*I am new to HAM, when I will go for a huge HF, I will 100% go for Elecraft, after watching numerous videos, this thing simply rocks. All other manufacturers do not bother updating fixing hardware flaws at all, these guys seem to be on top of their product.*
Don't become obsessed with specmanship. There's more to a piece of equipment than specifications on a piece of paper. The real world performance between this equipment is almost imperceptible to 99% of users, you actually need to have some pretty sophisticated equipment to be able to detect the difference. With that said there are other manufacturers equipment which have substantially better user interfaces and the user interface is what you're going to be dealing with the most. The user interface on ellicraft radios is pretty much right out of the 1980s Heath kit line. I mean don't get me wrong they're fine radios, I just prefer something with a more advanced interface that's easier to use and faster to use. The bottom line is 99% of ham radio operators couldn't extract 100% of the performance out of a beginner's level icon radio so all this focus on performance is pretty much irrelevant when when it actually doesn't benefit you. The best advice I can give any new ham getting into the hobby is sit down with a radio use it for a little bit and choose the radio you're most comfortable actually using and ignore all the specsmanship nonsense. In my opinion when it comes to an intuitive user interface that's well laid out and easy to use icom has everyone else beat hands down. It's as though I come went out and hired programmers who were actually ham radio operators to design their interface. You can literally sit down with something like an icom 7300 and learn how to use it in a very short period of time without ever cracking open the manual. That's pretty much why I recommend the icom 7300 to newbies entering the hobby . They call it an entry level radio but it has features that make a competitive with some of the best contest rigs out there. My recommendation is to get something like an icom 7300 and take the money you saved on the overpriced elecraft and put it in a decent antenna system. Because personally I'd rather use a 20-year-old second hand radio and put all my money in an antenna system, then put all my money in a fancy new EllaCraft hooked up to a g5RV
I have been an extra class contester for over 25 years and this radio out performs any on the market today. I work a winning multi multi (6) station for the CA QSO party every year and all stations are Elecraft K3's. Having just bought the full station at our recent Ham convention I can tell you it is one beautiful radio! The service from Elecraft is outstanding. In my humble opinion you get what you pay for. By the way thanks for the nice video Peter.
A lot of comments say that the K3S is overpriced, its not the radio that's overpriced, I checked elecraft and if you were to buy the K3S assembled with all of the options today, it would cost about 4 thousand USD in the U.S., with maybe 7 percent sales tax and shipping cost. in fact, there are a couple on eBay for less than the 4 k USD price.
+Erin Taylor Theres nothing in its price range that can touch it. perhaps you could share a competitor? it outperforms the Hilberling, which costs as much as a good car.
+Erin Taylor in the real world the K lines performance is massively over hyped, it's nothing more than the latest marketing gimmick intended to separate fanboys and nerds from their money. If performance were the primary consideration in life then we would all be driving indy-500 cars to the grocery store and instead of ham radios we would all be using VOIP on fiber optic to talk to our ham radio buddies. You see in the real world there's more to ham radio than ego and armchair specmanship, There's a reason creature comforts are so highly valued and carry such a high price tag. A radio much like a car must not only be atractive it must be ergonomically pleasurable to use . Buying a K3 based on its specifications is no different than marrying a fat chick because she cooks great and then secretly drooling of over your neighbors trophy wife and her hot buns. And then when you get caught eyeballing the eye candy sputtering BUT, BUT !! my radio performs better in the kitchen. What we have here is exactly that a bunch of guys who are trying to justify investing in an ugly uncomfortable radio by over hyping its performance. As for performance, well to those engaged in armchair specman ships there is a massive obsessive on the "big three" lab indices: BDR, IMDDR, and 3d Order Intercept Point, this obsession is is misplaced. as Mike Tracy of the ARRL lab has opined that BDR as a criterion of receiver performance is massively overblown, Another well respected experienced engineer pointed out that encountering a situation on the air that is equivalent to the two-tone 3d Order IMD test is a very rare event indeed requiring a combined set of circumstances that very few hams ever experience. Again, it takes real-world experience to evaluate a transceiver and there's more to life then lab test because we use are radio in the real world not hooked up to a bunch of test gear. Lab data is at best a useful supplement and at worst fodder for those who like to engage in armchair specmanship Ergonomics and usability is the one place the K line fails miserably. Trust me I know I've owned just about every product elecraft makes. I owned a K3 just long enough to earn my CW DXCC on 160 meters which is where this radio shines. As far as a daily driver, somthing you want to sit down and enjoy using after a long hard day at work ? well in my opinion you might want to look someplace else because this radio is not it. Whether we like to admit it or not, much just like our attraction to a sexy women we like our radios to be atractive and fun to play with it. Oh and as far as contest and DX stations needing great receivers to pick the weak ones out of the noise, please that never happens. the vast majority of DX and contest stations crank up their RF gain so they don't need to deal with anyone who's not at least S5 on the meter. All you need to do is listen to a DX pile up some time , you never hear them give Q2 reports because they're to busy answering all the 20 over S9 stations LOL !!!
Dan, the K3 is a joy to use. It is highly intuitive and a CW operator's dream. How can you call actual performance marketing hype? This radio thrives in conditions that melt the front end of the average rice box. You can say what you want about creature comforts and aesthetics, but if you put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig.
+Erin Taylor "Melt the front end of other receivers" ? "rice box" ? LOL Yeah that's the epitome of a fanboys response. I will agree that the K3 is a good CW box unfortunately it's only a mediocre SSB box. " How can you call actual performance marketing hype" In the same way marketing an Indy car as a daily driver by overstating its performance as a way of targeting a narcissist's ego. Performance I'll remind you that few people could actually notice or use, It's all arm chair specmanship and marketing hype W8JI said it best when he stated that very few hams in the world live in a an area with a noise floor or low enough to exploit the K3's performance nor do they have the antennas systems to do so. In his opinion 75 db or performance is more than adequate for 90 percent of hams. Then Mike Tracy yet another well respected engineer stated that BDR as a criterion of receiver performance is massively overblown, And yet another well respected engineer pointed out that encountering a situation on the air that is equivalent to the two-tone 3d Order IMD test is a very rare event indeed requiring a combined set of circumstances that very few hams ever experience. Keep in mind your antenna system is 90 percent of your setup. I'd take a 50 foot tower and a yagi over a K3 and a Wire anyday of the week. The funny thing is the vast majority of K3 owners I've ever met are using dipoles, G5RV's and virticles and claiming they can hear signals that the couldn't hear on their rice boxes LOL Talking about CW performance, if the K3's performance is so important then how come the IC7000 was the winning radio in 3 major CW contests last year ? Where were all the K3 owners and how did they let a crappy IC7000 beat their a$$'s Not once but 3 times in every major contest LOL !!! once again it's nothing more than armchair specmanship intended to separate fanboyz from their money. By the way I've earned 9 band DXCC not to mention earned DXCC challenge using nothing but an old crappy IC-756, At one time or another I've also placed in the top 3 in just about every major contest competing against wonder radios like K3's and Flex's
*I am new to HAM, when I will go for a huge HF, I will 100% go for Elecraft, after watching numerous videos, this thing simply rocks. All other manufacturers do not bother updating fixing hardware flaws at all, these guys seem to be on top of their product.*
Your decision based on YT videos... ? hahahaha
Don't become obsessed with specmanship. There's more to a piece of equipment than specifications on a piece of paper.
The real world performance between this equipment is almost imperceptible to 99% of users, you actually need to have some pretty sophisticated equipment to be able to detect the difference.
With that said there are other manufacturers equipment which have substantially better user interfaces and the user interface is what you're going to be dealing with the most.
The user interface on ellicraft radios is pretty much right out of the 1980s Heath kit line.
I mean don't get me wrong they're fine radios, I just prefer something with a more advanced interface that's easier to use and faster to use.
The bottom line is 99% of ham radio operators couldn't extract 100% of the performance out of a beginner's level icon radio so all this focus on performance is pretty much irrelevant when when it actually doesn't benefit you.
The best advice I can give any new ham getting into the hobby is sit down with a radio use it for a little bit and choose the radio you're most comfortable actually using and ignore all the specsmanship nonsense.
In my opinion when it comes to an intuitive user interface that's well laid out and easy to use icom has everyone else beat hands down.
It's as though I come went out and hired programmers who were actually ham radio operators to design their interface. You can literally sit down with something like an icom 7300 and learn how to use it in a very short period of time without ever cracking open the manual.
That's pretty much why I recommend the icom 7300 to newbies entering the hobby . They call it an entry level radio but it has features that make a competitive with some of the best contest rigs out there.
My recommendation is to get something like an icom 7300 and take the money you saved on the overpriced elecraft and put it in a decent antenna system.
Because personally I'd rather use a 20-year-old second hand radio and put all my money in an antenna system, then put all my money in a fancy new EllaCraft hooked up to a g5RV
I have been an extra class contester for over 25 years and this radio out performs any on the market today. I work a winning multi multi (6) station for the CA QSO party every year and all stations are Elecraft K3's. Having just bought the full station at our recent Ham convention I can tell you it is one beautiful radio! The service from Elecraft is outstanding. In my humble opinion you get what you pay for. By the way thanks for the nice video Peter.
For some people the K3S is like a religion. I am sure it is very nice.
Thank You!
Thanks Peter
Muito interessante, faria sucesso aqui comigo no Brasil, eu usaria muito.
Is this hf vhf uhf?
A lot of comments say that the K3S is overpriced, its not the radio that's overpriced, I checked elecraft and if you were to buy the K3S assembled with all of the options today, it would cost about 4 thousand USD in the U.S., with maybe 7 percent sales tax and shipping cost. in fact, there are a couple on eBay for less than the 4 k USD price.
jeeez, for this price I can get a car!!
yes a second hand banger.
Another overpriced Elecraft.
+James Staley Compared to?
+Erin Taylor Theres nothing in its price range that can touch it. perhaps you could share a competitor? it outperforms the Hilberling, which costs as much as a good car.
+Erin Taylor in the real world the K lines performance is massively over hyped, it's nothing more than the latest marketing gimmick intended to separate fanboys and nerds from their money.
If performance were the primary consideration in life then we would all be driving indy-500 cars to the grocery store and instead of ham radios we would all be using VOIP on fiber optic to talk to our ham radio buddies.
You see in the real world there's more to ham radio than ego and armchair specmanship, There's a reason creature comforts are so highly valued and carry such a high price tag. A radio much like a car must not only be atractive it must be ergonomically pleasurable to use . Buying a K3 based on its specifications is no different than marrying a fat chick because she cooks great and then secretly drooling of over your neighbors trophy wife and her hot buns. And then when you get caught eyeballing the eye candy sputtering BUT, BUT !! my radio performs better in the kitchen.
What we have here is exactly that a bunch of guys who are trying to justify investing in an ugly uncomfortable radio by over hyping its performance.
As for performance, well to those engaged in armchair specman ships there is a massive obsessive on the "big three" lab indices: BDR, IMDDR, and 3d Order Intercept Point, this obsession is is misplaced. as Mike Tracy of the ARRL lab has opined that BDR as a criterion of receiver performance is massively overblown, Another well respected experienced engineer pointed out that encountering a situation on the air that is equivalent to the two-tone 3d Order IMD test is a very rare event indeed requiring a combined set of circumstances that very few hams ever experience. Again, it takes real-world experience to evaluate a transceiver and there's more to life then lab test because we use are radio in the real world not hooked up to a bunch of test gear. Lab data is at best a useful supplement and at worst fodder for those who like to engage in armchair specmanship
Ergonomics and usability is the one place the K line fails miserably. Trust me I know I've owned just about every product elecraft makes. I owned a K3 just long enough to earn my CW DXCC on 160 meters which is where this radio shines. As far as a daily driver, somthing you want to sit down and enjoy using after a long hard day at work ? well in my opinion you might want to look someplace else because this radio is not it. Whether we like to admit it or not, much just like our attraction to a sexy women we like our radios to be atractive and fun to play with it.
Oh and as far as contest and DX stations needing great receivers to pick the weak ones out of the noise, please that never happens. the vast majority of DX and contest stations crank up their RF gain so they don't need to deal with anyone who's not at least S5 on the meter. All you need to do is listen to a DX pile up some time , you never hear them give Q2 reports because they're to busy answering all the 20 over S9 stations LOL !!!
Dan, the K3 is a joy to use. It is highly intuitive and a CW operator's dream. How can you call actual performance marketing hype? This radio thrives in conditions that melt the front end of the average rice box. You can say what you want about creature comforts and aesthetics, but if you put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig.
+Erin Taylor
"Melt the front end of other receivers" ? "rice box" ? LOL Yeah that's the epitome of a fanboys response.
I will agree that the K3 is a good CW box unfortunately it's only a mediocre SSB box.
" How can you call actual performance marketing hype"
In the same way marketing an Indy car as a daily driver by overstating its performance as a way of targeting a narcissist's ego.
Performance I'll remind you that few people could actually notice or use, It's all arm chair specmanship and marketing hype W8JI said it best when he stated that very few hams in the world live in a an area with a noise floor or low enough to exploit the K3's performance nor do they have the antennas systems to do so.
In his opinion 75 db or performance is more than adequate for 90 percent of hams.
Then Mike Tracy yet another well respected engineer stated that BDR as a criterion of receiver performance is massively overblown, And yet another well respected engineer pointed out that encountering a situation on the air that is equivalent to the two-tone 3d Order IMD test is a very rare event indeed requiring a combined set of circumstances that very few hams ever experience.
Keep in mind your antenna system is 90 percent of your setup. I'd take a 50 foot tower and a yagi over a K3 and a Wire anyday of the week.
The funny thing is the vast majority of K3 owners I've ever met are using dipoles, G5RV's and virticles and claiming they can hear signals that the couldn't hear on their rice boxes LOL
Talking about CW performance, if the K3's performance is so important then how come the IC7000 was the winning radio in 3 major CW contests last year ? Where were all the K3 owners and how did they let a crappy IC7000 beat their a$$'s Not once but 3 times in every major contest LOL !!! once again it's nothing more than armchair specmanship intended to separate fanboyz from their money.
By the way I've earned 9 band DXCC not to mention earned DXCC challenge using nothing but an old crappy IC-756, At one time or another I've also placed in the top 3 in just about every major contest competing against wonder radios like K3's and Flex's