[Elecraft] [K3] ALC and JTDX

[Samuel Cartinhour]

I recently decided to try JTDX (v 1.7.0), a derivative of the popular WSJT-X software by Joe Taylor. I am using a K3 and an Asus u7 sound card (Windows 7). However, I have run into a snag with respect to ALC.

When I run WSJT-X, everything works exactly as expected. During transmission I easily obtain four solid ALC bars (with the fifth flickering).

The same settings do not work for JTDX. In fact, I am not able to find any settings (using the sound card control panel, K3 mic gain, or JTDX pwr slider) that provide four stable ALC bars. At many settings the ALC indicator pulses rapidly from 0 to a level that depends on the settings I choose. The ALC indicator stabilizes only if I push input levels so  that the indicator reads 6 or 7 bars.

I have done all of the WSJT trials in test mode — I’m reluctant to send anything to the antenna until I figure out what I’m doing wrong.

Questions:

Has anyone on the list run JTDX on their K3 and seen this problem? If so, were you able to overcome it?

What is happening to make the ALC indicator pulse?

Depending on feedback here, I’ll post to the JTDX list next.

Thank you,

Sam W2SNX