I have a suggestion about the PCB headers.  It would be nice if you could send with each new K3 kit a small tube of Caig.  www.caig.com  
I recommend treating each PCB header pin with Caig >> �DeoxIT� >>  in the K3 build. 
This will keep contact resistance low; lubricate the pins; and most importantly prevent Oxidation. 

For plated connectors, you may want to use Caig's ProGold instead of Caig's DeoxIT.

I think we were aware that this was likely to happen...
and, in spite of my earlier "grousing"... I am more than willing to
wait a while longer while the K3 is tweaked and furtehr refined.

Hat's off to Wayne and Eric.. the rest of the gang AND, of course,
the Beta testers...

News of the slip in the time line really is appreciate, Thanks for
keeping us up-to-date with the latest developments.

Like my grandfather used to say... "The best things in life are worth
waiting for." Of course,.. he was also fond of saying, "Never fry
bacon, naked."

73

Joe - WB1AIU

--- In Elecraft_K3@yahoogroups.com, "Eric C. Swartz"
<wa6hhq_lists@...> wrote:

Our field testers are a very diligent and experienced bunch. They've
been working hard (on your behalf, as well as theirs) to exercise
every possible K3 feature and uncover opportunities for refinement.

The firmware development team (Wayne, N6KR, and Lyle, KK7P) has been
putting in very long hours to keep up, and we've made some minor
component changes as well. As a result, important features like FSK
mode, text decode/display, flexible VOX control, KRC2 support and

many

others are being optimized under real-world conditions. We've also
verified our performance on multiple K3s both in the lab and on the
air. The field testers have really pounded on the user interface,

and

the tweaking we've done has made the radio both easier to use and

more

versatile.

The same engineers who are doing firmware and hardware development

are

also heavily involved in completing the user documentation. This is
why we haven't been able to release a draft owner's manual or

assembly

manual. We've got a lot of catching up to do on these tasks, so

we're

revising our target shipping date for the first K3 production run to
start at the end of August.

K3 materials purchasing and manufacturing is well underway and our
staff has been working hard to make sure all of the key K3

components

arrive in Aptos at the right time. This is a tremendous task, as you
might imagine, and they have done an excellent job hunting down

every

problem supplier and component. Our production staff will use the
extra time to build inventory and refine our automated K3 testing.
This will allow us to minimize any delay to the second and later
production runs. Our goal is to ship a stable, and high quality,
product starting with the first one out the door. We think you will

be

pleased with our results.

We appreciate your patience as we transition into full K3

production.

We'll keep you informed of our progress, and look forward to your
feedback on the manuals as they near completion. We've already had
many offers to proofread -- thanks!

73,
Wayne, N6KR
Eric, WA6HHQ

Hi Joe,

Of course,.. he was also fond of saying, "Never fry
bacon, naked."

More to the point(?): Never feed kittens, naked.


vy 73 de toby


PS: 6 to 8 week old kittens will climb your legs to reach the food faster, and
they have very sharp little claws....

Paul, this looks like a good idea and the products certainly look like they
will be useful. Could you recommend any particular item on this site - the
spray?
The pens?
Would normal and gold be useful or is just one type sufficient
Any comment would be helpful since I'll buy a few things, taking advantage
of one postage cost and the current exchange rate.


On 24/7/07 14:12, "Paul@N4LCD.com" <Paul@N4LCD.com> sent:

--
The problem with being sure that God is on your side is that you can't
change your mind, because God sure isn't going to change His. -Roger Ebert,
film-critic (1942- )

Paul, this looks like a good idea and the products certainly look like they
will be useful. Could you recommend any particular item on this site - the
spray?
The pens?
Would normal and gold be useful or is just one type sufficient
Any comment would be helpful since I'll buy a few things, taking advantage
of one postage cost and the current exchange rate.

I like the little bottle of ProGold with the brush in the cap, for wiping pins in connectors.

I also like the felt tip (chisel tip) pen for wiping flat contacts on PC Boards.

For large quanties of PC Boards, of course you'd use their ProGold cloths.

I have spray bottles, but they get the ProGold everywhere so I don't use them too much.

Also get some DeoxIT for unplated connectors.

I also like their Moving Contact Lubricant for getting rid of the scratchiness in pots.

Paul

>> I have a suggestion about the PCB headers. It would be nice if you
>> could send with each new K3 kit a small tube of
>> Caig. <http://www.caig.com >www.caig.com
>> I recommend treating each PCB header pin with Caig >>
>> "DeoxIT" >> in the K3 build.
>> This will keep contact resistance low; lubricate the pins; and most
>> importantly prevent Oxidation.
>
> For plated connectors, you may want to use Caig's ProGold instead of
> Caig's DeoxIT.

In am going to buy the K3. I LOVE QRP and SIX METERS. I also like to
buy American Made items. The K3 seems as though it was designed for
ME. I like the fact that get e-mails from this group from the dudes
that designed the thing AND they speak fluent English. Can
t get any better than that!!

de N3KHI

Thanks for the tips about Caig products.
But some recent reports suggest that a bit of corrosion may be trivial
compared to the long term effects of lead-free solder and the tin whisker
growth that can destroy useful equipment. It is interesting that
military/medical equipment is apparently exempt from the lead-free
requirement ..... because tin whisker damage is unacceptable.
Time for the K3 to be designated strictly MIL-SPEC, or does it escape the ban
because it is a "kit" --- as do the other kits ?
John G3JAG

In any event,  I doubt that the tin whisker issue would be a problem with this application. It is primarily an issue in gravity free environments and certain types of hermetically sealed and evacuated packaging used in aerospace applications.

 

Al WA6VNN

 

Hi.

I am very curious on how the K3's 8-band graphiq equalizer will
function. This is a very nice feature to have built-in to the rig. As
I understand, it will have separate settings for RX and TX. The
center frequencies for the 8 bands are 200Hz, 400Hz, 600Hz, 800Hz,
1200Hz, 1600Hz, 2400Hz and 3200 Hz. Only thing is that it might would
be good to have a 100Hz adjustment also, but only time will tell if
this is needed. Let's say you set up a transmitter bandwidth of 3,5 -
4kHz and use a good desktop microphone, I will assume you can get an
extremely good TX audio from this rig. I have found the Yaesu MD-100
to be an excellent microphone, it goes from around 100 Hz - 5kHz and
has a nice 10dB increase in audio between 2000-3000Hz. Perfect for
SSB, it has a bit more low end than a hand mic without being
to "bassy". It is easily rewired for the K3. I'm not shure what
voltage the K3 has on the mic connector, the MD-100 uses +5V which
will enable the low-cut filters and "high emphasis" function
underneath the MD-100. But you probably won't need those filters, so
one can just cut away that wire inside the MD-100 mic connector. I
have the W2IHY 8-band equalizer, and the center frequencies on this
one is 50Hz, 100Hz, 200Hz, 400Hz, 800Hz, 1600Hz, 2400Hz and 3200Hz. I
find this one to be perfect. In my case (with the MD-100)and the
Yaesu FT-2000 I have adjusted the 50Hz at +16dB, the 100Hz is at
+6dB, 200Hz 400Hz and 800Hz are left in "center" position (flat),
+3dB on the 1600Hz, +8dB on the 2400Hz and +12dB on the 3200Hz. My
audio reports have been "extremely good" in all cases with this
setting. If one wants a bit sharper audio for DX one can just reduce
the 50Hz and 100Hz to minus 16dB, that's all. If one uses a
microphone with a much wider frequency span (like a studio mic) one
must be careful with increasing the 50Hz and 100Hz settings, to much
increase here will make you too "bassy" and will ruin your audio. Use
HIFI-headphones with wide audio span (I use the AKG HSD-271 headset)
and use the monitor function to listen to your own audio when
adjusting. This is an easy way of "tailoring" your TX audio to the
level YOU want. Good luck !

Best 73
LA4AMA
Roar
Norway

Hi,

A reminder that logs for the COQP need to be submitted by July 31st. As of July 27th,

144 logs were received. Only about 20 are mobile logs. From received logs it appears

there should be nearly 50 mobile logs. Please submit your in-state or out-of-state logs

by the above date. We will accept manual logs postmarked by the above date.

Email cabrillo logs to coqplogs-at-ppraa.org. For in state cabrillo logs be sure to

include the county abbreviation in the file name. Attach the file to the email only

rather than including it in the body of the email.

Mail manual logs to:

PPRAA-COQP Logs
PO Box 16521
Colorado Springs, CO 80935-6521

We have over 50 plaques to give to deserving category winners. Certificates will go to

second and third place winners in each category. Please take the time to sent in your

logs. They are usable even if you only had a few contacts.

Thank you and look forward to receiving your logs. 73,

Jim, AB0UK

Hi,

A reminder that logs for the COQP need to be submitted by July 31st. As of July 27th, 144 logs were received. Only about 20 are mobile logs. From received logs it appears there should be nearly 50 mobile logs. Please submit your in-state or out-of-state logs by the above date. We will accept manual logs postmarked by the above date.

Email cabrillo logs to coqplogs-at-ppraa.org. For in state cabrillo logs be sure to include the county abbreviation in the file name. Attach the file to the email only rather than including it in the body of the email.

Mail manual logs to:

PPRAA-COQP Logs
PO Box 16521
Colorado Springs, CO 80935-6521

We have over 50 plaques to give to deserving category winners. Certificates will go to second and third place winners in each category. Please take the time to sent in your logs. They are usable even if you only had a few contacts.

Thank you and look forward to receiving your logs. 73,

Jim, AB0UK

I just joined this reflector and have an order for the K3. I own a TT
Orion II and have been very pleased with its performance. I will be
watching for objective data between now and October to see how K3
stacks up against Orion to decide if I want to take delivery on the K3
and sell the Orion. I am hoping to see some more published data from
Bob Sherwood and/or ARRL before my order is ready.

Jim
K7EG

I think that QST typically takes 4-6 months after a product is released to
publish a review, so unless Elecraft gets some unusual fast publicity out of the
ARRL, your rig will be ready before they are.

73

Mike KW1ND

--- In Elecraft_K3@yahoogroups.com, "James A Denneny Jr" <denneny@...>
wrote:

I just joined this reflector and have an order for the K3. I own a TT
Orion II and have been very pleased with its performance. I will be
watching for objective data between now and October to see how K3
stacks up against Orion to decide if I want to take delivery on the K3
and sell the Orion. I am hoping to see some more published data from
Bob Sherwood and/or ARRL before my order is ready.

The two rigs share nearly an identical front-end, with narrow filters
at 9 MHz for Orion and 8.2 MHz for the K3, so RF performance should be
nearly identical. I believe the main differentiators in favor of K3 are:

1. Price
2. High performance Sub RX (unlike Orion's) allowing true
phase-locked diversity (unlike Orion).
3. Ergonomics

Time will tell but I've sold my Orion and ordered a K3.

73, Bill

Hello Guys:
Has any one bought this new radio? If so, what do you think?
73 de KJ4ZM Sam

Except for beta testers, I don't think any have been delivered yet.

http://www.elecraft.com/K3/shipping_update.htm



--
DD5FZ, 4N6FZ (ex dj7mgq, dg5mgq, dd5fz)
K2 #885, K2/100 #3248
K3/100 #??? (< #200)
DOK C12, BCC, DL-QRP-AG