K3 completed to QRP stage
The K3 is almost finished. All that’s left to do is install the 100-watt PA and the fans. As a QRP rig, it is complete and I’ve had two QSOs with it.
I’ll put the PA in Wednesday after work, do final alignments and it should all be done at that point. Rather than disconnecting the FT840 right away though, I plan on doing some A/B tests with the two rigs just to allow me to get a real world idea of how much better the K3 is.
My rotary encoder arrived from the Czech Republic today so building up my next ATS-3 will be the next project on the block. The plan is to build it as a non-portable rig, ie a bigger case, bigger buttons, the rotary encoder and a Volume knob.
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Congrats John on the K3. Fabulous rig and just the right size! Sold all my Icom and Yaesu rigs…am now exclusively Elecraft. I like the modular engineering design so I can upgrade feature/functionality on my schedule and budget. Also like the ease of firmware upgrades…a lot of new performance enhancements have occurred in firmware over the past several years. Good luck, enjoy the rig, and start saving $$ for the 2nd receiver! 73, Guy
Thanks Guy – nice to hear from you! I thought you’d be done with that /2 by now and back in your native land…
A lot of big name DXers have sold their rigs after having the K3 & that is what finally pushed me over the edge. I still have a couple issues to sort out with it before installing the PA so way too early to start thinking about options yet but I think the next options will be external – a kilowatt and a 160m antenna by next fall.
I’m in love with the QSK though and already wondering how I got along w/o it all those years. Amazingly smooth – better than the QSK on some of my monoband QRP kit rigs.
73, John