[Elecraft] The K3 CW-DATA Feature

[Ed Muns]

One example of many pleasant discoveries for K3 owners, and unique to the
K3, is the feature of receiving and transmitting data modes wholly with a
stand-alone K3.  No external hardware or software specific to FSK or PSK is
needed.  Moreover, the user interface to carry on a digital mode QSO is
incredibly simple.  In a telegram, received text is scrolled in the VFO-B
display area and transmission is encoded CW from the paddle or message
memories.

The value of this to me personally is that I can easily work a quick QSO,
say a DXpedition getting on RTTY or PSK for a short while, by simply turning
on the K3 and "doing it".  No PC to boot, no RTTY or PSK application to
load, no special cables or software configuration to get working again since
my last digital foray.

My main Ham radio interest is CW contesting and also, as of three years ago,
RTTY contesting.  Occasionally, I'll chase an interesting DXpedition and
several times I've tried to get PSK working well enough to make one QSO with
them.  But, not normally operating PSK, I've never gotten it fully working
here and the effort for one QSO has been more than I was willing to invest.

Take the N8S Swains Island DXpedition earlier this year.  They operated a
fair amount of RTTY and had a few runs on PSK31.  Three fellow contest club
members were on that trip and I had fun trying to work as many band-modes as
I could.  CW and SSB were easy, but RTTY was a hassle and PSK31 never
happened for me.  Despite my often setting up for a full-blown SO2R RTTY
contest, it requires some rewiring and re-configuration of my station, not
to mention booting a PC and loading MMTTY or whatever RTTY application.
And, then when I wanted to work another CW band QSO, I'd have to reconfigure
the station back again.  Not a big deal, but annoying.  For PSK31, I
actually tried WriteLog's PSK capability and couldn't get it to work.  AA5AU
recommended DigiPan and I downloaded that and tried to get it to work, but
again to no avail in the short time I fooled with it.

Had the K3 been available to me, I would have simply turned it on, set the
frequency, set bandwidth and tapped MODE into DATA mode.  Next, I would have
held DATA MD and then rotated VFO-B to select FSK (and VFO-B to select 45
bps), held TEXT DEC and rotated VFO-B to select ON, and finally selected the
tones by holding PITCH and rotating VFO-A to select a 915 Hz Mark tone with
a 170 Hz shift.  I then would have tuned in N8S, tapping CWT to enable the
FSK tuning indicator if desired, and their FSK text would have scrolled
across the VFO-B display area.  Easy!  Wonderful!  And, there's more!

To answer N8S's CQ, I would have sent 'DE W0YK W0YK' with the CW paddle.
The K3 would have translated my CW to FSK with the Mark frequency zero beat
to N8S and the Space frequency shifted 170 Hz.  Since I seldom send CW at 60
wpm to keep up with the 45 baud RTTY rate, I might have loaded some message
memories with the 2-3 messages needed to have a DXpedition QSO.  If the N8S
operator knew me and took a minute to rag chew and ask about the latest
Giants results, I'd have just carried on by sending CW to the K3 which in
turn sends FSK to N8S.  In the monitor, I'd hear my CW for feedback and also
the RTTY Mark and Space tones at a more subdued volume so I'd be completely
aware of what is going on.

And, had the K3 been available to me during the Swains operation, I would
have easily worked them on PSK31 using the same technique.  

Let me be clear.  This capability will not replace my
PC/Soundcard/WriteLog/MMTTY/HAL DXP38/etc. serious contesting setup.   (...
yet.  I can foresee the day when the K3 decoder might be as good as the best
external decoders and it will interface to my CW logging program while
running RTTY.)  What the K3 now provides me is the ability to work the
occasional digital mode QSO with the ease of operating a CW QSO, and no
additional hardware or software.  I suspect the K3 will be responsible for
getting more people introduced to digital mode operation.  Already several
of the K3 field testers, in fact chief engineer N6KR himself, have worked
their first RTTY QSO ever with the K3, because it was so easy to get on the
data modes.

K3 owners will each have their own similar experiences with the other rich
and robust capability built into the K3, not only at initial release but via
future releases as well.  This, on top of an exceptional performance basic
radio makes the K3 the hot rig to have on your operating table.

73,
Ed - W0YK