[Elecraft] K3 AF Limiter needs higher threshold

[Dave Hachadorian]

There was a practice session for the Sprint contest on 
Thursday evening. In the Sprint, one is frequently called by 
several loud stations at once. I started out with fast agc, 
max slope and highest threshold, but the multiple loud 
callers were getting compressed together unless I 
continuously rode the rf gain control.

After a while I tried agc OFF, and that method was much 
better for distinguishing stations by their loudness. 
However, the AF limiter, even set at max 030, was frequently 
kicking in, which really distorts the audio, so I was back 
to riding the rf gain again.

I think the AF Limiter should have the ability to be set 
much higher than 030. Audio at level 030 is loud, but my 
ears can take more than that. Maybe the current hard 
limiting, with its gross distortion, could be made more 
gradual. Maybe the fast agc slope and threshold could be 
even steeper and higher. Otherwise, it's back to riding the 
RF gain. For some reason, my TS-850 didn't exhibit this 
problem. Maybe the 850's puny audio amp was self-limiting. 
Whatever the reason, the 850 was a lot better in this 
situation.

Dave Hachadorian, K6LL
Yuma, AZ