There is a K3 construction video on youtube.com

 You can do a a udio podcast reporting on  your b uilding s uccess and pitfalls.

 


Mark J. Senk  |  412-386-6513  |  [log in to unmask] 
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-----Original Message-----
From: For blind ham radio operators [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Anthony Vece
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 3:27 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Fw: k3 progress report

Hi Everyone;

Please read this e-mail.

Putting together the K3 is going to be an interesting challenge however, I'm going to do it.

If anyone would like to help out, it would be most appreciated.

Hope everyone is having a great spring which ushers in the start of the baseball season.

73 De Anthony W2AJV
[log in to unmask]
ECHOLINK NODE NUMBER: 74389


----- Original Message -----
From: "Gary Lee" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 2:39 PM
Subject: k3 progress report


> Well folks, the k3 is put together and installed.  I still have some
> configuration issues to resolve, but this will come.
> Here are my impressions of the kit build.
> Background
> With the help of a local ham friend the saga began a week ago last Friday,
> April 4.
> Since Dale is the sighted one of us, he did the parts inventory.  We ended
> up being 2 screws and 1  lockwasher short.  This, however, was no problem
> since he had some leftovers  from his recent k2 build.  This inventory 
> took
> three hours.
> On Monday we began to build in earnest.  The k3 assembly manual has a good
> deal of text, but relies heavily on photos and diagrams.  Therefore, with
> Dale finding parts, and verifying locations and orientations visually, i 
> did
> all the building except for three places where I just couldn't get my
> fingers in to hold the screw to start it.
> All boards plug into pin connectors, and there are no wiring harnesses.
> In all, the total time from opening the box to moving into the shack was
> approximately 23 hours.
> The build is easily accomplished with sighted assistance, I was even
> catching Dale's mistakes in interpreting the assembly manual.
> Calibration and setup
> The  k3 has an interesting menu system in which the vfo b control is used 
> to
> select submenus and the vfo a is then used to choose specific settings
> within each submenu.  Calibration consisted of starting the frequency
> synthesizer self test, selecting the installed filters, assigning a 
> default
> filter to each mode, and calibrating output power readings.
> Since the speech option is not yet available, this requires someone to 
> read
> the screen,.  However, this does not detract from one's understanding of 
> the
> procedure.
> Operation
> Basic operation is pretty simple.  The k3 allows for direct keypad 
> frequency
> entry, and with a little memorization of buttton locations, it can be
> operated without speech.
> Functions such as filter selection, keyer speed selection, antenna tuning,
> cw spotting, and filter width adjustment all have their own buttons. 
> Basic
> operation does not involve use of the menus.
> Conclusions
> I believe that once speech exists for this rig, it will be the best thing
> out there.  So far, most reviews are comparing it favorably with rigs like
> the icom 7800.  That's high praise indeed for a $2,000 rig.
> I am waiting for an answer from elecraft as to being able to use the krc2
> for cw output of displays until speech is ready.
> I'll keep everyone posted on further progress.
> If anyone has questions, just write and I'll try to answer them.
> 73 all
>
>