[Elecraft] Questions from a Liberal Arts Major

[Joe Subich, W4TV]

> I assume you mean 6dB steps:

In the case of the K3 it is 5 dB steps.  If the S-meter is 
calibrated according to the manual S9 = 50 uV and S2 or S3 
= 1 uV.  For S2 = 1 uV we have 20log(1/50)/7 or 4.85 dB/unit. 
For S3 = 1uV we get 20log(1/50)/6 or 5.66 dB/unit. 

A very repeatable 5 dB per unit is fine for me considering 
that most of the even "high end" other transceivers have 
S-units that vary from 2 to 8 dB depending on where one 
starts.  The K3 is also among the very few that can display 
an absolute S-meter (true signal strength) reading as the 
preamp and attenuator are used in various combinations. 

73, 

   ... Joe, W4TV 
 


> -----Original Message-----
> From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net 
> [mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of 
> dj7mgq at muenchen-mail.de
> Sent: Thursday, November 13, 2008 10:53 AM
> To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: RE: [Elecraft] Questions from a Liberal Arts Major
> 
> 
> > a very accurate scale in S-unit (5 dB) steps.
> 
> I assume you mean 6dB steps:
> 
> Page 156 <http://www.iaru-r1.org/VHF_Handbook_V5_11.pdf>
> Page 142 <http://www.iaru-r1.org/HFM%20Handbook%20V6.pdf>
> 
> 
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