[Elecraft] [K3] Sub RX and E-MU 0204

[Joel Black]

A few years back, I bought a CreativeLabs E-MU 0204 for SDR applications 
(i.e. SoftRock and Genesis G59). After buying a K3 and later a KX3, I no 
longer needed the soundcard for SDR so it sat in a file cabinet on and 
off for a couple of years.

I have tried on and off to make the 0204 work well with different 
applications. I run Mac OS X 10.9.1 now so I am not as familiar (but I'm 
learning) with different applications as I once was with Windows. For a 
long time, I just ran with my old standby - a SignaLink USB.

Now, I know what a lot of you will say - the K3 will accept a soundcard 
input directly from your computer and you are correct. The problem is 
that I hear way too many Windows sounds over the air. It is my firm 
opinion that a discrete soundcard for digital only operations is needed 
in the amateur's shack.

Anyway, I ran with the SignaLink for years. It is very convenient in its 
operation with the ability to accept a multitude of transceivers for 
keying and input and output for sound. All of the controls are on the 
front of the SignaLink with the ability to adjust both TX and RX levels 
(and Delay although I've never found a use for that with my casual 
operations). The one major drawback (in my opinion) was the mono-only 
receive capability.

Yesterday, I finally figured out how to make the E-MU 0204 work with my 
K3 and the ALC levels. In DATA A mode, the line input adjustment was not 
quite fine enough. Testing with RTTY, at about a line input level of 4, 
the ALC was three bars. At a line input level of 5, ALC was a solid five 
bars with *no* flickering of the fifth bar. Yes, you could say I'm anal 
about my TX drive, but as with Windows sounds being transmitted, there 
are way too many amateurs who overdrive their transmit audio. I wanted 
it to be correct and I finally figured out how to do it - the Audio Midi 
Setup. After playing around with different sound settings on the Mac and 
not being able to achieve what I wanted, I broke down and read the 0204 
manual (imagine that!). The manual discusses using the Audio Midi Setup 
on the Mac OS. After fiddling with those settings for a bit, I finally 
got the K3 to transmit at four bars ALC with the fifth flickering.

Now, I am a bit befuddled as to why PSK31 seems to transmit at a lower 
audio level. For PSK31, I have to fiddle a bit with the line input on 
the K3 and it's usually just a single digit of fiddling, so it's not a 
big deal. My only guess is that PSK31 has a lower audio transmit level 
than RTTY.

The beauty of using the E-MU 0204 is with diversity receive, you can 
hear both receivers with the soundcard - the left channel is one 
receiver, the right channel is the other. You can do the same thing when 
a DX station is working split. As far as I know, that is *not* a 
capability which the SignaLink USB has.

My digital software of choice is Fldigi; however, I do not believe it 
has a dual RX capability. There are other applications that do. For the 
Mac, there is cocoaModem. It does not have the number of modes available 
to it that Fldigi has, but it will allow you to operate the modes for 
which I see most contests / operating events.

I have not yet tried the E-MU 0204 with my KX3 yet, but I am going to. I 
am hoping that the headphone output on the 0204 will allow me to monitor 
both transmit and receive audio. I miss that when using the KX3 on 
digital modes although I know there are ways to get it.

I hope this is not too far off topic, but I thought I'd share what I 
found using the E-MU 0204 and the K3.

73,
Joel - W4JBB