Re: [Elecraft] K3 - 6m Internal Birdie

2015-04-08 Thread Wayne Burdick
Tom Lizak, K1TL, wrote:

> I have been having a problem with a 6m internal birdie around 50.096 ... I 
> did the "birdie removal tool" thingee but seems to put a small "void" in that 
> area when I did it.


Hi Tom,

The SIG RMV method can, in some cases, introduce a small dip in audio response 
at that specific frequency. The way the K3 owner's manual describes it is: "You 
may hear a slight tuning artifact as you tune in and out of the affected VFO 
segment." (See CONFIG:SIG RMV description.)

This is an unavoidable side effect of how SIG RMV works. SIG RMV allows you to 
apply a small shift to both the first and second local oscillators, which can 
shift the birdie completely out of the passband while shifting the crystal 
filter passband only a small amount (and keeping the VFO accurate). But if the 
target signal happens to be close to the edge of the crystal filter passband, 
even a small shift could attenuate that point in the tuning range by a few dB. 
Generally, this is preferable to hearing the birdie.

How successful SIG RMV is depends entirely on whether the birdie results from 
the first LO's fundamental, or from a harmonic. If it's due to a harmonic, 
which is usually the case, SIG RVM can be very effective. For example, shifting 
the LO 100 Hz would shift the birdie 1000 Hz in the case of a product involving 
the 10th harmonic of the LO.

If the birdie you're removing is due to the fundamental of the LO, you may be 
forced to move it farther, creating a greater chance of an audible tuning 
artifact.

Unfortunately there's no way to completely eliminate birdies in a 
high-dynamic-range superhet receiver. When we designed the new synth, we spent 
a lot of time tuning through the ham bands, slowly, at multiple bandwidths. We 
selected divider values (etc.) for the new synth such that ham-band birdies 
were "virtually" (but not entirely) eliminated. 6 meters is especially 
difficult because both the target band and its image band are both 4 MHz wide. 
Nonetheless, I think we did a pretty good job of minimizing birdies here.

There are other things you can do about birdies if a small residual artifact is 
an issue. In CW mode you might try using CW reverse instead of CW normal. Or 
you can use a different crystal filter with a different offset. In SSB mode you 
can turn on the notch filter. But before taking any of these more drastic 
steps, I would also check the orientation of the coax cables associated with 
the synthesizer(s). Sometimes just moving a cable a bit can greatly attenuate 
one problematic birdie.

Let me know if you have any further questions about this.

73,
Wayne
N6KR

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Re: [Elecraft] K3 - 6m Internal Birdie

2015-04-08 Thread Mike K2MK
Hi Tom,

It's been a few years since I did birdie hunting on my K3 because most of
them turned out not to be birdies but signals originating from my wireless
router in a different room. So step 1 is to pull the power cord out of your
router and see if the problem goes away. If it does buy a different router.

Step 2 is to remove your antenna cable and make sure the birdie does not
decrease in strength. If it does then it's probably a signal coming in on
your antenna and not something generated inside the K3. 

After confirming that it is internally generated, step 3 is to remove the K3
top cover and listen to the birdie while you move the various coax cables
inside the K3 around. If you find a position that eliminates the noise, tape
the cable in place with some painters tape.

73,
Mike K2MK


k1tl wrote
> Hi all, 
> 
> I have been having a problem with a 6m internal birdie around 50.096 which
> is fairly strong and interferes with any signal(s) around that frequency. 
> I
> did the "birdie removal tool" thingee but seems to put a small "void" in
> that area when I did it.
> 
> Have any of you K3 owners have a similar problem?  
> 
> I'm wondering if it may be a cabling issue with the SYNTH boards cable
> routing. I just installed two new SYNTH boards and all seems working fine. 
> 
> 73
> Tom/K1TL...





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Re: [Elecraft] K3 - 6m Internal Birdie

2015-04-08 Thread Harry Yingst via Elecraft
I have the new synth boards, and do not have that birdie.
Do you have the P3?
Are all your interconnect cables between the various pieces of equipment of 
quality cable?




  From: Tom Lizak 
 To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net 
 Sent: Wednesday, April 8, 2015 9:02 AM
 Subject: [Elecraft] K3 - 6m Internal Birdie
   
Hi all,

 

I have been having a problem with a 6m internal birdie around 50.096 which
is fairly strong and interferes with any signal(s) around that frequency.  I
did the "birdie removal tool" thingee but seems to put a small "void" in
that area when I did it.

 

Have any of you K3 owners have a similar problem? 

 

I'm wondering if it may be a cabling issue with the SYNTH boards cable
routing. I just installed two new SYNTH boards and all seems working fine.

 

73

Tom/K1TL...

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[Elecraft] K3 - 6m Internal Birdie

2015-04-08 Thread Tom Lizak
Hi all,

 

I have been having a problem with a 6m internal birdie around 50.096 which
is fairly strong and interferes with any signal(s) around that frequency.  I
did the "birdie removal tool" thingee but seems to put a small "void" in
that area when I did it.

 

Have any of you K3 owners have a similar problem? 

 

I'm wondering if it may be a cabling issue with the SYNTH boards cable
routing. I just installed two new SYNTH boards and all seems working fine.

 

73

Tom/K1TL...

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