[Elecraft] OT: Softrock for K3 IF

[James Sarte]

Understood Don.  I'll pick up a buffer amp to go with the SoftRock.

Thanks for the info.

Vy 73 de James K2QI

-----Original Message-----
From: Don Wilhelm [mailto:w3fpr at embarqmail.com] 
Sent: Thursday, January 07, 2010 9:04 PM
To: James Sarte
Cc: 'Elecraft'
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] OT: Softrock for K3 IF

James,

I would highly advise the buffer amplifier.  The lack of a buffer amp 
will not hurt the Softrock, but the Softrock oscillator signal will be 
injected back into the K3, and can degrade the K3 receiver performance.  
If you omit it, please do not complain about strange howls and birdies 
nor decreased dynamic range performance on your K3.

The IF output port on the K3 is "wide open", and will respond to 8.191 
kHz as well as 8.215 (only 24 kHz away), so if the signal is large 
enough, even the Hardware AGC can be activated and de-sense the entire 
K3 receiver.

See Jack Smith's writeup about the K3 with the Softrock.

73,
Don W3FPR.