I'm sure my fogginess on this is due to my own understanding deficit, but I
would like some more explanation on this in order to compare how the K3 will
be used to how I use GC receivers now to listen to AM SWBC in congested bands.
I've found the best way to reduce QRM while using a typical "dumb" AM/SSB GC
receiver is to put the carrier in the center of the IF passband, then switch
to either USB or LSB mode (with the carrier zero-beat) and listen to either
the upper or the lower sideband. That way, if adjacent-channel QRM is worse on
the high side, listening only to the lower sideband eliminates it, and
vice-versa.
Will something equivalent to this mode of reception be possible on the K3?
Bill / W5WVO
wayne burdick wrote:
A few of you have asked how to use and interpret the settings of the
receiver's DSP controls when in AM mode (SHIFT/WIDTH and HICUT/LOCUT
functions). I'll be improving the associated Owner's Manual section
soon, but I thought I'd try to get the word out more quickly.
What the DSP controls are adjusting is the final audio passband: what
you hear. This is true in all modes, and is immediately reflected in
the DSP "graphic" on the LCD. When you rotate WIDTH and see "2.80",
that means that the audio bandwidth is 2.80 kHz. When you rotate SHIFT
and see "1.60", that means the center of the audio passband is 1.60
kHz.
Of course there isn't just audio filtering in the K3. As you rotate
these controls, we internally adjust the 1st and 2nd I.F. passbands
optimally to match the audio passband. For example, in SSB mode, if
you set WIDTH to "2.80", and have a 2.80 kHz crystal filter, then you
have three filters all cascaded at this same bandwidth: a 2.8 kHz
1st-IF crystal filter (centered at 8.215 MHz); a 2.8 kHz 2nd-IF DSP
filter (centered at 15 kHz); and finally, a 2.8 kHz DSP audio filter
(centered at 1.6 kHz). We do all the math to make this as seamless as
possible, selecting the ideal crystal filter as you cut the highs or
lows or reduce the audio bandwidth.
With this in mind, I can now explain what happens in AM mode, which
has to be handled differently.
An AM signal is comprised of a carrier and both sidebands. So it's
much wider than an SSB signal, and this is why you need a 6-kHz
crystal filter for best fidelity. But this filter bandwidth is only
required ahead of the AM demodulator, that is, at the first and
second I.F.s. After the demodulator, we're back to the audio passband
-- what you hear.
So, when you rotate the DSP controls in AM mode, even though you'll
typically see the 6-kHz filter selected ("FL1" on my rig), you won't
see "6.00" shown on the LCD. Instead, you'll see the audio bandwidth
("2.80", etc.), just like you do in other modes. And this is what
makes sense, given that the controls are linked the AF passband.
This will be even more apparent when using FM (coming soon!). FM
requires a filter around 13 kHz wide. As you can see, having the DSP
controls show something like "13.00" when WIDTH is rotated wouldn't be
very useful. You'll want to know how they affect what you hear, not
the underlying IF filter selection.
Note: For now, I suggest that you enable only the 6-kHz crystal filter
for AM. A future firmware revision will also properly handle the 2.8
or 2.7 kHz crystal filters when DSP controls are rotated in AM mode. This
will be most useful when doing hicut/locut.
73,
Wayne
N6KR
---
http://www.elecraft.com
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