[Elecraft] Re: K3 - qsk keying loop

[Don Rasmussen]

[Elecraft] Re: K3 - qsk keying loop
Dick Green WC1M wc1m at msn.com 

Hi Dick,

Happily, the K3 is modular. Would I be incorrect to
assume that a hardware solution could be engineered to
perform this specific purpose, and reasonably
inexpensively?

All it would really take would be for Eric and Wayne
to buy into the idea of it's importance. I don't see
them sticking their jaw out about this issue simply
out of principle (like some others made a mistake of
doing in the past?) 

Part of Elecraft's larger difficulty at this time
involves the fact that they have created a transceiver
that will appeal to a wide variety of interests.

Contesters, CW ragchewers (me), AM, FM, Digital, ESSB,
SWL, even transverter fanatics. 

They have released a very fine base model K3, which I
feel will be accepted very well, however they still
have to get the subreceiver integrated into the
firmware and release that bit of hardware and I expect
that is bigger on the list of to do's than the keying
loop - just my guess.

There are also other larger issues behind that like AM
and FM support (advertised), maybe some transverter
issues, and variable roofing filters.

There is a lot in competition for these guys attention
and it will be interesting to find out how the voting
is done with respect to everyone that wants everything
in their own diverse interest.

As a part time contester, given the fact that there
are acceptable methods of getting the switching done,
I'd like to see some features that are not there at
all added, before making something that is already
there a little better.

And I understand that a true contester would fight me
to the grave over this one issue, but we both pay our
money and take the best we can get. 

As a general operator, I've been pushing hard to get
some kind of single press band switching in the
firmware, which is pretty meaningless to a contester
that is allowing the program in his computer program
to do all that. 

Anyway, I know the radio was primarily focused towards
contesting from the beginning and maybe it would have
been icing on the cake to have the switching done a
backwards compatible way on top of all the other good
stuff, but most likely at the expense of some other
things that would not have made it into the radio.
Some things are still waiting (like ESSB or AM) to be
fully implemented.

Darn I wish I had an amp to be concerned about, and it
won't ever happen at this QTH, but the guys still have
a transceiver that you have your eyes on and I have on
order already so I suppose that's fair enough for now.


;-)

de wb8yqj

[Elecraft] Re: K3 - qsk keying loop
Dick Green WC1M wc1m at msn.com 
Wed Nov 28 18:24:57 EST 2007 

Previous message: [Elecraft] K3 SSB Bandwidth at this 

Pardon me for jumping in here. I don't have a K3 and
don't have one on
order. I'm trying to make that decision. I've read a
lot of good things
about the K3. Absence of a keying loop isn't one of
them.

 

Although it's true that some modern QSK amps may
appear to work fine without
a keying loop, bear in mind that both Acom and Ten-Tec
recommend using them.
Elecraft should consider the recommendations of the
amp manufacturers, not
what they *think* will work correctly. Even if
Elecraft is right, why force
the owner of a $6,000+ amplifier to go against the
manufacturer's stated
recommendation? If something goes wrong with the amp's
T/R relay, causing an
expensive ship/repair/ship drama, will Elecraft
indemnify the owner?
Probably not. I sure wouldn't want to get in the
middle of that
finger-pointing exercise.