Re: Topband: Rig Question
The 2nd receiver in the 990 is essentially a 590 receiver so that makes sense. I would be pretty upset if the main 990 receiver was no better than the 590. What are you paying for. On 6/15/2014 10:22 PM, Gary and Kathleen Pearse wrote: On my 990 the 2nd receiver was consistently night after night better able to detect a weak CW sig on 40-160. Same settings on both receivers: different settings, AGC, no AGC, ATT, RF gain varied, it didn’t matter the race was won by the second. I didn’t fuss with SSB very much so that mode may yield different results. My TS-590 paralleled the 2nd in all the A/B tests, and would beat the 1st on the same weak signals as well. The weak were at or in a S3-9 noise floor before DSP NB was applied to clean things up. On 20M up the race winner may be different due to the conversion scheme in each rig, not sure as that wasn’t my winter goal at night in KL7. The 990’s APF seemed to be only a narrow filter that didn’t necessarily create an “AH HA!” moment like some applications of that technology in other radios like the K3. Both TS-590 and 990 suffer from Kenwood’s implementation of the DSP NB…when the signals rise, the DSP NB goes to sleep and the noise floor is elevated. If I get my TS-590’s ALC fixed, my K3 setup is history. 73, Gary NL7Y The main receiver in the 990 is supposed to be better than the 2nd rcv. Things that make you go h. Mike W0MU _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Rig Question
Paying for? Weight, eye candy, and interface? Oh, and a better behaved ALC. However, as I noted I didn’t fuss with much over 20M and SSB, so maybe that’s where the 990 excels. They are very nice to observe and operate. The primary receiver on my early 990 may have been maladjusted, as it was not superior to the secondary on weak CW in my QRN. Kenwood said today to send my TS-590 in (my $) for all upgrades to current specs (especially the ALC) on their parts and labor $0.10, plus they’ll return ship. How’s that for out of warranty product support? The market must be getting competitive. When I out my K3/P3 I may get another 590. 73, Gary NL7Y The 2nd receiver in the 990 is essentially a 590 receiver so that makes sense. I would be pretty upset if the main 990 receiver was no better than the 590. What are you paying for. …The main receiver in the 990 is supposed to be better than the 2nd rcv. Things that make you go h. Mike W0MU _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Rig Question
That's what I've heard before. What's the reason, and is there a mod to fix that? 73, Mike www.w0btu.com On Sun, Jun 15, 2014 at 5:16 PM, Carl k...@jeremy.mv.com wrote: The couple of K3's Ive listened to sound horrible on SSB... _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Rig Question
The one thing that's keeping me from buying a TS590 for use on the topband is the use of a mechanical relay versus solid state switching between TX RX. Had problems develop over a long period of time with my first HF transceiver (also a Kenwood) regarding the first character sent being shortened in length due to the relay and having a hard time buying another radio that still uses a relay for TX/RX switching. Would love to see the next generation of TS590 produced that uses solid state switching but might break down before then and buy a TS590. Wonder what others think about the relay in the TS590 and any problems encountered (especially when trying to run QSK). Don _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Rig Question
I've had lots of good rigs over the years and my K3 sounds as good if not better on SSB as any of them. Maybe the bad sounding K3s receiver EQ settings were misadjusted or left on factory default flat. Was a narrow roofing filter in use? How was the width and filter shift adjusted? Was hi or lo cut in use? All these will affect K3's SSB audio. The usual other parts of the audio chain including the speaker, headphones, shack acoustics, etc. also contribute. 73 Phil NA4M On 6/16/2014 18:11, Mike Waters wrote: That's what I've heard before. What's the reason, and is there a mod to fix that? 73, Mike www.w0btu.com On Sun, Jun 15, 2014 at 5:16 PM, Carl k...@jeremy.mv.com wrote: The couple of K3's Ive listened to sound horrible on SSB... _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband -- Phil Duff Georgetown, TX http://stockphoto.apduff.com _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Rig Question
I have a friend who doesn't like the K3 because of the SSB audio...said he likes his FT1000D much better. I happen to have a FT1000D in the shack so I tuned both receivers to the same station with both radios on the same speaker (with A/B switch). Then I adjusted the RX equalizer on the K3 until it sounded like the FT1000D...I then had my friend come in and close his eyes and did the A/B comparison...and he couldn't tell the difference. So, yes, the K3 will require some adjustment to be pleasing to any particular ear but it's pretty easy to do if you want to. (Now he doesn't like the K3 because it's too small. I'll remind him of that when it comes time to send his radio off to be repaired.) 73, Greg-N4CC -Original Message- From: Topband [mailto:topband-boun...@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Mike Waters Sent: Monday, June 16, 2014 12:12 PM To: topband Subject: Re: Topband: Rig Question That's what I've heard before. What's the reason, and is there a mod to fix that? 73, Mike www.w0btu.com On Sun, Jun 15, 2014 at 5:16 PM, Carl k...@jeremy.mv.com wrote: The couple of K3's Ive listened to sound horrible on SSB... _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Rig Question
it sounded like the FT1000D...I then had my friend come in and close his eyes and did the A/B comparison...and he couldn't tell the difference. So, yes, the K3 will require some adjustment to be pleasing to any particular ear but it's pretty easy to do if you want to. (Now he doesn't like the K3 because it's too small. I'll remind him of that when it comes time to send his radio off to be repaired.) 73, Greg-N4CC A few people like almost anything, a few people just don't like anything, and most people don't like a few things. I prefer analog detection of weak signals in noise, but I can live with the K3 when it is adjusted to my liking. I don't like all the menus, and I especially don't like not being able to switch the preamp in and out on both channels with one button when in diversity. As for transmit audio, there isn't a thing wrong with it. It can be adjusted to almost any taste, except those who specifically don't like the brand. The K3 does some things virtually no other radio does properly concerning diversity and DX use, and it has excellent close spaced receiver performance, so for me there is really no other choice. 73 Tom _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Rig Question
I found the TS-990 main receiver to be the best Ive ever used and the 2nd one close but not quite but Ive no experience with a TS-950. Another thing I noticed was the near absence of phase noise and other artifacts when testing with 144, 432 and 1296 MHz transverters having a NF of .5dB or less. It brings a new meaning to digging below the noise. Perhaps a few got out that werent aligned properly or required upgrades. Carl KM1H - Original Message - From: W0MU Mike Fatchett w...@w0mu.com To: topband@contesting.com Sent: Sunday, June 15, 2014 11:23 PM Subject: Re: Topband: Rig Question The main receiver in the 990 is supposed to be better than the 2nd rcv. Things that make you go h. Mike W0MU On 6/15/2014 6:21 PM, Gary and Kathleen Pearse wrote: TU Mike for the info. I’ll call them tomorrow. BTW, the 2nd receiver in my TS-990 was consistently better at extracting very weak CW on 40-160 (mainly steady eastern RU beacons on 40, EU CW on 80-160) than the main, and as you note, an equal to the 590. Kenwood service: KENWOOD AUTHORIZED SERVICE CENTER - PACIFIC 19501 East Walnut Drive South CITY OF INDUSTRY, CA 91748 Phone: 626-333-2443 http://fthgroupinc.com 73, Gary NL7Y Gary, Contact the Kenwood Service Center and give them your email address. They will then send you an email when they are ready to upgrade your rig. The secondary receiver in the TS-990 is essentially that of the TS-590. I did not bother to get the K3 Panadapter. I used a QS1R as a secondary receiver with the K3. I can view the whole HF spectrum with the QS1R. Mike N2MS _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband - No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2014.0.4592 / Virus Database: 3964/7687 - Release Date: 06/16/14 _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Rig Question
On Mon, Jun 16, 2014 at 3:22 PM, Tom W8JI w...@w8ji.com wrote: I prefer analog detection of weak signals in noise, but I can live with the K3 when it is adjusted to my liking. I don't like all the menus, I thought a K3 could be interfaced with a computer (using 3rd-party software) so the user didn't have to touch the menu buttons on the K3. I forget the details or what the name of the software is, but I'm told that's far easier than fiddling with those menus directly on the radio. As for transmit audio, there isn't a thing wrong with it. What I heard was bad, was the receive audio on SSB, what's coming out of the speaker connected to it. Are we on the same page? The K3 does some things virtually no other radio does properly concerning diversity and DX use, and it has excellent close spaced receiver performance, so for me there is really no other choice. When I get another rig, it will likely be a K3 for those and other reasons. But SDRs are getting better and better all the time. 73, Mike www.w0btu.com _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Rig Question
On 6/16/2014 1:39 PM, Mike Waters wrote: What I heard was bad, was the receive audio on SSB, what's coming out of the speaker connected to it. Are we on the same page? 99% of my hamming is done with headphones, and I find the audio system quite decent on cans. The K3 speaker is a small one, and the designer, Wayne Burdick, is a nut for minimizing current drain, part of which is the audio output stage. The result is not very ballsy sound in the speaker, but a lot less current drain on RX. If sound through a speaker is important to you, buy one and plug it into the rear panel jack. In general, larger speakers tend to be more efficient (that is, more sound for the same driving voltage). 73, Jim K9YC _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Rig Question
Sorry my original post was not clear...What I meant was that my friend didn't like the receive audio on the K3 when listening to a SSB signal...the transmitted signal was not the issue. Sorry for the confusion. Greg -Original Message- From: Topband [mailto:topband-boun...@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Greg Sent: Monday, June 16, 2014 1:56 PM To: 'topband' Subject: Re: Topband: Rig Question I have a friend who doesn't like the K3 because of the SSB audio...said he likes his FT1000D much better. I happen to have a FT1000D in the shack so I tuned both receivers to the same station with both radios on the same speaker (with A/B switch). Then I adjusted the RX equalizer on the K3 until it sounded like the FT1000D...I then had my friend come in and close his eyes and did the A/B comparison...and he couldn't tell the difference. So, yes, the K3 will require some adjustment to be pleasing to any particular ear but it's pretty easy to do if you want to. (Now he doesn't like the K3 because it's too small. I'll remind him of that when it comes time to send his radio off to be repaired.) 73, Greg-N4CC -Original Message- From: Topband [mailto:topband-boun...@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Mike Waters Sent: Monday, June 16, 2014 12:12 PM To: topband Subject: Re: Topband: Rig Question That's what I've heard before. What's the reason, and is there a mod to fix that? 73, Mike www.w0btu.com On Sun, Jun 15, 2014 at 5:16 PM, Carl k...@jeremy.mv.com wrote: The couple of K3's Ive listened to sound horrible on SSB... _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Rig Question
I wouldnt want a radio that I had to retweak every time I changed a performance setting. That got old real fast during my evaluations here. For something as mundane as a SSB ragchew or roundtable it was simple to get pleasing audio and leave alone but as soon as I went back to DX/Contesting it was untolerable Carl KM1H - Original Message - From: Greg n...@windstream.net To: 'topband' topband@contesting.com Sent: Monday, June 16, 2014 3:55 PM Subject: Re: Topband: Rig Question I have a friend who doesn't like the K3 because of the SSB audio...said he likes his FT1000D much better. I happen to have a FT1000D in the shack so I tuned both receivers to the same station with both radios on the same speaker (with A/B switch). Then I adjusted the RX equalizer on the K3 until it sounded like the FT1000D...I then had my friend come in and close his eyes and did the A/B comparison...and he couldn't tell the difference. So, yes, the K3 will require some adjustment to be pleasing to any particular ear but it's pretty easy to do if you want to. (Now he doesn't like the K3 because it's too small. I'll remind him of that when it comes time to send his radio off to be repaired.) 73, Greg-N4CC -Original Message- From: Topband [mailto:topband-boun...@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Mike Waters Sent: Monday, June 16, 2014 12:12 PM To: topband Subject: Re: Topband: Rig Question That's what I've heard before. What's the reason, and is there a mod to fix that? 73, Mike www.w0btu.com On Sun, Jun 15, 2014 at 5:16 PM, Carl k...@jeremy.mv.com wrote: The couple of K3's Ive listened to sound horrible on SSB... _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband - No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2014.0.4592 / Virus Database: 3964/7687 - Release Date: 06/16/14 _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Rig Question
The subject used to come up on the K3 forum until any negative comments were shouted down or removed by the site owner. Its nothing but a lovefest now and similar to the Collins can do no wrong head in the sand mentality on the CCA forum. No matter what I tried to adjust I could not get any of the K3's that I tried here to give pleasing Kenwood quality audio. I also only use headphones for CW and SSB and a speaker only for long winded AM monitoring while Im doing something else until it is my turn again. I also owned a FT-1000D for about 6 months and then bought a second TS-940. A couple of Ten Tec lemons was the end of my Buy USA attempt. I'll buy whatever pleases me with quality, reliability, and ergonomics AND Im a 28 year USN/USNR vet. OTOH Ive never owned a Jap vehicle and only one Kawasaki POJ bike in 71 (-; That was soon replaced by a 71 Norton Golden Commando, the last bike Ive owned as moving back from IL to NH in 73 convinced me a bike was suicide in New England. Carl KM1H - Original Message - From: Mike Waters mikew...@gmail.com To: topband topband@contesting.com Sent: Monday, June 16, 2014 2:11 PM Subject: Re: Topband: Rig Question That's what I've heard before. What's the reason, and is there a mod to fix that? 73, Mike www.w0btu.com On Sun, Jun 15, 2014 at 5:16 PM, Carl k...@jeremy.mv.com wrote: The couple of K3's Ive listened to sound horrible on SSB... _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband - No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2014.0.4592 / Virus Database: 3964/7687 - Release Date: 06/16/14 _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Rig Question
In my earlier comments I avoided direct comparisons between the TS-590S and K3. In my experience anyone maligning or questioning a K3/P3 is eventually in for a few bee stings, as that topic brings out a swarm of loyalists defending the hive. I was through this earlier this year on their group reflector. Many offered positive comments, some less so regarding my personal rig preferences and experience. It’s all good, however, and we’re still radio friends. I’ve owned two K3’s, and early and current model. It’s main advantage for me was at very narrow BW (80-100Hz) inside a 250Hz roofing filter, the K3’s recovered weak CW on a noisy band was audibly ‘cleaner’ than my 590, MK-V Field, and IC-765. The sigs could be heard on all during my recent tests this last winter, but the K3 was better at that extraction. At that width, the NB and NR aren’t of value in improving the reception. At wider BW or other modes, the K3 advantage diminishes for me. The rest of the time, BW, and modes I prefer the TS-590S on reception. Now with a potential ALC upgrade, it may be even better in my shack. My Alpha tolerates any spikes, but shouldn’t have to deal with them. I’ll leave it at this. Use what you like, love, or makes you most successful given the quality of your station and location. 73, Gary NL7Y _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Rig Question
The K3’s (I have 2) come sounding pretty bad on SSB. But there are some standard settings for the equalizer which get them sounding pretty good. I’m not sure why they don’t leave the factory that way. All in all I find the K3s unbeatable for CW and on a par with other good rigs on SSB. Basically most of the really advanced receiver functions for most radios are more functional with narrow discrete CW type signals. SSB signals bleed all over each other so there is only so much a radio can do. On Jun 16, 2014, at 3:42 PM, Guy Olinger K2AV k2av@gmail.com wrote: K3's underwent an extended evolution on sound issues in the first two or three ears. There are a lot of sound mods, including an outright replacement of one circuit board. A lot of K3's do *not* have this mod, as those with typical age related loss of high range hearing may not hear the distortion, as I would guess might be true for the Elecraft principals. New K3's and K3's with all the mods can have quite decent audio when set up to *personal taste*. A lot of RX satisfaction simply depends on an appealing sound. Though there are some very fuzzily defined common preferences, a lot of what sounds good is personal preference and varies over the map. And discussions about this comparing rigs, because the elements of the discussion are terribly poorly defined, often turn into a Nyah, nyah, na nyah, nyah or My rig is better than your rig verbal p***ing contest. Some things we do know... o Younger operators on average hear highs much better than older ops. This can cause two ops listening at the same time to the same RX to perceive the audio in completely different ways. Confusion reigns. o Band noise from a voice-width passband, reproduced with utter fidelity, is commonly unbearable, and at very least, nearly uniformly unpleasant. With a quiet circuit, a gradual rolloff over 2.5 kHz is near universally preferred for voice. This preference is frequently the opposite for a noisy circuit. o High fidelity noise, due to some common poorly understood human stress mechanism, is usually tiring and sometimes tiring to an extreme. o The part of the communications voice bandwidth most important for comprehension, syllibants, is the upper range, which is also the most irritating for noise energy. o For contesters, what they prefer for SSB contesting and prefer for casual SSB ragchews are often violently different, *Particularly* in terms of how loud they push the upper octaves in RX audio. This is also true for filter bandwidths. Contesting is usually set for intelligibility alone, and ragchews for pleasantness of sound. An exhaustive list of these issues is fairly long. I almost never see these elements transacted in a discussion of rig audios. I bought my K3 so the RX front end would not be creating the noise base on 40 meters listening to a 5 element wide spaced quad on a 200 foot catenary. Crushing signal levels. Now I can clearly pick out solar noise at certain times. I use 1.8 kHz filters for SSB contesting with the passband shifted up for maximum intelligibility, a setting I cannot stand to listen to for casual ragchewing :) Sound horrible can be for so many reasons. On a K3 you need to know the settings of filter, shift, audio passband shaping, NB NR settings, whether all the audio mods were done, in order to qualify what sound horrible might come from. Some folks can't stand K3's because they can't stand the small knobs and buttons. Some others hated K3's until they used them as a guest at a contest station. Others just do not like the sound no matter how adjusted. I have more than one acquaintance who hated them until they got one. Early on in K3 history, at the first WRTC with the K3 shipping, fully half of the rigs brought to the WRTC championship in Europe were K3's. It was clear that the contesters had found something they wanted. The next largest contingent was FT1000MP's. At roughly that time, operators at NY4A had owned or did own eleven FT1000MP's. Over a period of time, this list of hams replaced the MP's with 15 K3's and one Orion, nothing else. Nobody was coerced, and for sure each of that crew comes to his own independent views and purchases. Far and away, even now, the K3 is the common choice for serious contesters. The sub RX is electrically identical to the main RX, just on a differently shaped PC board to fit in its space. If those looking for rig opinions are or will be contesters, a used K3 sent back to the factory to have all the mods checked/done and firmware set to production levels will be a long lasting choice. Audio on a K3 has to be set to something, making a contesting setup and a casual setup possible. One firmware revision a while back made a huge improvement in audio quality. This was because prior firmware DSP calculations for AGC did not use enough significant digits and were introducing digitalization distortion to the
Re: Topband: Rig Question
Everyone please tell me why I have to practically scream into the mic to get through a pileup with a K3? The FT1000D was no problem, maybe 3-5 calls at the most. OK I could call for 10 minutes but this K3 is a joke.Let the flames begin.. N7RT - Original Message - From: Ashton Lee ashton.r@hotmail.com To: Guy Olinger K2AV k2av@gmail.com Cc: topband List topband@contesting.com Sent: Monday, June 16, 2014 5:09 PM Subject: Re: Topband: Rig Question The K3’s (I have 2) come sounding pretty bad on SSB. But there are some standard settings for the equalizer which get them sounding pretty good. I’m not sure why they don’t leave the factory that way. All in all I find the K3s unbeatable for CW and on a par with other good rigs on SSB. Basically most of the really advanced receiver functions for most radios are more functional with narrow discrete CW type signals. SSB signals bleed all over each other so there is only so much a radio can do. On Jun 16, 2014, at 3:42 PM, Guy Olinger K2AV k2av@gmail.com wrote: K3's underwent an extended evolution on sound issues in the first two or three ears. There are a lot of sound mods, including an outright replacement of one circuit board. A lot of K3's do *not* have this mod, as those with typical age related loss of high range hearing may not hear the distortion, as I would guess might be true for the Elecraft principals. New K3's and K3's with all the mods can have quite decent audio when set up to *personal taste*. A lot of RX satisfaction simply depends on an appealing sound. Though there are some very fuzzily defined common preferences, a lot of what sounds good is personal preference and varies over the map. And discussions about this comparing rigs, because the elements of the discussion are terribly poorly defined, often turn into a Nyah, nyah, na nyah, nyah or My rig is better than your rig verbal p***ing contest. Some things we do know... o Younger operators on average hear highs much better than older ops. This can cause two ops listening at the same time to the same RX to perceive the audio in completely different ways. Confusion reigns. o Band noise from a voice-width passband, reproduced with utter fidelity, is commonly unbearable, and at very least, nearly uniformly unpleasant. With a quiet circuit, a gradual rolloff over 2.5 kHz is near universally preferred for voice. This preference is frequently the opposite for a noisy circuit. o High fidelity noise, due to some common poorly understood human stress mechanism, is usually tiring and sometimes tiring to an extreme. o The part of the communications voice bandwidth most important for comprehension, syllibants, is the upper range, which is also the most irritating for noise energy. o For contesters, what they prefer for SSB contesting and prefer for casual SSB ragchews are often violently different, *Particularly* in terms of how loud they push the upper octaves in RX audio. This is also true for filter bandwidths. Contesting is usually set for intelligibility alone, and ragchews for pleasantness of sound. An exhaustive list of these issues is fairly long. I almost never see these elements transacted in a discussion of rig audios. I bought my K3 so the RX front end would not be creating the noise base on 40 meters listening to a 5 element wide spaced quad on a 200 foot catenary. Crushing signal levels. Now I can clearly pick out solar noise at certain times. I use 1.8 kHz filters for SSB contesting with the passband shifted up for maximum intelligibility, a setting I cannot stand to listen to for casual ragchewing :) Sound horrible can be for so many reasons. On a K3 you need to know the settings of filter, shift, audio passband shaping, NB NR settings, whether all the audio mods were done, in order to qualify what sound horrible might come from. Some folks can't stand K3's because they can't stand the small knobs and buttons. Some others hated K3's until they used them as a guest at a contest station. Others just do not like the sound no matter how adjusted. I have more than one acquaintance who hated them until they got one. Early on in K3 history, at the first WRTC with the K3 shipping, fully half of the rigs brought to the WRTC championship in Europe were K3's. It was clear that the contesters had found something they wanted. The next largest contingent was FT1000MP's. At roughly that time, operators at NY4A had owned or did own eleven FT1000MP's. Over a period of time, this list of hams replaced the MP's with 15 K3's and one Orion, nothing else. Nobody was coerced, and for sure each of that crew comes to his own independent views and purchases. Far and away, even now, the K3 is the common choice for serious contesters. The sub RX is electrically identical to the main RX, just on a differently shaped PC board to fit in its space. If those looking for rig opinions are or will be contesters, a used K3 sent back to the factory to have
Re: Topband: Rig Question
That's interesting. Did you have the speech processor on? Mic gain too low? Or was the audio too bassy with not many highs? 73, Mike http://www.w0btu.com/ssb_audio-weak_signal.html On Mon, Jun 16, 2014 at 7:24 PM, Hardy Landskov n...@cox.net wrote: Everyone please tell me why I have to practically scream into the mic to get through a pileup with a K3? The FT1000D was no problem, maybe 3-5 calls at the most. OK I could call for 10 minutes but this K3 is a joke. _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Topband: Rig Question
3db less power certainly make a difference 73 Peter -Original Message- From: Topband [mailto:topband-boun...@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Hardy Landskov Everyone please tell me why I have to practically scream into the mic to get through a pileup with a K3? The FT1000D was no problem, maybe 3-5 calls at the most. OK I could call for 10 minutes but this K3 is a joke.Let the flames begin.. N7RT _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Rig Question
Lots of things to check, processor on, what mic used, need the bias turned on for your mike, have mic gain set for high or low in the menus, have the right amount of ALC showing K3 needs the ALC to be showing 5 or 7 bars, not 1 bar flickering like some radios suggest. Barefoot? if so your 3 DB weaker than your FT1000D, can be lots of things, have to go over em one at a time. It takes quite a bit of compression to get the audio punchy and you need to set the transmit equalizer, with mine set flat it takes a lot of talking to get through a pile up, so I listened in the monitor and changed the equalizer until it had more of the highs like a Heil DX element used to have on a drake.. and bingo the call rate went up to the same as my FT-1000.. have to tailor it for your voice. If your voice power is lower than your cw power you adjust TXG VCE menu entry setting it makes the SSB power the same as CW.. Best mics I have found are cheap electret, turn on the bias and you have tons of audio. 73 Merv K9FD/KH6 Everyone please tell me why I have to practically scream into the mic to get through a pileup with a K3? The FT1000D was no problem, maybe 3-5 calls at the most. OK I could call for 10 minutes but this K3 is a joke.Let the flames begin.. N7RT _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Rig Question
Not a flame. Good TX audio could involve just about every TX adjustment in a K3 depending on whose voice and what microphone. The short answer is to set up a K3 specifically to get some punch from *your own voice* as picked up by a *particular microphone*. This involves using the KDVR3, a spectrum analyzer program on the K3 monitor audio output, and playing back recorded audio following setting adjustments. For ME using the MH2 mic that came with the rig, the main settings are mic at 13, compression of 20 or 21 and TX equalization of -16, -16, -16, -8, +8, +16, +16, -16. This is guaranteed to be just plain *awful* settings for most people. Note that the K3 compression is NOT RF clipping. It is an Elecraft proprietary digital compression routine. It does not flat-top like clipping, doesn't broaden the 100 watt signal. You have to listen to it and watch it on a spectrum analyzer to see what is happening. It's not an analog process and may take a little getting used to. When I came on the air barefoot with those adjustments properly done *for my voice* with the spectrum analyzer, the boys accused me of adding an amplifier. Power in both the prior and subsequent settings was 100 watts PEP. Then there's all the other stuff Merv mentions in his post. 73, Guy _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Rig Question
Well I have one of the earlier K3s ~#1000, that was never modified, never had a software upgrade and got quite a few unsolicited reports of good audio, the few times I ever went on SSB outside a contest. Using the Heil headset they sell with it. It's finally gone back to the factory since for all the hardware and software upgrades but I haven't put it back on the air yet. Love the radio. 73 Bob HS0ZIA _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
Re: Topband: Rig Question
I'm still living in the 60s. I use a Galaxy GT-550 for non 160M work. 73, Jeff KH6O / 6 _ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband
