Hi Ron and the group I hope you got your equipment to work on RTTY yesterday but if you didn't I have been there and done that several times. I didn't see anyone else respond so I will share some of my experiences.
The first thing on all Windows systems newer than XP, Right click SPEAKERS than select playback devices, then communications and make sure to check "DO NOTHING" This turns off the AVC functions that are used by SKYPE and other similar programs. This may be causing your variations in level to the ALC. AFSK and FSKD use lower SSB on the Elecraft rigs while PSKD and DATA A use upper SSB. Your software must be set to match. My software was designed for other rigs and I must use INVERTED for AFSK or FSKD to make it work. Another variation I have seen to match some other rigs is TX INVERTED only. You should try the TEST position to see if you have the same ALC problem with no RF. It is possible to get RF feedback and or hum if there is a cable problem. I have also seen software do you a favor by switching to USB or "RTTY" after you have set up your transceiver. Needless to say this can cause unexplained problems until I can figure out what happened. I used FSKD in the contest yesterday to transmit and MixW to receive along with the N3FJP logging program. I used the following commands for F1 and F2. F1 kyw W0CZ W0CZ ;rx; F2 kyw 599 ND ND ;rx; . I also did some other F keys as desired. The rx; forces the transmitter to shut down right away after the message. I used the <CATCMD> function in the MixW macros but I think other software might have a similar method. If I use the K3 or KX3 utility than I use the COMMAND TESTER tab as the TERMINAL tab filters out all the commands. The MixW, MTTY and other programs often demodulate better than the utility for receiviing. I worked 161 RTTY contacts in the contest yesterday, all hunt and pounce using FSKD, in about 7 hours using 10, 15, 20, 40, and 80 meters. The antenna was my Hy-Gain Hy-Tower with radials. The station was the KX3 and the KXPA100-AT at 100 watts. Someone remarked yesterday that they had a new KX3 KXPA 100 station and they missed the P3 from the K3. I had the same problem and now use the iMic USB sound card from the I/Q jack on the KX3 and ROCKY software to give me a panadaptor display. It is not as nice as the P3 but it sure does work well for finding a contact either in a contest or for rag chewing. One final comment the KXPA100 has done everything I have tried so far. One caution though is PSK31 needs to be run at 50 watts or less because on that mode linearity becomes extremely important. If I operated in the RUN mode instead of HUNT and POUNCE it would also be important to cut my power back to 50 watts or less to prevent overheating the amplifier or the KX3. I hope these comments and suggestions are helpful. 73 and happy hamming in 2014 Ken W0CZ w...@i29.net Sent from my iPad > On Jan 4, 2014, at 2:42 PM, Ron W3ZV <w...@verizon.net> wrote: > > I am trying to operate AFSK on 15m in the ARRL RU contest. I have 2 contacts > in the last 2 hours. I am by no means a big gun, but I am usually better than > this. Lineup is K3-KPA500-KAT-500. No problems on receive. Drive is set to > produce about 350 watts from the KPA-500. SWR is below 1.5. As far as I can > tell, baud rate, and shift are okay. I don’t think I am reversed. I know my > signal is getting out, because I get a lot of AGN AGN. What disturbs me is > that my ALC indication is rapidly jumping between 2 to 5 bars. This is not > the 4 solid and 5 flickering. Power out on the KPA500 jumps between 300 and > 400 watts. If anyone has a suggestion to get me back in the fray, I would be > most grateful. > > Ron W3ZV > > > > > ______________________________________________________________ > 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
