[Elecraft] K3 S Meter behavior

[Don Wilhelm]

Robert,

You are relying on your S-meter too much IMHO.
If you have an S-3 noise level, the first attack is to turn off the 
preamp - if that does not reduce the noise level enough, then turn the 
Attenuator ON.
If the noise level is still so high as to be bothersome, turn the RF 
Gain control down until the noise level is low enough to be not a bother.

What will you achieve by all that? - well, you will increase the dynamic 
range of your receiver - there is no sense in allowing the ambient noise 
to activate the AGC and reduce the receiver sensitivity.

Yes, all that has nothing to do with the actual reading of the S-meter, 
but it is just good operating sense.

As far as the S-meter is concerned, either use S-meter Absolute setting 
on the K3 or just ignore the reading and give signal reports as you hear 
them - 59 (or 599) for a good strong signal, S-7 for perfect copy from a 
not so strong signal and S-5 for all the others that you can copy with 
some difficulty.  For those below that level, you are not copying them 
anyway, so a signal report number is a moot point.

The K3 provides S-meter calibration capability in the menu.  Set it for 
your own preferences, but I am suggesting that you use the S-meter only 
for relative comparisons between signals (for the guy who is asking you 
to evaluate the front to back ratio for his beam antenna), and not as an 
absolute for giving S-readings to other stations - for that, use your 
ears.  Consider that in a contest, everyone is 59 (or 5nn) - vary from 
that and the other op will have trouble copying you because he is 
expecting to hear the "59 or 5nn" in the rhythm of the exchange.

73,
Don W3FPR

Robert Mitilieri - N9EF wrote:
> Increasing the RF gain does deflect the meter upwards. I should have mentioned that there is an S3 noise floor. Here's the steps that I followed:
>
> Tune a signal that's peaking S7 with RF gain fully CW
> Tune away from any signal (S3 noise) adjust the RF gain CCW until the meter reads S5
> Tune that same signal that was peaking S7 but now he's peaking S9 +10db.
>
> If I then increase the RF gain the signal returns to peaking at S7. 
>
> I can reproduce this behavior with signals at any level
>
> On Jul 14, 2010, at 10:34 PM, Garry Shapiro wrote:
>
>   
>