[Elecraft] CW Skimmer & K3

[David Gilbert]

For what it may be worth, I have indeed found CW Skimmer to be useful 
even when only used in audio mode (K3 Line Out fed directly to the input 
of the sound card).  It won't give you much of a spectrum display since 
it will be limited to however wide your K3 passband filter is, but it 
will do other potentially useful things.

a.  It will decode callsigns and text of whatever falls within your 
listening passband.  You ear/brain may only lock onto one caller but CW 
Skimmer will often catch more than that.  Work one station and then 
immediately call the next, assuming you are operating assisted.

b.  The resolution of the waterfall display in CW Skimmer is 
superlative, and it scrolls from right to left (meaning we can read it 
normally from left to right).  I have sometimes used CW Skimmer (audio 
only) in Blind Mode (meaning it does not display callsigns or text) 
purely for the visual representation of the Morse Code I'm receiving.  
With a reasonably high resolution monitor I can get about 12 seconds of 
"CW banner" running across my screen.  I narrow the CW Skimmer window 
vertically to just a stripe that I can squeeze between the various N1MM 
logger windows, and if I miss something that has been sent to me I can 
quickly glance up and usually see what it was.  It takes some mental 
retraining to add visual decoding to the  reception process, but I read 
the dots and dashes as dits and dahs so that helps.  My CW recognition 
isn't too bad on its own so I don't often have to use this technique, 
but like many I often confuse S with H or H with 5, and it is very quick 
to simply glance up and count dots for verification.  It has saved me 
several times from having to ask for a repeat.  I even wrote some 
AutoHotKey scripts to pause/unpause the CW Skimmer waterfall for those 
times when I knew I missed something but couldn't immediately glance up 
to check it.

c.  You see how bad the clicks are on some hams' signals (assuming you 
aren't overdriving your sound card and producing them internally).  They 
look as bad as they sound.

Whether any of that is worth the price of the program to you is another 
matter, but I found that it was for me.

73,
Dave   AB7E



On 11/28/2012 12:00 PM, Gary Smith wrote:
> Thanks for all the helpful replies. I do have the KXV3A (never used
> it yet) in this K3, subreceiver too. I've considered the LP-Pan which
> looks really nice and I have the LP-100A and it's stellar so I know
> the LP-Pan will be as effective but can't afford to go the LP-Pan
> route or the P3 either.
>
> I just had read a little about the CW Skimmer and was curious as to
> how it would be of interest to me if I tried it, it seemed like all
> that was needed for it was to work was a soundcard and all would hook
> up readily & the monitor would show the information. I didn't realize
> all the extra accouterments needed to make it useful; I've never seen
> it in operation and don't know anyone using it to go & have a look
> see.
>
> Think I'm going back to my rock & wait for some Dx to fly by for
> supper.
>
> Gary
> KA1J
>
>> Just to clarify, the +/- 12KHz limitation when using CW SKimmer in IF
>> Mode is a function of the software itself imposed by the author of
>> that application for reasons that have never been clear to me. CW
>> Skimmer will work over wider ranges when separately used with hardware
>> like the SDR-IQ or QS1-R, but then again the K3 isn't needed in those
>> cases anyway.
>>
>> Other SDR software like NaP3 will give a "full range" (limited by
>> whatever the sound card is capable of) display even when used with the
>> K3 IF output (plus the requisite SDR hardware like the Softrock or
>> LP-Pan or SDR-IQ or QS1-R or whatever), but of course won't have the
>> on-screen callsign/CW decoding that CW Skimmer does.  And as someone
>> recently pointed out, you do need the KXV3A option installed in your
>> K3 to get the IF out of the K3 in the first place.
>>
>> 73,
>> Dave   AB7E
>>