[Elecraft] K3 with Microham Keyer 2

[Guy Olinger K2AV]

Unfortunately the answer to your question is a book, and a large one at that.

Having been there, done that, made every mistake imaginable, read the
Microham instructions carefully, then follow them carefully.  Do not
skip steps or get in a hurry. If you don't understand it, deal with it
before moving on. In my case "intuitive" was usually wrong.  Most of
the troubles I have seen posted had to do with hooking up cables, and
then not understanding the PC mechanisms and their settings, trying to
operate without properly setting everything, usually followed by a
post "Why won't my K3 work with my Microham gear", as if it had
anything at all to with the K3.  Except for a handful, the solutions
had nothing to do with an actual equipment malfunction except
inadequate, broken and just plain wrong jumpers in use, and erroneous
connections.

Since this often radiates into a logging program such as N1MM, and a
function can sometimes be done EITHER in the Microham drivers OR the
N1MM program itself, one easily gets confused that settings must be
set in both, when in actuality it needs to be set in only one or the
other, and the two conflict.

N1MM has "getting started" material available which is very good.  But
it presumes that the listed functions are not being done in station
boxes.

The interaction of a computer driven station control box with a PC is
unfortunately complex and full of traps and apparently as individual
as fingerprints given the wide variety of equipment configurations in
use.  The settings needed vary wildly with station equipment and PC
motherboard. Actually understanding what is going on well enough to
easily make a choice can be a severe learning curve.  It certainly was
severe for me, and the source of many headaches and personal
confusions.

This is not a newby task.  Be prepared to actually learn how
everything works, including your PC's sound system and how drivers
work in your operating system.  It is not the fault of those who write
instructions that this is complex.  It is a senior grade task with
literally thousands of equipment/software variations possible, making
it impossible to address them all individually in any documentation.

If you want to get it done right quickly, invite over a friend ham who
already has his working for a while (yes, pay for his plane ticket),
and let him get it right for you.  Feed him prime rib and an expensive
wine.  It will be worth every penny.

Or just steel yourself for the task it really is, set your jaw, and
wade in without any misconceptions of who the enemy is -- I have met
the enemy, and it is me.

Best of luck and 73.

Guy.

On Mon, Dec 27, 2010 at 3:33 AM, Christopher Soames
<semaos at semaos.plus.com> wrote:
> Hi all first post on here for me so here goes
>
> Just completed the build on my K3 ready for the Club Championships here
> in the uk.
>
> I need to interface my K3 with a Microham Keyer 2 does anyone know of
> any issues that I am likely to come up against? e.g. Virtual Ports,
> sound card etc.
>
> Look forward to your advice keep it simple for me though please, I am
> not the most computer or technically minded being.
>
> Happy new year to you all.
>
> --
> Regards from
>
> Chris Soames
> *G0TZZ*
> email :-
> semaos at semaos.plus.com
> www.norfolkamateurradio.org
>
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