[Elecraft] Keyboard CW with HRD and DM780

[Sam Morgan]

I finally gave up on HRD 5.0 I was never able to keep it connected to VE7CC's
cluster, It would drop me and then I would have to reconnect and loose all my
settings. HRD doesn't have any options for what you tell the cluster you connect
to, so you must redo it all by hand commands. Other than the cluster problem,
HRD 5.0 was nice as far as the K3's interface.

I have switched to DXLabs, works like it should with the cluster. and it even
allows me to see spots in bands I was not previously watching. It does so much,
just like HRD, that it has a rather steep learning curve, for me, but I'm
getting there.But I'm now using LP Bridge, so I can use PowerSDR-if as well as
DXLabs and many other pgms at one time, best of both worlds, I hardly miss the
"prettyness" of the HRD K3 interface. I just click on a spot or a place in the
waterfall and bang, the K3 follows obediently changing modes, splits, etc.

Oh and DXLabs also Free, unlike TRX-Manager which I also tried for the demo
period. Had a better K3 interface than DXLabs, but hey maybe thats why they put
buttons and knobs on the face of the K3, hi hi.



GB & 73
K5OAI
Sam Morgan

On 2/2/2011 9:53 AM, Jim Sheldon wrote:
> Wondering if the original poster is using HRD Version 4.0 or the Beta 5.0
> version.  I have never been able to get the Production Release 4.0 build xxxx
> to work on CW using the KY option with my K3.  I just downloaded and
> installed the Beta version 5.0 and it works exactly as Julian says.
>
> I don't know why V4.0 won't work and haven't bothered to troubleshoot it very
> hard as I operate CW "old school" with the paddles and receive by ear so I
> don't need or use the decoders either in the programs or the K3 itself.
>
> I do like the option of being able to use the computer's keyboard for sending
> CW as I can certainly KB send CW faster and more cleanly than I can with the
> paddles, especially above 25 wpm.  For CW, Elecraft's K3 Utility program
> "terminal" works just fine, but for PSK and RTTY, it's better just for
> testing the mode and if you can't type fast enough to keep ahead of the
> buffer, it comes out of transmit.  This sort of negates it for the slow
> typers using it for QSO's, but at least it will run the K3 in native DATA
> mode
>
> As a "do doggone near everything" type program, Simon's Ham Radio Deluxe is
> rapidly becoming one of the best available, especially in the "free" software
> category.  It supports so many different rigs in the "CAT" control category
> that I'm sure there will always be some bugs in it, but so far the Beta 5.0
> and the K3 seem to play well together.
>
> I've had my K3 since the day before Christmas and am learning something new
> about it every day so it will probably take me a lot longer than that to get
> HRD and Digital Master figured out (if I ever do).
>
> Jim - W0EB
>