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#1
February 18th 08, 06:55 PM
posted to rec.radio.shortwave
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New kid on the block
There's a new kid on the block with the most amazing high end specs
and rave reviews from new owners on eHam It's the new Elecraft K3, see http://www.elecraft.com/news.htm http://www.elecraft.com/K3/K3_specs.htm http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/6673 The most amazing spec of this modestly priced radio (about US$1,850 with extra filters) is its superb narrow spaced dynamic range. This spec is supposed to make it a lot easier when you have our 9/10 khz MW splits, when say you are trying to get 1520 khz WWKB Buffalo N.Y. and 1521 khz Saudi Arabia is booming in next door. I can say from my own experience that DXing with my Icom IC-756PROIII is a hellava lot more convenient and easier than when I used to DX with my old Drake R8B. Of course my top DX mate Gary Deacon puts the lie to that by DXing with his FRG7 and Icom R71 and getting the most amazing results and recordings, but he has immense skill and years of experience, whereas even a yobo like me can pick up a top end radio and get good results much more easily with one of these top spec jobs. The K3 has other nice features like twin 32 bit DSP, only 1 amp drain on 12v DC and weighs in at only about 4 kgs/8 lbs, ideal for DXing at Seefontein or from your car. It can also have various filter options and can be assembled yourself at a cheaper price if you want to. This saves about $200 and requires no soldering, just component assembly that some do in 4 hours. The only drawbacks I can see is that it doesn't have the marvellous spectrascope of the top end Icoms and coverage starts on receive only at 500 Khz, so LW DXing is out = pity! Receiver test data 080215 from S = Sherwood http://www.sherweng.com/table.html P = Passport Q = ARRL QST mag 2/5 KHZ DYNAMIC RANGE NARROW SPACED dB 101S Elecraft K3 (with 200 Hz roofing filter) 100P/85S Icom IC-R9500 (100P is at 5 khz and 85S is at 2 khz spacing) 96S Flexradio SDR 5000 93Q Flexradio SDR-1000 82S AOR7030 80S Icom R7800 78S Icom R781 78Q/75S Icom IC-R756 PRO III 77Q/75S Icom 756 PRO II 77P Drake R8A/B 77S NRD 515 75S Drake R7 75S WJ-1000 74P WJ-8711 71S Icom 756 PRO 71S Drake R8 68S/66P NRD545 67S Icom R75 67S Drake SW8 64S Yaesu 7700 (similar to FRG7) 63S Yaesu FT2000 62S Icom R70/R71 55P Eton E1 portable 46S Ten Tec 340 43P WinRadio 313i Why these specs are of interest to listeners is that the number of top end receivers is fading fast, so the only alternative is to look for a value for money transceiver that will provide all the best that modern radio technology can offer. Have fun and good DX John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa South 33 d 47 m 32 s, East 20 d 07 m 32 s RX Icom IC-756 PRO III with MW mods Drake SW8 & ERGO software Sony 7600D, GE SRIII, Redsun RP2100 BW XCR 30, Sangean 803A. Antenna's RF Systems DX 1 Pro Mk II, Datong AD-270 Kiwa MW Loop, PAORDT Roelof mini-whip http://www.dxing.info/about/dxers/plimmer.dx PS - the Icom IC-7700 now has a delayed arrival in South Africa of end April. |
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#3
February 19th 08, 12:11 AM
posted to rec.radio.shortwave
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New kid on the block
But will it work in a Model T Ford? I never heard of that term ''yobo''
before.What does it mean Sparky? cuhulin |
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#4
February 19th 08, 01:33 PM
posted to rec.radio.shortwave
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New kid on the block
wrote:
There's a new kid on the block with the most amazing high end specs and rave reviews from new owners on eHam It's the new Elecraft K3, see http://www.elecraft.com/news.htm http://www.elecraft.com/K3/K3_specs.htm http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/6673 The most amazing spec of this modestly priced radio (about US$1,850 with extra filters) is its superb narrow spaced dynamic range. This spec is supposed to make it a lot easier when you have our 9/10 khz MW splits, when say you are trying to get 1520 khz WWKB Buffalo N.Y. and 1521 khz Saudi Arabia is booming in next door. I can say from my own experience that DXing with my Icom IC-756PROIII is a hellava lot more convenient and easier than when I used to DX with my old Drake R8B. Of course my top DX mate Gary Deacon puts the lie to that by DXing with his FRG7 and Icom R71 and getting the most amazing results and recordings, but he has immense skill and years of experience, whereas even a yobo like me can pick up a top end radio and get good results much more easily with one of these top spec jobs. The K3 has other nice features like twin 32 bit DSP, only 1 amp drain on 12v DC and weighs in at only about 4 kgs/8 lbs, ideal for DXing at Seefontein or from your car. It can also have various filter options and can be assembled yourself at a cheaper price if you want to. This saves about $200 and requires no soldering, just component assembly that some do in 4 hours. The only drawbacks I can see is that it doesn't have the marvellous spectrascope of the top end Icoms and coverage starts on receive only at 500 Khz, so LW DXing is out = pity! Receiver test data 080215 from S = Sherwood http://www.sherweng.com/table.html P = Passport Q = ARRL QST mag 2/5 KHZ DYNAMIC RANGE NARROW SPACED dB 101S Elecraft K3 (with 200 Hz roofing filter) 100P/85S Icom IC-R9500 (100P is at 5 khz and 85S is at 2 khz spacing) 96S Flexradio SDR 5000 93Q Flexradio SDR-1000 82S AOR7030 80S Icom R7800 78S Icom R781 78Q/75S Icom IC-R756 PRO III 77Q/75S Icom 756 PRO II 77P Drake R8A/B 77S NRD 515 75S Drake R7 75S WJ-1000 74P WJ-8711 71S Icom 756 PRO 71S Drake R8 68S/66P NRD545 67S Icom R75 67S Drake SW8 64S Yaesu 7700 (similar to FRG7) 63S Yaesu FT2000 62S Icom R70/R71 55P Eton E1 portable 46S Ten Tec 340 43P WinRadio 313i Why these specs are of interest to listeners is that the number of top end receivers is fading fast, so the only alternative is to look for a value for money transceiver that will provide all the best that modern radio technology can offer. Have fun and good DX John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa South 33 d 47 m 32 s, East 20 d 07 m 32 s RX Icom IC-756 PRO III with MW mods Drake SW8 & ERGO software Sony 7600D, GE SRIII, Redsun RP2100 BW XCR 30, Sangean 803A. Antenna's RF Systems DX 1 Pro Mk II, Datong AD-270 Kiwa MW Loop, PAORDT Roelof mini-whip http://www.dxing.info/about/dxers/plimmer.dx PS - the Icom IC-7700 now has a delayed arrival in South Africa of end April. 12 Watts is more like it. If that ICOM spectrum scope uses 150 Watts it needs to be rethought. Does the KW have an IF output? |
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#5
February 19th 08, 04:51 PM
posted to rec.radio.shortwave
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New kid on the block
I own a 1914 Model T Ford Runabout Roadster car I bought in November
1971 for $1,800.00 from a guy in Sioux Falls,South Dakota.He and his wife were moving to to Minneapolis and they couldn't take the car with them.I am not interested in installing a radio in the car though, the car sits in my shed in my back yard.The cheap AM/FM/Cassette radio I bought at a K-Mart store for my van in 1990 quit working years ago.I won't replace it though, nowadays listening to a radio while I am driving makes me nervous. cuhulin |
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#6
February 20th 08, 07:03 AM
posted to rec.radio.shortwave
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New kid on the block
Hi Guy,
Thanks for your well thought out and considered reply. The delay in the IC-7700 is indeed causing me to carefully rethink my options. Your tip about using it with the 756PROIII is indeed very useful and thought provoking = thanks for that. The K3 would land at my doorstep all charges paid at about $2,700, which is about half the price of the IC-7700. (that includes two filters and the general coverage option) I have carefully looked at the specs of the K3 and had eMail exchanges with Elecraft. The major disadvantage of the K3 is that it will not tune in 9 Khz steps, a marvellous feature available on the Icoms, and so necessary for MW DXer's. Also no LongWave, and I do like dabbling with the LW NDB beacons during winter. But as you say, it's low current draw, light weight and high specs make it ideal for DXpeditions. regards and 73's John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa South 33 d 47 m 32 s, East 20 d 07 m 32 s RX Icom IC-756 PRO III with MW mods Drake SW8 & ERGO software Sony 7600D, GE SRIII, Redsun RP2100 BW XCR 30, Sangean 803A. Antenna's RF Systems DX 1 Pro Mk II, Datong AD-270 Kiwa MW Loop, PAORDT Roelof mini-whip http://www.dxing.info/about/dxers/plimmer.dx On Feb 20, 7:08*am, "Guy Atkins" wrote: Hi John, Maybe the delay of the IC-7700 to South Africa will be fortuitous for you? It's giving you time to consider the Elecraft K3, I suspect! I have followed this radio's development "from a distance", and it sounds like the company is applying all the design lessons they learned with their earlier, simpler models. It's great to see them giving FlexRadio a run for the money... the competition is healthy and the radio enthusiast wins out. I've read most of the eHam.net reviews, and these two tidbits caught my attention: "The receiver is as good as the ICOM 7800 with the dynamic rage being much the same." " It's also possible, as I did on Aruba, to hook up the IF OUTPUT to the antenna input of the 756 Pro series, tune the latter to 8215 kHz, and use the Pro as a bandscope (a pretty expensive approach, but it works -- thanks to W0YK for that tip)." What would customs and duty add to a K3 purchase if you were to buy a fully-built one and had it imported? Perhaps the savings of the "value-priced" K3 + shipping + customs would be enough to let you buy it AND keep the 756 ProIII? That way you could use the ICOM's scope like was described above (although the IC-7700 has a far better scope in terms of zooming levels and resolution). I'm sure the K3's 12VDC operation and reasonable size and weight are attractive for DXpedition purposes. 73, Guy Atkins Puyallup, WA USAwww.perseus-sdr.blogspot.com wrote in message ... There's a new kid on the block with the most amazing high end specs and rave reviews from new owners on eHam It's the new Elecraft K3, see http://www.elecraft.com/news.htm http://www.elecraft.com/K3/K3_specs.htm http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/6673 The most amazing spec of this modestly priced radio (about US$1,850 with extra filters) is its superb narrow spaced dynamic range. This spec is supposed to make it a lot easier when you have our 9/10 khz MW splits, when say you are trying to get 1520 khz WWKB Buffalo N.Y. and 1521 khz Saudi Arabia is booming in next door. I can say from my own experience that DXing with my Icom IC-756PROIII is a hellava lot more convenient and easier than when I used to DX with my old Drake R8B. SNIP- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - |
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#7
February 20th 08, 07:48 AM
posted to rec.radio.shortwave
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New kid on the block
On Feb 19, 11:03*pm, wrote:
Hi Guy, Thanks for your well thought out and considered reply. The delay in the IC-7700 is indeed causing me to carefully rethink my options. Your tip about using it with the 756PROIII is indeed very useful and thought provoking = thanks for that. The K3 would land at my doorstep all charges paid at about $2,700, which is about half the price of the IC-7700. (that includes two filters and the general coverage option) I have carefully looked at the specs of the K3 and had eMail exchanges with Elecraft. The major disadvantage of the K3 is that it will not tune in 9 Khz steps, a marvellous feature available on the Icoms, and so necessary for MW DXer's. Also no LongWave, and I do like dabbling with the LW NDB beacons during winter. But as you say, it's low current draw, light weight and high specs make it ideal for DXpeditions. regards and 73's John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa South 33 d 47 m 32 s, East 20 d 07 m 32 s RX Icom IC-756 PRO III with MW mods Drake SW8 & ERGO software Sony 7600D, GE SRIII, Redsun RP2100 BW XCR 30, Sangean 803A. Antenna's RF Systems DX 1 Pro Mk II, Datong AD-270 Kiwa MW Loop, PAORDT Roelof mini-whiphttp://www.dxing.info/about/dxers/plimmer.dx On Feb 20, 7:08*am, "Guy Atkins" wrote: Hi John, Maybe the delay of the IC-7700 to South Africa will be fortuitous for you? It's giving you time to consider the Elecraft K3, I suspect! I have followed this radio's development "from a distance", and it sounds like the company is applying all the design lessons they learned with their earlier, simpler models. It's great to see them giving FlexRadio a run for the money... the competition is healthy and the radio enthusiast wins out. |
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