[Elecraft] Suggestions for KDSP2 Firmware Revisions

[Kenneth Moorman]

I agree with Jeff that the KDSP2 is awkward to use.  I will admit that it is
my first and only experience with a DSP, so maybe this "comes with the
territory".  I tend to just leave mine on all the time, as I haven't
committed the button push cycle to memory yet.  It would be nice to have
"Bypass" cycle with the DSP bandwidths as Jeff has proposed.

Ken, NU4I

-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Jeff
Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2007 8:37 AM
To: Lyle Johnson; elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Elecraft] Suggestions for KDSP2 Firmware Revisions

The KDSP2 DSP filter for the K2 works great, in my opinion, but I wonder if 
it would be possible in a future KDSP2 firmware revision to implement some 
or all of the following three suggestions, which would increase my CW 
operating convenience:

1.  Reduce the number of button presses necessary to put the KDSP2 into 
bypass mode (turn it off).  Currently, it takes a button tap, two button 
holds, and one more tap to turn it off, if you just turned on the rig, and 
two button taps to turn it back on.  I find that the two button holds are 
the most time-consuming and bothersome parts of the process, so my 
suggestion is that the number of button presses to turn off the KDSP2 could 
be reduced to two taps and no holds by making the "dSP On / bYP" menu entry 
*always* come up first when the DSP menu is accessed.

2.  Make the KDSP2 remember whether or not it is in bypass (off) mode, so 
that its state would not change when power is turned off and on.  That is, 
the KDSP2 would not have to always be on on power-up.

3.  Make the KDSP2 remember the currently selected DSP filter (CF1, CF2, 
CF3, or CF4), so that the same filter would stay in effect when power is 
turned off and on.  Currently, the rig seems to remember the selected 
crystal filter, but not the selected DSP filter, when power is cycled off 
and on.

I like to put the KDSP2 in bypass mode when tuning around the band in order 
to have a wider passband, so I can hear what's going on around me.  It 
appears that the maximum bandwidth of the KDSP2 in CW mode is 800 Hz, which 
is too narrow for my taste when tuning around.  Once I stop tuning and focus

on a particular signal, I often turn the KDSP2 back on to eliminate QRM. 
This habit results in my having to do a lot of button pressing to turn the 
KDSP2 off and on repeatedly.  Also, when I turn the rig on, I'm initially 
turning around, so I want the KDSP2 to start out in bypass mode, but it 
defaults to on, even if I had it off when I last used the rig.

Another advantage of being able to easily keep the KDSP2 turned off is that 
having it off reduces power consumption.  When operating portable from the 
internal battery, I would like to be able to make the KDSP2 stay off until I

return home, rather than having to turn it off each time I power-up.

As an alternative to suggestion (1), above, a slightly different setup that 
would make me happy would be the addition of a fifth state, bypass, when the

K2's AFIL button is held repeatedly.  That is, after cycling through the 
four DSP filters (CF1-CF4), the fifth setting would be bypass mode, in which

the KDSP2 would be turned off, and next would be CF1 again, and so forth.

Another alternative to suggestion (1) would be to increase the maximum DSP 
bandwidth in the CW mode to equal the maximum bandwidth of the crystal 
filters (2.49 kHz, I think).  If one of the four DSP filters could be set to

a very wide bandwidth, then invoking this filter would have approximately 
the same effect as turning the KDSP2 off (except that it wouldn't decrease 
power consumption).

Do others agree that some of my suggestions would be improvements or are you

happy with the KDSP2 just as it is?  Please let Lyle, KK7P, know your 
preferences, as I believe he is the KDSP2's designer, and please let me know

too.

Thanks for listening to my ruminations, 73 & 72,
Jeff
NE2J (formerly WB5GWB)
Long Island, NY