[Elecraft] K2 Firmware change request

[Tom Hammond]

Hi Tor:

At 10:29 AM 8/9/04, Torsten Clay wrote:
>I used my pair of K2/100's in last weekend's NAQP CW. Band conditions were 
>pretty good for August, and I ended up with 789 qso's. I use the pair 
>SO2R, meaning I am listening on one band while transmitting simultaneously 
>on another band.  In the NAQP mults count on every band (including 160), 
>and you change bands a lot.
>
>I was reminded again of a K2 firmware "bug" that has been very annoying to 
>me: after changing bands, the K2 transmit power is reset to zero. I takes 
>several dits for the power to come up to 100%. That means if I change 
>bands, the first station I call gets something like "AOGW" instead of 
>N4OGW! If I forgot to hit the tune button or send a string of random dits, 
>the station I was calling frequently came back with "?" I'd rather not 
>have to QRM other stations "tuning up" every time I change bands.
>
>Is it possible to make the K2 start out at 100% TX power? Is this supposed 
>to protect the finals?
>
>In the NA Sprint contest (coming up in September!) this is a really big
>deal. There, you must QSY after calling CQ, and if the station I am
>calling misses my call, I may never hear him again!

The resetting of power upon BAND change is a function of the ALC which is 
NOT hardware-derived, but software-driven. When you change bands, and the 
power level generally WILL change because each band has a little bit 
different efficiency, hence different drive levels required for the same 
requested power output, the ALC must measure the actual output against the 
requested output and make a determination as the drive required. This 
requires a number of RF cycles to accomplish, thus the need to hit a few DITs.

Now, regarding the Sprint... unless you actually change BANDS after each 
QSO, this should NOT be a problem since the K2 doesn't require resetting of 
the ALC upon a frequency change WITHIN BAND. However, if you do change 
bands after each QSO, then it will... and (VERY UNFORTUNATELY) I see no way 
to get around it... sorry.

Maybe Wayne can some up with a way to save the ALC level DAC count and 
apply it to the initial setting for the next band selected so you'll at 
least have SOMETHING (more than mW) going out when you hit the key...

73,

Tom Hammond    N0SS