[Elecraft] Is there a an external signal on the K3 for ANT1/ANT2

[Guy Olinger K2AV]

I need a voltage or not to drive switching circuits external to the K3
when using this with amplifiers. It is not a matter of the operator
knowing which one is being used. That, as you say, is adequately
shown.

On Sat, Aug 21, 2010 at 1:52 PM, ussv dharma <ussvdharma at yahoo.com> wrote:
> the screen shows ant1 or ant2 as to which antenna is being used
>
>
> If you don't change direction you WILL arrive exactly where you're headed!! Susan Meckley, Skipper W7KFI-mm  AFA9SM                         USSV DHARMA
>
>
> --- On Sat, 8/21/10, Guy Olinger K2AV <olinger at bellsouth.net> wrote:
>
>> From: Guy Olinger K2AV <olinger at bellsouth.net>
>> Subject: [Elecraft] Is there a an external signal on the K3 for ANT1/ANT2
>> To: "Elecraft Reflector" <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
>> Date: Saturday, August 21, 2010, 7:47 AM
>> Questions:
>>
>> I may be looking for something that's right under my nose,
>> but I've
>> been digging and can't find it...
>>
>> ***>>> Is there a way in the various outputs to
>> tell whether the radio
>> is transmitting on ANT1 or ANT2.  This is an need that
>> is developing
>> out of my very successful use of diversity on 40 through 15
>> during the
>> IOTA contest out on North Carolina's Core Banks.  I am
>> in the process
>> of adding switching to listen in diversity on two
>> transmitting
>> antennas on 40-10, in addition to the more common diversity
>> on two
>> different receive antennas on 80 and 160.
>>
>> During IOTA, the ANT switch put the transmitting antenna of
>> a right
>> angle pair of identical antennas in the left ear, and it
>> was a very
>> easy concept to manage, which others in the group picked up
>> instantly.
>>
>> At home and facing dissimilar antennas and amplifiers I
>> would need the
>> ANT1/ANT2 state exported to throw switches.
>>
>> ***>>> A second question regards where one might
>> place a BNC jack that
>> has the "other" ant RX out jack brought out to the back
>> panel instead
>> of routed directly to the KRX3.  Is there a newer back
>> panel that
>> would support this?
>>
>> Explanation:
>>
>> If one is using diversity for 160 through 10 and has to
>> switch between
>> diverse RX antennas on low bands to listening diversely on
>> TX
>> antennas, the switching choice that now is made at kit
>> build time will
>> have to be made and then unmade as band changes progress
>> during the
>> contest.
>>
>> I know, I know, what planet have you been on, but it WORKED
>> very
>> nicely on Core Banks, particularly on 40 meters.
>>
>> I'm sure many of you have heard that very fast QSB later in
>> the
>> evening on 40 meters that can clip dits out characters and
>> change dahs
>> into dits.  After listening to it all night in the
>> IOTA I am 99%
>> positive that it is caused by rotating polarization, and
>> the drop is
>> when the rotation invokes that 30 dB cross-polarization at
>> 90 degrees
>> off the SINGLE antenna polarization in use at the station.
>> The
>> rotation was commonly around 10-20 seconds but varied
>> wildly and was
>> NOT at the same frequency or angle of rotation on different
>> incoming
>> signals.
>>
>> Simply toggling out of and into diversity mode would
>> respectively
>> toggle between:
>>
>> 1) aforementioned deep QSB, particularly bad on weaker
>> signals with
>> low antennas, and all weak signals in the pileup coming
>> from the
>> center of the headset.
>>
>> and
>>
>> 2) hearing the same signal rotate from one ear to another,
>> most of the
>> time without much of a dip, if the audio in BOTH ears is
>> used for
>> evaluation. The  rotation effect for weak signals
>> calling in a pileup
>> (we were a rare mult), would frequently spread out calling
>> signals
>> left to right in the headset. Different weak signals were
>> not uniform
>> in their cycle phase or timing.  It was notable that
>> this effect was
>> missing from LOUD signals from either EU or US, which
>> tended to be in
>> ONE EAR OR THE OTHER, not both. USA in the SW-NE wire and
>> EU in the
>> SE-NW wire.
>>
>> On high angle signals on 20 and 40 the separation would be
>> not so much
>> direction incoming as polarization in reception.
>>
>> The antenna was an identical pair of 28' on a side inverted
>> vee
>> doublets supported in the center on a 40' push up pole,
>> carefully
>> pulled out at right angles and fed with two 450 lines to a
>> pair of 4:1
>> voltage baluns right at the K3, and using the internal
>> tuner.  The
>> obvious mismatch to the KRX3 was worried about but did not
>> seem to
>> affect reception in any discernable way.  Also the
>> misc power in the
>> not-transmitting antenna while the other was transmitting
>> never once
>> operated the COR.  We had taken pains toward this in
>> the erection of
>> the antenna.  I doubt the low levels would have been
>> true if we had
>> been operating amps instead of barefoot.
>>
>> 73, Guy
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