[Elecraft] K3 : band stacking registers
I'd like to understand more about the use of the buttons M1 through M4, as they apply to memory recall within a given band. The best way for Elecraft to show off this radio's bazillion functions is to create a meta-tagged MPEG4 video of someone (Wayne?) going through each function of the entire rig. With such a searchable file, I could simply click for what I wanted to see, instead of having to watch an entire 40 minute 3 GB tutorial. This demo video would help sell the second thousand of these radios. Back to the M1 - M4 buttons ... For them to be effectively used as band stack registers they would have to perform that function without a two-tap modality; in other words, this action would best not happen with a press-and-hold, multiple tap, or as an 'F' type process. Just looking at the rig, I can't tell if that's how these buttons work. It seems like they are there for voice and CW keyer functions, not for memory recall. How does the radio know that pressing M3 means go to the 3rd memory for this band rather than play the voice message #3 or send the CW message #3 ?? ... *all* of which ought to be one-press functions. Tough to do this well with what I see on the front panel. I'm not given to K4VUD's acerbicity, but if you read deeper into what he's saying, it's based on a sincere interest and rooted in this concern. The ultimate use scenario matrix for the K3 front panel remains quite attractive. For example, one generally uses band stacking registers AFTER one is already on the band. As I attempt to think how the designer was thinking, the arrival at this particular design decision has to have been at least partly based on this ergonometric fact. (I've talked to the guy enough to find that he's pretty bright.) Yes, it would be nice to just hit the 40m button to get there and then tap it again to move between frequencies on that band. An hour up at HRO in Sunnyvale playing with a PROIII front panel would have convinced me of that. But I'd gladly go through the K3's 'other' band select mechanism(s) if I knew that once I was there, the M1 - M4 buttons worked the way I want them to. Because my time with the K2 at Dayton was limited, I was unable to self-teach on the topic. This lack of understanding of this keypad operation is one of the very few remaining barriers to ordering a K3 for myself. Again, a tagged digital feature-walk-through video would be immensely useful. This keypad operation is more than an academic interest to me. Since control panel ergonomics and ultra high dynamic range mixers are my two radio passions, the K3 could be a true pinnacle of design reference in my own experience. I already know how much engineering went into the BUTTONS themselves!! You would not believe the details these guys sweated over. Of course, the K3 being a firmware driven animal, whatever the operational differences between what I'd like and what's there now, the fact that numerically sufficient and labeled buttons exist in real-space is all that really matters. The firmware engineer will be able to make it do what it needs to do. Finally, even if that fails, there's an external control system which would allow ME to build a MCU-equipped external keypad. This keypad would create the band-stack register functionality that the radio itself might lack, by sending the suitable commands to the radio's control input. If Elecraft doesn't make the rig work the way I want it to, which I do NOT expect, I will simply build this external keypad gizmo and sell copies (as kits, of course) to others who are looking for the same thing I am. gee. Profits from the sale of this gizmo could pay for the radio! 73 Steve KZ1X/4 Chapel Hill Boardwalk for $500? In 2007? Ha! Play Monopoly Here and Now (it's updated for today's economy) at Yahoo! Games. http://get.games.yahoo.com/proddesc?gamekey=monopolyherenow ___ 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] K3 : band stacking registers
Steve Jackson wrote: Yes, it would be nice to just hit the 40m button to get there and then tap it again to move between frequencies on that band. An hour up at HRO in Sunnyvale playing with a PROIII front panel would have convinced me of that. I used to agree with that - that having Band Buttons to press to change bands was the only way to go. And maybe 20 years ago it was - Band Buttons or Bandswitch. And I thought that was going to be a major problem that I would have with the K2. But it was not a problem. Why? Because 90% of my band or frequency changes come from the laptop or PC. Type the frequency where I want to go. Click on the DX spot. Go Band Up or Band Down from the function keys. Maybe it's a workaround for not having Band Buttons, but I don't miss not having them on the K2 and won't miss having them on the K3. 73HankK8DD -- --- 'Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level then beat you with experience.'-anon --- ___ 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] K3 : band stacking registers
I lost most of my hair, buried two cats, had a son, and worked until dawn more times than I want to admit. I'm calling Yaesu today to find out how many cats they buried in the development of the FT1000MP. I want the BEST. Or is this a Michael Vick reference? I sure hope Wayne didn't fall into the Aptos cat fighting crowd. disclaimer - PLEASE don't email me on this it's a joke joke funny - okay? !!! ;-) [Elecraft] Re: size of radio limits? wayne burdick n6kr at elecraft.com Fri Jul 27 02:19:52 EDT 2007 ___ 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] K3 : band stacking registers
I am not at all enamored with a band stacking register indicator. They added one to the Orion and it is meaningless. How do I remember what band stacking register 3 on 20 meters is vs. band stacking register 4 or band staking register 3 on 40 meters. The display already shows you the frequency and mode. If you aren't where you want to be, push the button again. It is that easy. Let's wait until the radios get delivered to start fine tuning the interface. And to the guys at Elecraft: THANK YOU for wanting to get it right before you release. We can wait. Disclaimer - No cats were harmed in the making of this message. Craig Buck k4ia Fredericksburg, Virginia USA ** 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] K3 Band Stacking registers?
On Jul 26, 2007, at 9:57 PM, Don Rasmussen wrote: The band stacking registers topic is one that I think could be clarified in the FAQ. Don, One other point we may not have covered in the FAQ. Of the 100 general-purpose memories (which doesn't include the M1..M4 per-band memories), memories 1-9 can be accessed with a shortcut method: Just tap M-V, then 1-9 on the keypad. I'd recommend using these to get to your 9 favorite bands (or frequencies) if you don't want to use the BAND UP/DN switches or enter the MHz value using FREQ ENT. Of course once you're on the desired band, you can then use M-V with M1..M4 to get to four additional favorite frequencies/modes on each band. Every memory stores both VFOs, filter presets, etc. The reason we didn't provide individual band-stacking switches is that the K3, unlike other rigs in this class, is not big enough to have its own zip code. We used the available space for buttons assigned to often used functions like preamp, attenuator, AGC, NR, NB, notch, etc. We think it's a good tradeoff. 73, Wayne N6KR --- 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] K3 Band Stacking registers?
I think this is covered in the FAQ under 'Memory'. It talks about M1-M4 being band-stacking registers on a per-band basis. 73, Ed - W0YK -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of wayne burdick Sent: Thursday, 26 July, 2007 22:09 To: Don Rasmussen Cc: Elecraft List Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 Band Stacking registers? On Jul 26, 2007, at 9:57 PM, Don Rasmussen wrote: The band stacking registers topic is one that I think could be clarified in the FAQ. Don, One other point we may not have covered in the FAQ. Of the 100 general-purpose memories (which doesn't include the M1..M4 per-band memories), memories 1-9 can be accessed with a shortcut method: Just tap M-V, then 1-9 on the keypad. I'd recommend using these to get to your 9 favorite bands (or frequencies) if you don't want to use the BAND UP/DN switches or enter the MHz value using FREQ ENT. Of course once you're on the desired band, you can then use M-V with M1..M4 to get to four additional favorite frequencies/modes on each band. Every memory stores both VFOs, filter presets, etc. The reason we didn't provide individual band-stacking switches is that the K3, unlike other rigs in this class, is not big enough to have its own zip code. We used the available space for buttons assigned to often used functions like preamp, attenuator, AGC, NR, NB, notch, etc. We think it's a good tradeoff. 73, Wayne N6KR --- 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 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] K3 band stacking registers
I hope there's an easy way to have the keyboard implement multiple band stacking registers. It's on my list of nearly must have features. NOW I have a good reason to go ... See y'all at Dayton. /steve KZ1X __ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.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
