Olli, Oh, OK, I see where you are coming from.
The final answer would have to come from Elecraft itself, but I'll hazard a guess that it is probably performance and longevity. Writing to EEPROM is a relatively slow process and may ( ? ) represent a performance hit within the K3 architecture, the effects of which can be minimized by choosing when to write and when not to write to EEPROM. EEPROMs have a finite number of writes in their designed lifespan. You want these things to last a very long time. So I imagine the firmware developer caches settings in volatile memory (for performance) and writes to EEPROM in well timed batches (for performance and longevity) as a way of addressing these two issues. Again, just a guess and it'd sure be nice if Elecraft could weigh in on this and stop the guessing (though I get that this is unlikely the most important thing they have to do right now). ;-) 73 & Aloha, Dave AH6TD On Dec 1, 2011, at 8:27 AM, Oliver Dröse wrote: > Dave, > > thanks for taking the time trying to explain it. I know what actually > happens and why one should first power of the radio before cutting the > lines. Nevertheless Elecraft is not the only one using encoders but still > they are the only ones with a requirement for that procedure. This has > nothing to do with being an SDR. > > Lets stay at one defined example, the VFO. Everybody is using an encoder > here, whatever brand it is. Still when I cut power off my Icom (and all > other rigs I know of) it always comes back to the last used frequency & > mode. If I just cut power from my K3 it never comes back to the same > frequency! It usually is one in the same band but not the last used one. > > So how do others do it? I imagine they simply write the current frequency > into memory after probably a few milliseconds of no VFO move. Elecraft could > do the same (actually they are doing it when powering down the rig). > > So my question is simple: Why don't they do it? What are the reasons behind? > Not enough time while working down the operations code? A limitation of the > PICs used as the central brain (the other brands use bigger/faster > processors)? > > Don't get me wrong, I really like my K3 & KPA500 and have no problems at all > with how they work. Nevertheless I am curios to know the reasons. Might be > 'cause I'm into (only a little) programming myself and want to understand > other guys logics and learn something, too. ;-)) > > 73, Olli - DH8BQA > http://www.dh8bqa.de > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "David Herring" <d...@ah6td.com> > To: "Oliver Dröse" <dro...@necg.de> > Cc: <elecraft@mailman.qth.net> > Sent: Thursday, December 01, 2011 12:07 AM > Subject: Re: [Elecraft] [KPA500] Rear power switch thread > > > Olli, > > This is a bit of an oversimplification, but I think it will convey the point > good enough to address your very valid question without getting into what > could otherwise be a very long answer. > > On most other rigs on the planet, the settings are dictated by the position > of the knobs and switches. Pull the plug on them and whatever computing > faculties are present in the rig will simply reboot their software and > continue on as normal the next time power is applied. > > The K3 is more software defined than that. The settings are NOT necessarily > dictated by the position of the knobs and switches. The settings are > defined by what's been stored in memory, which is a result of the last > change in knob and switch position, not necessarily where the knob or switch > is now. > > When you power down the K3 using the front panel power button, this sends an > instruction to the computer to save all this information in an orderly and > proper manner for next time, and then power off. > > When you pull the plug, the computer in the K3 doesn't get the opportunity > to save this stuff out in an orderly fashion. 99% of the time it's no > problem. But pull the plug while the computer happens to be doing a routine > save of this information, so that not all gets saved or saved properly (as > an example), and you could wind up with a collection of settings that are > inconsistent or self-contradicting. At that point, when you power on next > time the computer hasn't got a hope of figuring out what to do. Your rig > has just become hosed. You'll need to reset everything back to a generic > state and start over. > > I don't have first hand knowledge of other SDR rigs, but I imagine Elecraft > is not the only one with this "feature." (I don't call it a problem because > it isn't...it's exactly how the architecture is designed to work) > > I hope that helps. > > Dave > AH6TD > > > > On Nov 30, 2011, at 12:35 PM, Oliver Dröse wrote: > >> Hi Ron, >> >> the arguments are told over and over again ("it is like a computer, etc.") >> for the K3 and KPA500. Still I do not see WHY it is possible with every >> other transceiver and PA on earth to simply shut down power (disconnecting >> from mains) without first switching it off and without any possible >> problems? They use the same "computer technique" inside ... >> >> Just curious. ;-)) >> >> 73, Olli - DH8BQA >> >> >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Ron D'Eau Claire" <r...@cobi.biz> >> To: <elecraft@mailman.qth.net> >> Sent: Wednesday, November 30, 2011 4:42 PM >> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] [KPA500] Rear power switch thread >> >> >>> Just to be clear - the Elecraft equipment should be turned off using the >>> front panel switch *before* it is disconnected from the mains supply so >>> the >>> logic system can do a proper shut-down. You can get away with "pulling >>> the >>> plug" much of the time, but sooner or later you'll catch the logic in the >>> process do doing something critical - writing data to memory, etc. - and >>> will end up with scrambled data. That can be corrected by reloading the >>> firmware, but it's a hassle easily avoided by powering down with the >>> front >>> panel switch first. >>> >>> Ron AC7AC >>> >>> >>> ______________________________________________________________ >>> Elecraft mailing list >>> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft >>> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm >>> Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net >>> >>> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net >>> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html >>> >>> >>> ----- >>> eMail ist virenfrei. >>> Von AVG uberpruft - www.avg.de >>> Version: 10.0.1411 / Virendatenbank: 2092/4046 - Ausgabedatum: 29.11.2011 >>> >> >> ______________________________________________________________ >> Elecraft mailing list >> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft >> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm >> Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net >> >> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net >> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > > > > ----- > eMail ist virenfrei. > Von AVG überprüft - www.avg.de > Version: 10.0.1411 / Virendatenbank: 2102/4048 - Ausgabedatum: 30.11.2011 > > > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
