bpnjensen wrote:
Hey, Dave, thanks for bringing up the Elecraft K3 (I'm sure my wife
will thank you as well ;-) I just read the Receiver Topics section of
the page, and I can hardly believe my eyes. It looks like a RX dream
come true, even the XMTR notwithstanding.

I just have two questions - As I understand it, once in awhile it is
desirable to download improved software and programming from
Elecraft. Does this radio need to be always connected to a PC
otherwise, or is it perfectly fucntional as a stand-alone unit?

And, as configured in basic format, will it receive and properly
filter AM, or is that an add-on?

Thanks,
Bruce

I'd seriously considered the K3, but another Ham who owns a couple of
them told me he doesn't like them at all for sideband. He feels the
audio is rather thin.

So he uses his K3's for CW contest work, and he has a pair of Yaesu
FT-1000mp's for sideband.

I was on the Elecraft reflector for a couple months, and I can tell you
they seem to do updates to firmware on a weekly basis (maybe even more
often) but there was also some grousing that the updates all seem to be
for folks who use CW instead of phone.

You don't need to have the radio hooked up to a computer for operation,
but if you want to install every update, it might make sense to leave it
hooked up.

The General Coverage bandpass module is a $140 option. I believe you'll
also need a $126 6khz filter.

I ended up buying a Ten-tec Jupiter. The Omni VII has a stronger front
end (helpful when someone is running 1500w a couple khz away), but the
audio on the Jupiter is quite nice, and the fish finder is pretty neat.
I think I can just about shoehorn it into a car loaded with stuff for
a star party.