[Elecraft] K3 Future Factory Hardware Updates; + New beta f/w release 3.27

[Brett Howard]

I figured I'd mention it as we now know its possible and I'm hoping to
get this extended frequency response to continue on "and hopefully come
back"...

~Brett

On Tue, 2009-08-25 at 21:16 -0400, Steve Ellington wrote:
> The low frequency audio is gone now. Yes it was certainly nice while it 
> lasted.
> Have to revert to 3.25 if you want LF audio.
> Steve
> N4LQ
> N4LQ at carolina.rr.com
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Brett Howard" <brett at livecomputers.com>
> Cc: <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 9:00 PM
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 Future Factory Hardware Updates;+ New beta f/w 
> release 3.27
> 
> 
> I've not had a chance to spend a lot of time with the new firmware but
> here are my initial impressions.
> 
> The NR seems to be really great in CW (but I liked it a lot in 3.25 as
> well).  It seems to fade into the new settings a bit quicker and not
> need to be turned off and back on again.  Although I find myself being
> impatient and still doing that at times.  I did however go up and try
> it out on some SSB stuff and it seems to really round out and muffle
> some of the SSB stuff.  I found the signals easier to copy with the NR
> off than on.  However the NR in CW is quite impressive at pulling out
> some of the weak ones.  Its not doing such a good job that I'd not be
> able to make copy with out it but for me who is a bit green on copying
> its nice to be able to take many signals and make them sound near
> perfect.
> 
> One detriment is that when setting the radio to PB CTRL = 0.1 before
> it seemed like there was a lot more low frequency response and that
> the bottom two bands in the EQ finally did something for a change.  Is
> there something that one can do to get that audio back?
> 
> Testing the auto notch in a labratory type environment I inject an S9
> signal and then notch it I get 43dB of attenuation.  Inject a 1uV
> signal and I get 10dB of attenuation.  Both make the signal generator
> sound as if its been turned off.
> 
> ~Brett
> 
> On Tue, Aug 25, 2009 at 10:52 AM, Eric Swartz - WA6HHQ,
> Elecraft<eric at elecraft.com> wrote:
> > Hi Roy,
> >
> > As of today, we have made the following enhancements to all K3s leaving
> > the factory:
> >
> > K3 VFO TUNING NOISE REDUCTION (requires f/w 3.25 or later)
> > K3 AUTOMATIC FRONT END PROTECTION (1 wire mod)
> > K3 IF OUTPUT BUFFER GAIN MOD (For the P3, LP-PAN etc) (1 resistor value
> > change)
> >
> > Based on feedback form those that have tried the preliminary release of
> > these changes, we are comfortable with adding them as standard K3 
> > features.
> >
> > Please note that the last item, the IF Output Buffer Gain mMod, is
> > slightly different than the similar N8LP mod some have been performing
> > on their K3s independently. We determined that only one value needs to
> > change to implement the gain increase for the IF output. We are changing
> > R8 from 1K ohms to 13K ohms. (Those that have made the N8LP mod may
> > also leave it as is.)
> >
> > Also, we are releasing new beta f/w today, MCU 3.27/DSP 2.24. This is
> > already available on the web page at:
> >
> > http://www.elecraft.com/K3/k3_software.htm
> >
> > This release includes:
> >
> > *ADDITIONAL NOISE REDUCTION (NR) IMPROVEMENTS.
> > *AUTONOTCH depth improved.
> > *SHIFT=.01 FIXED WITH LOW SIDETONE PITCH (300 Hz).
> > *VFOs NOW TUNE DOWN TO 490 kHz.
> >
> > We never sleep in Aptos! :-)
> >
> > 73, Eric WA6HHQ
> >
> > Roy Morris wrote:
> >> I would like to know if is the intention of Elecraft to incorporate the 
> >> K3 AUTOMATIC FRONT-END PROTECTION mod and the K3VFO TUNING NOISE 
> >> REDUCTION mod in future PC boards. If so, I plan to install these mods in 
> >> my K3s. Roy Morris W4WFB
> >>
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