[Elecraft] K3: Make Monitor level track AF level?

[Randy Farmer]

I'm finally coming to terms with K3 3260, born July '09. It's at last 
fully integrated into the station, and the diversity receive 
capability just blows what's left of my mind. This thing is like a 
race car: it rolls off the trailer pretty damn fast, but once you 
start fine-tuning it it just gets better and better. To further 
belabor the race car analogy, my trusty old FT-1000D is like a NASCAR 
stocker, big and heavy but a bulletproof performer. The K3 is like an 
Indycar or a Formula I car, maybe somewhat more delicate and fussy, 
but able to perform at a considerably higher level once it's set up 
and the driver learns to get the most from it.

Now that I (mostly) know how to operate the K3, I suppose I'm 
qualified to start picking nits about how certain things work. The 
thing that bothers me the most is the Monitor function, especially 
for CW. For any serious DX or contest work I always use headphones, 
but I sometimes like to just grab the paddle and work somebody using 
the station speaker. I normally keep the Monitor level set at about 
20-25, since that's what I find most comfortable when I'm using 
headphones. When I'm using the speaker, I can hardly hear the 
sidetone or the spot tone. If I go ahead and crank up the Monitor 
level to where I can hear it in the speakers, the next time I use 
headphones I'll forget to readjust the level and the sidetone will 
practically rip my head off. Unfortunately, the Monitor level is 
independent from the AF level so just turning down the volume, which 
I always do when using phones, doesn't keep me from getting blasted.

What I would like to see would be a firmware change that allows the 
Monitor level to be adjusted to a percentage of the main receive 
level, or perhaps set to a specific offset value in dB, such that the 
relative levels between the main audio and the monitor signal always 
track as the AF control is varied. I take the audio from the K3 rear 
panel SPKRS jack to route into my station audio switching for either 
the headphones or the speaker, so I would rather see it done this way 
than by making a Monitor level change when the hardware detects that 
the phones have been plugged in.

I've looked through the reflector archives and can't seem to find any 
posts that address my concern. That doesn't mean there aren't any; I 
just didn't see them. Does this suggestion "sound" like a useful 
firmware tweak to anyone else here?

73...
Randy, W8FN