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Re: K3 mods by I7SWX

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alorona

Re: K3 mods by I7SWX

I read the whole thing, too. It appears that the improvements are measurable...
the only question is, "Is it worth the trouble?" It is obviously an awful lot of

work. Another question one must answer is, "Am I willing to accept the decrease
in my K3's resale value?" after you are done cutting traces on boards and so
forth.

Have you ever heard your K3 overloading due to strong signals? Would you even
know what it sounded like if it were happening? If not, I doubt these mods are
worth it.

I'm sure there are cases where overload does occur but it isn't common.

It would have been cool to hear recordings of the same signal on both K3s to
hear the difference.

Al W6LX

> Hi!
> I just read all about the I7SWX mods and I was wondering what Elecraft's point
>
> of view is in this? Are these mods really a major improvement?
>
> 73's Twan - PA0KV
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Gary Gregory-2

Re: K3 mods by I7SWX

Maybe Wayne might weigh in.

I have only ecperienced an overload once. A mobile passing by decided to
call me during a qso. I was not impressed.

I would wonder what the tradeoff might be, if any.

I will not be modifying my k3 anytime soon. If it aint' broke, don't mess
with it.

73

Gary
Vk1ZZ
K3, KX3, KPA500-FT, KAT500-FT,P3.
On 29/04/2013 1:48 PM, "Al Lorona" <[hidden email]> wrote:

> I read the whole thing, too. It appears that the improvements are
> measurable...
> the only question is, "Is it worth the trouble?" It is obviously an awful
> lot of
>
> work. Another question one must answer is, "Am I willing to accept the
> decrease
> in my K3's resale value?" after you are done cutting traces on boards and
> so
> forth.
>
> Have you ever heard your K3 overloading due to strong signals? Would you
> even
> know what it sounded like if it were happening? If not, I doubt these mods
> are
> worth it.
>
> I'm sure there are cases where overload does occur but it isn't common.
>
> It would have been cool to hear recordings of the same signal on both K3s
> to
> hear the difference.
>
> Al W6LX
>
> > Hi!
> > I just read all about the I7SWX mods and I was wondering what Elecraft's
> point
> >
> > of view is in this? Are these mods really a major improvement?
> >
> > 73's Twan - PA0KV
> ______________________________________________________________
> 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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tnnyswy

Re: K3 mods by I7SWX

This subject was discussed a good bit about a month ago.

Wayne also had contributed to the discussion.
Take a look in the archives for the discussion.

((((73)))) Milverton.

>________________________________
> From: Gary Gregory <[hidden email]>
>To: Al Lorona <[hidden email]>
>Cc: Elecraft List <[hidden email]>
>Sent: Monday, April 29, 2013 12:14 AM
>Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 mods by I7SWX
>
>
>Maybe Wayne might weigh in.
>
>I have only ecperienced an overload once. A mobile passing by decided to
>call me during a qso. I was not impressed.
>
>I would wonder what the tradeoff might be, if any.
>
>I will not be modifying my k3 anytime soon. If it aint' broke, don't mess
>with it.
>
>73
>
>Gary
>Vk1ZZ
>K3, KX3, KPA500-FT, KAT500-FT,P3.
>On 29/04/2013 1:48 PM, "Al Lorona" <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
>> I read the whole thing, too. It appears that the improvements are
>> measurable...
>> the only question is, "Is it worth the trouble?" It is obviously an awful
>> lot of
>>
>> work. Another question one must answer is, "Am I willing to accept the
>> decrease
>> in my K3's resale value?" after you are done cutting traces on boards and
>> so
>> forth.
>>
>> Have you ever heard your K3 overloading due to strong signals? Would you
>> even
>> know what it sounded like if it were happening? If not, I doubt these mods
>> are
>> worth it.
>>
>> I'm sure there are cases where overload does occur but it isn't common.
>>
>> It would have been cool to hear recordings of the same signal on both K3s
>> to
>> hear the difference.
>>
>> Al W6LX
>>
>> > Hi!
>> > I just read all about the I7SWX mods and I was wondering what Elecraft's
>> point
>> >
>> > of view is in this? Are these mods really a major improvement?
>> >
>> > 73's Twan - PA0KV
>> ______________________________________________________________
>> 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
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>
>This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>
>
>

wayne burdick

Re: K3 mods by I7SWX

Administrator

In reply to this post by Gary Gregory-2

>>> I read the whole thing, too. It appears that the improvements are
>>> measurable...the only question is, "Is it worth the trouble?" It is obviously an awful
>>> lot of work.

The short answer is probably no -- it's not worth the effort unless you really need to eek out a few dB of additional headroom in a radio that already has in excess of 100 dB of close-in dynamic range. There is also a claim of improved MDS on some bands. To investigate this, one of our engineers is doing careful before/after measurements of I7SWX's replacement mixer. On his first attempt, he found the noise floor to be much higher than with the original K3 mixer. He's working with the designer to see if this is an anomaly.

73,
Wayne
N6KR

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