Although I've been field testing the K4D for quite a while now, I still find little things to marvel at. In this weekend's NAQP CW, for instance, I really appreciated these gems:
- Logging with N1MM, operating SO2V (single operator, 2 VFOs), I often tap the tilde/grave key to turn the sub-receiver on and off. With K3 and some non-Elecraft radios, this doesn't work or doesn't work very well *when transmitting*, but I often want to change sub-rx state in anticipation of message completion. With my K4D, it always worked. Sometimes it didn't take effect instantly, but within a second or so the SUB LED would change state and at the end of my transmission the sub-rx was always in the desired state. Very slick. - The mini-pan was very valuable to keep an eye on my run frequency. I could see encroaching signals, even sometimes when I couldn't hear them, and adapt my CQ timing or even my frequency slightly to meet the challenge. - The main panadapter Rx A and B cursors move smoothly while transmitting, even though the spectrum display and waterfall are appropriately frozen on the signals that were present at the beginning of the transmission. That let me tune in the next signal I wanted to check out, typically on the sub-rx, before message transmission completed, typically on the main rx frequency. With or without QSK (or semi-breakin with Delay=0), this was a big time saver. - The K*Pod worked well. I rarely had to reach out and touch the radio. I had implemented Band Up and Band Down buttons that work almost like the BAND rocker switch on K3. Still can't map out unused bands, but I think that will happen eventually. Meanwhile, it's sometimes two taps instead of one, not a big deal. This was using the latest field test software release, which will go to public beta Real Soon Now, but I think most of these capabilities have been in prior public releases. K4 is an SDR, so it will continue to evolve for years to come. But the ergonomics are already quite good. K4 wait-listers - hang in there; good things are coming! 73, /Rick N6XI -- Rick Tavan Truckee and Saratoga, CA ______________________________________________________________ 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 Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
