Out-Dated My A**

Someone recently posted on, of all sites, the Groups.io Elecraft KX site, that the Elecraft KX3 - released in 2013 - is too old and out-dated to be relevant.

Old and out-dated my ass.

Let's look at the current Sherwood Engineering receiver test data. There are about 157 radio evaluations on Sherwood's site. The KX3 currently sits in 9th place*. Since it's release the radio has always ranked in the top 10, and at one time was, I believe, ranked third or fourth, right behind the Elecraft K3 (both have the same receiver circuitry).

That puts the KX3, as of April 2025, in the top 6% of all radios rated. Impressive. But then you look at the KX3's competition. In this rating, it beats:

• Elecraft's own new and shiny K4 and K4D
• Every Flex radio tested
• Every Apache radio tested
• Every Drake receiver (highly vaunted in their day, and no slouches today)
• The Icom 7610, 7300 and the 705
• The TenTec Omni V (still highly sought after for it's excellent receiver performance)

In fact, at least five of the eight radios that sit above it on the Sherwood list were designed and built AFTER the KX3 was released in 2013.

(*I know some of you are going to say, 'I call BS, because numerically it sits 11th on the list' - well yes, but there are three very slight re-works of the Elecraft K3 that sit just above it, and I consider those to be one model.)

A lot of hams poo-poo the Sherwood ratings, saying they don't relate to anything in the real world, they are just comparisons of some meaningless values. I would agree that the Sherwood ratings don't measure the overall radio experience, but Sherwood is the only objective receiver evaluation service we have in ham radio. You gotta' rate on something, and Ron Sherwood's evaluations are honest and accurate, and provide a good performance ranking. Is there a lot of real world difference between the 1st and 10th radios on the list? Probably not. But there sure will be a lot of performance difference between the 1st and the 20th, and the gap in performance quickly widens the further down the list you go.

So no, the KX3 isn't irrelevant. Yes, it's a bit quirky and it can be difficult for ham radio operators to place it in terms of format and power output. Is it a full featured rig? Yes. Is it a QRP rig? Yup. Is it portable? Definitely. Does it provide excellent performance on all modes? Certainly. Can it serve as a main station rig? Without a doubt. 

So, it's 12 year old world-class performing, portable QRP rig that can serve as your main shack radio. And it still beats damned near every radio Sherwood Engineering ever tested. 

It's not a perfect radio, and I'll address some of it's shortcomings (none of them fatal) in a later post, but I just wanted to get this out there for people to consider. If you want a radio with a world-class receiver that you can take to the field in a small bag, the KX3 is an excellent, and very relevant, option. 

And when was the last time Yaesu or Icom encouraged you to do this to one of their radios? 

Elecraft provides written instructions on how to open up and tinker with the insides of all of their radios

W8BYH out