[Elecraft] A couple items of possible interest...

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

 What I'd like is a "beep" (or a string of "beeps") in the phones or
speaker if I hit A=B with SPLIT OFF! Sort of a way for the K2 to
politely tell me "Hey, Dummy! The SPLIT mode is off and this isn't going
to do anything!" 

After almost 3 years of using my K2 in SPLIT mode ALL of the time, my
biggest problem is when I turn the SPLIT off for some reason, and then
"twiddle" with the main tuning knob during a QSO. Talk about the other
guy noticing some "drift"! I like to change the beat note a bit (within
the filter passband, of course, but I tend to use the widest passband
QRM will allow because I like the sound of sigs better that way). 

I've have a few ops come back saying "Ur K2 snds FB hr, but you seem to
have shifted freq a bit. Almost lost U then..." 

Then I have to explain that it was "Operator Drift" and not "Oscillator
"Drift" that was causing the problem <G>. I had adjusted the tuning a
bit forgetting that SPLIT was OFF!

I like the SPLIT mode because it lets me use the big main tuning knob
for everything; I don't have to mess with the dinky RIT knob. Also it
emulates how I've operated rigs for most of the years that I've been on
the bands. In the past using a separate transmitter and receiver, I'd
tune around with the receiver, find a frequency where a station was who
I wanted to call or a frequency where I wanted to call CQ, then I'd move
the transmitter to that frequency and make the call. 

With the K2 in SPLIT, moving the transmitter to the receive frequency is
done by just hitting A=B and I'm done! Then I can tune the receiver
around all I want using the MAIN tuning control and the transmit
frequency stays put. I don't have to mess with the tiny little RIT knob.
I get to use the main tuning for ALL of my tuning adjustments. 

As I said, the trouble is that if hit A=B and the SPLIT mode is off, it
doesn't do anything! I'm automatically transmitting on whatever
frequency the main tuning is sitting on, and if I mess with the main
tuning while receiving.... So that's when it'd be nice to be told that
I'm not paying attention.

Ron AC7AC
K2 # 1289

The Infamous "Phantom" LED on Some Pictures of the K2 Front Panel

   About a month or so ago, Wayne asked me to look into
   implementing a circuit design and code change he had made to
   the K2 firmware with the intent of providing a better indicator
   of those times when you have your SPLIT, RIT, or XIT modes
   enabled and might need a little more 'visible' indication than
   merely the blinking chevron on the LCD display. I can recall
   numerous times when, as the result of a previous SPLIT QSO,
   I've called a station in vain, only to find that my (SPLIT) TX
   frequency was still several tens of kHz below where the station
   was listening....


73,

Tom Hammond   N0SS