[Elecraft] K3 BETA FIRMWARE RELEASE -- MCU rev 1.94

Wed May 14 08:00:35 EDT 2008

On many TCVRs - if you are not in QSK mode - you can just press key 
and hear pitch tone (sidetone) and tune signal to zero beat.
This is one reason I was opening KEY OUT port settings wish - to have 
sidetone only without keying to TX by pressing key (in nonQSK), but it 
is another story ;-)
On the other side this ability to tune without some special help 
depends also on individual ability to recognize tones (musical ear).

73!
Lexa, ok1dst
K3/10 #727

K3KO napsal(a):
> Guys,
> 
> There is another way to solve the CW spot problem.
> 
> It's called get on the air and work CW.  You will quickly develop the skill
> of zero beating by ear.
> You will find that most CW ops don't use any zero beating gizmo.  Much
> faster and easier to do it by ear.
> 
> Another thing.  Narrow filter passbands help.  If you're trying to zero beat
> a CW signal with a 2.8KHz filter, it can be an exercise in futiltiy.   And
> if a human can't do it,  don't expect some computerized gizmo to do it well
> either.
> 
> Practically speaking,  if you've dialed in a 200- 400Hz CW bandwidth and you
> peak the signal in the passband,  your going to be at most 100Hz off.   That
> is really plenty good enough for most situations.
> 
> How accurate can zero beating by ear be?   The data points I have are from
> RTTY.   My display indicator reads out deviation from zero  in 5 Hz
> increments.    I can usually get within 10-20 Hz by ear!   I'm going to
> assume the CW accuracy is similar.
> 
> 73 de Brian/K3KO
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Bob Cunnings wrote:
>> Unfortunately I see little improvement in the CW auto-spot feature,
>> broken in the last release. It is still much less accurate than the
>> original algorithm, and less consistent in it's behavior.
>>
>> Try this - tune in a good steady (S6 or S7) cw signal. Set tuning to
>> FINE, enable CWT and then press SPOT repeatedly, observing the
>> frequency display. The beta version (like 1.88) settles on a
>> considerably different frequency almost every time - moving 5 Hz or
>> more commonly, and sometimes as much as 20 Hz or more. There is a
>> tendency to tune low. The original version, on the other hand, rarely
>> moves more than 1 or 2 Hz with each auto-spot invocation, bearing out
>> the fact that it is more accurate in general, or less likely to get
>> confused (by noise, varying morse code speed etc.).
>>
>> Since I have two K3 units here, I set one up with 1.78/1.58 and the
>> other with the beta firmware, and then compared their auto-spot
>> behavior side by side on the same received signal using an antenna
>> switch. The difference is quite pronounced. Here are some series of
>> freqs (last three digits) resulting from 10 successive invocations of
>> auto-spot on the same steady S7 signal on 40 meters (at 13 wpm or so,
>> fortunately a long winded transmission):
>>
>> v178/158 (TEXT DEC threshold = AUTO)
>> 125, 125, 125, 129, 130, 130, 127, 128, 129, 129
>>
>> beta (TEXT DEC threshold = AUTO)
>> 115, 118, 124, 079 (!), 106, 106, 124, 107, 112, 100
>>
>> beta (TEXT DEC threshold = 5)
>> 124, 123, 109, 116, 118, 122, 117, 116, 120, 123
>>
>> The newer firmware version tends to "bounce around" more with a
>> tendency to tune low, often requiring multiple invocations of
>> auto-spot to hit the right pitch, whereas the original algorithm
>> generally tunes right the first time. With threshold set to 5 in the
>> beta version auto-spot is a bit better, but all too often it takes
>> multiple tries to hit the right pitch, as it still tends low. If I set
>> the threshold much higher, it doesn't want to tune at all for signals
>> that the original algorithm handled easily.
>>
>> I'm not sure what the "improvements" to auto-spot introduced in 1.88
>> were supposed to do, but IMO the feature is still negatively affected
>> by the attempt. A side by side comparison of the two versions, on the
>> same signal, is very revealing in this case  -  can someone else try
>> this?
>>
>> Too bad, since I use the feature a lot it's back to 1.78/1.58 for now.
>> It "just works".
>>
>> Bob NW8L
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, May 12, 2008 at 7:08 PM, wayne burdick <n6kr at elecraft.com> wrote:
>>> Thanks to your input on the last firmware release (1.88), we've made a
>>> number of important improvements.
>>>
>>> For the first time, we're posting new firmware as "beta." Upgrading is
>>> optional: if you want to minimize your risk, you might want to wait until
>>> we've blessed it as a normal production firmware release. (Or until all
>>> your
>>> friends have it and you're a little jealous.)
>>>
>>> We'd love to have as many thrill-seekers as possible take the plunge and
>>> load the new firmware now. We think it's greatly improved, and it will
>>> certainly clear up many of the issues noted over the past week. Even
>>> though
>>> we're headed to Dayton in a couple of days, we'll be monitoring closely
>>> for
>>> any additional issues.
>>>
>>> For release notes and instructions on how to load beta firmware, please
>>> see:
>>>
>>>  http://www.elecraft.com/K3/k3_software.htm
>>>
>>> The instructions (linked from within the release notes) explain how to
>>> create a separate folder for the beta revision. This will allow you to
>>> easily revert to an older revision if you find it necessary. Hopefully
>>> not!
>>>
>>> For your convenience I've also provide the release notes below.
>>>
>>> 73,
>>> Wayne
>>> N6KR
>>>
>>> * * *
>>>
>>> MCU 1.94 / DSP 1.73, 5-12-08
>>>
>>>  * VOX: Increased sensitivity. Typical VOX GN settings now ~30-50.
>>>
>>>  * VOICE MONITOR: Eliminated "scratchy" artifacts with compression set to
>>> high levels.
>>>
>>>  * FM DEVIATION ADJUSTABLE:  Use CONFIG:FM DEV menu entry (default: 5.0
>>> kHz).
>>>
>>>  * Flash memory driver improved to prevent occasional receive dropouts,
>>> "ERR
>>> PL1", and
>>>    "FPF LOAD PENDING" messages.
>>>
>>>  * XMIT SWITCH IN MENU: Tapping XMIT while in menu correctly starts/ends
>>> transmit.
>>>
>>>  * PASSBAND SHIFT BELOW "0.00" CORRECTED: The SHIFT control no longer
>>> allows
>>>    continued rotation below 0.00. (This was occurring only with sidetone
>>> pitch < 500 Hz.)
>>>
>>>  * SQUELCH/RF GAIN CONTROL CHANGES: By default, the RF/SQL concentric
>>> pots
>>>    control main and subreceiver RF gain, and squelch is controlled by two
>>> CONFIG menu
>>>    entries (SQ MAIN and SQ SUB). But setting SQ MAIN to "=SUB POT"
>>> assigns
>>>    SUB RF/SQL pot to both main and sub squelch, and in this case, the
>>> main
>>> RF/SQL
>>>    pot controls both main and sub RF gain. Setting SQ MAIN back to a
>>> numeric
>>> value
>>>    restores the default assignments. Note: Squelch applies only to FM
>>> mode
>>> at present.
>>>
>>> ---
>>>
>>> http://www.elecraft.com
>>>
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>>
> 