[Elecraft] K3, sound cards and PSK31

[Wes Stewart]

FWIW.  I more or less successfully used the K3 for RTTY and a brief taste of PSK (too slow, like watching paint dry) with the internal sound card in my T400 Lenovo laptop.

I say more or less, because on occasion, the computer would refuse to output audio to the transmitter.  The display would indicate that the signal was being generated by MMTTY but nothing went to the transmitter. This was verified with headphones on the audio out.  The effect was seldom using MMTTY standalone, more frequent using AXETTY and nearly unusable using N1MMlogger and MMTTY.  This suggests that it was *not* an RFI issue, but a timing issue.  Closing and reopening the program would bring it back but this got old.

Other than this I had no issues, VOX worked fine, there were no ground loops, levels were easy to set, etc.

Nevertheless, rather than fussing with it further, and having another radio that could benefit by it, I opted for the SignaLink USB.  Installation wasn't as smooth as advertised, but once done, it runs flawlessly.  The interface cables are overpriced but I bought them anyway, one for the K3 and another for the TS870, and I sprang for the header plug that allows easy reconfiguration.

Wes  N7WS

--- On Mon, 4/5/10, Kok Chen <chen at mac.com> wrote:


> 
> On Apr 4, 2010, at 11:22 PM, George A. Thornton wrote:
> 
> > It has been recommended to me that I get the SignaLink
> USB interface
> > because it is easy to work with and reliable. 
> 
> The SignaLink USB contains two functions: 
> 
> (a) a 16-bit sound card (Burr-Brown 2909 chip) and 
> (b) an audio activated ("VOX") circuit to key the PTT line
> of a transceiver when audio is present from the computer.
> 
> I can't think of any advantage of using an external VOX
> device when the K3 already has that function in DATA A
> mode.  I.e., the function (b) is already provided by
> the K3, and with very flexible VOX Gain adjustment using the
> K3 Menu.  
> 
> The SignaLink is a decent "interface" for rigs that don't
> support VOX for digital modes.
> 
> With the K3, you can save money by just buying a simple
> sound card (e.g., http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/imic) instead
> of the SignaLink USB.
> 
> The usual reason given for using a separate sound card
> instead of the built-in speaker/headphones of the computer
> is so that chimes, alert sounds and music from the computer
> don't accidentally go out on the air (especially when the
> transmitter is keyed through VOX).
> 
> Just connect the line-output from the sound card to the
> line-input of the K3 (note that the K3 line-input is a mono
> jack) and connect the line-output of the K3 to the
> line-input of the sound card, and you are done with
> connecting your computer to the K3.  Turn on VOX for
> DATA-A, and you are ready to go after setting up the audio
> levels.
> 
> 73
> Chen, W7AY
>