So after a busy weekend I had 4 hours to mess with the KX3. It is simply amazing. Of course this is still very early in the product release cycle and parts of the firmware have yet to be completed, plus there are some rough edges to be smoothed out, but no doubt Elecraft will have things polished nicely very soon.
I’ve completed dozens of QSOs including several DX contacts at 5 watts output. During the New England QSO Party, I had no trouble with large numbers of S9++ signals — if it wasn’t in the passband it didn’t bother the rig (no sign of AGC action or modulated noise, unlike my IC-9100).
I have had two issues pop up with mine. The first is somewhat serious — in the presence of very strong signals (20 meter pileups and contests today), when you tune the rig with more than a 250 Hz bandwidth setting you will hear artifacts of other signals when tuning past clear sections of the band. It is especially pronounced with 10Hz tuning (and better at 1 HZ). Elecraft is aware of that and working on the issue. Once you quit changing frequency these phantom signals go away.
The second was a one time occurrence after the rig had been on for several hours. I turned it off, and the rig appeared to power down, but I noticed that it was still drawing 0.13 amps from my external battery. Sensing something wasn’t right, I tried to turn it on and it wouldn’t — I had to remove the internal batteries, which totally removed power to get it to recover. It hasn’t done that since. Sounds like a firmware issue to me.
In rough numbers, after a large number of CW contacts and pretty high volume level on the internal speaker (preamp on but no backlight), I’m averaging about 0.3 AH per hour (sum of both xmit and rcv). So a 7AH external battery could probably run the rig for 24 solid hours. Pretty sweet!
Elecraft KX3
I must admit, you really put things in perspective. I would say, from what I have read, this would be a very good radio even if it was your only radio. Have not seen such good response from the owner of a radio mfg and it’s very refreshing. I would say that you have put the little rig through it’s paces, and has come out quite well albeit a few hiccups, which is expected in a new product. Your comments are appreciated and I now see this radio will fit the bill very well for me and my small space for operating. 73’s, God Bless.
Dennis KK7XE.
I usually shy away from recommending a QRP rig as an only rig. But of course the 100 watt Amp will eventually be available. And at 12 watts max out it is a pretty capable radio who’s signal would be about 1.5 S units down from a 100 watt rig. By now I’ve made over 300 QSOs on the radio. I honestly grow more impressed each day. I look forward to Field Day testing. Thanks for commenting! 73, Bob, WB4SON