Tony, I'll comment further when I get home. 

I suspect the fatigue is the band noise on USB. Is that so?

I recommend and have my 8th band equalizer -16. 

You didn't say how you were running hi/lo cut. 

You cannot run hi cut higher than about 2.4 or the noise becomes objectionable. 

I adjusted I think my slow agc to medium to prevent the band noise from coming back in between pause in speech. I'll check these settings when I get home and advise my eq and agc settings. 

I spent 3 years trying many things. 

I even tried a external eq. 

I have no problem with the sound of received speech, just the noise bugs me. Only on USB. 

I finally gave up and run hi cut usually no higher than 2.4 for a width of 2.2. 

I also find using a gap NR device on the lowest setting is nice to take the edge off. I keep the k3 NR set up up for aggressive NR but rarely use it. 

73

Mike R

Find me on "Zello", a walkie talkie or handi talkie type app. I'm listed as KE5GBC. I'm mostly on late at night. 

On Aug 4, 2015, at 10:53 AM, "'N2TK, Tony' tony.kaz@... [Elecraft_K3]" <Elecraft_K3@...> wrote:

 

Before I get started, let me assure you I drink the Cool-Aid. I have two K3’s and a KPA500 and I really like them. They have done me well both at home and KP2M.

 

I had talked to a few well known contesters who have lead butts and can camp out for long periods over a contest weekend either on SSB or CW. These folks have drunk the Cool-Aid and have K3’s. They had borrowed either  Icom 7600 or 7700 rigs and ran in parallel with their K3’s for multiple contests. The one common high point made about the Icoms were that the audio is much less fatiguing after operating many hours.

 

So, my question, can the K3 be setup to sound like an Icom? Is this just a matter of setting up the receive audio bandpass filters? Or is it something else?

My thoughts, based on feedback I get is to setup one of my K3’s to sound like a 7600 and do a direct comparison and see which one is less fatiguing.

 

I realize the K3’s NR won’t be as smooth as the Icom’s NR. That would be tough to match.

 

And I understand all the other differences between Icom and Elecraft.

 

I am not trying to poke a hornet’s nest. Just trying to make sure these other folks and I are setting up the receiver correctly to get the best out of our K3’s. When I camp out for >40 hours for a weekend contest if there is something I can do to reduce fatigue, I am all ears.

 

Here is how I setup the receive audio bandpass

SSB
1,2  -16

3,4,5  0

6  +3

7  -3

8  -6

 

CW

1,2  -16

3  0

4, 5  +3

6  -6

7  -10

8  -16

 

And even though they are pretty old, #311 and #1435, both K3’s are setup with all the latest mods.

 

And for in-close signals, the K3 excels.

 

73,

N2TK, Tony