Re: [Elecraft] TCXO - 0.5PPM

2010-12-28 Thread Steven . Zabarnick
Wayne, is the TCXO drift spec for the period after warmup, or does it include the warmup period? Steve N9SZ >At present, "method 3" remains unimplemented. Fortunately the TCXO's >uncorrected drift is already less than +/- 0.5 PPM from 0 to 50 C. >This was the target for "method 3". >73, >Wa

[Elecraft] CWT and RF GAIN

2009-12-08 Thread Steven Zabarnick
I find the CWT indicator very useful as a manual tuning aid, for auto zero beating using SPOT, and for obtaining the proper decoding threshold for CW, PSK, and RTTY. I am also one who uses the RF GAIN control to minimize band noise and increase the S/N ratio of weak signals. Unfortunately,

Re: [Elecraft] Config:Wattmeter

2009-12-06 Thread Steven . Zabarnick
This bug in the wattmeter calibration still exists in the latest firmware. Pressing XMIT during the wattmeter calibration does not transmit, and pressing TUNE does not permit a change of the calibration paramter. On the other hand keying the rig via a keyer does allow the calibration to be perform

Re: [Elecraft] K3 mods

2009-12-05 Thread Steven . Zabarnick
Confusingly, there are actually two mods for the K3 with similar names: The "K3 AF Mod Kit Rev B" which is called the "K3 AF Stage Upgrade" in its instructions. This one is for the line out and speaker signal pathways, and involves changing an RF choke and two 51 ohm resistors. The other mod is

[Elecraft] K3 mods

2009-12-04 Thread Steven Zabarnick
Yesterday I overcame my fears :-) and successfully performed the following mods on my K3 (S/N 1672): K3 AF Mod (Line out & speaker) IF Output Buffer Gain Mod K3 Extreme Signal RX Protection Mod But, I was not able to perform the K3 AF Output Mod (two 470 ohm resistors on the KIO3 board). I fo

[Elecraft] K3 Retaining NR settings

2009-12-02 Thread Steven Zabarnick
Now that the K3 firmware is mature and the DSP noise reduction feature works extremely well, isn’t it time for the firmware to retain NR after power cycling? I’m not asking for memory of per band/mode NR settings (although that would be wonderful!), but NR users should not have to turn this

Re: [Elecraft] K3 A/B button problem

2009-11-10 Thread Steven . Zabarnick
I found that the problem was caused by PowerSDR software running for my LP-PAN panadapter. Steve N9SZ __ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Ele

[Elecraft] K3 A/B button problem

2009-11-10 Thread Steven . Zabarnick
I'm seeing an intermittent problem with the A/B button on my K3. When I have VFO A and B set for different modes and frequencies, pressing the A/B button sometimes copies the frequency from VFO B to A after exchanging them, rather than exchanging them only (the mode is not copied). The problem nev

Re: [Elecraft] NR problem with the latest beta release

2009-10-10 Thread Steven . Zabarnick
Jim: I can get rid of the tone upon turning on NR if I do any of the following: revert to v3.30 turn off switch tones use my FL2 filter (500 Hz) rather than my FL1 filter (2.7 kHz) and, of course, turning off NR Wayne had me try an EE init, which got rid of the tone, but it returned after a whi

Re: [Elecraft] k3 NB problem

2009-10-09 Thread Steven . Zabarnick
I get a continuous tone when engaging NR, but it requires switch tones set to on and my FL1 filter to be engaged. Wayne has tried to help me find the cause without success yet. Steve N9SZ -Sinse installing the latest beta release I have a problem with a loud tone -when I engage the NB. Has any

[Elecraft] V3.41 NR tone

2009-10-08 Thread Steven Zabarnick
I’d like someone with a similar K3 configuration to help me diagnose a problem by doing a test. Required K3 configuration: Filters- 2.7 kHz in FL1 and 500 kHz in FL2 KAT3 ATU KXV3 KPA3 100 watt amp V3.41 firmware In cw mode, set your filter width to greater than 500 Hz to engage the 2.7 kHz f

[Elecraft] (no subject)

2009-10-08 Thread Steven Zabarnick
This leads to the obvious follow-on suggest: Since the XG-2 signal generator is used to calibrate the RF gain and the S-meter, why not include the XG-2 generator as an internal feature of future versions of the K3 (or K4)? Steve N9SZ Brett Howard said: -So if someone has the 50uV elecraft

Re: [Elecraft] K3 VFO Tuning Rates

2009-05-27 Thread Steven . Zabarnick
On May 26, 2009 Wayne wrote: -This is referred to as "ballistic" tuning. We experimented with it but -rejected it when we did the K2 design. I haven't tried it on the K3 -yet, but I've added it to my list. - -73, -Wayne -N6KR Back in Jan 2008 there was a discussion of this on the reflector, and o

Re: [Elecraft] K3 Noise Reduction..revisited

2009-05-01 Thread Steven . Zabarnick
Hmm, are Lyle's "other irons in the fire" being heated for Eric's "other fish to fry"? :-) More seriously, I also would love to see changes to the noise reduction, particularly to help with weak signal work. I'm not sure why anyone cares about noise reduction for strong signals -- I just turn dow

Re: [Elecraft] "Hot" K3

2009-03-16 Thread Steven . Zabarnick
Don: I had the same reaction upon first using my new K3 last year. The K3 is significantly more sensitive than my previous rig (IC-756 non-Pro), and as my noise environment is fairly high (inner suburb with ~110 dBm background noise), at first it seemed as if the K3 is fairly noisy. Also, while th

Re: [Elecraft] Weird EMI issue... part deux

2009-03-01 Thread Steven . Zabarnick
I was able to reproduce the noise that James is hearing on my #1672 K3. In my radio it never reaches S7, but I don't have the KBPF3 option. Here, the RIT and XIT settings do not affect the noise. It is mostly between 4.9 and 5.1 MHz as stated by W4TV. I never would have noticed this without James'

Re: [Elecraft] Using USB mode for PSK31 rather than DATA A

2009-02-16 Thread Steven . Zabarnick
No I did not turn off compression. I will give this a try. Has anyone else tried using PSK31 with USB mode? >Did you turn compression off? > >Bob NW8L On Mon, Feb 16, 2009 at 12:12 PM, wrote: > After all this discussion of power control in DATA A mode vs SSB, I decided > to try using PSK31 with

Re: [Elecraft] Sub Receiver jones...

2009-02-16 Thread Steven . Zabarnick
Another solution is to get an LP-PAN panadapter. This gives a great panadapter plus two PowerSDR receivers. This weekend I was able to monitor K5D on the K3 and/or the primary PowerSDR receiver and listen to (and watch) the pileup on the PowerSDR subreceiver. PowerSDR allows you to put the pileup i

[Elecraft] Using USB mode for PSK31 rather than DATA A

2009-02-16 Thread Steven . Zabarnick
After all this discussion of power control in DATA A mode vs SSB, I decided to try using PSK31 with USB mode, rather than DATA A. I changed the MIC SEL menu item to Line IN and adjusted the ALC meter to 4-5 bars using the MIC GAIN control. The PSK31 power output appeared to closely match the K3 pow

Re: [Elecraft] K3 Beta firmware rev. 2.82

2009-02-14 Thread Steven . Zabarnick
I discovered that my cw power issue was due to a bad power supply for my Elecraft W1 wattmeter. My cw power measurement now agrees with the K3 setting. I still see a 50% higher power output in Data A mode than the K3 setting -- this is an improvement over the nearly 100% that I was seeing using pre

Re: [Elecraft] K3 no power output

2009-02-11 Thread Steven . Zabarnick
Make sure that you are not in "test mode". Is the TX panel indicator flashing? If so press and hold TEST to turn it off. Steve N9SZ Dave N1IX wrote: -I just received a "new to me" K3. It is a recent serial number 18XX. -The receiver works fine but there is no output power. It goes into trans

Re: [Elecraft] K3 Beta firmware rev. 2.82

2009-02-11 Thread Steven . Zabarnick
I installed the new beta last and tested the new output power control. I don't see any improvement in PSK31 output power using DATA A mode. I still get nearly twice the output power than I have dialed in by the PWR knob. In the previous firmware, the measure output power in CW modes agreed with th

Re: [Elecraft] Using K3's Pre-amp

2009-01-10 Thread Steven . Zabarnick
Is Dave's S4 background band noise level unusual or should this be considered normal? In my first tier suburban location I typically see S2 to S3 background noise on the 20 to 40 meter bands using cw receive bandwidths of 500 KKz. The first figure and table in the following link (http://www.ve2si.c

[Elecraft] Re: K3 drift

2008-12-31 Thread Steven . Zabarnick
more slowly downward towards the original power up frequency. This was for a cold K3 in my 52F basement shack. I calculate a drift of 3.6 ppm which is within the spec of the 5 ppm TCXO. Steve N9SZ -Steven Zabarnick/Research/FacStaff/UDayton wrote: - To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net From: S

[Elecraft] K3 drift

2008-12-30 Thread Steven . Zabarnick
During the past week I have noticed my K3 drifting during the first 20 seconds after power up. I hadn’t noticed this previously in my three month old K3 (SN 1672), so I’m wondering if this is normal? With winter here it is colder in my basement shack (maybe down 55 F), so perhaps that could explai

[Elecraft] K3 S meter and AGC on/off

2008-12-17 Thread Steven . Zabarnick
One unique feature of the K3 is that the S meter operates even when AGC is turned off. Lately I've taken to operating often with AGC off to maximize weak signal performance (using the RF gain to control volume), but have noted that the S meter reading is a strong function of whether AGC is on or o

[Elecraft] Re:[K3] AGC THR and noise

2008-12-02 Thread Steven . Zabarnick
Oops, mistakenly sent this with the wrong subject line. Jack's measurements of the K3 AGC on the link listed below are quite interesting. As my noise level on the low bands is usually at least S3 or 4, his plots indicate that the noise (S3 is approx -90 dBm) is either in the linear range of the A

[Elecraft] Re: Help with distorted transmit audio

2008-12-02 Thread Steven . Zabarnick
Jack's measurements of the K3 AGC on the link listed below are quite interesting. As my noise level on the low bands is usually at least S3 or 4, his plots indicate that the noise (S3 is approx -90 dBm) is either in the linear range of the AGC, or just barely in the software AGC range. Don't we rea

[Elecraft] [K3] AGC THR and noise

2008-12-02 Thread Steven . Zabarnick
I'm somewhat puzzled by the behavior of the AGC THR adjustment with respect to band noise. My understanding is that the AGC THR setting adjusts the level at which the AGC is activated. Thus, I would expect when listening to band noise (QRN) that if the noise is activating the AGC, using a higher nu

[Elecraft] Re: Help with distorted transmit audio

2008-11-17 Thread Steven . Zabarnick
I experienced this pinched audio problem this weekend. Using the current beta firmware, I noted severely pinched transmit audio (using the transmit monitor). It occurred on some bands but not all, and was present sometimes on only one of the sidebands (i.e., when switching sidebands the audio pinch

Re: [Elecraft] K3- How Robust iis the Tuner?

2008-10-13 Thread Steven . Zabarnick
Maybe it needs to be more robust? Last week I was attempting to tune a short ladderline fed (via a balun) doublet on 80 meters using the KAT3. The tuner successfully tuned the system for the cw part of the band, but had trouble on 75 meters. I tried retuning a few times, and noted smoke and a burn

[Elecraft] Chaining CW memory messages

2008-09-29 Thread Steven . Zabarnick
A previous reflector post described problems with chaining messages when using the K3 internal keyer memories (M1-M4). I have also observed this problem -- when tapping a memory to chain a message while a message is already playing, sometimes the playing message is interrupted. I can usually get i

[Elecraft] KAT3 settings saved per band

2008-09-29 Thread Steven . Zabarnick
I use two doublet antennas, one hooked to ANT1 through a balun for 40M which uses the KAT3 tuner, and a second (ANT2) in which I bypass the KAT3 and use an external Palstar BT1500A balanced tuner for 30-10M. Currently, when changing bands I have to remember to bypass/set the KAT3 correctly. I woul