[Elecraft] K3: Question about S-Meter Calibration

[Don Wilhelm]

Grant,

Mine does the same thing as yours - it appears as though the S-meter 
'abs' setting is the same as S-meter 'nor' with the preamp OFF.  So what 
I did was calibrate the S-meter with the preamp OFF and then set it to 
'abs'.
Makes sense to me, after all S-9 is supposed to be a 50 uV signal at the 
antenna.

As an additional point - I had to do a lot of 'fiddlin' to get the 
S-meter calibrated with the preamp on.  With the preamp off, my K3 
S-meter parameters are set right at the default values.

73,
Don W3FPR

Grant Youngman wrote:
> So, the S-Meter calibration instructions in the manual indicate that  
> PRE should be on.  When calibration is done,  that means that a 50uV  
> signal reads S-9 with PRE on .. but about S-7 with PRE off.  And then  
> if the mode is changed from Normal to Absolute, a 50uV signal reads  
> S-7 with or without the preamp.
>
> Just wondering (maybe I need to RTFM and specs again), why that would  
> be the case, vs. 50uV being S-9 without the preamp.  I have always  
> just ignored the instruction manual, and calibrated to S-9 with the  
> preamp off.  So a 50uV signal reads S-9 (with or without preamp  
> engaged if the mode is Absolute).
>
> Am I screwing something up?  Or does it just not matter all that much  
> since (1) it doesn't impact anything other than the bar graph, (2) an  
> S-meter reading is not all that terribly important anyway (I don't run  
> a lab),  (3) it's all relative, (4) the P3 is in my future, and (5)  
> all DX or contest exchanges are 5-9 by definition  :-)
>
> To set the record straight on a related topic -- I posted about an  
> issue with gain calibration using the updated K3UtilityOSX a couple of  
> days ago.  Turned out it was apparently nothing more than cockpit  
> error and fat-fingers on my part, which is typical.  Dave Fleming and  
> Elecraft support (Gary Surrency) were both very helpful and got me set  
> on the path of truth and light ...
>
> Anyone have any insight on the S-meter cal thing?
>
> Thanks ... Grant/NQ5T
> K3 #2091 with most all the extras.
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