Re: [Elecraft] K3 Shuts Off On High Power-HELP!
-.-. --.-N3TU -.-. --.- wrote: My K3 is shutting off on high power. CW and SSB. It seems to be drawing too many amps and I am checking this on an external power supply (DAIWA PS-304). I get the same results when I am on the dummy load and when I am on the antenna. I didn't check six meters but here is the data. What's going on? Do I need to reset the whole radio? :-(( My guess is that your power supply has gone AWOL. Check the voltage from it on key-down. 73 Ian -- Ian J Maude, G0VGS SysOp GB7MBC HB9DRV-9 DX Clusters Member RSGB, GQRP, FISTS K2 #4044 |K3 #455 http://www.amateurradiotraining.org __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 SN 2745
Congratulations Mike, How about swapping it for my K3 SN 516? I use to have K2 SN 2745, what a match :) 73' Val LZ1VB Built to the 100w stage. 2nd receiver will be installed in the morning. The 2nd time around is much easier. Mike W0MU __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] New K3 Firmware: Pileup-inspired AGC changes
Jan Erik Holm wrote: Don Rasmussen wrote: Anyone care to take a guess as to how long an anomoly like this would live in any other mass produced HF transceiver? My guess - the life of the radio. Maybe the Flex guys would get to it. With Elecraft, the issue was identified on the weekend, and here it is Wednesday of the same week, the engineers understand the effect and offer test software for it. Kudos! Indeed! Just one example. As I understand this problem the Yaesu FT-1000MP suffers from the same (lets call it) AGC IMD. On the MP I have noticed it myself and others too but it is not widely written about. Very glad to see that it possibly can be fixed on the K3. 73 Jim SM2EKM Like everything else about the nasty key-click generator FT-1000MP, it's left to the customer to find and fix any problems. Yaesu did nothing about the key clicks for at least 13 years (beginning with FT-1000D until a production change for the MP in 2003)...and Yaesu is now reliving design problems with the roofing filters in the FT-2000. BTW Inrad did implement fixes for both the MP's clicks and the AGC problem (the customer must pay for all Yaesu design errors, of course): FT-1000MP AGC Improvement Mod Some operators on major DX-peditions have complained about poor readability in large pile ups. From a joint effort between Inrad and some of these operators, we are now offering the AGC mod which improves readability somewhat for both CW and SSB. Details of the history is included in the mod instruction sheets. This new mod increases the decay time, which in the FT-1000MP is so fast that weaker signals can come up to full output between dots and dashes (or speech peaks), causing poor readability in pile ups. It also uses a damping resistor to eliminate a slight over shoot. Please be aware that under normal or average operating conditions, this mod will make very little discernible difference. The AGC mod is not applicable to the Mark V. http://www.inrad.net/product.php?productid=86cat=10page=1 What a horrible contrast Yaesu was to my very pleasant experience with Elecraft! 73, Bill -- View this message in context: http://n2.nabble.com/New-K3-Firmware%3A-Pileup-inspired-AGC-changes-tp2387110p2389115.html Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com. __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 choppy CW
Everybody should be using a Winkey to key CW. Some people will deny that keying directly from an serial port controlled by windows causes keying errors. When we ran DOS, the applications could have unfettered access to the ports. You could also easily harness the system clock and use it rather than the OS to supply the timing for CW. It was easy to background a process like sending CW knowing you had control of the port when you needed it. Not so with Windows98 and up. XP is especially bad. Ever had an application or the OS grab a hold of a USB, serial or parallel port and not let go when the application or process terminated? It never happened in DOS. One question for the doubters. If a winkey like device isn't necessary to send properly timed CW, why do several hardware manufacturers, Micro Ham, US Interface, Rig Expert, and nearly all general and contest logging applications support it? Just to make K1EL rich? W0MU Mike Fatchett wrote: N1MM users have had similar issues. I don't know if AB7R's fix works but many have just gone to a Winkey keyer as a solution. I have one built into my SO2R MK2R+ Microham devices so I have never seen this issue. A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over. Ben Franklin -- R. Kevin Stover, ACØH __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 choppy CW
At 2/26/2009 08:05 AM, R. Kevin Stover wrote: Everybody should be using a Winkey to key CW. Why? Some people will deny that keying directly from an serial port controlled by windows causes keying errors. When we ran DOS, the applications could have unfettered access to the ports. You could also easily harness the system clock and use it rather than the OS to supply the timing for CW. It was easy to background a process like sending CW knowing you had control of the port when you needed it. Not so with Windows98 and up. XP is especially bad. Ever had an application or the OS grab a hold of a USB, serial or parallel port and not let go when the application or process terminated? It never happened in DOS. One question for the doubters. If a winkey like device isn't necessary to send properly timed CW, why do several hardware manufacturers, Micro Ham, US Interface, Rig Expert, and nearly all general and contest logging applications support it? Just to make K1EL rich? Because many hams today like to buy neat gadgets, many times without understanding what they do. I key my K3 direct from my XP PC using the serial line. I run speeds in the 30+ wpm. I can achieve rates of over 200+ Q/hour, and I have a very good UBN record. Applications support it because the interfaces are out there. There are situations in which you may actually need such a device, but a properly outfitted PC can support direct keying. I use N1MM, CT, DxBase and other programs with no problems. Just because something exists, doesn't make it necessary. Existence is not proof of necessity, and I don't even play a lawyer on TV. Everyone is free to decide for themselves what is necessary for their particular situation. __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
[Elecraft] Programatically determining K3 bar meter status
I am trying to programatically determine the status of the bar meter in transmit mode. Maybe I am thick but I have not yet found a way to determine whether the meter is in SWR/RF mode or CMP/ALC mode. Additionally, when the meter is in SWR/RF mode and a BG; command is issued, the bar value returned is the SWR bar value. The same thing occurs when the meter is in CMP/ALC mode. The value returned is the CMP bar value. I haven't yet figured out how to access the RF or ALC bar value. -- View this message in context: http://n2.nabble.com/Programatically-determining-K3-bar-meter-status-tp2389603p2389603.html Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com. __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
[Elecraft] KComm error message: List index (4) out of bounds
I'm trying to get up to speed on G4ILO's KComm program connecting from a Windows XP computer to my K3 using the USB-to-serial cable provided by Elecraft. I'm using v1.5 of KComm. The radio control functions work fine. I have entered my call sign in the Your call field of the Log settings screen. Using the default macro file, I 1. Connect to the radio. 2. Enter a call sign into the Call field of the logger. 3. Click the F1 Call stn button. and the program generates this error message: List index (4) out of bounds Press OK to ignore and risk data corruption. Press Cancel to kill the program. If I press OK and re-press Call Stn the message is sent as expected. The default F1 macro reads, ^c^t %c de %m %m pse K^r Wonder if anyone has run into this problem and might have an idea as to what I'm doing wrong? Thanks for any advice. 73, Bill/NG3K __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 Shuts Off On High Power-HELP!
Just running 100W on 1.812 MHz 14.2V at the K3 drew around 17-18A from my Astron. 3.525 MHz draws the same 25-30 amps isn't right. Wish I could be of more help. Gary KA1J My K3 is shutting off on high power. CW and SSB. It seems to be drawing too many amps and I am checking this on an external power supply (DAIWA PS-304). I get the same results when I am on the dummy load and when I am on the antenna. I didn't check six meters but here is the data. What's going on? Do I need to reset the whole radio? :-(( 3.8 mhz- 100w @ 28-30 amps. shuts off 4.1 mhz(Mars) 100W @ 20 amps *stays on 7.2 mhz 100w @ 25-30 amps shuts off 14.2 mhz 100w @ 27-30 amps shuts off 10.1 mhz 100w @ 28 ampsshuts off 18.1mhz 100w @20 amps *stays on 21.2 100w @ 28-30 amps shuts off 24.930 100w @ 26-28 amps shuts off 28.4 100w @ 25 amp * stays on Six meters didn't test yet. -- View this message in context: http://n2.nabble.com/K3-Shuts-Off-On-High-Power-HELP%21-tp2387427p2387427.html Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com. __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
[Elecraft] SUB-RX line out low
I seem to recall another post where someone said the line out level for the sub rx was considerably below the main RX line out level. Couldn't find it in a NABBLE search. Using firmware version 2.82 now. Also line out = phones. Normal listening levels on main have the AF gain at about 9 o'clock. To get similar line out levels on the same signal from the sub requires about 2 o'clock settings. I can't recall having compared these levels before. May have shot myself if the foot here. Installed the leaded line out resistors yesterday. Despite checking it 6 times, there could be a wiring error. Before opening up the box again, I thought I'd check here first. I might add that historically I've had problems with line out from the sub-rx. One fix was to replace the stereo radio shack plug with another. It could also be that the jack on the I/O board is flakey. 73 de Brian/K3KO __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 choppy CW
One question for the doubters. If a winkey like device isn't necessary to send properly timed CW, why do several hardware manufacturers, Micro Ham, US Interface, Rig Expert, and nearly all general and contest logging applications support it? Just to make K1EL rich? In addition to correct CW timing irrespective of the PC interface, the Winkey chip allows the user to fine-tune keying compensation to offset the effect of the so-called dit shortening in QSK mode, an anomaly that exists on nearly all high-end transceivers today. Much of my operating is conducted over the Internet where timing latencies can be bad enough that CW will oftentimes stutter without some means of synchronizing the path. With Winkey, CW is perfectly timed over the Internet when using a pair Winkey devices -- and they don't even need to be matched across manufacturers. For example, I am using a microHam interface at the host end and it synchronizes perfectly with a WinkeyerUSB device at the client end. For what it does, Winkey is an exceptional value for contesters, Internet users, and even folks whose operating is limited to casual CW QSOs. Paul, W9AC __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 Shuts Off On High Power-HELP!
Check the power plugs on the back of the radio. I had the same problem -.-. --.-N3TU -.-. --.- wrote: My K3 is shutting off on high power. CW and SSB. It seems to be drawing too many amps and I am checking this on an external power supply (DAIWA PS-304). I get the same results when I am on the dummy load and when I am on the antenna. I didn't check six meters but here is the data. What's going on? Do I need to reset the whole radio? :-(( 3.8 mhz- 100w @ 28-30 amps. shuts off 4.1 mhz(Mars) 100W @ 20 amps *stays on 7.2 mhz 100w @ 25-30 amps shuts off 14.2 mhz 100w @ 27-30 amps shuts off 10.1 mhz 100w @ 28 ampsshuts off 18.1mhz 100w @20 amps *stays on 21.2 100w @ 28-30 amps shuts off 24.930 100w @ 26-28 amps shuts off 28.4 100w @ 25 amp * stays on Six meters didn't test yet. -- View this message in context: http://n2.nabble.com/K3-Shuts-Off-On-High-Power-HELP%21-tp2387427p2389757.html Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com. __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
[Elecraft] K3 Typical TX Current Consumption
As part of a detailed series of transmitter performance measurements (still underway), I measured my K3's current requirements at various supply voltages and output powers for all bands. At 100 watts commanded power, tune mode, and with 13.8 V nominal applied (13.797 measured), I measured the following current requirements: Frequency (KHZ) Current (A) 185017.919 390017.116 5330.5 17.094 725016.796 10120 18.544 14175 18.587 18120 15.232 21250 16.966 24950 15.53 28350 14.308 The power supply used for these tests is an Hewlett Packard digitally controlled model 6652A with remote voltage sensing--the sensing leads are connected to the Anderson connector where it enters my K3. Hence the wiring drop (but not the connector drop) is compensated for. I measured the standard Elecraft 5 ft cable as having around 40 milliohms loop resistance, if I remember correctly, which amounts to 0.72 V drop at 18A. My notes are in the basement and I'm writing this from a couple of floors above, so I could be mis-remembering the number slightly. The figures are shown in three decimal places, as that's how the HP 6652A reports. The instrument's stated accuracy is +/- 0.15% + 26 mA. In addition to the band-to-band changes, reflecting different efficiency, my data shows that the current requirement is more or less independent of supply voltage, with only a small change in current noted for a particular power output as the supply voltage changes between 11.2V to 15.0V. I assume this is because the majority of the supply current goes to the HPA stage and the final transistors have more or less constant base drive so the finals operate in constant current mode with respect to the DC supply voltage. This has some interesting ramifications for efficiency and heat dissipation versus supply voltage when one is operating CW, more about which when I complete my measurements and finish writing up the analysis. Jack K8ZOA www.cliftonlaboratories.com __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 Shuts Off On High Power-HELP!
Ian, I've just done a test: 100W RMS (LP-100A) single tone 1500Hz sinus USB @7.035MHz into a 50ohms dummy load, 20A under 14.0V (at K3 power terminals) K3 #1212 73 QRO fr Rudolf, HB9ARI Ian Maude wrote: -.-. --.-N3TU -.-. --.- wrote: My K3 is shutting off on high power. CW and SSB. It seems to be drawing too many amps and I am checking this on an external power supply (DAIWA PS-304). I get the same results when I am on the dummy load and when I am on the antenna. I didn't check six meters but here is the data. What's going on? Do I need to reset the whole radio? :-(( My guess is that your power supply has gone AWOL. Check the voltage from it on key-down. 73 Ian __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] SUB-RX line out low
Please ignore the following post. Got out the scope and looked at outputs. AOK. Problem was with the way Spectogram was inserted in the circuit in a stereo environment. 73 de Brian/K3KO Brian Alsop wrote: I seem to recall another post where someone said the line out level for the sub rx was considerably below the main RX line out level. Couldn't find it in a NABBLE search. Using firmware version 2.82 now. Also line out = phones. Normal listening levels on main have the AF gain at about 9 o'clock. To get similar line out levels on the same signal from the sub requires about 2 o'clock settings. I can't recall having compared these levels before. May have shot myself if the foot here. Installed the leaded line out resistors yesterday. Despite checking it 6 times, there could be a wiring error. Before opening up the box again, I thought I'd check here first. I might add that historically I've had problems with line out from the sub-rx. One fix was to replace the stereo radio shack plug with another. It could also be that the jack on the I/O board is flakey. 73 de Brian/K3KO __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 Shuts Off On High Power-HELP!
Correction! There are 18.5A (instead of 20A) under 14.0V. I omit to subtract 1.5A for some external accessories! Sorry! 73, Rudolf Ian Maude wrote: -.-. --.-N3TU -.-. --.- wrote: My K3 is shutting off on high power. CW and SSB. It seems to be drawing too many amps and I am checking this on an external power supply (DAIWA PS-304). I get the same results when I am on the dummy load and when I am on the antenna. I didn't check six meters but here is the data. What's going on? Do I need to reset the whole radio? :-(( My guess is that your power supply has gone AWOL. Check the voltage from it on key-down. 73 Ian __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 Shuts Off On High Power-HELP!
N3TU Is it possible that the TX power calibration by band was not done? Might be worth trying it again with the dummy load. The new firmware program makes it easy. 73 de Brian/K3KO hb9ari wrote: Correction! There are 18.5A (instead of 20A) under 14.0V. I omit to subtract 1.5A for some external accessories! Sorry! 73, Rudolf Ian Maude wrote: -.-. --.-N3TU -.-. --.- wrote: My K3 is shutting off on high power. CW and SSB. It seems to be drawing too many amps and I am checking this on an external power supply (DAIWA PS-304). I get the same results when I am on the dummy load and when I am on the antenna. I didn't check six meters but here is the data. What's going on? Do I need to reset the whole radio? :-(( My guess is that your power supply has gone AWOL. Check the voltage from it on key-down. 73 Ian __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] KComm error message: List index (4) out of bounds
Hello Bill. I just installed the same version you downloaded. After the program started I entered by call, and set up the comm port details for the K3. Then I connected to the radio. I selected CW mode, and opened the default macro file. I put a call in the log field and then clicked Call Stn and the message was sent as expected. I have never seen that error message. I can only think that it depends on the call you entered. There is a function that looks up the call in a data table to find the country, continent etc, and thencompares it with previous log entries so it can display information like country, beam heading and whether you need to work it. It does this the first time you enter a new call in the call field and then tab away from it or click a button. I think this must be where the error is occurring, but I need to know how to reproduce it in order to find exactly where the fault is. - Julian, G4ILO. K2 #392 K3 #222. http://www.g4ilo.com/ G4ILO's Shack http://www.g4ilo.com/blog.html G4ILO's Bloghttp://www.g4ilo.com/kcomm.html KComm for Elecraft K2 and K3 -- View this message in context: http://n2.nabble.com/KComm-error-message%3A-List-index-%284%29-out-of-bounds-tp2389625p2389977.html Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com. __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 choppy CW
Elecrafters: About a year ago, I finally hooked up my K2 to a computer. Following the advice of several list members, I got a WinKey keyer instead of trying to run CW keying through the serial port. The WinKey is inexpensive, easy to set up with the N1MM contest program, and provides flawless keying. (I have no financial interest in WinKey; I'm merely a happy customer.) In the interest of full disclosure, I have not attempted to key my K2 directly through the serial port. At the time we were discussing this on the list, there was a minority opinion that the WinKey was not really necessary. The argument was that with modern high speed computers the serial port can handle everything. Nevertheless, if you're keying a computer controlled Elecraft rig via the serial port and you get choppy CW, and you install a WinKey and the problem vanishes, it looks like the result speaks for itself. 73, Steve Kercel AA4AK R. Kevin Stover wrote: Everybody should be using a Winkey to key CW. Some people will deny that keying directly from an serial port controlled by windows causes keying errors. When we ran DOS, the applications could have unfettered access to the ports. You could also easily harness the system clock and use it rather than the OS to supply the timing for CW. It was easy to background a process like sending CW knowing you had control of the port when you needed it. Not so with Windows98 and up. XP is especially bad. Ever had an application or the OS grab a hold of a USB, serial or parallel port and not let go when the application or process terminated? It never happened in DOS. One question for the doubters. If a winkey like device isn't necessary to send properly timed CW, why do several hardware manufacturers, Micro Ham, US Interface, Rig Expert, and nearly all general and contest logging applications support it? Just to make K1EL rich? W0MU Mike Fatchett wrote: N1MM users have had similar issues. I don't know if AB7R's fix works but many have just gone to a Winkey keyer as a solution. I have one built into my SO2R MK2R+ Microham devices so I have never seen this issue. A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over. Ben Franklin __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 choppy CW
Agree with Ed. If you need WINKEY do it, if you don't why add to complication? Many of us don't. KIS. I think it is a bit ironic that for RTTY, external TNC's have become passe in favor of direct computer decode/encode. However, for CW the direction is to the equivalent of a CW TNC-- at least for the transmit side. So today we have to go via keyboard, computer, computer program, PC port, PIC, PIC program and transistor to emulate closing a J-38 key or bug. 73 de Brian/K3KO Hi tech still uses 4 billion year old quartz and silicon to get their performance. The K3 is made up of pre Sol stardust. Ed K1EP wrote: At 2/26/2009 08:05 AM, R. Kevin Stover wrote: Everybody should be using a Winkey to key CW. Why? Some people will deny that keying directly from an serial port controlled by windows causes keying errors. When we ran DOS, the applications could have unfettered access to the ports. You could also easily harness the system clock and use it rather than the OS to supply the timing for CW. It was easy to background a process like sending CW knowing you had control of the port when you needed it. Not so with Windows98 and up. XP is especially bad. Ever had an application or the OS grab a hold of a USB, serial or parallel port and not let go when the application or process terminated? It never happened in DOS. One question for the doubters. If a winkey like device isn't necessary to send properly timed CW, why do several hardware manufacturers, Micro Ham, US Interface, Rig Expert, and nearly all general and contest logging applications support it? Just to make K1EL rich? Because many hams today like to buy neat gadgets, many times without understanding what they do. I key my K3 direct from my XP PC using the serial line. I run speeds in the 30+ wpm. I can achieve rates of over 200+ Q/hour, and I have a very good UBN record. Applications support it because the interfaces are out there. There are situations in which you may actually need such a device, but a properly outfitted PC can support direct keying. I use N1MM, CT, DxBase and other programs with no problems. Just because something exists, doesn't make it necessary. Existence is not proof of necessity, and I don't even play a lawyer on TV. Everyone is free to decide for themselves what is necessary for their particular situation. __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 Typical TX Current Consumption
The power supply used for these tests is an Hewlett Packard digitally controlled model 6652A with remote voltage sensing--the sensing leads are connected to the Anderson connector where it enters my K3. Same here, Jack. I recently purchased a used HP 6652A and use the sense leads in the same manner. I run the K3 at 14.5 VDC and the 6652A is programmed to open at 16 VDC. For those curious, the HP/Agilent 6652A is a programmable 25A, 0-20 VDC lab-grade supply. It runs very cool, and is extremely stable. It's also a linear pass-transistor design ;-) The 6652A replaces a 16-year-old Astron RS-35A. On the used market, it's possible to find these supplies for about $400-$500 in good operating and cosmetic condition. I believe the new price is close to $6K. The supply's fan runs a bit louder than I'd like. I just completed a modification using a NTC thermistor, power MOSFET, multi-turn pot, and a 5W resistor in series with the fan lead. Now, the fan only operates when the temp threshold is exceeded and when active, is no longer audible yet is still produces adequate cooling volume. Hey, this is starting to sound like an eHam review, so I better stop here. Paul, W9AC __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 choppy CW
I think it is a bit ironic that for RTTY, external TNC's have become passe in favor of direct computer decode/encode. However, for CW the direction is to the equivalent of a CW TNC-- at least for the transmit side. Ah, but you are mixing apples and oranges. Even in PC RTTY, bit timing has always been done in hardware. It is handled in the UART (typically an 8250 compatible UART) and not done using a software timing loop that can be effected by operating system loading. Before you point to EXTFSK ... EXTFSK uses a hardware timer in the motherboard chipset - it does not rely on a software timing loop like all of the CW software. -Original Message- From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Brian Alsop Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2009 10:02 AM To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 choppy CW Agree with Ed. If you need WINKEY do it, if you don't why add to complication? Many of us don't. KIS. I think it is a bit ironic that for RTTY, external TNC's have become passe in favor of direct computer decode/encode. However, for CW the direction is to the equivalent of a CW TNC-- at least for the transmit side. So today we have to go via keyboard, computer, computer program, PC port, PIC, PIC program and transistor to emulate closing a J-38 key or bug. 73 de Brian/K3KO Hi tech still uses 4 billion year old quartz and silicon to get their performance. The K3 is made up of pre Sol stardust. Ed K1EP wrote: At 2/26/2009 08:05 AM, R. Kevin Stover wrote: Everybody should be using a Winkey to key CW. Why? Some people will deny that keying directly from an serial port controlled by windows causes keying errors. When we ran DOS, the applications could have unfettered access to the ports. You could also easily harness the system clock and use it rather than the OS to supply the timing for CW. It was easy to background a process like sending CW knowing you had control of the port when you needed it. Not so with Windows98 and up. XP is especially bad. Ever had an application or the OS grab a hold of a USB, serial or parallel port and not let go when the application or process terminated? It never happened in DOS. One question for the doubters. If a winkey like device isn't necessary to send properly timed CW, why do several hardware manufacturers, Micro Ham, US Interface, Rig Expert, and nearly all general and contest logging applications support it? Just to make K1EL rich? Because many hams today like to buy neat gadgets, many times without understanding what they do. I key my K3 direct from my XP PC using the serial line. I run speeds in the 30+ wpm. I can achieve rates of over 200+ Q/hour, and I have a very good UBN record. Applications support it because the interfaces are out there. There are situations in which you may actually need such a device, but a properly outfitted PC can support direct keying. I use N1MM, CT, DxBase and other programs with no problems. Just because something exists, doesn't make it necessary. Existence is not proof of necessity, and I don't even play a lawyer on TV. Everyone is free to decide for themselves what is necessary for their particular situation. __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] New K3 Firmware: Pileup-inspired AGC changes
--- On Wed, 2/25/09, Jim Brown j...@audiosystemsgroup.com wrote: Someone just posted that they had trouble in pileups during the contest last weekend, but the radio worked better when they turned on the attenuator and turned down the RF gain. DUH! I learned that in 1957 -- but younger operators never learned it, since modern radios depend so heavily on AGC. Nothing personal Jim, but your post is a handy one to add to. I've been licensed for over 50 years so I've been through all of the turn off the AVC (dating myself) and ride the rf gain control business. But I must say that having to turn off the AGC and ride the rf gain control in a modern whiz-bang super-duper multi-kilobuck radio seems oxymoronic to me. Why should I have to ride the gain? I thought all of this DSP stuff was supposed to be smarter than I am. Shouldn’t the radio be smart enough to know when a signal is so strong that the attenuator needs to be inserted to protect the DSP or the second mixer, for example? Besides the K3 AGC appears to never be off despite what the display reports. For example while listening to a strong AM broadcast station, if I reduce the RF Gain* with the AGC on so that the S-meter stops peaking# and adjust the audio gain for comfortable listening and then turn the ACG off, the signal practically disappears. If the AGC was truly off then there shouldn't be any change. Adjusting the RF Gain higher to bring back the signal level will also result in the S-meter following the signal peaks. Running this experiment also seems to demonstrate a problem with the gain distribution in this radio. If I reduce the RF Gain to the point that the S-meter is just beginning to be affected, there is a distinct reduction in the SNR. It's quite disconcerting to have a S9+50 dB, interference-free signal that sounds noisy. Comparing to my TS870 with the same signal, I can decrease the gain (increase the S–meter reading) by at least 20 dB without noticing any reduction in SNR. * RF Gain seems to be a misnomer; unless I'm mistaken (always a possibility) there isn't a gain-controlled RF amplifier in the radio. The only hardware that is obviously gain-controlled is the second stage in the first i-f amplifier. # I'm seeing 5 to 6 dB of increase in meter reading between no modulation and modulation peaks. I guess I'm old fashioned but I thought that the AM carrier strength should set the AGC level. This peak-reading AGC may also be a contributor to the distorted audio that has been widely reported. Wes Stewart, N7WS __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
[Elecraft] K3 Power calibration and current consumption
I may well be the only one caught by this, but be sure that the TRANSMITTER GAIN procedure on pages 49 and 50 of the manual has been done, but also include the 100W level. IMO, the first paragraph under WATTMETER on page 49 should read ... 5 W, 50 W , 100 W (K3/100 only) etc. If you only use the Utility's calibration procedure as suggested in the second paragraph under TRANSMITTER GAIN on page 49, the 100W level will --not-- be calibrated. If there's a reference in the manual to setting the 100W output level, I've overlooked it. I spent a number of hours trying to get my external Bird(s) and the dialed-up power level to agree. In my case the PA was delivering 110 - 115 watts to the dummy load at the dialed up 100W setting. This condition might account for higher than expected current consumption. Once I set the gain level at 100W and then ran the Utility's calibration routine, the Bird(s) and the dialed up power agree throughout the 0-100W range. (:-) 73! Ken Kopp - K0PP elecraftcov...@rfwave.net __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 choppy CW
On Feb 26, 2009, at 7:01 AM, Brian Alsop wrote: I think it is a bit ironic that for RTTY, external TNC's have become passe in favor of direct computer decode/encode. Just a property of how computers handle audio. USB Sound Cards go through what are called Isochronous Transfer of USB. These are handled by very high priority tasks, with sufficient audio buffering in the kernel ensure that there are no audio drop outs. Ditto FireWire sound cards, and on-board codecs. This is one reason why I had implemented CW in cocoaModem by using J2A emission (i.e., audio generated CW) instead of A1A emission. It is the only way, short of using WinKey for A1A keying, to ensure that kernel swaps do no interfere with inter-element Morse spacings. (J2A also allows one to implement arbitrary waveshaping of the keying waveform. cocoaModem uses a Blackman window to waveshape the CW pulses.) Now, the ironic part is that older operating systems such as MS-DOS and Mac OS 9 work fine with A1A bit banging up to very high CW speeds. With today's computers, assuming you can still run those operating system, you can probably run 1000 wpm and still achieve close to perfect Morse inter-element timing. The problem with modern operating systems is that whatever that is running in user space can be preempted by the kernel. A key-up or key-down could therefore be delayed just slightly -- but often perceptible by an ear listening to the CW. One way to get around modern operating systems is to write a Morse device to run in the kernel (for example, running a WinKey emulator in the kernel). For Mac OS X, this would be a kernel extension (kext). Running as a kernel process comes with the associated complexity and dangers (a bug can cause the entire computer to crash). The µH Router, which I wrote for Mac OS X to allow different programs to share a microHAM keyer, actually has a built in WinKey emulator, for use with the digiKEYER that does not have a built-in WinKey chip. However, this emulator runs in user space, and now and then you can hear a Morse element being stretched so the rhythm is not perfectly right all the time when running CW even at a slow 25 wpm, even on a dual core computer and even when the emulator is running on a separate high priority (user) thread. 73 Chen, W7AY __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] New K3 Firmware: Pileup-inspired AGC changes
# I'm seeing 5 to 6 dB of increase in meter reading between no modulation and modulation peaks. I guess I'm old fashioned but I thought that the AM carrier strength should set the AGC level. It seems to me that this is exactly what one would expect. AM PEP = 4 x carrier (e.g. 6 dB). If an S-meter did not respond to peaks but rather responded to the no modulation signal level, it would be completely useless for CW or SSB. 73, ... Joe, W4TV -Original Message- From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Wes Stewart Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2009 10:32 AM To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net; Jim Brown Subject: Re: [Elecraft] New K3 Firmware: Pileup-inspired AGC changes --- On Wed, 2/25/09, Jim Brown j...@audiosystemsgroup.com wrote: Someone just posted that they had trouble in pileups during the contest last weekend, but the radio worked better when they turned on the attenuator and turned down the RF gain. DUH! I learned that in 1957 -- but younger operators never learned it, since modern radios depend so heavily on AGC. Nothing personal Jim, but your post is a handy one to add to. I've been licensed for over 50 years so I've been through all of the turn off the AVC (dating myself) and ride the rf gain control business. But I must say that having to turn off the AGC and ride the rf gain control in a modern whiz-bang super-duper multi-kilobuck radio seems oxymoronic to me. Why should I have to ride the gain? I thought all of this DSP stuff was supposed to be smarter than I am. Shouldn’t the radio be smart enough to know when a signal is so strong that the attenuator needs to be inserted to protect the DSP or the second mixer, for example? Besides the K3 AGC appears to never be off despite what the display reports. For example while listening to a strong AM broadcast station, if I reduce the RF Gain* with the AGC on so that the S-meter stops peaking# and adjust the audio gain for comfortable listening and then turn the ACG off, the signal practically disappears. If the AGC was truly off then there shouldn't be any change. Adjusting the RF Gain higher to bring back the signal level will also result in the S-meter following the signal peaks. Running this experiment also seems to demonstrate a problem with the gain distribution in this radio. If I reduce the RF Gain to the point that the S-meter is just beginning to be affected, there is a distinct reduction in the SNR. It's quite disconcerting to have a S9+50 dB, interference-free signal that sounds noisy. Comparing to my TS870 with the same signal, I can decrease the gain (increase the S–meter reading) by at least 20 dB without noticing any reduction in SNR. * RF Gain seems to be a misnomer; unless I'm mistaken (always a possibility) there isn't a gain-controlled RF amplifier in the radio. The only hardware that is obviously gain-controlled is the second stage in the first i-f amplifier. # I'm seeing 5 to 6 dB of increase in meter reading between no modulation and modulation peaks. I guess I'm old fashioned but I thought that the AM carrier strength should set the AGC level. This peak-reading AGC may also be a contributor to the distorted audio that has been widely reported. Wes Stewart, N7WS __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 choppy CW
On Thu, 26 Feb 2009 08:24:30 -0500, Ed K1EP wrote: Because many hams today like to buy neat gadgets, many times without understanding what they do. I key my K3 direct from my XP PC using the serial line. I run speeds in the 30+ wpm. I can achieve rates of over 200+ Q/hour, and I have a very good UBN record. Applications support it because the interfaces are out there. There are situations in which you may actually need such a device, but a properly outfitted PC can support direct keying. I use N1MM, CT, DxBase and other programs with no problems. Just because something exists, doesn't make it necessary. Existence is not proof of necessity, and I don't even play a lawyer on TV. Everyone is free to decide for themselves what is necessary for their particular situation. YES! I'm a very active contester, and I've never used anything but serial port keying when using a single radio from a single computer. CW sounds just fine at any reasonable contesting speed. The ONLY time I've ever had choppy CW is running TWO radios from the same laptop computer on two ports. It worked, but it was choppy in the way, and to about the same degree, that ZM1A was choppy last weekend. That's a limitation of how the logging programs send CW. So I broke down and bought a WinKey -- ONLY so that I could run SO2R. There is NO GOOD REASON to buy a WinKey to run one K3. There is also no good reason to use expensive interfaces (or transformers) to connect your computer to your radio. All you need are properly wired cables and simple bonding between the chassis of the computer and the chassis of the radio. See http://audiosystemsgroup.com/HamInterfacing.pdf (Power Point) and http://audiosystemsgroup.com/RFI-Ham.pdf (text to go with it) 73, Jim Brown K9YC __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 choppy CW
The key is a decent computer. There are many people using very old computers with minimal ram and cpu speed and they wonder why they have issues. Some people do not have days and hours to figure out why something won't work especially leading up to a contest, for them a WinKeyer might be a great solution. To each their own. Just because it works for one does not mean it works for all. Shall we talk about slopers? :) A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over. Ben Franklin -Original Message- From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Jim Brown Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2009 9:17 AM To: Elecraft List Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 choppy CW On Thu, 26 Feb 2009 08:24:30 -0500, Ed K1EP wrote: Because many hams today like to buy neat gadgets, many times without understanding what they do. I key my K3 direct from my XP PC using the serial line. I run speeds in the 30+ wpm. I can achieve rates of over 200+ Q/hour, and I have a very good UBN record. Applications support it because the interfaces are out there. There are situations in which you may actually need such a device, but a properly outfitted PC can support direct keying. I use N1MM, CT, DxBase and other programs with no problems. Just because something exists, doesn't make it necessary. Existence is not proof of necessity, and I don't even play a lawyer on TV. Everyone is free to decide for themselves what is necessary for their particular situation. YES! I'm a very active contester, and I've never used anything but serial port keying when using a single radio from a single computer. CW sounds just fine at any reasonable contesting speed. The ONLY time I've ever had choppy CW is running TWO radios from the same laptop computer on two ports. It worked, but it was choppy in the way, and to about the same degree, that ZM1A was choppy last weekend. That's a limitation of how the logging programs send CW. So I broke down and bought a WinKey -- ONLY so that I could run SO2R. There is NO GOOD REASON to buy a WinKey to run one K3. There is also no good reason to use expensive interfaces (or transformers) to connect your computer to your radio. All you need are properly wired cables and simple bonding between the chassis of the computer and the chassis of the radio. See http://audiosystemsgroup.com/HamInterfacing.pdf (Power Point) and http://audiosystemsgroup.com/RFI-Ham.pdf (text to go with it) 73, Jim Brown K9YC __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
[Elecraft] K2 fine carrier balance
Well it only took 10 years but I finally did the fine carrier balance adjustment on my K2. I never did it when I built my K2 in 1999, since the dead zone in R1 on the ssb board seemed to be 0 during the coarse balance adjustment. In addition I've gotten several unsolicited compliments on my audio over the years. So what prompted me to finally do the adjustment? About a year ago I installed the Elecraft bandwidth modification kit, to the SSB board, mainly to get a few more hz view in digital modes (WSJT in particular). When I did the mod, I re did the coarse carrier balance and noted the same lack of a dead zone in R1. So I was satisfied all was well. But a few weeks ago I got a negative comment on the audio from one (out of 181 qso's) during the ARRL VHF sweepstakes. I noted it, but ascribed the comment to the $0.50 mic element in the homebrew boom mic I built just prior to the contest (a boom mic and a foot switch make life easier during a contest). But yesterday I worked K5D with ssb using my usual mic (a D-104) and he made a comment on the audio too (though he also said he or I was mistuned). Well that motivated some action on my part. It took about 20-30 minutes to dig my old SX-117 out of the bowels of my son's closet, and for the first time ever, performed the fine carrier balance on the K2 ssb board using the SX-117 as a monitor. I was surprised to find that I could easily suppress the carrier by an additional s-unit inside that missing dead zone on the pot. But self monitoring of my audio using the SX-117 before and after the balance adjustment, using both the boom mic and the D-104 made no difference in the audio. To my ear it sounds fine, with little if any distortion. Maybe the poor audio reports were just a fluke, from two stations operating in contest mode, not looking to make any receiver adjustments at their end. Anyway, I learned something: the fine carrier balance adjustment actually can improve carrier supression, which may benefit me if I ever upgrade to a high power K2. And now after 10 years, all the alignment steps of the K2 have been completed! 73, Lenny W2BVH __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] New K3 Firmware: Pileup-inspired AGC changes
I did that FT-1000MP mod and the improvement was marginal. It didn't correct the problem of AGC mush in the passband with big pileups. Lots of IMD in big contests with that radio, too. 73, Dick WC1M -Original Message- From: Bill W4ZV [mailto:btipp...@alum.mit.edu] Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2009 6:32 AM To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] New K3 Firmware: Pileup-inspired AGC changes Jan Erik Holm wrote: Don Rasmussen wrote: Anyone care to take a guess as to how long an anomoly like this would live in any other mass produced HF transceiver? My guess - the life of the radio. Maybe the Flex guys would get to it. With Elecraft, the issue was identified on the weekend, and here it is Wednesday of the same week, the engineers understand the effect and offer test software for it. Kudos! Indeed! Just one example. As I understand this problem the Yaesu FT-1000MP suffers from the same (lets call it) AGC IMD. On the MP I have noticed it myself and others too but it is not widely written about. Very glad to see that it possibly can be fixed on the K3. 73 Jim SM2EKM Like everything else about the nasty key-click generator FT-1000MP, it's left to the customer to find and fix any problems. Yaesu did nothing about the key clicks for at least 13 years (beginning with FT-1000D until a production change for the MP in 2003)...and Yaesu is now reliving design problems with the roofing filters in the FT-2000. BTW Inrad did implement fixes for both the MP's clicks and the AGC problem (the customer must pay for all Yaesu design errors, of course): FT-1000MP AGC Improvement Mod Some operators on major DX-peditions have complained about poor readability in large pile ups. From a joint effort between Inrad and some of these operators, we are now offering the AGC mod which improves readability somewhat for both CW and SSB. Details of the history is included in the mod instruction sheets. This new mod increases the decay time, which in the FT-1000MP is so fast that weaker signals can come up to full output between dots and dashes (or speech peaks), causing poor readability in pile ups. It also uses a damping resistor to eliminate a slight over shoot. Please be aware that under normal or average operating conditions, this mod will make very little discernible difference. The AGC mod is not applicable to the Mark V. http://www.inrad.net/product.php?productid=86cat=10page=1 What a horrible contrast Yaesu was to my very pleasant experience with Elecraft! 73, Bill -- View this message in context: http://n2.nabble.com/New-K3-Firmware%3A- Pileup-inspired-AGC-changes-tp2387110p2389115.html Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com. __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 choppy CW
W0MU Mike Fatchett wrote: The key is a decent computer. There are many people using very old computers with minimal ram and cpu speed and they wonder why they have issues. Some people do not have days and hours to figure out why something won't work especially leading up to a contest, for them a WinKeyer might be a great solution. To each their own. It's an interesting problem. I have an old Windows 2000 800 MHz laptop which sends perfect CW on my K3 from N1MM at 30 wpm. I did have to set the weight parameter in N1MM to 55. Interestingly, I once had a problem of horrible CW with variable-length elements, etc. I discovered that it was because my wireless network was *not* connected -- and therefore was continuously scanning. Probably the driver was disabling interrupts for long periods. I simply turned the wireless back on and solved the problem. This is just one possible issue. Anti-malware programs can also interfere with CW generation. Since I don't do email on my shack computer and only minimally access the web, I've removed the anti-virus software and kept only a firewall. If you use packet while contesting (I don't), the load on the computer will be increased. And as someone mentioned, SO2R is another factor. Personally, I am suffering from gadget overload in my shack, and the more gadgets there are, the wider you open the door to Murphy. So I don't use Winkey or similar devices. What I suggest is that you a) use a reasonably powerful computer, b) remove unnecessary software running in the background (MSCONFIG will show you much of it), and turn off unneeded Windows services, and c) look for problems like a wireless adapter scanning. If you still have a problem, then maybe Winkey is the solution for you. -- 73, Vic, K2VCO Fresno CA http://www.qsl.net/k2vco __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 Power calibration and current consumption
Hi Ken, There isn't any 100 W calibration on the K3. All gain calibration is done at 5 and 50 W (and optionally 1 mW if you have a KXV3). These are the points we picked do the cal, and the firmware then extrapolates from there. So, how accurate the rig is at any setting from 13 to 100 W depends on whether you've done the 50 W calibration. There is one additional form of optional calibration: the K3's wattmeter. See CONFIG:WMTR in the owner's manual. 73, Wayne N6KR On Feb 26, 2009, at 7:42 AM, Ken Kopp wrote: I may well be the only one caught by this, but be sure that the TRANSMITTER GAIN procedure on pages 49 and 50 of the manual has been done, but also include the 100W level. IMO, the first paragraph under WATTMETER on page 49 should read ... 5 W, 50 W , 100 W (K3/100 only) etc. --- http://www.elecraft.com __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] Programatically determining K3 bar meter status
Hi Don, I'll be improving all this in a future firmware release. I've got your call noted on the task item, and I'll let you know when it's ready to test. 73, Wayne N6KR On Feb 26, 2009, at 5:25 AM, Don - K2PMC wrote: I am trying to programatically determine the status of the bar meter in transmit mode. Maybe I am thick but I have not yet found a way to determine whether the meter is in SWR/RF mode or CMP/ALC mode. Additionally, when the meter is in SWR/RF mode and a BG; command is issued, the bar value returned is the SWR bar value. The same thing occurs when the meter is in CMP/ALC mode. The value returned is the CMP bar value. I haven't yet figured out how to access the RF or ALC bar value. --- http://www.elecraft.com __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] Elecraft Digest, Vol 58, Issue 54
In ARRL DX CW last weekend, using my K3 in SO2V with N1MM (running on F1 and tuning up/down the band with the 2nd receiver) occasionally switching between A to B on the K3 to work a station and then back to A caused a loss of signal when returning to A. This was not consistent and I am sure that it's me. What am I doing wrong? What is the best way of running SO2V with N1MM and my K3 please? Or is this a question for the N1MM group? Cheers Terry G4MKP __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] Elecraft Dust Covers, Carry Cases, and More
Has anyone posted pictures of Rose's cases? Are they soft cases or hard cases? 73, Dick WC1M -Original Message- From: Gary Hvizdak [mailto:garyhviz...@cfl.rr.com] Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 10:28 PM To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: [Elecraft] Elecraft Dust Covers, Carry Cases, and More Hi Group, As I await the arrival of my hand crafted K3 carrying case from Rose Kopp, I feel compelled to share a thing or two about my experience so far. Yes, I've seen the comments here on the Reflector about the quality of her workmanship, but I don't recall seeing anything about what a total pleasure it is doing business with her. IT'S DOWNRIGHT FUN working with Rose to select exactly what combination of colors you might like best. Some other things you might not know are ... 1) It usually takes Rose one day to make a K2 or K3 case. 2) Rose and OM Ken first met here in Melbourne, Florida at a high school football game back in 1959. They got married a month later. How do I know all this? Like I said, it's downright fun doing business with Rose! :) 73, Gary KI4GGX __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 choppy CW
Hi Vic, In my opinion, Kok Chen and you have said it best so far. The bottom line is that someone could get perfect CW (without using audio) from older as well as newer computers, and could repeat the feat over and over on different machines, while another person has the opposite experience, and, as you point out, the difference has a *lot* to do with what else is running on the computer. It is very easy to assume that just because something is working repeatedly for one person, it would for another person. The computer industry has in effect promoted the belief that you just have to have a program and a computer that are compatible, and you do the installation correctly, you can forget about what else you have on the computer. Not so. Even in the absence of unrelated software and hardware, small changes in the basic hardware configuration can make a big difference in outcome; a faster processor or larger memory is likely to work for you, but *can* work against you in some cases. What is the best approach depends a lot on personal circumstances. You mention gadget overload in the shack, and I have that too. You are apparently willing to strip your shack computer of all non-ham activities, and the computer then is a ham gadget, great! I assume you have another computer for email etc. In my case, my main computer is quite fast (quad 6600 processor) and it is located right next to my radios. It has 4 GB of memory, more than Vista 32 can use. All the time I run several resource-heavy programs on it. Most of the time I get on the radio without any PC use at all, but I do use that same computer when once in a while I get on the digital modes. If I were to shut down a bunch of software before doing running ham software, I would be too lazy to bother doing it at all. I could add another computer for hamming, but that computer would then be a ham gadget, and a much bulkier one than a WinKeyer. Now it so happens, maybe because of the many contesters on this list, I am beginning to get the itch to try contesting with software. The other day I downloaded and installed N1MM. The same day I placed an order for a WinKeyer. While my software and hardware today might allow me to be one of the lucky users who don't need the WinKeyer, the odds are against it, and I don't want to waste the time trying it, expecially since I frequently change the software I run, and I don't want to revisit the issue. 73, Erik K7TV - Original Message - From: Vic K2VCO v...@rakefet.com To: W0MU Mike Fatchett w...@w0mu.com Cc: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2009 10:25 AM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 choppy CW W0MU Mike Fatchett wrote: The key is a decent computer. There are many people using very old computers with minimal ram and cpu speed and they wonder why they have issues. Some people do not have days and hours to figure out why something won't work especially leading up to a contest, for them a WinKeyer might be a great solution. To each their own. It's an interesting problem. I have an old Windows 2000 800 MHz laptop which sends perfect CW on my K3 from N1MM at 30 wpm. I did have to set the weight parameter in N1MM to 55. Interestingly, I once had a problem of horrible CW with variable-length elements, etc. I discovered that it was because my wireless network was *not* connected -- and therefore was continuously scanning. Probably the driver was disabling interrupts for long periods. I simply turned the wireless back on and solved the problem. This is just one possible issue. Anti-malware programs can also interfere with CW generation. Since I don't do email on my shack computer and only minimally access the web, I've removed the anti-virus software and kept only a firewall. If you use packet while contesting (I don't), the load on the computer will be increased. And as someone mentioned, SO2R is another factor. Personally, I am suffering from gadget overload in my shack, and the more gadgets there are, the wider you open the door to Murphy. So I don't use Winkey or similar devices. What I suggest is that you a) use a reasonably powerful computer, b) remove unnecessary software running in the background (MSCONFIG will show you much of it), and turn off unneeded Windows services, and c) look for problems like a wireless adapter scanning. If you still have a problem, then maybe Winkey is the solution for you. -- 73, Vic, K2VCO Fresno CA http://www.qsl.net/k2vco __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html __ Elecraft mailing list Home:
Re: [Elecraft] K3 choppy CW
I am a doubter and avid contester. I've had zero negative comments about my keying using simply a serial cable from a COM port direct to the K3 RS232 port. That's 8000 plus CW QSOs and who knows how many unanswered CQs and wing and a prayer repeats over the past year. Win2K and N1MM mostly, some XP with a laptop (yes one blessed with a real serial port). Yes, I have three K1EL keyers, but only use the USB keyer with the K2. YMMV, but I'm a happy camper on CW with a very simple no interface setup with my K3. 73, Julius n2wn R. Kevin Stover wrote: Everybody should be using a Winkey to key CW. Some people will deny that keying directly from an serial port controlled by windows causes keying errors. When we ran DOS, the applications could have unfettered access to the ports. You could also easily harness the system clock and use it rather than the OS to supply the timing for CW. It was easy to background a process like sending CW knowing you had control of the port when you needed it. Not so with Windows98 and up. XP is especially bad. Ever had an application or the OS grab a hold of a USB, serial or parallel port and not let go when the application or process terminated? It never happened in DOS. One question for the doubters. If a winkey like device isn't necessary to send properly timed CW, why do several hardware manufacturers, Micro Ham, US Interface, Rig Expert, and nearly all general and contest logging applications support it? Just to make K1EL rich? W0MU Mike Fatchett wrote: N1MM users have had similar issues. I don't know if AB7R's fix works but many have just gone to a Winkey keyer as a solution. I have one built into my SO2R MK2R+ Microham devices so I have never seen this issue. A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over. Ben Franklin -- R. Kevin Stover, ACØH __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html - Julius Fazekas N2WN Tennessee Contest Group http://www.k4ro.net/tcg/index.html Tennessee QSO Party http://www.tnqp.org/ Elecraft K2/100 #4455 Elecraft K3/100 #366 -- View this message in context: http://n2.nabble.com/Re%3A-K3-choppy-CW-tp2386856p2391682.html Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com. __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 choppy CW
Eric, Something to keep in mind with the WKUSB keyer, at least the one I installed two years ago, is that the driver installation can be very unforgiving. I, and others, had a heck of a time with them IF one doesn't EXACTLY follow the installation instructions. Read, read and read again before doing anything... Once installed the unit seems bulletproof. This may not hold true with the latest models. I just bought a new one, for mobile use with my K2. Hope to catch you in the contests.. soon to be RTTY enabled here (FSK of course) ;o) 73, Julius K7TV wrote: Hi Vic, In my opinion, Kok Chen and you have said it best so far. The bottom line is that someone could get perfect CW (without using audio) from older as well as newer computers, and could repeat the feat over and over on different machines, while another person has the opposite experience, and, as you point out, the difference has a *lot* to do with what else is running on the computer. It is very easy to assume that just because something is working repeatedly for one person, it would for another person. The computer industry has in effect promoted the belief that you just have to have a program and a computer that are compatible, and you do the installation correctly, you can forget about what else you have on the computer. Not so. Even in the absence of unrelated software and hardware, small changes in the basic hardware configuration can make a big difference in outcome; a faster processor or larger memory is likely to work for you, but *can* work against you in some cases. What is the best approach depends a lot on personal circumstances. You mention gadget overload in the shack, and I have that too. You are apparently willing to strip your shack computer of all non-ham activities, and the computer then is a ham gadget, great! I assume you have another computer for email etc. In my case, my main computer is quite fast (quad 6600 processor) and it is located right next to my radios. It has 4 GB of memory, more than Vista 32 can use. All the time I run several resource-heavy programs on it. Most of the time I get on the radio without any PC use at all, but I do use that same computer when once in a while I get on the digital modes. If I were to shut down a bunch of software before doing running ham software, I would be too lazy to bother doing it at all. I could add another computer for hamming, but that computer would then be a ham gadget, and a much bulkier one than a WinKeyer. Now it so happens, maybe because of the many contesters on this list, I am beginning to get the itch to try contesting with software. The other day I downloaded and installed N1MM. The same day I placed an order for a WinKeyer. While my software and hardware today might allow me to be one of the lucky users who don't need the WinKeyer, the odds are against it, and I don't want to waste the time trying it, expecially since I frequently change the software I run, and I don't want to revisit the issue. 73, Erik K7TV - Original Message - From: Vic K2VCO v...@rakefet.com To: W0MU Mike Fatchett w...@w0mu.com Cc: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2009 10:25 AM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 choppy CW W0MU Mike Fatchett wrote: The key is a decent computer. There are many people using very old computers with minimal ram and cpu speed and they wonder why they have issues. Some people do not have days and hours to figure out why something won't work especially leading up to a contest, for them a WinKeyer might be a great solution. To each their own. It's an interesting problem. I have an old Windows 2000 800 MHz laptop which sends perfect CW on my K3 from N1MM at 30 wpm. I did have to set the weight parameter in N1MM to 55. Interestingly, I once had a problem of horrible CW with variable-length elements, etc. I discovered that it was because my wireless network was *not* connected -- and therefore was continuously scanning. Probably the driver was disabling interrupts for long periods. I simply turned the wireless back on and solved the problem. This is just one possible issue. Anti-malware programs can also interfere with CW generation. Since I don't do email on my shack computer and only minimally access the web, I've removed the anti-virus software and kept only a firewall. If you use packet while contesting (I don't), the load on the computer will be increased. And as someone mentioned, SO2R is another factor. Personally, I am suffering from gadget overload in my shack, and the more gadgets there are, the wider you open the door to Murphy. So I don't use Winkey or similar devices. What I suggest is that you a) use a reasonably powerful computer, b) remove unnecessary software running in the background (MSCONFIG will show you much of it), and turn off unneeded Windows services, and c) look for
Re: [Elecraft] K3 choppy CW
Julius, Thanks for the heads-up. I did order the USB version, and just assumed that it would not be a problem since so many people have said good things about them. Did you install successfully on Vista 32? 73, Erik K7TV - Original Message - From: Julius Fazekas n2wn phriend...@yahoo.com To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2009 12:42 PM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 choppy CW Eric, Something to keep in mind with the WKUSB keyer, at least the one I installed two years ago, is that the driver installation can be very unforgiving. I, and others, had a heck of a time with them IF one doesn't EXACTLY follow the installation instructions. Read, read and read again before doing anything... Once installed the unit seems bulletproof. This may not hold true with the latest models. I just bought a new one, for mobile use with my K2. Hope to catch you in the contests.. soon to be RTTY enabled here (FSK of course) ;o) 73, Julius __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 choppy CW
Julius, Though we're now drifting off topic from Elecraft, WinKey USB works fine on my Vista laptop keying my K3. It also has the advantage of not tying up any serial ports, since it runs off the USB port (the driver creates a virtual serial port). You can also use it for PTT, thus avoiding using another serial port for that function. 73,andy, ae6y - Original Message - From: Erik N Basilier ebasil...@cox.net To: Julius Fazekas n2wn phriend...@yahoo.com; elecraft@mailman.qth.net Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2009 11:47 AM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 choppy CW Julius, Thanks for the heads-up. I did order the USB version, and just assumed that it would not be a problem since so many people have said good things about them. Did you install successfully on Vista 32? 73, Erik K7TV - Original Message - From: Julius Fazekas n2wn phriend...@yahoo.com To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2009 12:42 PM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 choppy CW Eric, Something to keep in mind with the WKUSB keyer, at least the one I installed two years ago, is that the driver installation can be very unforgiving. I, and others, had a heck of a time with them IF one doesn't EXACTLY follow the installation instructions. Read, read and read again before doing anything... Once installed the unit seems bulletproof. This may not hold true with the latest models. I just bought a new one, for mobile use with my K2. Hope to catch you in the contests.. soon to be RTTY enabled here (FSK of course) ;o) 73, Julius __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
[Elecraft] K2 transverter question
Building my K2 next week. I run 600 meters and use a homebrew transverter right now with my Kenwood HF rig. Going to build a new transverter for my K2 when it is finished. I ordered the transverter option. I need the K2 to function from 3.135mc to 3.510mc as I use a 3.0mc oven oscillator as my reference mixed with the HF radio's signal to get me on 2200, 1750 600 meters. I am licensed as a Part 5 station on those 3 bands. Will the K2 operate in that band at below 80 meters? I only need the transverter ports to function, not the HF power amp. Many thanks, Mike WE0H __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 choppy CW
Andy, Thanks for your input, it is helpful to me. Sorry if this is too much OT, but I see an additional benefit in the WinKeyer in that it lets you use paddles. I don't know how deep into contest-land I will go, but at this point it feels like cheating to use the keyboard, even though it is much less stressful than paddles. Not yet familiar with N1MM, I simply assume that you can't use paddles with it unless you have the WinKeyer. Anyone please correct me if I am wrong. 73, Erik Julius, Though we're now drifting off topic from Elecraft, WinKey USB works fine on my Vista laptop keying my K3. It also has the advantage of not tying up any serial ports, since it runs off the USB port (the driver creates a virtual serial port). You can also use it for PTT, thus avoiding using another serial port for that function. 73,andy, ae6y __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K2 transverter question
Hi Mike: I got out a l'il FCC-2 freq counter/vfo that I built, hooked it up to the K2 and was able to hear a signal on the K2 to down just below 2740kc. The VCO unlocked just below that. At 3000kc the output power was about 10 watts. I don't know what kind of sensitivity is available in the K2 that far out of its specified band, but my guess is that it should be OK for what you intend. Good luck with the project. 73, Ken K3IU K2 #5413 K3 #202 Mike-WE0H wrote: Building my K2 next week. I run 600 meters and use a homebrew transverter right now with my Kenwood HF rig. Going to build a new transverter for my K2 when it is finished. I ordered the transverter option. I need the K2 to function from 3.135mc to 3.510mc as I use a 3.0mc oven oscillator as my reference mixed with the HF radio's signal to get me on 2200, 1750 600 meters. I am licensed as a Part 5 station on those 3 bands. Will the K2 operate in that band at below 80 meters? I only need the transverter ports to function, not the HF power amp. Many thanks, Mike WE0H __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K2 transverter question
Thank you Ken. Looks like it will be just fine then. Just built a FCC-2 MK-II a few weeks ago. It is a very nice DDS VFO. 73 Mike WE0H Ken K3IU wrote: Hi Mike: I got out a l'il FCC-2 freq counter/vfo that I built, hooked it up to the K2 and was able to hear a signal on the K2 to down just below 2740kc. The VCO unlocked just below that. At 3000kc the output power was about 10 watts. I don't know what kind of sensitivity is available in the K2 that far out of its specified band, but my guess is that it should be OK for what you intend. Good luck with the project. 73, Ken K3IU K2 #5413 K3 #202 Mike-WE0H wrote: Building my K2 next week. I run 600 meters and use a homebrew transverter right now with my Kenwood HF rig. Going to build a new transverter for my K2 when it is finished. I ordered the transverter option. I need the K2 to function from 3.135mc to 3.510mc as I use a 3.0mc oven oscillator as my reference mixed with the HF radio's signal to get me on 2200, 1750 600 meters. I am licensed as a Part 5 station on those 3 bands. Will the K2 operate in that band at below 80 meters? I only need the transverter ports to function, not the HF power amp. Many thanks, Mike WE0H __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] Elecraft Dust Covers, Carry Cases, and More
Dick Green WC1M wrote: Has anyone posted pictures of Rose's cases? Are they soft cases or hard cases? Soft. http://tinyurl.com/dn8k4o 73, Bill -- View this message in context: http://n2.nabble.com/Elecraft-Dust-Covers%2C-Carry-Cases%2C-and-More-tp2387722p2392349.html Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com. __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 choppy CW
Group, I am sorry to harp on this, but it seems someone thought I was not thinking I could key the K3 directly when using N1MM. Of course one could do that. But I was assuming that running through N1MM would give me a specific benefit: Not to have to enter callsigns and exchange info twice (once to transmit, once to log). To me it seems obvious that any contest logging program should do this; after e.g. a callsign has been entered through the keyboard, there is no ambiguity about it, and the program should transmit it as well as log it. Now N1MM claims to be integrated with WinKeyer, so my expectation is that I should be able to do the same using the paddles to enter the callsign. Admittedly, that involves some CW decoding in software, but if I select the type of data item by selecting an input field by mouse on the screen, the program should have a leg up for a good guess, which I could verify by one glance, and the exchange information would probably be generated automatically anyway. Before I put more time into this, would somebody familiar with N1MM please let me know if any of my expectations are unrealistic. Thanks in advance, Erik K7TV Andy, Thanks for your input, it is helpful to me. Sorry if this is too much OT, but I see an additional benefit in the WinKeyer in that it lets you use paddles. I don't know how deep into contest-land I will go, but at this point it feels like cheating to use the keyboard, even though it is much less stressful than paddles. Not yet familiar with N1MM, I simply assume that you can't use paddles with it unless you have the WinKeyer. Anyone please correct me if I am wrong. 73, Erik __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 choppy CW
Hi Erik, I haven't, I'm still using Win2K predominately on my contest computer. So far my experiences have bee negative with Vista, but that may be as much due to our IT Department making things safe. One of the gents in our contest group has put it on Vista, but he had to get some help to do so. The K1EL Yahoo group is very helpful if you run into any problems. Don't get me wrong, it's a good piece of equipment and I know more folks who haven't had problems than those of us who did, but it is a possibility, so take your time with the driver install. The kit is a quick and easy build. Cheers, Julius Julius Fazekas N2WN Tennessee Contest Group http://www.k4ro.net/tcg/index.html Tennessee QSO Party http://www.tnqp.org/ Elecraft K2/100 #4455 Elecraft K3/100 #366 --- On Thu, 2/26/09, Erik N Basilier ebasil...@cox.net wrote: From: Erik N Basilier ebasil...@cox.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 choppy CW To: Julius Fazekas n2wn phriend...@yahoo.com, elecraft@mailman.qth.net Date: Thursday, February 26, 2009, 2:47 PM Julius, Thanks for the heads-up. I did order the USB version, and just assumed that it would not be a problem since so many people have said good things about them. Did you install successfully on Vista 32? 73, Erik K7TV - Original Message - From: Julius Fazekas n2wn phriend...@yahoo.com To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2009 12:42 PM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 choppy CW Eric, Something to keep in mind with the WKUSB keyer, at least the one I installed two years ago, is that the driver installation can be very unforgiving. I, and others, had a heck of a time with them IF one doesn't EXACTLY follow the installation instructions. Read, read and read again before doing anything... Once installed the unit seems bulletproof. This may not hold true with the latest models. I just bought a new one, for mobile use with my K2. Hope to catch you in the contests.. soon to be RTTY enabled here (FSK of course) ;o) 73, Julius __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 choppy CW
Hi Andy, No argument on the advantages/disadvantages of using WKUSB with the K3. But you don't have to have it, even with a USB to serial interface. Too, I haven't any experience with Vista and WKUSB, so can't make an experienced comment on that combo. My experiences with loading the drivers is simply noted to save someone else the headache some of us have had... Cheers, Julius Julius Fazekas N2WN Tennessee Contest Group http://www.k4ro.net/tcg/index.html Tennessee QSO Party http://www.tnqp.org/ Elecraft K2/100 #4455 Elecraft K3/100 #366 --- On Thu, 2/26/09, Andrew Faber andrewfa...@ymail.com wrote: From: Andrew Faber andrewfa...@ymail.com Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 choppy CW To: Erik N Basilier ebasil...@cox.net, Julius Fazekas n2wn phriend...@yahoo.com, elecraft@mailman.qth.net Date: Thursday, February 26, 2009, 2:53 PM Julius, Though we're now drifting off topic from Elecraft, WinKey USB works fine on my Vista laptop keying my K3. It also has the advantage of not tying up any serial ports, since it runs off the USB port (the driver creates a virtual serial port). You can also use it for PTT, thus avoiding using another serial port for that function. 73,andy, ae6y - Original Message - From: Erik N Basilier ebasil...@cox.net To: Julius Fazekas n2wn phriend...@yahoo.com; elecraft@mailman.qth.net Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2009 11:47 AM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 choppy CW Julius, Thanks for the heads-up. I did order the USB version, and just assumed that it would not be a problem since so many people have said good things about them. Did you install successfully on Vista 32? 73, Erik K7TV - Original Message - From: Julius Fazekas n2wn phriend...@yahoo.com To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2009 12:42 PM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 choppy CW Eric, Something to keep in mind with the WKUSB keyer, at least the one I installed two years ago, is that the driver installation can be very unforgiving. I, and others, had a heck of a time with them IF one doesn't EXACTLY follow the installation instructions. Read, read and read again before doing anything... Once installed the unit seems bulletproof. This may not hold true with the latest models. I just bought a new one, for mobile use with my K2. Hope to catch you in the contests.. soon to be RTTY enabled here (FSK of course) ;o) 73, Julius __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 choppy CW
Erik, No you can use the paddles with N1MM and just the K3. The K1EL is for computer generated CW. Some of us have a hard enough time typing, tuning, using a key AND keeping up a decent rate ;o) For casual contesting, without using computer generated CW, you really don't need WKUSB, the paddles will do it. Julius Fazekas N2WN Tennessee Contest Group http://www.k4ro.net/tcg/index.html Tennessee QSO Party http://www.tnqp.org/ Elecraft K2/100 #4455 Elecraft K3/100 #366 --- On Thu, 2/26/09, Erik N Basilier ebasil...@cox.net wrote: From: Erik N Basilier ebasil...@cox.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 choppy CW To: Andrew Faber andrewfa...@ymail.com, Julius Fazekas n2wn phriend...@yahoo.com, elecraft@mailman.qth.net Date: Thursday, February 26, 2009, 3:20 PM Andy, Thanks for your input, it is helpful to me. Sorry if this is too much OT, but I see an additional benefit in the WinKeyer in that it lets you use paddles. I don't know how deep into contest-land I will go, but at this point it feels like cheating to use the keyboard, even though it is much less stressful than paddles. Not yet familiar with N1MM, I simply assume that you can't use paddles with it unless you have the WinKeyer. Anyone please correct me if I am wrong. 73, Erik Julius, Though we're now drifting off topic from Elecraft, WinKey USB works fine on my Vista laptop keying my K3. It also has the advantage of not tying up any serial ports, since it runs off the USB port (the driver creates a virtual serial port). You can also use it for PTT, thus avoiding using another serial port for that function. 73,andy, ae6y __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
[Elecraft] Fw: Cables for the K3 to Yaesu Quadra Connections
Opps, forgot Elecraft. - Original Message - From: Jim Brassell j.brass...@mchsi.com To: Tom Hammond n...@embarqmail.com Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2009 5:16 PM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Cables for the K3 to Yaesu Quadra Connections Hey, Tom. Well, it is as if the Quadra does not recognize the K3. It would not change bands and would simply pass the signal thru. I tried it using pin 3 and 4 on the K3 accessory plug to key the rig (to pin 9 and 11 on the Quadra) and I tried the key in route you proposed. Also, when I simply connected the ALC (using pins 12 and 15 on the K3 accessory plug) and the RF out on the K3 to Input 2 on the Quadra it simply passed the RF thru. Input 2 was selected on the Quadra. Still wouldn't recognize the K3. The ALC was turned on on the K3 and I played with the ALC settings on the K3 and the Quadra with no luck. For all the questioners, my K3's serial number is 2738 and has the ALC and band data pullup mods done. I also went straight from the 12 VDC plug on the K3 to pin 1 and 3 on the Quadra. I really like the Quadra and it works great with the FT-2000D. I'm going to keep it for sure, but I'm going to get an Ameritron ALS-600 and an MFJ-994 auto tuner for the K3. I've followed Phil Salas, AD5K and his work with that equipment. It sounds good and is reliable. I wish you luck with your local. I don't have a ton of test equipment and I don't want to risk damaging the K3 or the Quadra. Thanks for your interest and your help. I'm also going to post this on the Elecraft reflector for anyone thinking about a Quadra and the K3. I'm sure it can be done and I know Joe, W4TV has done it. It just ain't working for me. I am now going to put the phones on and look for some DX as 20 closes. Ain't the K3 great! 73, Jim, K4ZMV - Original Message - From: Tom Hammond n...@embarqmail.com To: Jim Brassell j.brass...@mchsi.com Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2009 4:29 PM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Cables for the K3 to Yaesu Quadra Connections Jim: What type of problems have you had? Might help the local I'm trying to get up 'n running. 73, Tom At 11:39 02/26/2009, you wrote: Thanks, Tom. I tried several differenct ways to connect the Quadra with very limited success. So, I am going to use the 2000D with the Quadra and get another amp to use with the K3. Thanks to you and Joe for your help and suggestions. I'd be interested to know if you are successful getting Kent's rig to work. 73, Jim, K4ZMV - Original Message - From: Tom Hammond n...@embarqmail.com To: Jim Brassell j.brass...@mchsi.com Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 6:14 PM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Cables for the K3 to Yaesu Quadra Connections Jim: I have a quick question concerning the 12 VDC connection between the Quadra and the K3. I want to use the RF isolated ground of the K3 for the 12 volt connection. My plan is to connect the RCA plug without a ground connection on the plug and use pin 5 on the accessory plug as the 12 volt ground reference. There is an RF choke between K3 chassis ground and pin 5 and 12, thus isolating that ground connection. I don't think that will be a problem. Does anyone have another view? Thanks for your time and any comment. I (just) made up a cable (actually, 'cables') for Kent, K9ZTV, for his Quadra and K3. Unfortunately, they've not been plugged in yet, but with luck, will be later tonight. I'm hereto attaching a graphic of what I did and how I did it. Good luck, Tom Hammond N0SS p.s. I think you should be able to use the single-wire _12VDC connection AS LONG AS you have another solid ground between the K3 and the Amp... personally though, I'd use RG-174 and include an integral ground. __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
[Elecraft] K3 rig control with RS-232 does not work with 'cold' radio
I have a K3 with all modules except transverter interface. The radio does not communicate with the PC (or Mac) before it has been on for about 45 minutes - consistently. I turn on one of my rig control/logging programs or K3 utility right after the radio is turned on. Without touching anything the communication does not start to work before the radio has been on for between 30 and 45 minutes. If this had been my K2 I would have checked for dry/cold solder joints but since this is a factory built module I chose so far to leave it alone. Any ideas? -- View this message in context: http://n2.nabble.com/K3-rig-control-with-RS-232-does-not-work-with-%27cold%27-radio-tp2392599p2392599.html Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com. __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
[Elecraft] K3 Bandscope
I wonder when the K3 bandscope kits will roll out at the Aptos goody factory. Looking forward to the MOJO!!! Any news Wayne and Eric? Roy W4WFB __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K2 transverter question
Hi Don, Wow that does present an issue now. I will see if I can find a suitable reference oscillator at one of those 4 freq's. Seems kind of odd IF freq's not having one at 10.0mc. Does anyone has a suggestion on what oscillator I could brew up that would stay on freq within 1 cycle for over 24 hours after warm up? That is the reason why I now run a oven oscillator because it never changes freq month after month and has zero drift. I run digital modes down there that won't tolerate even a 1 cycle drift. My oscillator's are a commercial assembly from old analog cell sites. Got a deal on them years ago and built my LF MF station around them. Thanks much, Mike WE0H Don wrote: Mike, The K60XV will not provide any advantage for you with that IF frequency band. The available IF frequencies for the K2 transverter bands are limited to 7 MHz, 14 MHz, 21 MHz and 28 MHz. These are 'bottom of the band' frequencies and tuning will be upward from there. You can use the normal K2 BNC output (SO-239 if you have the KPA100 installed) and translate the actual transverter input frequency in your head. You may be doing that already with your Kenwood. If you really need to use the K60XV output, you will need to modify your transverter to use one of the available IF frequencies. You will also not be able to have the K2 directly readout the frequency in that input band, but if you do change your transverter to use the K60XV, you might want to 'fool' the K2 by entering 50 MHz as the RF band and ignore the first digit on the display to obtain the proper frequency. In other words, you could use the K60XV if you changed the transverter oscillator to 7 MHz instead of your current 3 MHz and reworked the IF bandpass for 7000 to 7510 kHz, the K2 would tune from 7000 kHz to 7510 kHz to cover the input frequencies from DC to 510 kHz. If you selected 50 MHz as the RF band, you would see 5.00 to 50550.00 on the K2 display. 73, Don W3FPR Mike-WE0H wrote: Building my K2 next week. I run 600 meters and use a homebrew transverter right now with my Kenwood HF rig. Going to build a new transverter for my K2 when it is finished. I ordered the transverter option. I need the K2 to function from 3.135mc to 3.510mc as I use a 3.0mc oven oscillator as my reference mixed with the HF radio's signal to get me on 2200, 1750 600 meters. I am licensed as a Part 5 station on those 3 bands. Will the K2 operate in that band at below 80 meters? I only need the transverter ports to function, not the HF power amp. Many thanks, Mike WE0H __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 rig control with RS-232 does not work with 'cold' radio
LB3SA wrote: I have a K3 with all modules except transverter interface. The radio does not communicate with the PC (or Mac) before it has been on for about 45 minutes - consistently. I turn on one of my rig control/logging programs or K3 utility right after the radio is turned on. Without touching anything the communication does not start to work before the radio has been on for between 30 and 45 minutes. If this had been my K2 I would have checked for dry/cold solder joints but since this is a factory built module I chose so far to leave it alone. I'd contact Elecraft support and see if they would exchange the KIO3 module. I suppose you have tried with a different serial port? It might be that which has the warm-up problem. - Julian, G4ILO. K2 #392 K3 #222. http://www.g4ilo.com/ G4ILO's Shack http://www.g4ilo.com/blog.html G4ILO's Bloghttp://www.g4ilo.com/kcomm.html KComm for Elecraft K2 and K3 -- View this message in context: http://n2.nabble.com/K3-rig-control-with-RS-232-does-not-work-with-%27cold%27-radio-tp2392599p2392793.html Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com. __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K2 transverter question
Mike, It is a matter of firmware, not hardware limitations. I would guess that when the K60XV was released, no one thought it would ever be used for down-converting, so only the normal VHF IF frequencies were made available. Since your current oscillator is super-stable, have you considered using it as a standard. Use a digital counter to divide by 3 - that will produce a square wave which is rich in odd order harmonics - a tuned circuit could then pick off the 7th harmonic of the 1 kHz frequency. I don't know if it would work easily for you, but I think it would be viable enough to experiment with. 73, Don W3FPR Mike-WE0H wrote: Hi Don, Wow that does present an issue now. I will see if I can find a suitable reference oscillator at one of those 4 freq's. Seems kind of odd IF freq's not having one at 10.0mc. Does anyone has a suggestion on what oscillator I could brew up that would stay on freq within 1 cycle for over 24 hours after warm up? That is the reason why I now run a oven oscillator because it never changes freq month after month and has zero drift. I run digital modes down there that won't tolerate even a 1 cycle drift. My oscillator's are a commercial assembly from old analog cell sites. Got a deal on them years ago and built my LF MF station around them. Thanks much, Mike WE0H Don wrote: Mike, The K60XV will not provide any advantage for you with that IF frequency band. The available IF frequencies for the K2 transverter bands are limited to 7 MHz, 14 MHz, 21 MHz and 28 MHz. These are 'bottom of the band' frequencies and tuning will be upward from there. You can use the normal K2 BNC output (SO-239 if you have the KPA100 installed) and translate the actual transverter input frequency in your head. You may be doing that already with your Kenwood. If you really need to use the K60XV output, you will need to modify your transverter to use one of the available IF frequencies. You will also not be able to have the K2 directly readout the frequency in that input band, but if you do change your transverter to use the K60XV, you might want to 'fool' the K2 by entering 50 MHz as the RF band and ignore the first digit on the display to obtain the proper frequency. In other words, you could use the K60XV if you changed the transverter oscillator to 7 MHz instead of your current 3 MHz and reworked the IF bandpass for 7000 to 7510 kHz, the K2 would tune from 7000 kHz to 7510 kHz to cover the input frequencies from DC to 510 kHz. If you selected 50 MHz as the RF band, you would see 5.00 to 50550.00 on the K2 display. 73, Don W3FPR Mike-WE0H wrote: Building my K2 next week. I run 600 meters and use a homebrew transverter right now with my Kenwood HF rig. Going to build a new transverter for my K2 when it is finished. I ordered the transverter option. I need the K2 to function from 3.135mc to 3.510mc as I use a 3.0mc oven oscillator as my reference mixed with the HF radio's signal to get me on 2200, 1750 600 meters. I am licensed as a Part 5 station on those 3 bands. Will the K2 operate in that band at below 80 meters? I only need the transverter ports to function, not the HF power amp. Many thanks, Mike WE0H __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K2 transverter question
Hi Don, I can drop the level down and divide as you said. That would be easy enough. I wonder if the software of the K2 could be changed to allow any HF band to be used as an IF with that K60XV board? Who would I speak with about changing the software? Otherwise I'll continue to look for a oven oscillator at those 4 baseband freq's. If I can't find one then I will have to use your method to generate some harmonics and pick the 7.0mc signal and buffer/filter it for the mixer. One way or the other it'll get done...hi hi... Thanks, Mike Don Wilhelm wrote: Mike, It is a matter of firmware, not hardware limitations. I would guess that when the K60XV was released, no one thought it would ever be used for down-converting, so only the normal VHF IF frequencies were made available. Since your current oscillator is super-stable, have you considered using it as a standard. Use a digital counter to divide by 3 - that will produce a square wave which is rich in odd order harmonics - a tuned circuit could then pick off the 7th harmonic of the 1 kHz frequency. I don't know if it would work easily for you, but I think it would be viable enough to experiment with. 73, Don W3FPR Mike-WE0H wrote: Hi Don, Wow that does present an issue now. I will see if I can find a suitable reference oscillator at one of those 4 freq's. Seems kind of odd IF freq's not having one at 10.0mc. Does anyone has a suggestion on what oscillator I could brew up that would stay on freq within 1 cycle for over 24 hours after warm up? That is the reason why I now run a oven oscillator because it never changes freq month after month and has zero drift. I run digital modes down there that won't tolerate even a 1 cycle drift. My oscillator's are a commercial assembly from old analog cell sites. Got a deal on them years ago and built my LF MF station around them. Thanks much, Mike WE0H Don wrote: Mike, The K60XV will not provide any advantage for you with that IF frequency band. The available IF frequencies for the K2 transverter bands are limited to 7 MHz, 14 MHz, 21 MHz and 28 MHz. These are 'bottom of the band' frequencies and tuning will be upward from there. You can use the normal K2 BNC output (SO-239 if you have the KPA100 installed) and translate the actual transverter input frequency in your head. You may be doing that already with your Kenwood. If you really need to use the K60XV output, you will need to modify your transverter to use one of the available IF frequencies. You will also not be able to have the K2 directly readout the frequency in that input band, but if you do change your transverter to use the K60XV, you might want to 'fool' the K2 by entering 50 MHz as the RF band and ignore the first digit on the display to obtain the proper frequency. In other words, you could use the K60XV if you changed the transverter oscillator to 7 MHz instead of your current 3 MHz and reworked the IF bandpass for 7000 to 7510 kHz, the K2 would tune from 7000 kHz to 7510 kHz to cover the input frequencies from DC to 510 kHz. If you selected 50 MHz as the RF band, you would see 5.00 to 50550.00 on the K2 display. 73, Don W3FPR Mike-WE0H wrote: Building my K2 next week. I run 600 meters and use a homebrew transverter right now with my Kenwood HF rig. Going to build a new transverter for my K2 when it is finished. I ordered the transverter option. I need the K2 to function from 3.135mc to 3.510mc as I use a 3.0mc oven oscillator as my reference mixed with the HF radio's signal to get me on 2200, 1750 600 meters. I am licensed as a Part 5 station on those 3 bands. Will the K2 operate in that band at below 80 meters? I only need the transverter ports to function, not the HF power amp. Many thanks, Mike WE0H __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 rig control with RS-232 does not work with 'cold' radio
Sounds like a problem with the negative-voltage generator for the RS232 driver. Please contact customer support for a replacement KIO3 module, and return the old one if you don't mind. 73, Wayne N6KR LB3SA wrote: I have a K3 with all modules except transverter interface. The radio does not communicate with the PC (or Mac) before it has been on for about 45 minutes - consistently. I turn on one of my rig control/logging programs or K3 utility right after the radio is turned on. Without touching anything the communication does not start to work before the radio has been on for between 30 and 45 minutes. --- http://www.elecraft.com __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K2 transverter question
Mike, The only person that would change the firmware would be Wayne Burdick himself. In the K2 it would require replacement of the firmware chip because K2 firmware is not downloadable like the K3. You would likely have to pry Wayne away from his K3 MCU firmware efforts to get his attention, but you certainly could ask. 73, Don W3FPR Mike-WE0H wrote: Hi Don, I can drop the level down and divide as you said. That would be easy enough. I wonder if the software of the K2 could be changed to allow any HF band to be used as an IF with that K60XV board? Who would I speak with about changing the software? Otherwise I'll continue to look for a oven oscillator at those 4 baseband freq's. If I can't find one then I will have to use your method to generate some harmonics and pick the 7.0mc signal and buffer/filter it for the mixer. One way or the other it'll get done...hi hi... Thanks, Mike Don Wilhelm wrote: Mike, It is a matter of firmware, not hardware limitations. I would guess that when the K60XV was released, no one thought it would ever be used for down-converting, so only the normal VHF IF frequencies were made available. Since your current oscillator is super-stable, have you considered using it as a standard. Use a digital counter to divide by 3 - that will produce a square wave which is rich in odd order harmonics - a tuned circuit could then pick off the 7th harmonic of the 1 kHz frequency. I don't know if it would work easily for you, but I think it would be viable enough to experiment with. 73, Don W3FPR Mike-WE0H wrote: Hi Don, Wow that does present an issue now. I will see if I can find a suitable reference oscillator at one of those 4 freq's. Seems kind of odd IF freq's not having one at 10.0mc. Does anyone has a suggestion on what oscillator I could brew up that would stay on freq within 1 cycle for over 24 hours after warm up? That is the reason why I now run a oven oscillator because it never changes freq month after month and has zero drift. I run digital modes down there that won't tolerate even a 1 cycle drift. My oscillator's are a commercial assembly from old analog cell sites. Got a deal on them years ago and built my LF MF station around them. Thanks much, Mike WE0H Don wrote: Mike, The K60XV will not provide any advantage for you with that IF frequency band. The available IF frequencies for the K2 transverter bands are limited to 7 MHz, 14 MHz, 21 MHz and 28 MHz. These are 'bottom of the band' frequencies and tuning will be upward from there. You can use the normal K2 BNC output (SO-239 if you have the KPA100 installed) and translate the actual transverter input frequency in your head. You may be doing that already with your Kenwood. If you really need to use the K60XV output, you will need to modify your transverter to use one of the available IF frequencies. You will also not be able to have the K2 directly readout the frequency in that input band, but if you do change your transverter to use the K60XV, you might want to 'fool' the K2 by entering 50 MHz as the RF band and ignore the first digit on the display to obtain the proper frequency. In other words, you could use the K60XV if you changed the transverter oscillator to 7 MHz instead of your current 3 MHz and reworked the IF bandpass for 7000 to 7510 kHz, the K2 would tune from 7000 kHz to 7510 kHz to cover the input frequencies from DC to 510 kHz. If you selected 50 MHz as the RF band, you would see 5.00 to 50550.00 on the K2 display. 73, Don W3FPR Mike-WE0H wrote: Building my K2 next week. I run 600 meters and use a homebrew transverter right now with my Kenwood HF rig. Going to build a new transverter for my K2 when it is finished. I ordered the transverter option. I need the K2 to function from 3.135mc to 3.510mc as I use a 3.0mc oven oscillator as my reference mixed with the HF radio's signal to get me on 2200, 1750 600 meters. I am licensed as a Part 5 station on those 3 bands. Will the K2 operate in that band at below 80 meters? I only need the transverter ports to function, not the HF power amp. Many thanks, Mike WE0H __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 choppy CW
Erik, Yes, you can use paddles with the WinKeyer, and IMHO the big advantage of a WinKeyer for this is that the paddles are integrated with computer CW. That is, if the computer is sending CW, a touch of the paddle instantly stops outgoing computer-generated CW so you can carry on with the paddle. If you find you hit the wrong function key and it starts sending CQ whan you wanted to send TU, for example, you can just grab the paddle and send TU and that will abort the unwanted message. You can also use a paddle plugged directly into the back of the K3, but that is not integrated in the sense that CW input from the paddle and from the computer are wire-Ored inside the radio, i.e. if you key the paddle while the computer is sending, all you get is a mess. You have to hit ESC first to stop the computer-generated CW before carrying on with the paddle. One of the things you are looking for, if I understand correctly, is to be able to enter information into N1MM Logger using the paddle. This is *not* possible. There is no CW decoder in the Logger. Even if there were, paddle input into the WinKeyer is not passed back to the computer, it only goes forward to the radio. As a result, the paddle is not usable for entering logged data. For that matter, when you send free-form CW from the keyboard by typing into the Ctrl+K window, that information is not entered into the log either. If you want information to be logged, you have to type it into the appropriate box in the Entry window, and then the function key message macros can incorporate that information when they are sent. One other convenience feature of the WKUSB is that it can be used as a stand-alone keyer without computer control. You can power it either from a battery or from a USB port without any transfer of data from the computer. So you can use it without firing up the logging program, e.g. if you are randomly tuning the band and hear someone you want to work. In this mode, without software controlling it, the WKUSB has four programmable memory buttons. Warning: these four memory buttons cannot be used when the WKUSB is under computer control - you have to use messages programmed into the software instead. This limitation is programmed into the WinKeyer. You can also use the memory buttons on the K3, but one peculiarity is that these have lower priority than computer or paddle input, so you cannot use the memory buttons to interrupt computer CW. You have to hit ESC first (or touch the WinKeyer's paddle) before using the K3's memories. This makes them less useful than having the same messages programmed into function keys in N1MM Logger. HTH. 73, Rich VE3KI __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K2 transverter question
I wonder if that was Wayne whom I spoke with at the Orlando Hamcation a couple weekends ago? There was a guy and a lady there at the Elecraft booth and both were extremely helpful and willing to sit down and answer tons of questions. That was the best customer service experience I have seen in a long time. I'll ask Wayne and cross my fingers that it can be done easily...hi hi... Mike Don Wilhelm wrote: Mike, The only person that would change the firmware would be Wayne Burdick himself. In the K2 it would require replacement of the firmware chip because K2 firmware is not downloadable like the K3. You would likely have to pry Wayne away from his K3 MCU firmware efforts to get his attention, but you certainly could ask. 73, Don W3FPR __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K2 transverter question
Mike, I know that Eric was at Orlando (based on his note to the reflector in which he referred to we), but I don't think Wayne was there. The lady may have been his wife Lerma, but that is only a guess on my part based on no valid information - that we may have been the 'royal we' or could have referred to the mouse in his pocket. I am glad to hear that you had a positive experience at the Elecraft booth in Orlando. 73, Don W3FPR Mike-WE0H wrote: I wonder if that was Wayne whom I spoke with at the Orlando Hamcation a couple weekends ago? There was a guy and a lady there at the Elecraft booth and both were extremely helpful and willing to sit down and answer tons of questions. That was the best customer service experience I have seen in a long time. I'll ask Wayne and cross my fingers that it can be done easily...hi hi... Mike __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
[Elecraft] K3 Preamp observation
In spite of everything we've learned over the years, the Preamp on the K3 actually helps when it's not needed. For example: I just worked a station on 160m. The QRN is peaking 20 - 40db over 9. His signal averaged S7 to S9. Normally under these conditions you would certainly not want to use a preamp however when I engage the preamp, the CW actually rises above the noise level and is much easier to copy. I've done this a dozen times. I also use a more narrow filter and the NR helps a lot also but that preamp helps more than anything. It's strange why the extra, unneeded gain would help but for some reason it does. I think the NR actually responds better when there's more noise! whateverI'm happy. Steve Ellington n...@carolina.rr.com __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
[Elecraft] Elecraft] K3 Power calibration and current consumption
Hi Ken, Thank you for responding Wayne. There isn't any 100 W calibration on the K3. All gain calibration is done at 5 and 50 W (and optionally 1 mW if you have a KXV3). These are the points we picked do the cal, and the firmware then extrapolates from there. So, how accurate the rig is at any setting from 13 to 100 W depends on whether you've done the 50 W calibration. There is one additional form of optional calibration: the K3's wattmeter. See CONFIG:WMTR in the owner's manual. This is the method I eventually discovered to make the K3's wattmeter and the external reference wattmeter agree. The correction factor is 074 for my K3. It seems that this adjustment would be part of the procedure on page 49. I stumbled on it by accident, so to speak. (:-) 73! Ken - K0PP On Feb 26, 2009, at 7:42 AM, Ken Kopp wrote: I may well be the only one caught by this, but be sure that the TRANSMITTER GAIN procedure on pages 49 and 50 of the manual has been done, but also include the 100W level. IMO, the first paragraph under WATTMETER on page 49 should read ... 5 W, 50 W , 100 W (K3/100 only) etc. __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
[Elecraft] [K3] Occasional relay clicks?
I'm sitting here listening to mostly band noise during the 40M QRP foxhunt and I hear a relay click (not chatter) once in a while. This is a K3/10 and since I'm listening almost all the time there's very little going on. I was just at 7045.49 for several minutes and a click happened for no apparent reason. Any ideas? ATU is set to pass thru. No computer connected to the KIO3. PWR set to 5W. jim ab3cv __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 Shuts Off On High Power-HELP!
I talked to Elecraft and they said it could my 18 year old power supply is going. I am due for one anyway and hopefully it will work right again. Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2009 05:39:45 -0800 From: ml-user+110157-603300...@n2.nabble.com To: connectme...@hotmail.com Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 Shuts Off On High Power-HELP! Just running 100W on 1.812 MHz 14.2V at the K3 drew around 17-18A from my Astron. 3.525 MHz draws the same 25-30 amps isn't right. Wish I could be of more help. Gary KA1J My K3 is shutting off on high power. CW and SSB. It seems to be drawing too many amps and I am checking this on an external power supply (DAIWA PS-304). I get the same results when I am on the dummy load and when I am on the antenna. I didn't check six meters but here is the data. What's going on? Do I need to reset the whole radio? :-(( 3.8 mhz- 100w @ 28-30 amps. shuts off 4.1 mhz(Mars) 100W @ 20 amps *stays on 7.2 mhz 100w @ 25-30 amps shuts off 14.2 mhz 100w @ 27-30 amps shuts off 10.1 mhz 100w @ 28 ampsshuts off 18.1mhz 100w @20 amps *stays on 21.2 100w @ 28-30 amps shuts off 24.930 100w @ 26-28 amps shuts off 28.4 100w @ 25 amp * stays on Six meters didn't test yet. -- View this message in context: http://n2.nabble.com/K3-Shuts-Off-On-High-Power-HELP%21-tp2387427p2387427.html Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com. __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:elecr...@... This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:elecr...@... This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html This email is a reply to your post @ http://n2.nabble.com/K3-Shuts-Off-On-High-Power-HELP%21-tp2387427p2389650.html You can reply by email or by visting the link above. _ Access your email online and on the go with Windows Live Hotmail. http://windowslive.com/online/hotmail?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_HM_AE_Access_022009 -- View this message in context: http://n2.nabble.com/K3-Shuts-Off-On-High-Power-HELP%21-tp2387427p2393775.html Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com. __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
Re: [Elecraft] K3 Shuts Off On High Power-HELP!
I will check the pwr plugs. Tnx. Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2009 05:57:47 -0800 From: ml-user+44259-1780298...@n2.nabble.com To: connectme...@hotmail.com Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 Shuts Off On High Power-HELP! Check the power plugs on the back of the radio. I had the same problem -.-. --.-N3TU -.-. --.- wrote: My K3 is shutting off on high power. CW and SSB. It seems to be drawing too many amps and I am checking this on an external power supply (DAIWA PS-304). I get the same results when I am on the dummy load and when I am on the antenna. I didn't check six meters but here is the data. What's going on? Do I need to reset the whole radio? 3.8 mhz- 100w @ 28-30 amps. shuts off 4.1 mhz(Mars) 100W @ 20 amps *stays on 7.2 mhz 100w @ 25-30 amps shuts off 14.2 mhz 100w @ 27-30 amps shuts off 10.1 mhz 100w @ 28 ampsshuts off 18.1mhz 100w @20 amps *stays on 21.2 100w @ 28-30 amps shuts off 24.930 100w @ 26-28 amps shuts off 28.4 100w @ 25 amp * stays on Six meters didn't test yet. This email is a reply to your post @ http://n2.nabble.com/K3-Shuts-Off-On-High-Power-HELP%21-tp2387427p2389757.html You can reply by email or by visting the link above. _ Windows Live™: Discover 10 secrets about the new Windows Live. http://windowslive.com/connect/post/jamiethomson.spaces.live.com-Blog-cns!550F681DAD532637!7540.entry?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_t2_ugc_post_022009 -- View this message in context: http://n2.nabble.com/K3-Shuts-Off-On-High-Power-HELP%21-tp2387427p2393777.html Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com. __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
[Elecraft] Extra 2.7khz SSB roofing filter.
I have a brand new 2.7k filter that I don't need. If you have a need for one make me an offer. Mike W0MU A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over. Ben Franklin __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
