> I seem to be missing the point of this PTT CW keying thing... > Is it for transverter/linear/mast head pre-amp use on VHF/UHF?
I don't know, but that certainly hasn't been the focus of our discussion of this feature. It is simply providing PTT-only control of transmission for the CW mode, just like PTT works in SSB. The transmit mode is 100% controlled by the PTT line rather than transmission being turned on and off in the QSK or SEMI break-in modes by PADDLE or KEY closures. Some CW operators prefer PTT-only over QSK or SEMI break-in. Some SO2R controllers and other station control units depend on this feature. I understand that it is required for some VHF/UHF transverter operations. CW PTT-only (i.e., QSK and SEMI break-in are disabled) is on every transceiver except the K2, as several postings have reiterated recently on this reflector. > A useful feature that was mentioned a long time ago (and put > on the back burner I think), was adding a programmable > transmit feature to one the "PF" buttons to give a carrier > for linear/ATU tuning. I have this feature on my Kenwood > TS-480 and find it invaluable. Pressing thw 480's PF button > toggles a carrier on and off (regardless of mode), the > carrier level can be adjusted while it's transmitting via the > normal power setting route and can be set anywhere from 5 to > 100 Watts in one Watt steps (the power setting limits of the > 480). The power level is stored and occurs regardless of the > main power level setting, so for example if I'm set for 5 > Watts of QRP CW, pressing the button gives me 10 Watts for > the external MFJ auto ATU. If I'm using my valve linear and > have the 480 set at 25 Watts on SSB, pressing the PF button > gives me 10 Watts to tune the linear with. This is similar, > if not the same functionality, as those external 3rd party > button boxes do for the Yaesu FT817/857/897 rigs > > Has this use of one of the three PF buttons been included yet? The TUNE button on the K3, as on the K2, transmits a carrier at the power level set on the POWER control. There is not yet a dedicated button or even a Function that could be assigned to a PF button, that transmits a carrier at a reduced power level. With the KAT3 installed, though, you can tap ATU and get a five-watt carrier transmitted to tune the KAT3. I find myself using that button for just the purpose you describe. It transmits 5 watts and auto-tunes the KAT3 to match the input circuit of my linear amplifiers. While I certainly don't need those inputs (since they are nominally 50 ohms), I do it anyway just to make use of the five watts, as you desire, for preliminary tuning of the linear. I then follow that with the TUNE button and the POWER set at, say, 50 watts for final tweaking of the linear for 1500 watts output. BTW, there are 10 PF buttons now on the K3, not three as on the earlier front panel renderings. PF1 and PF2 are hold operations on the RIT and XIT buttons, while both tap and hold operations on the M1-M4 buttons can be used for PF functions instead of message buffers (on a one by one basis). 73, Ed - W0YK _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [email protected] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
