[Elecraft] RF gain, preamp and attenuator

[Mike Markowski]

btippett at alum.mit.edu wrote:

> The simplest way to properly set ATT/OFF/PRE is to apply your antenna
> (with no signals except band noise) to your RX with RF GAIN max CW,
> and listen to see if you can hear any band noise increase in the
> following order:  first with ATT on, then both ATT/PRE off, then with
> PRE on.

Thanks, Bill, for the very nice write up.  I'd like to mention that on
the K2 - and I imagine on a K3 that I hope to own one day soon! - you
can cycle through all four combinations of ATT/PRE on/off if you use
software.

I wrote a bare bones (i.e., ugly!) C program that performs some k2 cmds.
 I originally wrote it to first do a low power tune and then a high
power tune, but have added more functions as time went on.  Eventually I
added a 'level' cmd so that I can choose between RF gains of +14, +4, 0,
and -10 dB using the various att/pre combos.  Nothing major, but maybe
lets you further fine tune your rf gain settings.

73,
Mike ab3ap