Re: [Elecraft] experience with CW and settings

[Al Gulseth]

Two more items to keep in mind from another (semi) rural resident:

1) Power pole lightning arrestors can deteriorate or be damaged by a strike 
and cause leakage/arcing. (Note that the noise from this can be intermittent 
rather than constant.) That happened on a pole near me. I walked around the 
neighborhood doing some DFing with a portable AM radio, identified a suspect 
pole, and noted its ID number. When the power company crew arrived a lineman 
climbed the suspect pole and immediately spotted a damaged part. The crew was 
amazed that I was able to track down the fault that accurately. They also 
thanked me for notifying them as it not only prevented a likely future outage 
but also eliminated a system loss point. (From what they said leakage of this 
type costs power companies more than you'd realize.)

2) Improperly designed (or "cheated" designs which claim to but don't meet 
Part 15 spec) consumer electronics can throw RFI/EMI hash back out onto the 
power feed and thus radiate it for quite a distance. I've been through the 
drill of chasing that problem also.

73 es GL on finding your noise source, Al

On Fri September 25 2015 8:48:00 pm mfsj wrote:
> Ken I had the same problem several yrs. ago on my farm. It was a
> transformer I called the CO OP ant shaped it out for me, no more noise now
> one S Unit To 2 at the most. Fred N0AZZ
>
> Sent via the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+, an AT 4G LTE smartphone
> Original message From: Ken <wa8...@gmail.com> Date: 09/25/2015 
> 8:26 PM  (GMT-06:00) To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft]
> experience with CW and settings Phil,
>
> don't assume rural areas are quiet!   I sometimes have S9+ power line
> noise and we are rural (internet and TV via satellite) , nearest
> neighbor is a half mile away and down over the hill.  I've traced the
> noise to the power line feeding the farm (main breakers off, K3 running
> on battery.)
>
> Ken WA8JXM
>
> On 9/25/15 12:41 PM, Phil Anderson wrote:
> > I live in a suburban area so my noise level is high for 40 and 30
> > meters compared to those lucky folks living in rural areas.
>
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Re: [Elecraft] experience with CW and settings

[Brendan Minish]

Dale, if you use a handheld that can do AM on VHF or UHF and walk the
fence you will find it pretty easy to locate the bad joint(s). Once they
are fixed the noise goes away.

For Wire fences I put a little grease on the join after I remake it to
discourage future corrosion. For tape and string I leave tails sticking
out of the knot, burn these back a little with a lighter then twist the
now exposed wires together

We use an electric fence here, in part to stop the Horses Eating Coax

I had for a while an Icom 7800 and even a hint of fence noise would
drive the AGC insane and I spent much time mending my neighbors fences.

The K3 is Much less sensitive to impulse noise triggering the AGC and as
a result I now get less exercise and fewer electric shocks!


On 26/09/15 02:37, Dale Putnam wrote:
> hmmm.. I have an electric fence, keeps my own horses in.. and without the NB 
> on, in the K2..  
> I can check to see if it is turned on... or not.. especially on 160/80 and 
> 40.. however.. with the loop,
> directly above the fence... all I have to do is turn on the NB..  away goes 
> the pop, pop, pop.
> I'd have horses out all the time without the NB.
> 
> Have a great day, 
>  
>  
> --...   ...--
> Dale - WC7S in Wy

-- 
73
Brendan EI6IZ
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Re: [Elecraft] experience with CW and settings

[Phil Anderson]

Ken WA8JXM  etal

Yes; agree. I've been thinking about a remote site 15 miles from town 
and purchasing a K3 MINI. My first task is to check out the area noise 
and internet connectivity wise, if any. If those are good.then maybe


Hi & 73 Phil, W0XI, Lawrence, KS


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Re: [Elecraft] experience with CW and settings

[Dale Putnam]

Have a great day, 
 
 
--...   ...--
Dale - WC7S in Wy
 
 


> Date: Sat, 26 Sep 2015 11:32:42 -0500
> From: aldenmcduf...@sunflower.com
> To: wa8...@gmail.com
> CC: elecraft@mailman.qth.net
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] experience with CW and settings
> 
> Ken WA8JXM  etal
> 
> Yes; agree. I've been thinking about a remote site 15 miles from town 
> and purchasing a K3 MINI. My first task is to check out the area noise 
> and internet connectivity wise, if any. If those are good.then maybe
> 
> Hi & 73 Phil, W0XI, Lawrence, KS
> >
> > __
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> >
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Re: [Elecraft] experience with CW and settings

[Phil Anderson]

Hi Gerald, KC6CNN,

Like most folks, I live in a suburban area so my noise level is high for 
40 and 30 meters compared to those lucky folks living in rural areas.
Living just two blocks for a shopping center doesn't help! For me 
turning on the AFT filter is helpful in reducing background noise (both 
random and close in signals during contests); tuning is then a bit tight 
but using three digits showing for fractions of a kHz makes it 
manageable. I leave the RF gain fully on. To reduce noise levels in 
general (which helps with CW too) I added a second receiver (SUB RX in 
K3), attached it to a 20-meter Beverage antenna via the AUX antenna 
input option and turned on the DIVERSITY MODE RX feature. With these 
additions, the K3 does a better job with the CW decode as well, although 
I seldom look at that any more. If you like, I'll send you a writeup on 
my 20-meter beverage; I wound my own cores for the 450 to 50 ohm 
matching transformer. To my surprise - with just 70 feet of back fence 
room, I gained over 2 S units for S/N, as noted on my P3 with I hook up 
the beverage to that for testing.


73, Phil, W0XI, Lawrence, KS.







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Re: [Elecraft] experience with CW and settings

[Ken]

Phil,

don't assume rural areas are quiet!   I sometimes have S9+ power line 
noise and we are rural (internet and TV via satellite) , nearest 
neighbor is a half mile away and down over the hill.  I've traced the 
noise to the power line feeding the farm (main breakers off, K3 running 
on battery.)


Ken WA8JXM

On 9/25/15 12:41 PM, Phil Anderson wrote:
I live in a suburban area so my noise level is high for 40 and 30 
meters compared to those lucky folks living in rural areas. 


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Re: [Elecraft] experience with CW and settings

[Bob McGraw - K4TAX]

Correct.   Just try living across the highway from the farmer that 
sections off his pasture with an electric fence.  Plus when one is in a 
quiet location every little peep, burp, ding, buzz and humm becomes 
noticeable.  In other words "there isn't a free lunch".



73
Bob, K4TAX
K3S s/n 10,163


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Re: [Elecraft] experience with CW and settings

[Dale Putnam]

hmmm.. I have an electric fence, keeps my own horses in.. and without the NB 
on, in the K2..  
I can check to see if it is turned on... or not.. especially on 160/80 and 40.. 
however.. with the loop,
directly above the fence... all I have to do is turn on the NB..  away goes the 
pop, pop, pop.
I'd have horses out all the time without the NB.

Have a great day, 
 
 
--...   ...--
Dale - WC7S in Wy
 
 
> Correct.   Just try living across the highway from the farmer that 
> sections off his pasture with an electric fence.  Plus when one is in a 
> quiet location every little peep, burp, ding, buzz and humm becomes 
> noticeable.  In other words "there isn't a free lunch".
> 
> 
> 73
> Bob, K4TAX
> K3S s/n 10,163
>
  
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Re: [Elecraft] experience with CW and settings

[mfsj]

Ken I had the same problem several yrs. ago on my farm. It was a transformer I 
called the CO OP ant shaped it out for me, no more noise now one S Unit To 2 at 
the most.
Fred N0AZZ

Sent via the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+, an AT 4G LTE smartphone 
Original message From: Ken <wa8...@gmail.com> Date: 09/25/2015  8:26 PM 
 (GMT-06:00) To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] experience 
with CW and settings 
Phil,

don't assume rural areas are quiet!   I sometimes have S9+ power line 
noise and we are rural (internet and TV via satellite) , nearest 
neighbor is a half mile away and down over the hill.  I've traced the 
noise to the power line feeding the farm (main breakers off, K3 running 
on battery.)

Ken WA8JXM

On 9/25/15 12:41 PM, Phil Anderson wrote:
> I live in a suburban area so my noise level is high for 40 and 30 
> meters compared to those lucky folks living in rural areas. 

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Re: [Elecraft] experience with CW and settings

[Bill Conkling]

My experience with CW decode is:

Try setting the THR to 2.  Now, with the CWT enabled press the SPOT button and 
the little signal marker should align with the index mark.  And, the marker 
should flash in step with the audio CW signal.  If it stays on too much, set 
THR up to 3, or vice versa,  If you can’t find a THR setting that is right, set 
it to a setting that keeps the little marker ON too long, and adjust RF gain 
CCW until the marker keeps step with the CW audio.  Yu should get good decode 
at this setting.  Decode will only work if the receiver is tuned spot on to the 
signal and the marker is flashing every dit nd dah.

…bc nr4c

> On Sep 24, 2015, at 6:09 PM, KC6CNN  wrote:
> 
> I am looking for someone with more experience than me with using the K3 on
> CW. 
> I have my K3 set to about 75 percent RF gain, and the width set to around
> 300. 
> ATT is off and Pre is off I do not have the dual filter on, and no afx on. I
> can spot and decode signals if they are strong. If they are weak then I can
> only decode with my ears. The THR setting when you hold down the CWT button
> is set on 3. If I set to auto is just sits there and runs jumble letters
> across the vfo b screen. 
> 
> Any help with good setting I can try would be appreciated. 
> Thanks
> Gerald - KC6CNN
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -
> KC6CNN - Gerald
> K2 # 5486
> K3 # 6294
> KX3 # 757
> --
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Re: [Elecraft] experience with CW and settings

[KC6CNN]

Thank all of you both on list and off list that sent me info. 
I am going to try these different settings and see which ones work for me. 
I am a believer that the decoding in the head is the best, but after a long
time of not using it, I am having to relearn code all over again. It is
starting to make sense. hihi who said you cant teach a old dog new tricks. 
Thanks again for all the help. 
Gerald - KC6CNN




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K2 # 5486
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KX3 # 757
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Re: [Elecraft] experience with CW and settings

[Bob McGraw - K4TAX]

I agree with Bill's suggestions.  I do find the value of THR is somewhat 
dependent on RF Gain.   Thus more atmospheric noise / static bursts the 
higher value for THR.  In this case reducing RF Gain helps.  This 
evening the RF Gain, hr on 80M, is setting between the 1 o'clock and 2 
o'clock position or the first dot to the right of the 12 o'clock 
position.And yes do use the SPOT function to accurately tune the 
receiver to the incoming signal.  Also I use Fast ACG for CW.


As to WIDTH I use 0.50 and SHIFT at 0.70 for CW.With this and the 
above, i get very fewT T ** E E E * E  in the display.


73
Bob, K4TAX
K3S s/n 10,163

On 9/24/2015 6:30 PM, Bill Conkling wrote:

My experience with CW decode is:

Try setting the THR to 2.  Now, with the CWT enabled press the SPOT button and 
the little signal marker should align with the index mark.  And, the marker 
should flash in step with the audio CW signal.  If it stays on too much, set 
THR up to 3, or vice versa,  If you can’t find a THR setting that is right, set 
it to a setting that keeps the little marker ON too long, and adjust RF gain 
CCW until the marker keeps step with the CW audio.  Yu should get good decode 
at this setting.  Decode will only work if the receiver is tuned spot on to the 
signal and the marker is flashing every dit nd dah.

…bc nr4c



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Re: [Elecraft] experience with CW and settings

[Fred Jensen]

I think your question is really related to the CW decode function rather 
than using the K3 on CW.


I am probably 90% CW, ~3% SSB [Sweepstakes, NAQP's, and RAC's], and the 
rest RTTY.  This is probably going to touch off a storm on the list, but 
here goes:


I run the RF gain full clockwise, always, I don't even know if the knob 
moves, never tried, never understood the "ride the RF gain argument." 
The K3's AGC is superb and far better than anything I can do. 
Admittedly, it is highly tailorable [maybe a tad too many settings], but 
once I got it where I liked it, I haven't touched it in several years 
[S/N 642 here].  True even when I had KF6T running 1.5 KW 1.7 km from 
me.  I have the "stock" 2.7 KHz [I think] and a 500 Hz roofing filters. 
 I could cuddle up to within 1 KHz of Jack and not hear him.


Preamp is on for 21 MHz and above, off below.  Attenuator is off for 7 
MHz and above, on for 5, 3.5, and 1.8 MHz.  That configuration depends 
some on your ambient noise levels, mine were moderate until we just 
moved, now they're fairly low.


I copy CW the old fashioned way, but I have tried the decoder out of 
curiosity.  Does well on moderately good signals with reasonable sending 
habits.  A SNR of about 4 S-units seems to work fine.  Gets a little 
sketchy with occasional errors [usually in key up periods] below that, 
and pretty much fails if the SNR is around 1 S-unit or less.  I can 
still copy the signal fine at those levels.  I can't remember what I 
used for THRESHOLD, but as I remember at one number nothing decoded and 
at the next one it decoded fine.


The horizontal scroll did tend to cage my eyeballs after a bit. :-)

My K3 was essentially fully operational right after assembly, using all 
the default settings.  I set up my TX EQ using advice from K9YC, and I 
often get unsolicited "great audio" comments in the 3% SSB time.  I lost 
most of my hearing many years ago, and I've got the RX EQ simulating the 
response of my hearing aids [as much as it can], which helps a lot.


73,

Fred K6DGW
- Northern California Contest Club
- CU in the 50th Running of the Cal QSO Party 3-4 Oct 2015
- www.cqp.org

On 9/24/2015 3:09 PM, KC6CNN wrote:

I am looking for someone with more experience than me with using the K3 on
CW.
I have my K3 set to about 75 percent RF gain, and the width set to around
300.
ATT is off and Pre is off I do not have the dual filter on, and no afx on. I
can spot and decode signals if they are strong. If they are weak then I can
only decode with my ears. The THR setting when you hold down the CWT button
is set on 3. If I set to auto is just sits there and runs jumble letters
across the vfo b screen.

Any help with good setting I can try would be appreciated.
Thanks
Gerald - KC6CNN


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Re: [Elecraft] experience with CW and settings

[KC6CNN]

I found an article by Tony McClenny, N3ME that stated in part:
 
"CW Operation:
Wayne (N6KR) provides the following for anyone using the K3 to decode CW.
"If you're seeing E's and T's, try using a much narrower bandwidth, 50-150
Hz, and turn on the noise blanker to reduce the level of impulse noise. I
recommend using THR 2 or 3 for most signals, and THR 1 for very weak
signals. These fixed settings usually work better than AUTO.
When there is no CW signal above the required threshold, you'll see random
characters decoded"

I am trying some of the suggestions both on and off list. 
I guess much depends on my area noise, antenna and there is not one size
fits all settings. 
I appreciate all the help and suggestions. It gives me things to try and see
what works for me. 
Now if I can get every one to zero beat me. hihi I call cq and it seems like
the guys that have to really try to go slow for me get right on zero beat.
Then there are those that I have to hit the rit button and seems like I spin
the rit knob like crazy. So I am now being cautious and trying to zero beat
each person I answer. 
Thanks again everyone for all the help and suggestions. 
TNX
Gerald - KC6CNN




-
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K2 # 5486
K3 # 6294
KX3 # 757
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