[Elecraft] Line In jack and standard stereo cable

[Don Wilhelm]

Pete,

This *is* a little confusing to many, but the jack itself is stereo - 
the signal path is mono - which means that the channel connected to the 
jack tip (normally the left) will be the only one used by the K3.
You can use either a mono or a stereo plug.  looking with hindsight, a 
better label than "mono" on those jacks would be "left channel only is 
used" - and indeed that is the intent.

The same is not true for the audio output (headphones and speaker out) - 
always use a stereo plug even if you are only using one channel.

73,
Don W3FPR

Pete Smith wrote:
> If I plug a standard stereo cable into the mono Line In jack on my K3, I 
> assume that it will short one of the channels to ground.  In order to 
> connect to the Line Out of a computer sound card, does this mean that I 
> need to build a special cable with a mono plug on one end, connected 
> only to the tip and shell conductors of the cable, letting the ring float?
>
> Sorry to ask a question that must have been covered before, but I 
> haven't found anything on this in the manual, and the archive of this 
> reflector really isn't effectively searchable.
>
>