Topband: rigs for top band

[Tree]

On Fri, Aug 17, 2007 at 08:05:12PM -0700, steve d wrote:

>   Another mentioned the new K3. I know Elecraft really hit it right with  their K2 for a compact HF rig, the K3 just seems like an improvement  over the K2. Is it really a competitor in the high-end rig game? If, in  fact, it does.. I would rather pay less than $2k  than ~$4k HI. 

In a word - "YES!".

The K3 is not based upon the K2 at all.  It is a totally different animal.
It uses a first IF around 8 MHz and essentially your narrow crystal filter
is your roofing filter.  After that - everything is done with DSP (there 
have been 21 versions of the DSP code in the beta testing phase so far).

This hardware configuration should knock the socks off of a strictly SDR
which will suffer from strong nearby signals.  Using the K3 with a 400 Hz
filter has just been a pleasure to use - and the receiver sounds great.  I
am lucky to be one of a handful of beta testers - so it will be hard for you
to get your hands on one to try for a few months yet, but I assure you it 
will be worth the wait.

The specs have not been published yet, but from what I have seen so far, 
everyone will be happy (except perhaps some of the people trying to sell
radios that don't work quite as well for more money).

You will probably spend around $2500 for one once you get a CW filter and
a few other accessories (antenna tuner if you need it for example).  

So - keep it on your radar.  This little 8 pound box is not only easy to
use, but has the performance to turn many heads.

In DX news, I worked VK4, VK3 and VK6 earlier this week.  Been listening
for any signs of Europe - but none yet.  

73 Tree N6TR
tree at kkn.net