Lance,
My guess is that you will need to change to the external XV144
transverter which does have the capability of using separate TX and RX
antennas (selectable at build time). The internal transverter does not
have that capability.
Yes, it does sound like an expensive oversight.
73,
Don W3FPR
On 4/8/2013 7:37 PM, Lance Collister, W7GJ wrote:
I wonder if anybody has any ideas about this. Prior to my trip to
TX5K, I used my K3 for receive on 2m EME by setting up the transverter
port for a 28 to 144 MHz transverter, and I just plugged my 28 MHz
converter into that nicely isolated receive port. The receiver
worked great, but I was eventually interested in getting the internal
2m transmitter module so I could use the more stable K3 on XMIT too.
I was using my old IC746 as a separate transmitter on 2m EME, and - as
most of you know - it drifts quite noticeably every sequence. And
besides, I thought for traveling it would be convenient to have both
2m and 6m capability in one lightweight box.
So, now I have the 2m module installed in my K3 ;-) The problem is
that I can no longer use the transverter port....it is hard wired to
the 2m module. And apparently, the only 2m connector is the new one
(a BNC called antenna jack #3) that is used for box receive and
transmit. So there seems to be no way to use the K3 with a separate
protected receive line anymore!
For 6m EME, there is no problem - I just bring my 6m preamp line into
the separate RX ANT jack, and the 6m transmit power goes out through
the UHF antenna jack #2. For 2m EME, though, I can't figure out how
to bring in a separate receive line (either on 2m from my tower
mounted preamp or after my receive converter at 28 MHz) and still be
able to transmit on 2m. The K3 does not support cross band operation,
so I cannot use the RX ANT jack to safely receive my converter output
on 28 MHz and still transmit using the internal 10w 2m module.
Has anybody figured out a way to modify the circuitry or software to
provide a separate receive line for 2m operation? It seems like I
just made a very expensive mistake, and should have just bought an
external transverter so I could retain use of the separate transverter
receive jack on the rear of the K3. If not, I guess I will just have
to go back to using the IC746 for my transmitter on 2m, and defining a
second transverter setting for the K3 that will allow me to bring in
my 28 MHz converter output into that receive only jack. This latter
option DOES seem to work, but of course, the internal transmit
capability of the K3 on 2m is thrown out the window.
Of course, there is always the solution of adding more sequenced
external coaxial relays to switch the K3's solitary new BNC antenna
jack #3, between my driver amp input and my 2m preamp output. However,
the whole point of this expensive exercise was to try to take
advantage of the great separate receiver antenna capabilities offered
by the K3 on all other bands, apparently EXCEPT if you add the
built-in 2m option :-(
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Elecraft Tech Support
suggested that I ask users for ideas, since they also are baffled on
how to make this work, and I guess are surprised at my application.
MNI TNX and VY 73, Lance
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