Re: [Elecraft] Is the K3 capable of ESSB?
In a recent message, Ron D'Eau Claire [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote ... One of the important activities we Hams participate in is experimenting with various signal formats (or modes if you prefer). Fortunately, our licenses in most countries give us a lot of latitude about what is legal. Certainly the USA is a very lenient country in that regard. In the UK our licence states. The bandwidth of emissions should be such as to ensure the most efficient utilisation of the spectrum. In general this requires that bandwidths be kept to the lowest values which technology and the nature of the service permits. To me that means 2.7kHz wide ssb is more efficient that 6kHz ;-) 73 -- David G4DMP Leeds, England, UK -- ___ 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
Re: [Elecraft] Is the K3 capable of ESSB?
Ron D'Eau Claire wrote: Note that there are *NO* FCC rules about the bandwidth of an SSB (or other) signal that say a certain bandwidth is illegal. I would certainly agree with others that 6kHz SSB would be a contravention of the UK licence, although it might only be a SHOULD violation, rather than a MUST one. It would also violate the voluntary band plans. More importantly, it would seem to me a case of playing the marketing numbers game (bigger is better, in this case more bandwidth is better). It does not represent pushing the limits of technology in any way. It's always been possible, but it has not been done (except possibly for broadcast and the transmission of broadcast quality signals over telephone carrier systems) because it is bad engineering for a speech communications system. Whilst amateur radio users may think they are in the forefront by using this, they are far from it. Incidentally, a not much larger bandwidth is the basis of both analogue and PCM telephony, and pre-PCM telephone carrier systems used SSB on the wire. The nominal maximum frequency for analogue telephony is 3.4kHz. That allows a respectable guard band when channelised into 4kHz channels. PCM telephony is based on a sample rate of 8 kHz, which gives the same channel width of 4kHz, reducing to the typical 3.4kHz maximum when you apply realistic anti-aliasing filters. ESSB, properly done as the K3 does it, uses no more spectrum than AM phone, which is perfectly within the normal amateur practice on the phone bands. (Actually, the last I heard, the K3 ESSB mode occupies *less* than the 6 kHz of a normal AM phone signal). Generally, double sideband full carrier transmissions are permitted because of grandfathering (i.e. the process by which regulations permit the continued use of obsolete standards, even though they don't comply with the current technical requirements). There is also, probably a certain element of the self training aspect of amateur radio as well, in that it permits someone to self construct a very simple transmitter (although I think the expectation would be that such transmitters would never be used with more than a few watts of output, these days). Incidentally, historically amateur DSB full carrier transmissions haven't had tight bandwidth control, so the 6kHz is more a statement about where most of the power is in the speech spectrum. I suspect that broadcast transmissions, these days, are tightly filtered, although that leaves one with the interesting position that the channelisation of shortwave broadcasts means that the equivalent SSB bandwidth is actually less than 2.7kHz! One of the important activities we Hams participate in is experimenting with various signal formats (or modes if you prefer). Fortunately, our licenses I really don't see that there is anything to experiment about here. If you want to experiment, look for ways of improving speech communication in the current or lower bandwidths, and specifically in the context of high noise, interference and frequency selective fading; if the signal cannot tolerate these, it should be experimented with over wired connections. I would use the word play, instead. PS Don, I think you meant troll, not phish. Phishing is attempting to find finance related access control credentials by pretending to be the organisation with which you would legitimately use them. -- David Woolley Emails are not formal business letters, whatever businesses may want. RFC1855 says there should be an address here, but, in a world of spam, that is no longer good advice, as archive address hiding may not work. ___ 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
Re: [Elecraft] Is the K3 capable of ESSB?
Note that there are *NO* FCC rules about the bandwidth of an SSB (or other) signal that say a certain bandwidth is illegal. Maybe not - I wouldn't know. However, here in DL ESSB and classical AM are illegal below 28MHz. The maximum allowed bandwidth between 1.81Mhz and 28MHz in the HAM bands is 2.7kHz, and the maximum Bandwidth in the 10m band is 7kHz. http://www.bmwi.de/BMWi/Redaktion/PDF/Gesetz/AFuV-erste-verordnung-zur-_C3_A4nderung,property=pdf,bereich=bmwi,sprache=de,rwb=true.pdf - pages 2 and 3. Also the IARU-Region 1 Band Plan does not allow more than 2.7 kHz below 29.2 MHz. http://www.darc.de/bandplan/index.html vy 73 de toby -- DD5FZ, 4N6FZ (ex dj7mgq, dg5mgq, dd5fz) K2 #885, K2/100 #3248 K3/100 #??? ( #200) DOK C12, BCC, DL-QRP-AG ___ 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
Re: [Elecraft] Is the K3 capable of ESSB?
Interesting... What is the definition of ESSB, anything greater than 2.7kHz? My Orion2 can do up to 3000 I believe, so is this ESSB? On 8/12/07, Toby Deinhardt [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Note that there are *NO* FCC rules about the bandwidth of an SSB (or other) signal that say a certain bandwidth is illegal. Maybe not - I wouldn't know. However, here in DL ESSB and classical AM are illegal below 28MHz. The maximum allowed bandwidth between 1.81Mhz and 28MHz in the HAM bands is 2.7kHz, and the maximum Bandwidth in the 10m band is 7kHz. http://www.bmwi.de/BMWi/Redaktion/PDF/Gesetz/AFuV-erste-verordnung-zur-_C3_A4nderung,property=pdf,bereich=bmwi,sprache=de,rwb=true.pdf - pages 2 and 3. Also the IARU-Region 1 Band Plan does not allow more than 2.7 kHz below 29.2 MHz. http://www.darc.de/bandplan/index.html vy 73 de toby -- DD5FZ, 4N6FZ (ex dj7mgq, dg5mgq, dd5fz) K2 #885, K2/100 #3248 K3/100 #??? ( #200) DOK C12, BCC, DL-QRP-AG ___ 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 ___ 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
[Elecraft] Is the K3 capable of ESSB?
The SSB bandwidth 2007 realities, sound familiar. In 1978 - max bandwith over telephonic modems, and conditioned ATT lines was like 6250 baud. A limit everyone agreed. Then some clever soul or group, came up with quadrature modulation - and rather quietly, modems into the hot-copper telephone lines of 52kbaud became a reality. Similiarly, perhaps HF comms SSB, needs to rethink its SSB modulation approach, to allow wider more naturally sounding voice comms, and still not take up unnecessary bandwidth, beyone which supposedly 2.7khz now consumes. (when do we start talking about amplifiers?) This topic, started as an attempt to learn technically what ESSB was all about, in its application to Amateur Radio. Never learned anything, except everyone is against it. PLEASE close this topic, and wait out our K3 purchase. I have no interest in bandwidth debates or reasons, rather just what they have been working on in SSB techniques. I'm sure the FCC, and ARRL will reign us in, if we stray. Fred N3CSY Shape Yahoo! in your own image. Join our Network Research Panel today! http://surveylink.yahoo.com/gmrs/yahoo_panel_invite.asp?a=7 ___ 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
Re: [Elecraft] Is the K3 capable of ESSB?
ESSB is just dreadful and like in Germany is probably not legal in EI where our rules seem to define SSB as 2.7 Khz or less . However is the k3 capable of ECW (enhanced CW)? I would like some nice wide clicks and a 'phat' rough tone to help me keep some space around me in a contest and stand out in a pileup. TNX UR 593 ;-) 73 Brendan EI6IZ ___ 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
Re: [Elecraft] Is the K3 capable of ESSB?
In a message dated 8/12/07 8:39:25 AM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: What is the definition of ESSB, anything greater than 2.7kHz? My Orion2 can do up to 3000 I believe, so is this ESSB? No. THere's no hard-and-fast defintion of ESSB that I've seen. In practice, it means SSB 6 to 9 kHz wide or thereabouts. IMHO, the justifications for ESSB boil down to these: 1) 'ESSB sounds better than regular SSB'. Better, is of course in the ear of the beholder. The questions are, does the better sound come from the wider bandwidth or from other things, like less distortion? And does sounding better justify twice the bandwoth or more? 2) 'DSB AM with carrier typically takes up 6 to 9 kHz of the band. If it's OK for that kind of AM to take up 6 to 9 kHz, why isn't it OK for a different kind of AM to do the same? The answer is that DSB AM *has to* occupy that much space, by its very nature. SSB doesn't. 3) 'ESSB users are experimenting with new modes. That's a good thing, but does it justify the bandwidth? Particularly when decades of research have shown that voice comms need only 3 kHz maximum audio? Could other modes justify bandwidth-enhanced things like clicks and hum on that principle? 4) 'There's no explicit rule limiting the bandwidth of an SSB signal.' That's true - and it's a good thing. FCC has given US hams a lot of leeway in the regs, and has repeatedly avoided hard-and-fast technical rules on things like bandwidth out of trust that hams will 'do the right thing'. Abusing that trust is just begging for more and stricter regulations. The question I ask is this: What about FM? I really like FM voice. Sounds really good, the equipment is simple and there's a lot of it in use by amateurs and others. Why can't I run FM voice that's 15 or 20 kHz wide on 75 meters? I think it would sound really, really good. Much better than even AM, and immune to summer QRN. The transmitter would be very efficient, modulated at low level and amplified in highly efficient Class E stages that are very simple and don't have to be amplitude-linear at all. I'd be experimenting with new things. What's the problem? 73 de Jim, N2EY ** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour ___ 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
[Elecraft] FS: KAF2 Audio Filter and Real time clock
I had the DSP units in my K2's that I sold and have this left over. It is assembled and works fine. I will ship and insure it US Priority mail for $65 Thanks Tim NZ8J ___ 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
Re: [Elecraft] Is the K3 capable of ESSB?
Fred (FL) wrote: The SSB bandwidth 2007 realities, sound familiar. Yes, this sort of false reasoning is common in marketing. They rely on a perception that anything new to the market must be better, and that the general public doesn't understand the true reasons for limitations. In 1978 - max bandwith over telephonic modems, and conditioned ATT lines was like 6250 baud. The maximum baud rate over telephone lines with the standard analogue telephony bandwith is about 2400, and still is. A limit everyone agreed. Then some clever soul or group, came up with quadrature modulation - and rather quietly, 6250 bps is not possible without at least the use of quadrature modulation. I think the limit for that is 4800 (although it might just be 2400). I guess, if you pushed the bandwidth to the limit, you might get 3125 baud, and therefore 6250 bps with quadrature modulation. modems into the hot-copper telephone lines The limits were not set by the copper, but by the SSB carrier systems used on the trunks between exchanges (central offices). Their bandwidth was set to the minimum needed for the general public to consider the quality acceptable for speech. of 52kbaud became a reality. What actually happened is that it became possible to manufacture digital signal processors cheaply enough to use them in telephone modems, and that made it possible to use echo cancellation and advanced equalisation algorithms. In addition, it required that the transmission path from the local office to the service provider be all digital. The modems now attempt to select every possible quantisation level in every sample on the digital bearer - this relies on the remote end not having an analogue connection (they are only acting as a modem over the local loop in the downlink direction)! The actual 56kbps limit is set by the characteristics of the PCM network, including US robbed bit signalling and the need to avoid putting too much power into the equivalent analogue signal, thus not achieving the absolute limit of 64kbps. The baud rate is actually 8k, but one gets away with that because the local loop analogue connections are not bandwidth limited. Actually, because PCM phone connections are companded, some of the steps between quantisation levels are much smaller than others, so 56k modems don't actually take full advantage of the signal to noise ratio. Assuming the telephone SNR and that equalisation doesn't impose too much of a problem, an analogue radio channel should be able to achieve a lot more than 56kbps in 2.7kHz. Also, a considerable time before this sort of modem became possible (and, I think, significantly before the enabling technology of PCM bearers became common) it became possible to transmit communications quality speech over a 2400 bps connection. That suggests that the true technical advance would be the transmission of amateur radio speech in about a thirtieth of the 2.7kHz, SSB, bandwidth, assuming landline telephone signal to noise ratios. By comparison, there is really no new technology at all in using laxer SSB filters. rethink its SSB modulation approach, to allow wider more naturally sounding voice comms, and still not take up unnecessary bandwidth, beyone which supposedly 2.7khz now consumes. (when do we It's the essence of SSB that it takes up the same bandwidth as the baseband signal! To get more natural speech in less bandwidth, you have to basically treat the channel as being a digital one, and send a signal that takes advantage of the actual nature of speech signals (generally these use some sort of voice tract model). -- David Woolley Emails are not formal business letters, whatever businesses may want. RFC1855 says there should be an address here, but, in a world of spam, that is no longer good advice, as archive address hiding may not work. ___ 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
[Elecraft] OT: ESSB
I don't think ESSB is the spawn of Satan, but I'd encourage people who want to experiment with high fidelity to do digital voice instead and experiment with digital compression techniques. It seems to me that creating ESSB isn't much of a challenge. Open up your filtering on the IF chain and bingo, you have ESSB. Try digitizing 10 or 20 kHz of audio and crunching it into a 2.7 khz channel; that's a challenge. 72 Goody K3NG k1 #505 k3 #??? -- Blog: http://thek3ngreport.blogspot.com/ ___ 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
Re: [Elecraft] Is the K3 capable of ESSB?
Hi Brandon: I'm pretty sure we've managed to work out all of the T3 through T7 'qualities' of the K3... right now, it's as clean as any rig I've ever heard. 73, Tom N0SS At 07:47 08/12/2007, Brendan Minish wrote: ESSB is just dreadful and like in Germany is probably not legal in EI where our rules seem to define SSB as 2.7 Khz or less . However is the k3 capable of ECW (enhanced CW)? I would like some nice wide clicks and a 'phat' rough tone to help me keep some space around me in a contest and stand out in a pileup. TNX UR 593 ;-) 73 Brendan EI6IZ ___ 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 ___ 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
Re: [Elecraft] Is the K3 capable of ESSB?
Fred (FL) wrote: In 1978 - max bandwith over telephonic modems, and conditioned ATT lines was like 6250 baud. A limit everyone agreed. Shannon's classic paper on communications theory was published in 1948, so, for 30 years before 1978, anyone who knew the signal to noise ratio and did the maths would have known that that was not the limit. What they were probably actually saying is that that was the limit for pure quadrature phase modulation, or, maybe for economically realisable hardware at the time. Incidentally, there now is a hard limit, because the telphone network core is digital, and you cannot exceed 64kbps (or in the USA, with robbed bit signalling, slightly less than that). At that time, the limit would have depended on the signal to noise ratio. SNR would depend on the line. (The telcos don't allow modems to run as fast as they could, because that would compromise the analogue parts of the network, hence a 56, rather than 64kbs, limit.) -- David Woolley Emails are not formal business letters, whatever businesses may want. RFC1855 says there should be an address here, but, in a world of spam, that is no longer good advice, as archive address hiding may not work. ___ 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
[Elecraft] My last on ESSB
This will be my last post on the ESSB subject ... the thread -IS- pretty far off-topic. (:-)) My association with ESSB came during five years and a million miles of over-the-road-truck driving with an HF rig in the truck that I used to pass the time. I spent MANY hours observing the group on 14178. Signals as wide as 15 kHz were the norm. Should anyone suggest that my receiver(s) were to blame, I often used my FT-1000D with a full compliment of filters as a measurement receiver. A friend at the NBS used an HP spectrum analyzer to make the same observations. In reading NU9N's discussion of ESSB he repeatedly says he's never heard a station transmitting an excessive bandwidth signal. Saying something doesn't make it so He was one of the 14178 kHz widebanders who received formal cautionary letters from the FCC when they saw the need to step in and attempt to limit the ever-widening spectrum occupancy. I'd like to think that my several letters of complaint to the FCC were a factor in their actions. As another poster has indicated, ESSB -IS- unpopular and offensive to a large number of us. Ken Kopp - K0PP [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ 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
Re: [Elecraft] Is the K3 capable of ESSB?
On Sun, 12 Aug 2007 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Why can't I run FM voice that's 15 or 20 kHz wide on 75 meters? I think it would sound really, really good. Much better than even AM, and immune to summer QRN. The transmitter would be very efficient, modulated at low level and amplified in highly efficient Class E stages that are very simple and don't have to be amplitude-linear at all. I'd be experimenting with new things. Marvelous idea...logical too...and flies in the face of operating efficiently. But, that notwithstanding, with limited spectrum space available, even after the expansion of the phone bands, why are we considering reducing the number of channels available, by increasing the bandwidth? Arguments in favor of creating wider than required signals remind me of folks who buy a car with a huge engine and then insist they be allowed to drive at no less than 90 mph. 73 thom Thom,EIEIO Email, Internet, Electronic Information Officer www.baltimorehon.com/Home of the Baltimore Lexicon www.tlchost.net/hosting/ Web Hosting as low as 3.49/month ___ 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
[Elecraft] My last posting on ESSB
This will be my last post on the ESSB subject ... the thread -IS- pretty far off-topic. (:-)) My association with ESSB came during five years and a million miles of over-the-road-truck driving with an HF rig in the truck that I used to pass the time. I spent MANY hours observing the group on 14178. Signals as wide as 15 kHz were the norm. Should anyone suggest that my receiver(s) were to blame, I often used my FT-1000D with a full compliment of filters as a measurement receiver. A friend at the NBS used an HP spectrum analyzer to make the same observations. In reading NU9N's discussion of ESSB he repeatedly says he's never heard a station transmitting an excessive bandwidth signal. Saying something doesn't make it so He was one of the 14178 kHz widebanders who received formal cautionary letters from the FCC when they saw the need to step in and attempt to limit the ever-widening spectrum occupancy. I'd like to think that my several letters of complaint to the FCC were a factor in their actions. As another poster has indicated, ESSB -IS- unpopular and offensive to a large number of us. Ken Kopp - K0PP [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ 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
Re: [Elecraft] K2 KSB2: Signal Loss through SSB filters
Problem solved. I'd like to report the cause and suggest a signal tracing method that might be helpful to someone without much test equipment. First, though, I'd like to thank WA6VNN and LA1PHA for their suggestions, and of course thank Don, W3FPR, for his customary fast response and detailed advice. The problem was lack of continuity between a trace on the top of the circuit board and the pad on the bottom of the board. I had damaged the board when removing the old parts and cleaning the hole, and it was not obvious to me from casual visual inspection. A short jumper on the bottom of the board to parallel the trace solved the problem. I found the break with the aid of a separate general coverage receiver tuned to the K2 IF frequency. My test probe was a short lead on the antenna jack of that receiver. I fed a strong signal from an oscillator into the K2's antenna terminal and tuned the K2 to that signal. Then I put my probe on the input to the KSB2's first crystal and adjusted the oscillator output so that I had a near full scale S-meter reading on the general coverage receiver. Next, I worked my way with the probe through the filter network, touching each coupling capacitor connection between crystals. I found the S meter on the general coverage receiver dropped to about mid scale between the input of X3 and the input of X4. Sure enough, my Ohmmeter revealed a break on the trace at the output of X3. This approach to signal tracing probably is not new to many old timers. However, it is quick and easy, very sensitive, gives both an aural and visual indication that you're actually following the signal, and works for those lacking test equipment. For more serious tracing with a general coverage receiver it probably would be good to make a real probe, use coax to the probe, and put a small (e.g., 5 to 50 pf) capacitor in series with the line. BTW, upgrading to the 2.6 KHz SSB bandwidth, from the original 2.1 KHZ passband in my older K2, made a dramatic difference in audio quality. Dick, K0KK I'd appreciate help diagnosing loss of signal apparently through the SSB filters in the KSB2 board. Everything was working fine with my K2 Serial # 2195 until I upgraded it with new crystal filters and the SSBCAPKT mod to increase the SSB bandwidth to 2.6 KHz. ___ 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 ___ 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
RE: [Elecraft] Is the K3 capable of ESSB?
On Sun, 12 Aug 2007, Dale Putnam wrote: Can you see it now? Since all the bandwidth is used up on 75, and the digital/cw crowd has learned to live in a smaller space, and they don't make much noise, or take up a lot of room, they can learn to live in less, this month, less next month, and none next year. Then we can show em,`there won't be any room for intelligent, creative, or progressive conversation, or progress at all.--... ...-- I hadn't thought of it that waybut I think there's hope...someone had posted that if we screwed up with ESSB, that the FCC and ARRL would step right in and fix it all. I'm not sure is most frightening, having someone show up saying: I'm from the gubmint, and I'm here to help you. or I'm from the ARRL and I'm here to help you. I'm still trying to get in through my thick skull how we hams can push for a dimunation of efficiency that would not only reduce our channels, but cause problems for hams in other countries where the telecommunications regulators have the sense to outlaw excessively wide emissions. Now I'm begining to wonder if there will be a clamor for the K3 to offer 11 meters and aboveafter all, the rights of the freebanders must be respected. 10-4 Good Buddy...I got the antler pointing yer way and gonna kick in the leanyer and the Enhanced Side Band. 73-k3hrn Thom,EIEIO Email, Internet, Electronic Information Officer www.baltimorehon.com/Home of the Baltimore Lexicon www.tlchost.net/hosting/ Web Hosting as low as 3.49/month ___ 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
RE: [Elecraft] K2 KSB2: Signal Loss through SSB filters
Neat solution, Dick! A common approach used by O.T.s was a signal injection probe, either audio or wide-band RF noise. It was used to insert a signal at either audio or RF starting at the final audio output and working back toward the antenna input, stage by stage, until the signal disappeared or dropped way down. That would be the stage where the problem lay. Back in the days when most receivers were simple single-conversion superhets using a handful of tubes, a number test equipment companies made such devices just for that purpose. I guess that's not so well known any longer because its usefulness is limited in today's much more complex radios. It often takes something better tailored to the rig, situation and the gear available on the bench, as you did. Congrats, and thanks for the report! I, too, found a huge improvement in the wider band SSB filter. It's much easier on my ears and gets excellent reports from others, where it seemed that I was constantly fiddling with the BFO frequency at 2.1 kHz to split the difference between audio that sounded muddy or too bright for my taste. 73, Ron AC7AC -Original Message- Problem solved. I'd like to report the cause and suggest a signal tracing method that might be helpful to someone without much test equipment. First, though, I'd like to thank WA6VNN and LA1PHA for their suggestions, and of course thank Don, W3FPR, for his customary fast response and detailed advice. The problem was lack of continuity between a trace on the top of the circuit board and the pad on the bottom of the board. I had damaged the board when removing the old parts and cleaning the hole, and it was not obvious to me from casual visual inspection. A short jumper on the bottom of the board to parallel the trace solved the problem. I found the break with the aid of a separate general coverage receiver tuned to the K2 IF frequency. My test probe was a short lead on the antenna jack of that receiver. I fed a strong signal from an oscillator into the K2's antenna terminal and tuned the K2 to that signal. Then I put my probe on the input to the KSB2's first crystal and adjusted the oscillator output so that I had a near full scale S-meter reading on the general coverage receiver. Next, I worked my way with the probe through the filter network, touching each coupling capacitor connection between crystals. I found the S meter on the general coverage receiver dropped to about mid scale between the input of X3 and the input of X4. Sure enough, my Ohmmeter revealed a break on the trace at the output of X3. This approach to signal tracing probably is not new to many old timers. However, it is quick and easy, very sensitive, gives both an aural and visual indication that you're actually following the signal, and works for those lacking test equipment. For more serious tracing with a general coverage receiver it probably would be good to make a real probe, use coax to the probe, and put a small (e.g., 5 to 50 pf) capacitor in series with the line. BTW, upgrading to the 2.6 KHz SSB bandwidth, from the original 2.1 KHZ passband in my older K2, made a dramatic difference in audio quality. Dick, K0KK ___ 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
Re: [Elecraft] Is the K3 capable of ESSB?
In a message dated 8/12/07 12:32:56 PM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: On Sun, 12 Aug 2007 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Why can't I run FM voice that's 15 or 20 kHz wide on 75 meters? I think it would sound really, really good. Much better than even AM, and immune to summer QRN. The transmitter would be very efficient, modulated at low level and amplified in highly efficient Class E stages that are very simple and don't have to be amplitude-linear at all. I'd be experimenting with new things. Marvelous idea...logical too...and flies in the face of operating efficiently. How so? The transmitter would be more efficient. If it's OK to use 6 to 9 kHz for ESSB, why not 15 or 20 kHz for FM? But, that notwithstanding, with limited spectrum space available, even after the expansion of the phone bands, why are we considering reducing the number of channels available, by increasing the bandwidth? I like how 15-20 kHz wide FM sounds. Why can't I use it? Arguments in favor of creating wider than required signals remind me of folks who buy a car with a huge engine and then insist they be allowed to drive at no less than 90 mph. If they don't want us to drive us fast, why do they make such cars? And why do the speedometers go up so high? (devil's advocate mode = off) 73 de Jim, N2EY ** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour ___ 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
Re: [Elecraft] Is the K3 capable of ESSB?
In a message dated 8/12/07 8:47:15 AM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: The SSB bandwidth 2007 realities, sound familiar. In 1978 - max bandwith over telephonic modems, and conditioned ATT lines was like 6250 baud. A limit everyone agreed. But was it a theoretical limit, or a practical limit? Or was it just a standard so that the industry could move forward? Then some clever soul or group, came up with quadrature modulation - and rather quietly, modems into the hot-copper telephone lines of 52kbaud became a reality. Hmm I seem to remember that there were a whole bunch of steps in there...14.4, 28.8, 33, and then two different flavors of 56K modems... I remember my first serious PC dialing up AOL, and geting different connection speeds depending on the quality of the lines. My old house on RadioTelegraph Hill in Upper Darby had an old paper/lead cable, and the connect speed depended on the weather. When they finally replaced the cable, about 1998, it was much better. Similiarly, perhaps HF comms SSB, needs to rethink its SSB modulation approach, to allow wider more naturally sounding voice comms, and still not take up unnecessary bandwidth, beyone which supposedly 2.7khz now consumes. Well, there's the NBVM idea of thirty years ago. Never really caught on, though. (when do we start talking about amplifiers?) I suspect that a lot of the complaints about SSB sounds bad are really due to hearing distortion products in the audio, not limited bandwidth. This topic, started as an attempt to learn technically what ESSB was all about, in its application to Amateur Radio. Never learned anything, except everyone is against it. Did you go to the websites mentioned here and read what they had to say? Here's a synopsis: Some folks don't like how typical amateur SSB sounds. They think the typical 2.1 to 2.7 kHz amateur SSB voice signal sounds bad. They think you need more audio bandwidth for a good sounding SSB voice signal. So they've modified their rigs to transmit and receive SSB voice at much greater bandwidths. 6 kHz and wider are commonly used. That means their signals take up much more of the band than a typical amateur SSB signal. Two, three, four or more times what typical ham SSB signals use. Other hams don't like them using so much of the band for one SSB voice signal. These other hams say it's good amateur practice not to use more of the band than needed for the mode in use. PLEASE close this topic, and wait out our K3 purchase. I have no interest in bandwidth debates or reasons, rather just what they have been working on in SSB techniques. Other folks *do* have an interest. I'm sure the FCC, and ARRL will reign us in, if we stray. The ARRL can only advise what is and is not good practice. FCC has essentially said they don't really see the point of ESSB. The big threat to all of us is that we could wind up with more-restrictive regulations that we don't like, because of the actions of a few. 73 de Jim, N2EY ** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour ___ 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
RE: [Elecraft] Is the K3 capable of ESSB?
As a CW op with no dog in this race, I wonder what makes splashing a 2.1 KHz to 2.7 KHz wide voice signal across the band morally right but 6 KHz or more morally wrong. Are those who are opposed to 6 KHz-wide SSB doing everything they can to narrow their bandwidth down to as few hz as possible? That is, is anyone working on NSSB (narrow SSB) out of a sense of moral outrage over everyone wasting all that bandwidth at 2.x KHz? If not, then isn't the whole argument just a spitting contest with no technical or moral merit? (Sorry, I argue religion for a living and it's often the case that the opposition is practicing the very thing they're arguing against, just in a different direction or order of magnitude. I can't help but wonder if the same logic doesn't apply here.) Craig NZ0R ___ 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
RE: [Elecraft] ESSB from a K3
Please see the K3 FAQ on ESSB. 73 Greg AB7R -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Fred (FL) Sent: Saturday, August 11, 2007 7:35 PM To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: [Elecraft] ESSB from a K3 Evidently, the K3 does not support ESSB, or for sure it shouldn't. For me, I learned the very edges of what ESSB supposedly is - but nothing about it here. Fred N3CSY Choose the right car based on your needs. Check out Yahoo! Autos new Car Finder tool. http://autos.yahoo.com/carfinder/ ___ 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 ___ 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
[Elecraft] ESSB from a K3
Also, see the specs...4 kHz max. (Subject to change.) http://www.elecraft.com/K3/K3_specs.htm RayK3RIZ ___ 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
RE: [Elecraft] Is the K3 capable of ESSB?
On Sun, 12 Aug 2007, Craig Rairdin wrote: (Sorry, I argue religion for a living) Although it's off topic, I wonder how many angels can operate QRP on the head of a pin? 73 k3hrn Thom,EIEIO Email, Internet, Electronic Information Officer www.baltimorehon.com/Home of the Baltimore Lexicon www.tlchost.net/hosting/ Web Hosting as low as 3.49/month ___ 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
[Elecraft] ESSB? Naah. I'm much more interested in K3-native digital voice
I'd like to know more about the K3's DSP engine and if it's powerful enough to do a G4GUO type codec. I'm not smart enough to make an estimate about the needed processing power partly because I don't know what the rig is capable of, and partly because I haven't played with a vocoder that does such ... yet. On the other hand, I would say that the 56002 (which can run the code in question) is clearly eclipsed by the KDSP2's DSP and I imagine that the K3's capabilities handily go past the KDSP2. Even slicker would be interoperability between a suitably-equipped K3, the AOR vocoder box, and the similar offerings from TAPR. Sick sense of humor? Visit Yahoo! TV's Comedy with an Edge to see what's on, when. http://tv.yahoo.com/collections/222 ___ 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
[Elecraft] K2 for Sale
Good evening Elecrafters, I have for sale the following: K2 #755 w/finger dimple KPA-100 KSB2 K160RX KNB2 N-Gen XG1 K2 Nifty Mini Manual This K2 has been updated to the current K2 configuration regarding Firmware levels, K2 Keying Bandwidth Mod Kit, K2 Temperature Compensated PLL Reference Upgrade, K2 BFO Toroid PLL Ref Osc Xtal Upgrade, Matched Filter Crystals (14), 2nd Filter Upgrade for the K2, KSB2 Wider Bandwidth Capacitor Kit (2.6) and others. All manuals with various application notes from the Reflector, interconnecting cables, N0SS tuning incicator, and power supply cables. Built by P.E. with 43 years of ham experience. No problems during assembly. Shipping can be by UPS or USPS, insured to your 'ham-shack'. This will be from zip 98563. Price: $950.00 I also have the KAT-100-1 for $175. 73, Roger WA7BOC Montesano, WA ___ 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
Re: [Elecraft] Is the K3 capable of ESSB?
On Sun, 12 Aug 2007 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Marvelous idea...logical too...and flies in the face of operating efficiently. How so? The transmitter would be more efficient. If it's OK to use 6 to 9 kHz for ESSB, why not 15 or 20 kHz for FM? Ah good point...and once 20 kHz is established, we can go for subcarriers to handle various types of data But, that notwithstanding, with limited spectrum space available, even after the expansion of the phone bands, why are we considering reducing the number of channels available, by increasing the bandwidth? I like how 15-20 kHz wide FM sounds. Why can't I use it? Well, I feel good when I releive abdominal and/or bladder pressure. Why can't I do it anytime I want in public? If they don't want us to drive us fast, why do they make such cars? And why do the speedometers go up so high? 'Cause consumers can be dumb as a box of rocks? Maybe it's a male thing (remember the fins on cars, and the protuding front grilles?). Of course there is the axiom Mo' is bettah. (devil's advocate mode = off) Wow, another religious statment... 73 k3hrn Thom,EIEIO Email, Internet, Electronic Information Officer www.baltimorehon.com/Home of the Baltimore Lexicon www.tlchost.net/hosting/ Web Hosting as low as 3.49/month ___ 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
RE: [Elecraft] Is the K3 capable of ESSB?
I don't understand why anyone would get upset or even care about essb (or AM), if its done on a band that is not packed with signals. If there is loads of space, what is wrong with making the audio sound at least as good as a cheap cell phone? On the AM side, on the east coast of the US, the AM guys stick in a very small window and put a lot of operators on one frequency, yes they may take up a lot of bandwidth, but there may be 8 to 10 guys on frequency and many more listening. Some SWL people find AM interesting, as ssb was not much of an option on many receivers. That gets people interested in ham radio, that is what got ME interested in ham radio, many years ago with a poor receiver. I have designed and built my entire AM station, with 3 separate transmitters and 2 receivers. Besides the K2, I have no commercial gear except a Collins 32V3 in the shack. How many design and build there own high power multi-band SSB rigs? My guess would be not that many. Many AM operators restore old gear or homebrew tube or class E stuff, and LEARN electronics, even if its out of date. I think people should be free to learn things and not just operate telephone sounding rigs they mail order. Another thing that interests me is that I listen at night and there are a bunch of the usual suspects talking about nothing for the most part (80 meters). Its so important to fit a few more appliance operators on the band to talk with friends about their pickup truck that you have to rain on others parade? That's hardly vital communications. I don't understand why people cant play with their radio stuff without others getting all wound up about it. Live and let live... Oh, ever listen on FM mode on a busy band? Tons of noise and garbage, I don't think you can use FM unless you have a very low QRM level. Brett N2DTS The question I ask is this: What about FM? I really like FM voice. Sounds really good, the equipment is simple and there's a lot of it in use by amateurs and others. Why can't I run FM voice that's 15 or 20 kHz wide on 75 meters? I think it would sound really, really good. Much better than even AM, and immune to summer QRN. The transmitter would be very efficient, modulated at low level and amplified in highly efficient Class E stages that are very simple and don't have to be amplitude-linear at all. I'd be experimenting with new things. What's the problem? 73 de Jim, N2EY ** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour ___ 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 ___ 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
[Elecraft] Elecraft CW Net Report for August 12th 13th, 2007
Good Evening, Another fun Sunday evening. Twenty meters had QSB, deep at times, while forty had its QRN and some fading. Both gave decent results though. My last check in (K6PJV) reminded me of something: I need to ask the ARES folks for NCS certification. I may have qualified by directing activities for about 30 minutes yesterday when our main station was taken off the air by the Blue Angels. They had to move to another location outside of the aerobatics area so they needed us to take over for a few hours. Most of the day I had been on the air with a computer sending resource and status reports for the police and fire departments via DStar on 23 cm. Maybe I've learned something ;) The weather reports were downright hot from across the continent. I got a little warm today too; the fire made the house warmer than I intended because I had cleaned the vents out before I laid this morning's fire. It was 75 F for the first net which made my forearm stick to the desk until I put my shirt under it for a bearing surface. When I passed the net to Tom I opened the window for a little breeze. It is still warm out there but Sam does not mind a bit. Our local deer population has moved closer because of the loggers clearing some of the wind damaged forest. They don't mind the smell of a wood fire so are often right outside the windows eating the vegetation. They just look at me when I walk to the shed for more wood. On to the lists = On 14050 kHz at 2300z: WB3AAL - Ron - PA - K2 - 1392 W0RSR - Mike - CO - K2 - 5767 W6ZH - Pete - CA - K2 - 5138 N0SS - Tom - MO - K3 - 008 W3MC - Mike - MD - K2 - 5568 QNI #25!! W0CZ - Ken - ND - K2 - 1031 K6DGW - Fred - CA - K2 - 4398 N7KRT - Jeff - NV - K2 - 5471 AB9V - Mike - IN - K2 - 3993 K2HYD - Ray - NC - KX1 - 608 AK2B - Tom - NY - K2 - 482 On 7045 kHz at 0155z: KL7CW - Rick - AK - KX1 - 798 QNI #90!!! N0SS - Tom - MO - K3 - 008 K2VCO - Vic - CA - K3 - 007 W6ZH - Pete - CA - K2 - 5138 K9ZTV - Kent - MO - FT-1000 (KX1 is on a trip :) W0CZ - Ken - ND - K2 - 1031QNI #185 W0RSR - Mike - CO - K2 - 5767 K1EV - Bill - CT - K2 - 2152 K2HYD - Ray - NC - KX1 - 608 VE3XL - Ric - ON - K1 - 968 K1THP - Dave - CT - K2 - 3942 N0AR - Scott - MN - K2 - 4866 K6PJV - Dale - CA - K2 - 5345 QNI #35!! Hopefully I got everything in the list correct. I am sure I will receive a response if this assumption is in error :) Tomorrow it is back to work for many of us. Especially for those faithful K3 testers. The end of August is not far away and I know there are many folks anxiously awaiting their new transceivers. Maybe this early Christmas holiday will cool things off around the continent! I know the folks in Aptos will not get a lick of sleep until the second round has shipped and the supply lines have been tested and verified. Then they will be off to an unknown island in the Pacific (with Internet access and an electronics bench for Wayne :) Maybe Eric knows how to relax; he did mention scuba diving from said secret island retreat. Good luck guys, I wish you a fine holiday for as long as you need it. You may even think of activating that island while you are there :) How long has it been since either of you has worked a decent pileup? Until next week, 73, Kevin. KD5ONS (Net Control Operator who may actually get certified :) ___ 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
Re: [Elecraft] KPA100 - Low Voltage output from High Voltage Bias Supply Circuit
Don, I replaced D16 and D17 which fixed the HI CUR, HI REFL messages and lack of power control. However, I am still reading a low output voltage from the high voltage bias supply. When receiving, the high bias supply voltage at D1 cathode and R12/R11 is about 67 volts. I've further investigated the low voltage output from the high voltage bias supply as follows: 1. De-soldered the high bias voltage side of resistors R12 and R11, then remeasured the high bias output voltage - about 69 volts. I did this to ensure that nothing in the T/R circuit was draining the high voltage supply; resoldered R11/R12 back into the circuit. 2. Desoldered the D7 anode in the high voltage bias circuit, which connects to the VSS supply pin of the MAX1406 (RS232 Interface), then measured the high voltage bias output voltage at D1 cathode - measured 154 volts! Re-soldered the D7 anode back into the circuit and the high voltage bias supply dropped back down below 70 volts. The high voltage bias supply output should be between 90 and 150 volts. Is it possible that the MAX1406 is somehow draining this circuit? Seems strange that it would be because it cuts the output voltage more than 50% when the MAX1406 VSS is connected into the circuit. I've verified that D1 through D8 are good. Any further thoughts or info concerning the low output voltage would greatly be appreciated! Michael Haygood KI5E From: Don Wilhelm [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Michael Haygood [EMAIL PROTECTED] CC: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] KPA100 - Low Voltage output from High Voltage Bias Supply Circuit Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 18:26:59 -0400 Michael, You said the 'magic words' - HI CUR, Hi REFL messages and lack of power control (other than low and high power selection) *after* a lightning storm. That is an indication that the lightning surge zapped diodes D16 and D17 in the KPA100 wattmeter - the result is that the base K2 microprocessor *thinks* there is no power output and increases the drive until it 'runs out of gas' - the K2 will produce max power output under those conditions. Replacement of D16 and D17 is in order as a first step. If that does not cure things, then we can help you troubleshoot it further. 73, Don W3FPR Michael Haygood wrote: Hi, I've been using my K2/100 for many months with great results. After a recent storm containing lightning the next time I fired up the K2/100 I received the HI CURR message and the HI REFL messages upon initial transmit. This was unusual, so the next thing I did was consult the troubleshooting guide in the KPA100. Using a wattmeter and connected to a dummy load, I measured the output power of the K2/100 with the power outupt contol set to less than 11 watts and noticed that for a setting of 5 watts the output of the K2/100 was about 10 watts. For a power output setting of 15 watts, the output was very high - about 100 watts. _ Learn.Laugh.Share. Reallivemoms is right place! http://www.reallivemoms.com?ocid=TXT_TAGHMloc=us ___ 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
