Accessories Plus Opt booklet

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Mike Zbrozek

Nifty Ham Accessories Plus Opt booklet

Hello Group-

I am currently working on building my K3 w/sub rx followed by
finishing off the P3 Pan Adapter. I have found that building this
rig is very time consuming with all the tiny screws, etc. Its like the
designer of this kit made things difficult with such construction.
In other words trying to put 10 lbs of stuff in a 5 lb bag.
Placing a daughter board upon RF PCB board with only
sighting the holes of the RF Pcb stand offs. I am ref
to the gen cov rx kbpf3. There are three separate mating
connectors that are involved with this operation.

I was wondering if its worth the added cost to purchase the fol:
Nifty Ham Accessories - K3 plus options.
Elecraft P3 Pan Adapter - Mini Manual Op Guide.

As you know the K3 comes with a Op book. Some guys have
told me its worth buying this laminated booklet? Why?

Step by step slowly I build::::::::

73
Mike K8XF
K3 Ser Nbr 8865
Recd 2-24-2015

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Ken G Kopp

Re: Nifty Ham Accessories Plus Opt booklet

Hi Mike!

I found the assembly of the K3 to be quite easy. It took me about four
hours.

There are after-market manuals by KE7X for almost all of the Elecraft
products ... available on the Elecraft website ... that far surpass the
Nifty
manuals. See the KE7X website for more information.

73

Ken - K0PP
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drewko

Re: Nifty Ham Accessories Plus Opt booklet

In reply to this post by Mike Zbrozek

One word: magnetic screwdriver (well, two words...)

73,
Drew
AF2Z

On Sun, 01 Mar 2015 07:32:33 -0500, you wrote:

>
>
>Hello Group-
>
>I am currently working on building my K3 w/sub rx followed by
>finishing off the P3 Pan Adapter. I have found that building this
>rig is very time consuming with all the tiny screws, etc. Its like the
>designer of this kit made things difficult with such construction.
>In other words trying to put 10 lbs of stuff in a 5 lb bag.
>Placing a daughter board upon RF PCB board with only
>sighting the holes of the RF Pcb stand offs. I am ref
>to the gen cov rx kbpf3. There are three separate mating
>connectors that are involved with this operation.
>
>I was wondering if its worth the added cost to purchase the fol:
>Nifty Ham Accessories - K3 plus options.
>Elecraft P3 Pan Adapter - Mini Manual Op Guide.
>
>As you know the K3 comes with a Op book. Some guys have
>told me its worth buying this laminated booklet? Why?
>
>Step by step slowly I build::::::::
>
>
>73
>Mike K8XF
>K3 Ser Nbr 8865
>Recd 2-24-2015
>
>

Jerry

Re: Nifty Ham Accessories Plus Opt booklet

>
>
>Hello Group-
>
>I am currently working on building my K3 w/sub rx followed by finishing
>off the P3 Pan Adapter. I have found that building this rig is very
>time consuming with all the tiny screws, etc. Its like the designer of
>this kit made things difficult with such construction.
>In other words trying to put 10 lbs of stuff in a 5 lb bag.
>Placing a daughter board upon RF PCB board with only sighting the holes
>of the RF Pcb stand offs. I am ref to the gen cov rx kbpf3. There are
>three separate mating connectors that are involved with this operation.
>
>I was wondering if its worth the added cost to purchase the fol:
>Nifty Ham Accessories - K3 plus options.
>Elecraft P3 Pan Adapter - Mini Manual Op Guide.
>
>As you know the K3 comes with a Op book. Some guys have told me its
>worth buying this laminated booklet? Why?
>
>Step by step slowly I build::::::::
>
>
>73
>Mike K8XF
>K3 Ser Nbr 8865
>Recd 2-24-2015
>
>

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Jerry

Re: Nifty Ham Accessories Plus Opt booklet

In reply to this post by Mike Zbrozek

One suggestion for the sub receiver installation is to cover the holes in
the shielding box so that those tiny screws and nuts don't fall through
causing you extra time and effort of removing things to find the little
suckers!

I speak from experience !!

Best regards,

Jerry, W1ie

-----Original Message-----

From: Elecraft [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of drewko

Sent: Sunday, March 01, 2015 10:06 AM

To: [hidden email]

Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Nifty Ham Accessories Plus Opt booklet

One word: magnetic screwdriver (well, two words...)

73,

Drew

AF2Z

On Sun, 01 Mar 2015 07:32:33 -0500, you wrote:

>

>

>Hello Group-

>

>I am currently working on building my K3 w/sub rx followed by finishing

>off the P3 Pan Adapter. I have found that building this rig is very

>time consuming with all the tiny screws, etc. Its like the designer of

>this kit made things difficult with such construction.

>In other words trying to put 10 lbs of stuff in a 5 lb bag.

>Placing a daughter board upon RF PCB board with only sighting the holes

>of the RF Pcb stand offs. I am ref to the gen cov rx kbpf3. There are

>three separate mating connectors that are involved with this operation.

>

>I was wondering if its worth the added cost to purchase the fol:

>Nifty Ham Accessories - K3 plus options.

>Elecraft P3 Pan Adapter - Mini Manual Op Guide.

>

>As you know the K3 comes with a Op book. Some guys have told me its

>worth buying this laminated booklet? Why?

>

>Step by step slowly I build::::::::

>

>

>73

>Mike K8XF

>K3 Ser Nbr 8865

>Recd 2-24-2015

>

>

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Mike K2MK

Re: Nifty Ham Accessories Plus Opt booklet

In reply to this post by Mike Zbrozek

Hi Mike,

Regarding manuals. If you are the kind of guy who will sit down with the manual and read every page and simultaneously perform functions on the rig then you don't really need the nifty books. Depending on how much you use your rig you will learn everything you need to know eventually. This may be 4 hours for some users and 4 months for others. After that you rarely ever have to refer to the printed manual. However, it's a good idea to keep the latest PDF version of the manual on your PC. This is very handy since you can search for words.

73,
Mike K2MK

Mike Zbrozek wrote

partial quote:

I was wondering if its worth the added cost to purchase the fol:
Nifty Ham Accessories - K3 plus options.
Elecraft P3 Pan Adapter - Mini Manual Op Guide.

As you know the K3 comes with a Op book. Some guys have
told me its worth buying this laminated booklet? Why?

73
Mike K8XF

daleputnam

Re: Nifty Ham Accessories Plus Opt booklet

I have built a number of Elecraft radios... and I use mine daily.
I have and use the reference manual quite often, I find the information
easily accessible, and the hardened pages allow frequent use, without
showing a lot of wear.
Some of the K2's functions are needed, and adjusted from the easy access
of the nifty accessory manual, one's that aren't touched all that often.

Have a great day,

--... ...--
Dale - WC7S in Wy

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w7aqk

Re: Nifty Ham Accessories Plus Opt booklet

In reply to this post by Mike Zbrozek

Mike and All,

The manuals that Elecraft puts out are very substantive. However, some
folks, including me, have a problem at times finding the portion of the
manual that directly addresses the question I might have. That's probably
just me, but often I find it more effective to refer to the downloaded
manual, then use the search feature on my computer to get me to the right
place. I think as much as anything it might be that I tend to find things
more quickly when there is a really substantial "Index". There is one for
the Elecraft rigs, but I'd prefer them to be a lot bigger. Of course, just
reading the manual thoroughly is perhaps the best way to get fully familiar
with a rig, and it's features, but a lot of us don't take the time to do
that, do we???

As for 3rd party manual aids, I can tell you that Fred Cady has produced
some excellent reference material for several Elecraft products. I highly
recommend them. The "Nifty Manuals" are handy, but I view them as being
more like "Cliff Notes", that you can carry around to remind you of various
features. They tend not to be substantive as the why's and wherefores' of
the radio's operation, but they do serve as a good reminder of what control
generally does what. In order to make his manuals truly useful, Fred had to
give the content a lot of thought, and do all he could to make them truly
justifiable as an accessory. I think he has done that! Fred seems to have
an exceptional "knack" for organization and strong content. I have Fred's
manuals for both my K3 and my KX3, and I use them regularly. The biggest
problem with them is, perhaps, the fact that Elecraft keeps upgrading the
radios, so not all of the newest features may be covered. Nevertheless,
these manuals are a great way to find and answer to your problem/question
fairly quickly. No, they are not a "mandatory" accessory since the Elecraft
manuals are pretty complete. It's just a matter of convenience, and
accommodating the idiosyncrasies of those of us who maybe don't think just
like the manual author might think.

By the way, anyone who may tend to be critical of Elecraft's manuals, as to
thoroughness (which I am not!), might want to take a look at some offerings
by other manufacturers. Just in the last day or so, I've had occasion to
peruse through the manual for an Omni VII, which a friend of mine has
acquired, and was having some problems figuring out that radio. The Omni
VII manual seems to be decent, but I think it is rather "skinny", at least
compared to Elecraft's manuals. Anyway, that was my perception. Also, I've
had some Yaesu radios in the past where the manuals were fairly substantive,
but the radios themselves were excessively complicated (in my opinion) with
all the necessity to dig deeply into menus for regularly required changes.
Now, all modern radios seem to require a lot of menu adjustments in order to
deal with the plethora of features contained therein, but I personally feel
that Wayne and Eric gave a lot of forethought to accommodating a lot of
features plus ease of access to those features. If you will take the time
to become as fully familiar as possible with each control on an Elecraft
radio, and what all it will do, you will go a long way to making your life
easier. Many/most of the menu items on Elecraft radios are "set them once
and forget them" type items, if you even need to do anything! Almost all of
the common adjustments are right there on the front panel!

In any event, the complexity of most modern radios almost necessitates that
we get all the help we can to properly use them. So, well organized 3rd
party offerings are probably a good thing most of the time, but some are
better than others.

Dave W7AQK

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Vic Rosenthal

Re: Nifty Ham Accessories Plus Opt booklet

I'll add my 2 cents -- I have the latest Elecraft manuals available on my computer, but I find myself picking up the Cady manual first. It has a great index, and is written in a "this is how you do it" style. The official manuals have all the information in them, but the Cady book expands and explains.

Vic 4X6GP/K2VCO

> On Mar 2, 2015, at 8:17 AM, dyarnes <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> Mike and All,
>
> The manuals that Elecraft puts out are very substantive. However, some folks, including me, have a problem at times finding the portion of the manual that directly addresses the question I might have. That's probably just me, but often I find it more effective to refer to the downloaded manual, then use the search feature on my computer to get me to the right place. I think as much as anything it might be that I tend to find things more quickly when there is a really substantial "Index". There is one for the Elecraft rigs, but I'd prefer them to be a lot bigger. Of course, just reading the manual thoroughly is perhaps the best way to get fully familiar with a rig, and it's features, but a lot of us don't take the time to do that, do we???
>
> As for 3rd party manual aids, I can tell you that Fred Cady has produced some excellent reference material for several Elecraft products. I highly recommend them. The "Nifty Manuals" are handy, but I view them as being more like "Cliff Notes", that you can carry around to remind you of various features. They tend not to be substantive as the why's and wherefores' of the radio's operation, but they do serve as a good reminder of what control generally does what. In order to make his manuals truly useful, Fred had to give the content a lot of thought, and do all he could to make them truly justifiable as an accessory. I think he has done that! Fred seems to have an exceptional "knack" for organization and strong content. I have Fred's manuals for both my K3 and my KX3, and I use them regularly. The biggest problem with them is, perhaps, the fact that Elecraft keeps upgrading the radios, so not all of the newest features may be covered. Nevertheless, these manuals are
a great way to find and answer to your problem/question fairly quickly. No, they are not a "mandatory" accessory since the Elecraft manuals are pretty complete. It's just a matter of convenience, and accommodating the idiosyncrasies of those of us who maybe don't think just like the manual author might think.
>
> By the way, anyone who may tend to be critical of Elecraft's manuals, as to thoroughness (which I am not!), might want to take a look at some offerings by other manufacturers. Just in the last day or so, I've had occasion to peruse through the manual for an Omni VII, which a friend of mine has acquired, and was having some problems figuring out that radio. The Omni VII manual seems to be decent, but I think it is rather "skinny", at least compared to Elecraft's manuals. Anyway, that was my perception. Also, I've had some Yaesu radios in the past where the manuals were fairly substantive, but the radios themselves were excessively complicated (in my opinion) with all the necessity to dig deeply into menus for regularly required changes. Now, all modern radios seem to require a lot of menu adjustments in order to deal with the plethora of features contained therein, but I personally feel that Wayne and Eric gave a lot of forethought to accommodating a lot of features plus
ease of access to those features. If you will take the time to become as fully familiar as possible with each control on an Elecraft radio, and what all it will do, you will go a long way to making your life easier. Many/most of the menu items on Elecraft radios are "set them once and forget them" type items, if you even need to do anything! Almost all of the common adjustments are right there on the front panel!
>
> In any event, the complexity of most modern radios almost necessitates that we get all the help we can to properly use them. So, well organized 3rd party offerings are probably a good thing most of the time, but some are better
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k6dgw

Re: Nifty Ham Accessories Plus Opt booklet

In reply to this post by w7aqk

I have Fred's K3 book which also includes information on the P3. I
bought the printed spiral-bound one, it lays flat and I make notes in it.

The Elecraft manuals are very good, but they are like all good
operators' manuals, they tend to be "control centric." That is, they
describe how to do each thing. I'm often not sure which choice I want
to make, why, or how it will work with other choices. Fred's book
answers those questions for me and is the perfect companion to the
Elecraft manual.

73,

Fred K6DGW
- Northern California Contest Club
- CU in the 50th Running of the Cal QSO Party 3-4 Oct 2015
- www.cqp.org

**Other than sharing a first name, I have no financial interest blah
blah ...

On 3/1/2015 10:17 PM, dyarnes wrote:
>
> As for 3rd party manual aids, I can tell you that Fred Cady has produced
> some excellent reference material for several Elecraft products. I
> highly recommend them.
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Mike Reublin NF4L

Re: Nifty Ham Accessories Plus Opt booklet

I bought the CD and went to Orifice Depot and had it printed, spiral bound. If you get the CD, you can load the .pdf and search it.

73, Mike NF4L

> On Mar 2, 2015, at 15:44, Fred Jensen <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> I have Fred's K3 book which also includes information on the P3. I bought the printed spiral-bound one, it lays flat and I make notes in it.
>
> The Elecraft manuals are very good, but they are like all good operators' manuals, they tend to be "control centric." That is, they describe how to do each thing. I'm often not sure which choice I want to make, why, or how it will work with other choices. Fred's book answers those questions for me and is the perfect companion to the Elecraft manual.
>
> 73,
>
> Fred K6DGW
> - Northern California Contest Club
> - CU in the 50th Running of the Cal QSO Party 3-4 Oct 2015
> - www.cqp.org
>
> **Other than sharing a first name, I have no financial interest blah blah ...
>
> On 3/1/2015 10:17 PM, dyarnes wrote:
>>
>> As for 3rd party manual aids, I can tell you that Fred Cady has produced
>> some excellent reference material for several Elecraft products. I
>> highly recommend them.
> ______________________________________________________________
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>
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