> I'm unhappy with the advice to set the level to 4 or 5 bars on the ALC scale > because when I do this my K3 puts out twice the power set on the POWER > control making it far too easy to overdrive the PA. I prefer to adjust the > input level until the output power matches what it says on the power > control. Then I can use the power control intuitively to set the power the > same way it works in CW and SSB modes. For me, the amount of input needed to > do this is some way below the point at which ANY ALC blobs appear.
If you really must do this, you should probably set CONFIG:TX ALC OFF once you've adjusted your power level using the PWR control. Otherwise the ALC system will see the Tx output not being what was requested and will increase the gain, leading to power creep and all sorts of other problems. And a side effect is that when you next request power, you'll get alot more than you asked for because the ALC loop now believes the Tx chain gain is far less than it actually is. The ALC 5 bar level is the level to which all transmit system gains are balanced -- at least those that use any sort of audio as the ultimate source. In the latest Beta code I tried very hard to balance levels so that CONFIG:TXG VCE can be set to 0.0dB. This might have been affecting your power control issues. I did extensive testing with Olivia (125/8 through 2000/64) and WSPR to be sure the power levels are as requested and stable. At least on my K3, they seem to be. 73, Lyle KK7P _______________________________________________ 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