G3UNA asked: > Would it still work for you if you used your paddle directly into the K3 > paddle input and pc into the key input, then the programs would still key > directly? I'm wondering if you would want to change the PTT, lead-in and > tail features on the fly, ie could these all be programmed in config?
Running a standalone keyer in parallel with computer keying suffers from the disadvantage that input from the two sources is OR'ed, i.e. touching the paddle while the computer is sending CW results in unintelligible garble. One of the selling features of the WinKeyer for me was its integration of paddle and computer input. When the keyer is sending computer-generated CW, a touch of the paddle automatically interrupts computer-sent code and clears the input buffer. Thus, if you hit the wrong macro button in your software, you can start sending with the paddle instead and the PC-generated CW will stop instantly. This eliminates the need to first hit the ESC key on the computer and then switch to the paddle (or to PC keyboard CW). In fact, even if what I want to do is stop the computer output and then press the correct macro button on the keyboard, just touching the dit paddle still seems to be the easiest way for me to interrupt the output stream. Perhaps the K3 firmware will do this too, i.e. give priority to the paddle input over any of the other input sources: DTR on the serial interface, the straight key jack (which is often used for computer keying), or CW generated using the KY software command. I can't tell yet - I haven't found anything about this in the firmware release notes, and my own K3 arrived about two hours ago and is still just a collection of parts. Another feature of the WinKeyer has already been mentioned in this thread: the ability to configure it to add a constant keying compensation of a few msec to every element. Oh yes: will the K3's internal keyer autospace CW elements? That's a useful feature of many external keyers. 73, Rich VE3KI K3 #1595 _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
