[Elecraft] Fixed and Reproduced - Ham Radio Deluxe + KX3 Issues - Re: KX3 - ATU Disabled Problem

[VaibhaV Sharma]

More info on this -

Howard @ Elecraft Support promptly sent me the factory default config file for the radio that fixed the issue. But later, I was able to reproduce the issue and also fix without the factory configuration.

I have the KX3 hooked up to Ham Radio Deluxe (latest version) with serial interface for CAT control. HRD works with the radio for the most part except I noticed this in the Radio CAT commands configuration -

| Advanced: KX3     | RF power (High)     | Cmd = PC-04,  Min = 0.00, Max = 120.00,  Prefix =,  Suffix =                                                |
| Advanced: KX3     | RF power (Low)      | Cmd = PC-04,  Min = 0.00, Max = 120.00,  Prefix =,  Suffix =                                                |

Notice the “Max = 120” part? Those values show up on HRD UI as -

RF Power Low = 12
RF Power High = 120

There are two RF power adjustment bard in HRD UI. The “RF Power Low” slider works OK (has other issues) with the KX3 12 watt limit. But even touching the “RF Power High” slider causes the KX3 to switch RF power value to 110+ Watts (Yes, without a KXPA100, I wish).

Once that happens, the ATU disengages and the radio refuses to transmit.

The easy way to fix this is to touch the “RF Power Low” slider and the radio switches back to under 12W and everything goes back to normal. Shouldn’t the KX3 itself handle this gracefully without tripping over the ATU with bunch of errors?

I am a brand new HRD user and still getting used to the UI. I reported a major security issue to them a few days ago and will report this issue to HRD team as well.

Comments / other ideas welcome.

Thanks,

— 
VaibhaV Sharma
W7VAI



On Apr 8, 2014, at 9:32 AM, VaibhaV Sharma <vaibhav at vaibhavsharma.com> wrote:

> I tried disabling the ATU completely and still get the TX error.
> 
> I suspect there is something worse on the list here. But I don't understand how the radio can go in this state with stable power and without any transmission in progress.
> 
> Needs more investigation I guess. If I can't figure out by this afternoon, will call support.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> -- 
> VaibhaV Sharma
> W7VAI
> 
> 
> 
> On Tue, Apr 8, 2014 at 6:47 AM, Don Wilhelm <w3fpr at embarqmail.com> wrote:
> Since your saved configuration did not work, that configuration may have an error.
> Doing an EEINIT without going through the entire calibration procedure is bound to produce multiple errors of unknown types.
> If your KX3 is a factory built unit, Elecraft may be able to retrieve the factory configuration file for you.  Contact KX3support at elecraft.com to see if they can send you the file.
> 
> You can do *all* the calibration manually.  Follow the calibration procedures in the manual.
> 
> 73,
> Don W3FPR
> 
> On 4/8/2014 2:56 AM, VaibhaV Sharma wrote:
> On Apr 7, 2014, at 11:40 PM, VaibhaV Sharma <vaibhav at vaibhavsharma.com> wrote:
> 
> Hello,
> Just a few minutes ago, my KX3 started showing the ATU as “not inst” in the "ATU.x MD” menu.
> 
> Was tuning around on 20m using Ham Radio Deluxe rig control and the KX3 serial communication became very sluggish. I reset the serial port and restarted Ham Radio Deluxe but it was still sluggish (frequency changes from the software were taking several seconds).
> 
> I then did an EE INIT and restored KX3 configuration from backup but the ATU text does not appear on the main screen and ATU still shows “not inst”.
> 
> Opened up the KX3 and I don’t smell anything other than the nice new PCB smell. :)
> 
> Any ideas?
> 
> More info -
> 
> I went through the EE INIT process again and did not restore configuration this time.
> 
> Followed the manual to enable optional ATU and KXFL3 modules and now the radio lets me enable ATU in the menu but does not let me transmit. When I try to initiate an ATU tuning cycle or mic transmit, I see an error -
> 
> d = 000
> ERR TxC
> 
> When I press the “DISP” button to clear, I get the next error -
> 
> ERR TXS
> 
> 
> 
>