[Elecraft] K2 and the KAM XL

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

That does sound like a very weird user interface. 

PSK31 software in general suffers from one major design flaw. It assumes
that one is using a wide, SSB-bandwidth in the receiver and encourages
the user to "tune" with the software. This puts the selectivity in the
system in the worst possible place - the computer. There's nothing wrong
with DSP, if it is done near the ANTENNA not the audio jack. The way PSK
software works, the rig's narrow filters are ignored leaving the rig
wide open to overload and intermod. Modern rigs like the K2 are pretty
tolerant, but it is still a gross system design flaw. 

And nowadays there are more and more signals on the popular PSK31
frequencies running 100 watts (or more) next to a 5 watt signal. The PSK
"frequencies" are becoming like the CW bands in that respect, and it
takes all the filtering and dynamic range available to drag the weak
signal out of the QRM. To do that the IF filters MUST be cranked down as
narrow as possible. 

I use Digipan and tune with the tuning knob. It's not as elegant as
clicking with a mouse, but it sure works 100% better in tough QRM. 

Might not the KAM box work in the same way?

Ron AC7AC
K2 #1289



...The way the manual 
(a pdf on a CD, not dead tree format, bummer) describes the operational
flow 
is to activate the PSK31 mode and watch the "dancing bargraph." See
which LED 
segment is lit, and enter CTRL-C n, where n is the number of the LED
segment 
(L to R, 1 to 0). This changes the center frequency, and narrows the 
passband. Repeat this sequence until you have the signal centered in the

display, and you should now be decoding the signal. This is
counterintuitive 
in the extreme! By the time I got a signal centered, the guy was usually
done 
transmitting. Fortunately, in the text display, there is a group of
numbers 
which looks like this:

<700 - 1000 - 1300>

representing the low frequency cut off, the center of the pass band, and
the 
high frequency cut off. ...
John AA2BN
K2 #1912
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