So far after a month of comparing the K3 with my Orion2 I have found nothing
that stands out between the two except for the following:
My K3 had everything except the second receiver. I thought $600.00 plus
filters was a tad overboard for me at this time.
1. Noise blanker is better on the K3 due to it's versatility. The O2 is
fixed at a value that sometimes annoys me on 160 CW in contests in that it
imparts QRM because of near by strong signals. Maybe TT can add a variable
noise blanker menu item? The K3 has 3 different pulse width settings with 7
different aggressive settings of the 3, Narrow, Medium, and Wide settings
each.
2. The sensitivity is about the same on either rig.
3. As far as I can tell the K3 may be a bit better on close work in but this
it isn't enough to throw my O2 overboard. My K3 has the 2.8kHz, 1.8kHz, and
the 400hz. My Orion2 has the optional 1.8kHz, 600kHz, and the 300kHz
filters.
4. K3, I miss my band stacking registers that the O2 has but since I use a
logging program with packet spots the stacking registers get screwed up
because of the clicking on a spot changes the stacking register assignments
so this is somewhat useless for me..
5. I miss my band buttons that my O2 has. K3 has a work around.
6. I miss my band scope that the O2 has but TT should address the latency of
it's display. I do have Lp-Pan hooked up to the K3 but I don't like SDR
operation. I only need a band scope display. I like knobs!
7. I find that the O2 is easier to operate but just a bit. Maybe it's the
larger knobs and controls, hi.
8. Of course the O2's display is superior.
9. I like the fact that the O2 displays the power out continuously in the
display. With the K3 one has press a knob but this is not a show stopper.
10. The noise reduction is a tad bit better on the K3. The K3 has 4
different settings with 4 values of aggressiveness in each.
11. The updates to firmware are updated more frequently on the K3.
12. Service is about the same, excellent, for both manufactures.
I'd say if one intends to go portable the K3 is a lock, obvious.
Other than that the noise blanker on the O2 is annoying as well as the
bandscope latency, as well as the band stacking register continual
re-assignment due to packet clicking. The band stacking should be fixed by
the user some how and not changed due to packet clicking.
Bottom line "I like them both!".
More to come!
George W2YJ
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