You can't get much better than that, Eric!!
I identified (whilst working VP6DX!) a similar situation to the 30m one.
It was as though the PLL wasn't locking. I don't do data modes so mine
was 30m CW Split. I emailed Gary at Elecraft and a mod was incorporated
in the next firmware upgrade, and it is perfect now. Excellent service
BTW, I worked all of my 12 band slots on the K3 using Split and pressing
Rev to listen to the awful Eu pile-up. The whole experience would have
been so much less stressful if European stations were more discipliined.
If he calls HB9 then why does a DL, SP, IZ, 9A or whatever transmit?!!
Thanks. Chris G3SJJ
Eric Scace K3NA wrote:
Some reported hiccups with the radios should be put into perspective:
1. We ran 8 radios x 24 hours x 16+ days of operating: over 3,000
hours on the air in total... plus additional hours for some units on
board ship.
2. Some glitches were unique a specific radio, or at most two
radios. As an example, late in the operation one radio seemed to show
a T/R relay problem where the receiver signals were down temporarily
(or longer) after a transmission. Another radio didn't want to power
off -- it would immediately come back to life after shutdown.
The "high noise level" was another singleton issue. One radio, only
on 30m, and only while in FSK mode, and only when operating split,
would have its receiver go into oscillation at the end of a FSK
transmission. If any one of those three conditions did not exist, the
radio worked fine. Obviously we moved that radio away from the
position with the 30m 4-square antenna control. We didn't see that
particular quirk on any other radio.
3. We were operating in a demanding field environment: hot
temperatures in the tents during the day, salty and dusty breezes
almost non-stop, and perhaps some voltage burbles when the generators
ran out of fuel unexpectedly.
On the later point, we did have sealed batteries floated across the
supply lines, which allowed us to continue operating (without the 1.5
kW amplifiers) when generator re-fueling or oil changes were made.
Those certainly helped smooth out any power supply variations.
4. Some items were equipment interaction issues. For example, our CW
keying (external to the K3) sometimes hung. We learned this was due
to RFI entering the laptop USB port via the external mouse cable, and
irritating the USB device driver for the microKeyer and/or the
microKeyer.
Almost all of the operators ran the K3 with AGC off (all modes).
-- Eric
on 08 Mar 10 Mon 09:50 Mario Lorenz said the following:
Hi,
besides the "official" report as quoted on the web,
on the BCC mailing list, reports from members of the VP6DX
expedition were slightly less stellar.
While confirming superior receiver sensitivity, problems reported
were with pileup CW reception & AGC, in T/R switching, and internal
noise of S9+20 that went away after powercycling
the K3 ???
Since I've just ordered my K3, I'd like to hear whether this has
been confirmed, and hopefully fixed...
Mario
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