Dayton 2015 Report - Unofficial

W9OY

As Mighty Joe might say:

And I was thinking to myself,
"This could be Heaven or this could be ****"

I just read a review of man's best $15000 analogue radio and they had to wrap every line going into the thing in a toroid.  I would call that depressing.  However I spent Saturday knocking off CW DX on 17M from my little dinky 55 watt i3 office computer using onboard graphics plugged into my HDTV, LAN'd to my 6500 on the other side of the house.  I would call that remarkable.

My super duper direct conversion KX3 **** **** SDR!!! has no better image rejection than my 35 year old single conversion TS 820 had.  (60 dB)  Go figure!  I think they each cost me about the same amount of money.
 
I guess the beauty is in the eye of the beholder

73  W9OY

Walt - KZ1F

And Elecraft says the K3 blows the doors off the KX3. They said a lot of other things too but there is absolutely no way I will repeat that here. 
@Howard - you should maybe talk to Rob Sherwood, or, or, or. Clearly I haven't so much as made a dent.
Dr Dr, every time I **** my head against the wall, it aches. ...Then stop banging your head against the wall. :-) We can agree though on the rest of the Jethro Tull Song though.

Steve K9ZW

Lee

If it is the article I think you a referring to, the Flex-5000A that lives there is toroid ladened, and a guest Flex-6700 had to be protected from the stray RF. 

The situation there is complex, not bad enough to be horribly unhealthy, but just at the edge of serious.

It's complicated there.

73

Steve  K9ZW

W9OY

Steve  

Sherwood's list was referred to and the point becomes if you spend $15000 for the #3 listed radio and then have to put 10 toroids on it to make it work what did you really buy?  What you bought was a radio designed specifically to reach #3 on Sherwood's test.  This is called marketing, not engineering. Sherwood's test is something designed to simulate something so comparisons on some parameters can be made.  A simulation is not a perfect analogue of "the thing" it pretends to simulate.   It merely generates some numbers on a spreadsheet.  Sherwood himself repeatedly cautions to this idea regarding over interpreting what he publishes.  

Walt, 

As to Elecraft's opinion why would I pay any attention?  They promulgate the delusion the K3 is a SDR!  This is also known as marketing.  I'm sure it's a very good radio but it is what it is.  The K3 is a roofing filter radio.  A fine roofing filter radio that generates really good numbers for Rob's spreadsheet.  So why not just be proud of designing man's best analogue roofing filter spreadsheet number generator?   Even the KX3 is a roofing filter radio.  I find that hilarious.  

73  W9OY

Walt - KZ1F

I know Lee, I know...why would one ever let facts get in the way of a comfortable,  heart felt opinion. I've already ceded to Howard that everything that FRS markets is the new best thing, all other's distant seconds or far worse.

One mistake I've made and, apparently, have been making for awhile now, is trying to discuss anything with a cult member. I should probably stop trying to discuss stuff with people on here also. So, today is as good a day as any to say, that stops now.
Really, right now.

Steve K9ZW

I quite agree with Rob on reading WAY too much into testing vs. actual field use.

In the case of #3 I think it more that the quirks of the designed, including a need to be in the top group - if not the actual top - in testing, drive the design.

I guess I wanted to point out in a well designed shack without self-inflicted problems from over complexity, that the Toroid-Treatment most likely wouldn't be needed.  At the shack written up if all the other gear were disconnected and only the test radio cabled up, there would still be problems as there is almost no actual ground available because of the type of bedrock the shack is built upon.  Not pretty and not unexpected to have to put Toroids on the mic cable in that shack. 

We also have to remember there are a lot of QSOs made and awards/contests won with radios that don't even fare that well in Rob's testing.

I prefer the 6700 to the test radio, though if I were to do an "all in one box" & computerless shack the test radio would be tops in my short list of transceivers.

Of course YMMV,

73

Steve

K9ZW

W9OY

Walt. Did you read anything I wrote? I said the k3 tests the best for it's design style. Why does it have to pretend to be a sdr?

Bill -VA3WTB

Lee, seems to me Elecraft feels threatened by the SDR radios and they need to sell their radio as one. I don't understand why there is so much discussion about the K3 Vs Flex. I would think it would be other SDR radios we can compare with, not Elecraft.

Mark Griffin

I never thought that this conversation would go on for as long as it has. Yes, I own a K3 and have owned one for 5 years. I use it for day to day as well as contesting. I find it very easy to use once you get familiar with what button controls which function.

Would I call a K3 a SDR, not exactly. The K3 does not need software to run. The Flexradio does, because SDR is Software Dependent Radio. So, if you don't have the software, your Flexradio will not operate. I personally do not own a Flex as of yet. I am looking to purchase one this year to see what the merits of SDR is. 

With the K3, the software enhancements are what one would call firmware. I'm not a programmer but I would guess the firmware enhancements make the hardware work better. And the software enhancements with SmartSDR allow the Flexradio to do certain things also.

I don't think that Elecraft is feeling threatened by Flexradio. Each product has their own advantages and disadvantages. And as a consumer whether you choose to buy a K3 or a Flexradio depends on what you want to achieve with that particular radio.

One thing I would love to see is some third party competition with writing a software program that could compete with SmartSDR. I know, Flexradio probably has patents galore to stop that, but as of late there seems to be issues with the latest version.

I'm, sure there may be some who disagree with my analysis and some who agree.with what I have said. Either way, both radio's are frontrunners in their own rights. I guess I just don't get wrapped up in discussing which radio is better. Mark Griffin, KB3Z

Tim - W4TME

I am closing this topic since the responses are getting off base from the initial praise topic.