Frank,
If you have the audio level set correctly, there should be no distortion
unless the KX3 power control mechanism has a problem. The 1st 4 bars of
the KX3 ALC meter are not showing ALC at all. ALC activation does not
start until the 5th bar.
Yes, you can operate into a dummy and listen with another receiver - it
does not have to be an SDR receiver, most any will do.
I have not heard of a soundcard which would apply an effective ground on
the right channel (PTT).
73,
Don W3FPR
On 4/24/2018 8:48 PM, Frank O'Donnell wrote:
Don, thanks for the comments. I didn't mention it in my prior post,
but setting the mike gain to achieve ~4.5 bars on the ALC meter is
indeed something I paid a lot of attention to.
On that general topic, I've heard others talk about a couple of
strategies for making sure that you're getting a clean digital signal
out that isn't overmodulated. One is to have a local friend take a
look at your signal as received at their location. Another apparently
is to run your transceiver into a dummy load, then use an SDR or
similar receiver close by with a hank of wire as an antenna to sample
the signal you're putting out. I can't remember, however, if those
discussions were in the context of Elecraft radios. Does it seem
reasonable to run my KX3 into a dummy load (perhaps with the power out
turned down) and listen to it with, say, an SDRplay to evaluate the
signal out? Keeping the levels low of course to protect the SDR.
One other point about the audio setup for digital. When I was getting
my gear configured, I tried using a couple of different soundcard
devices. One of them seemed to work fine with both right and left
stereo channels plugged in between the soundcard and KX3. When I tried
the other soundcard, however, I got a PTT error when powering up the
KX3. After I unplugged the stereo channel on that soundcard that went
to the ring connector on the KX3 mike in, everything worked fine. Is
that a problem known to occur with some soundcards?
Thanks again,
Frank K6FOD
On 4/24/18 1:24 PM, Don Wilhelm wrote:
Frank,
As you have indicated, those settings will get you started.
But definitely use DATA A, not USB.
Reason is that Compression and EQ is automatically set to zero, and
your SSB settings can remain undisturbed.
You mic gain setting is the most important when using data modes. Set
it so you have 4 bars solid on the ALC meter with the 5th bar flashing.
You may want to read the article dealing with setting the audio gains
(yes, there can be up to 3) that is on my website www.w3fpr.com.
Scroll the left column down to the bottom and click on the link to
the article.
There is no sense in setting RS232 to a slower baud rate unless the
application software demands it.
For voice and CW modes, you want to have AGC on. TX and RX EQ can be
set to whatever your ears like.
73,
Don W3FPR
On 4/24/2018 4:02 PM, Frank O'Donnell wrote:
Hi all, new ham here and a KX3 owner for three weeks. In the time
I've had the radio, I've used it exclusively for FT8. The first
thing I did was to set it up for digital modes using settings from a
YouTube video by K5ACL. Specifically:
AGC MD: off (default is on)
Mike bias: off (default is on)
RS232: Set to desired baud rate. KX3 supports max 38400 baud
RX EQ: off
TX EQ: off
TX GAIN: ALC 25 (this is the default)
Mode: USB
This all worked fine. Not long thereafter II changed from setting
the KX3 mode to USB, and have been using the Data mode instead.
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