Elecraft KX3…stand, CW key and battery charger.

KX3 on the new Nifty stand viewed at same angle as below pic

Last week I ordered a stand for my KX3 radio I had seen it on the Nifty ham radio site. I was there looking at their new KX3 radio guide. I have one of their guides for each of my radios and they are great. If you want to find a "how to" with your radio instead of searching through your manual these Nifty manuals have it all set out at your finger tips. So back to the KX3 stand.....I was surprised to see they were
KX3 on it's own legs
 offering a stand for the KX3. I have found here in the shack that when the radio is supported by it's own legs for me it sits on a funny angle still. The Nifty stand uprights the radio to a very easy to operate position......for me anyway. I have read some postings about this stand with some saying they didn't notice any real difference between the rigs legs and the new stand from Nifty.
  Also a week or so ago my KXPD3 keyer and KXBC3 NiMH battery charger came in. I have not yet had the time to install the KXBC3 charger. I have mounted the Key and it worked great right great out of the box. The key does come with other springs to change
the tension of the key. Up to this point I have not changed the key spring tension it works fine as it is.
My Begali key that I have was (I thought) giving me problems with extra dit's and dah's at times. It became very frustrating and even after adjusting the key as well as cleaning the contacts I would still have the same
New KX3 key
 problem. The Elecraft key was great and no extra code was being sent at all........it did not take me long to figure it out and for you CW buff's out there you may know what I mean when I say.......The Eleraft key was "loose", that is the best way I can describe it and the Begali is more "tight" The contact spacing on the KXPD3 is wider and in the past I would had seen this as sloppy spacing. BUT..it seems this works best for me and my joy with the code has come back. I then took my Begali key and opened up the contact spacing, now it too works fine for me. For some reason it never occured to me to open up the contact spacing on the key. I thought the tighter the contact spacing the better the keying ability....don't ask me where I got that idea!!
Mike Weir, VE9KK, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Brunswick, Canada. Contact him at [email protected].

2 Responses to “Elecraft KX3…stand, CW key and battery charger.”

  • Roger K9LJB:

    I found that to be true years back when I was running a lot of mobile QRP CW using a Nye-Viking paddle. It felt very sloppy to me, but it looked indestructible so I tie-wrapped it to the console and used it for a few years. When I was in the shack, my nice tight Bencher paddles gave me fits until I loosened them up. I still use the Viking paddles for portable and sometimes at home. It’s all about what you’re comfortable using.

  • mike VE3WDM:

    Good evening Roger, I was the same way and just could not figure out what the problem was with the key…..in the long run it turned out the adjustment was not for my fist. Now in time maybe I can tighten up the key a little but for now it works for me.
    Thanks for taking the time to comment and read the blog entry Roger.
    Mike

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