|
New to Ham Radio?
My Profile
Community
Articles
Forums
News
Reviews
Friends Remembered
Strays
Survey Question
Operating
Contesting
DX Cluster Spots
Propagation
Resources
Calendar
Classifieds
Ham Exams
Ham Links
List Archives
News Articles
Product Reviews
QSL Managers
Site Info
eHam Help (FAQ)
Support the site
The eHam Team
Advertising Info
Vision Statement
About eHam.net
|
|
Show all reviews of the Elecraft K3
|
|
You can write your own review
of the Elecraft K3.
|
|
VE1RGB
|
Rating: 5/5
|
Oct 16, 2009 10:07
|
Send this review to a friend!
|
|
International Product Support; Adding the KRX3
|
Time owned: more than 12 months
|
As one of the early adopters of the Elecraft K3 (#095) it did not take me long to confirm my expectations, based on my two K2s, that this radio would be ideal for contesting (among other things). I wrote an early eHam review based on my first experiences in that activity. Since that time, tonnes of other folks have discovered the same thing and I suspect that the K3 now represents the gold standard for contesters.
Since those early days, a couple of more things have transpired with my K3 that justify an additional review. They cover factors and features that I have only experienced recently, and both are worthy of comment because they are important considerations for those evaluating this radio for use in their stations.
1. International Support
For anyone who lives outside the United States, you do not need to be told that moving ham radio gear across international boundaries can be fraught with problems. We all have our own horror stories. Some of these problems are caused by us customers who fail to take preparatory steps to protect themselves in international transactions, but most of these problems are caused by USA vendors who do not understand the intricacies of international shipping and who fail to provide adequate documentation. In addition to potentially expensive trans-border snafus, there is also the issue of maintaining control of your radio and the work to be done to it while it is in transit and while it is in a vendor’s plant, and feedback about the work actually performed.
I accumulated a long list of mods I wanted done to my K3, so many that ultimately I reached the tipping point and decided I would send my K3 back to Aptos to have the second receiver installed and a host of other things done while it was there. This was my first exposure to what Elecraft calls their Return Service Authorization. Once more I found myself pleasantly surprised by the company.
The Elecraft RSA is a controlled document which is very comprehensive in terms of explaining what the customer needs to do prior to shipping a radio across the border and makes definition of the work requirements very easy. It covers a number of topics including warranty considerations. The process, if this were a company registered to a quality management program such as ISO 9001, would be found compliant in all respects. One releases this document to Elecraft with a good deal of confidence that there will be no surprises between the time the radio leaves and the time it returns.
My radio came back from Aptos under a controlled shipping process with tracking capability. The shipping documentation precisely said all the right things so far as import taxes and duties are concerned. The radio was accompanied by a detailed test report from the bench at Aptos and left no question in my mind about what had been done to the rig, or its condition after their 24-hour burn-in test and subsequent function test, or its configuration. The only hiccup I experienced was that the radio had been left with TX INH turned on, a condition that leads to surprises if one is unfamiliar with that setting especially when the K3 is connected to a computer and a logging program. A quick review of the CONFIG menu sorted that out for me.
International customers should have no concern about dealing with this company. They have the process down cold.
2. Diversity Receive
Never having owned a radio with two receivers let alone a rig with identical receivers with matched filters, I was quite unprepared for the goose-bumps that I got when I first used the K3 in diversity receive.
The second receiver, of course, makes working split easy but to me that is a minor advantage compared with what happens to an operator’s ability to manage their antennas. With three prime transmitting/receiving antennas (wires and verticals) and two receive-only antennas here, it is not always easy nor quick to assess the optimum mix of antennas for any given situation. And of course there are so many variables affecting antenna operation from day –to-day that the right mix of antennas is never the same twice in a row. Diversity receive, however, makes it dead simple to do A/B/C/D antenna comparisons and grab the right combo with a couple of button pushes. I see this as a major advantage in my small contest station.
Probably the most dramatic of all the things one can do with a K3 is diversity receive with two different receiving antenna types. Being able to listen to a signal’s level decay on the Beverage while simultaneously rising on the K9AY loop, or being able to listen to signals from one part of the world in one ear on one antenna connected to the main receiver, and at the same time signals from another part of the world on the second receiver using a different antenna and heard in the other ear, is a thrill not easily described. It is very dramatic. And very, very useful to a DX-er or contester. Adding the KRX3 and a set of filters to match the main receiver is not inexpensive, but it is an improvement worth saving up for. The K3 with a second receiver becomes an entirely different, and an order of magnitude better, radio.
Count me among those who have been captivated by the Elecraft experience.
|
|
Product is in production.
|
|
Email Subscription
You are not subscribed to this review.
Subscribe!
My Subscriptions
Subscriptions Help
|
If you have any questions, problems, or suggestions about Reviews
please email your Reviews Manager
|
|
|
