On CW, I have used all of the K3 (contest conditions at both supreme and
cruddy locations), TS-590 (less trying conditions), and Ten-Tec Eagle (same
receiver as Orion+RX366). All are ballpark same price range. I own the
Eagle, and prefer its receiver and user interface, but others might have
different preferences and choose the competition especially if they want to
add a lot of options like the K3 can support.
Tim N3QE
On Tue, Jun 17, 2014 at 1:45 PM, Guy Olinger K2AV <k2av.guy@gmail.com>
wrote:
> It is interesting to see so many come down to three main players, the K3,
> the Orion/RX366, the TS590S.
>
> When I was getting ready to move off my MP, I listened to some number of
> Orions before the K3's were out. I always liked what I heard. What swayed
> me to K3 was W4ZV exchanging his Orion for a K3, the rather large size of
> Orion (bigger than MP) vs. K3, and the K3's true diversity with identical
> RX, though there was a wait for the sub RX to get in production.
>
> Some people at the time complained about the button/menu system of the K3.
> I had owned a K2 for a while, so I already had the mind set, and found
> learning the K3's set easier than learning the Orion. I have used the Orion
> in a Multi-X contest environment, and after I learned controls found it
> quite satisfactory. However, it could not match a couple of tricks I
> learned with the K3. And even now, the Orion RX366 diversity, though
> considerably improved, does not quite rise to the level of the phase-locked
> equal circuitry diversity system in the K3.
>
> With continuing K3 CW use, I discovered that with the "400" and "250" eight
> pole roofing filters I could do a couple very useful things for CW. I set
> those up in the L3 filter configuration as 450 and 350 hz respectively and
> then carefully adjusted the offsets to align skirts with the DSP skirts at
> 450 and 350, which maximizes the overall skirt steepness.
>
> This created selectivity the equal of the dual Inrad filters in the MP for
> "500" and "250". So far K3 is the only radio I've listened to that can dupe
> the MP's super-steep skirt selectivity way down past 100 dB with dual
> Inrads. That is really hard to measure down there. My fuzzy perception is
> that the MP still has the K3 in this regard by just a fingernail or two.
> The K3's "400" and "250" filters are electrically identical to the "500"
> and "250" Inrad 8 poles used in the 8 MHz IFs in the MP. They differ only
> in the housing and physical connection configuration.
>
> For contesting, the 450 filter as one hears it is an ideal bandwidth for
> running. Particularly with the steep skirts, if you don't hear up and down
> with that, you are a polite distance from your adjacent neighbors. Someone,
> even *very* loud up 500 Hz, just isn't there. If you get squeezed, drop
> down to 350 width and use the shift a little to preserve your slot. The 350
> with DSP narrowed to 200 or 150, has been able to dig out everything I've
> been after in contests search and pounce. But the standard understanding of
> very steep skirts is only one benefit.
>
> The very steep skirts sharpen up key clicks to spikes. The K3's AGC with
> current firmware is immune to spikes. Using NB (noise BLANKER) with "IF
> OFF" and dSP t1-7, t2-7, or t3-7, the combination pretty much kills key
> clicks. The effect of the three NB settings is an increasing softness to
> the CW signal. Not something I like to listen to casually, but I easily
> tolerate soft CW in the context of that vs loud key clicks driving down
> signals with AGC, particularly given the nasty signals that can slide up
> close to you in a contest. Soft CW does not seem to reduce intelligibility
> any, just has all the audiophile appeal of cold mush to the palate.
>
> The various K3 advantages listed throughout this thread are enormous
> advantages in a serious contest. Outside of serious DX and contesting?
> Probably overkill for a great many, and the far less expensive TS590S can
> carry the freight.
>
> I have one frequently travelling acquaintance that had owned both K3 and
> TS590S and who finally settled on an Elecraft KX3 with the companion 100
> watt amp which is easily remoted. There is this temptation to not consider
> the KX3 a serious radio due to the size, but he says the only thing that
> gets him sometimes is hearing extremely strong signals low pitched on
> opposite sideband. He says his mind objects to that but it's never kept him
> from copying anyone.
>
> Should note that he uses others' K3's brought to the scene of Multi-X
> contesting. Since these days it's easy to come by
> just-in-case-left-in-the-car spare K3's brought by the operator mob, he
> doesn't have to support the party with a major rig.
>
> 73, Guy.
>
>
> On Tue, Jun 17, 2014 at 11:08 AM, Barry N1EU <barry.n1eu@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > I was an early adopter of the K3 and installed all the hardware audio
> > updates as they were released. I'm picky about audio and the K3 ssb rx
> > audio was quite good. At http://n1eu.com/K3/K3_notes.htm you can see
> > before/after audio spectral plots showing the differences the hardware
> > updates and rx equalization made. Please ignore much of the other
> outdated
> > info on that Web page.
> >
> > As others have indicated, K3 tx audio needs more careful setup (as
> compared
> > to other radios) in terms of sufficient audio drive and compression in
> > order to maintain consistent output power level.
> >
> > The K3 with subrx does quite a good job of pulling out the weak ones from
> > the noise on topband, as does the Ten-Tec Orion/RX366. I'd rate these
> two
> > as top of the heap. The new DDC/DUC SDRs are promising (Flex 6700,
> > ANAN-100D) but are not quite ready for prime time in terms of diversity
> > reception and full feature set, GUI, etc.
> >
> > 73, Barry N1EU
> > _________________
> > Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
> >
> _________________
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