[Elecraft] K3 and QSK

[briana]

Interesting indeed.

First impressing when getting the K3 was:  "Where is this flawless QSK 
people are raving about".

More use detected this flawlessnes frequently.

I always use QSK (not QRQ version) on the K3.  At some times it is 
absolutely wonderful, at others there are all kinds of thumps and 
clicks.   This is particularly puzzling since I always almost always use 
the same filter settings (250 Hz filter set to kIick in at 350 Hz,  350 
Hz bandwidth selected), same AGC, same audio settings and same earphones.

One can clearly see a "thump" on the panadapter when there is a problem.

I generally keep the monitor level low.

Some observations:

1) clicks and pops more evident with low monitor settings (contrary to 
others observations).
2) narrower CW filters seem worse.
3) no clear dependence on dead vs crowded band.

Perplexing indeed.   It's kind of like sloper antennas which great for 
some but terribly for others.

It seems like a detailed parametric study is needed to determine which 
receiver and band condition parameters are important and which are 
not.    Also what measure does one used to determine performance?   
Right now all we have are subjective reports.

73 de Brian/K3KO



On 12/5/2014 5:23 AM, Graham g3tct wrote:
> I'm very interested in this topic, having raised this question a long 
> time back.  What I said in June 2011 was:-
> /I'm using qsk on cw and I find that if the rf gain is turned up to 
> hear some background noise, there's a transient or click when the rig 
> switches to rx (but not when it switches from rx to tx). To hear this 
> really badly, try opening the cw b/w up to 2kHz and sending a stream 
> of dots. The effect is there even at 400Hz, and it's rather 
> off-putting. /
>
> It related to the barefoot K3 in normal break in, not QRQ.  I am 
> referring to use on 6m where the background noise is relatively low, 
> but signals can be very weak.  I do not have this problem with my 
> other rig - an Icom 575.  It would be great to make the K3 as good, 
> because I found it so bad that I have stopped using QSK altogether.
>
> Graham
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