[Elecraft] Feature Request: improved internal keyer and CW PTT behavior

[Fred Jensen]

This is getting harder to understand than organic chemistry was.   See 
interspersed questions and results of trying to duplicate. Somehow, 
keying an external amp has come into this, the issue I've been trying to 
duplicate for you was excessive delay in going back to receive.

On 2/14/2017 10:22 PM, donovanf at starpower.net wrote:
> Hi Fred,
>
> CW PTT is the K3 CW operating mode when VOX is off and
> QSK is disabled.
With VOX and QSK off, I can step on the footswitch [or plug the Winkey 
PTT output into the K3 PTT jack] and transmit.  When done, either 
reverts to RX essentially instantly.  The Winkey may hang just a tiny 
bit, very hard to tell.  I will fire up the WK3 Tools program and see if 
there's a delay programmed in.
>
> Two distinct categories of messages are sent during CW contests:
>
> -- prerecorded messages (CQ, exchange and end of QSO messages)
>     They're usually stored in an external computer so that they can
>     be instantly started and prematurely stopped by the contest
>     logging program if necessary.
>
> -- real time operator originated messages, keyboard or paddle sent
Yes, I operate a lot of CW contests and events, both manually with 
pencil/paper logging [just to add some interest to what otherwise 
becomes mechanical], and with N1MM+ [when I care about a score].  I'm 
somewhat familiar with the protocol.
>
> If CW PTT is selected by the operator, unfortunately the K3
> actually sends the message in QSK mode. If the operator selects
> CW VOX mode, a very short VOX delay will result in VOX
> dropouts between every character and word. If the operator
> increases the VOX delay to at least 250 milliseconds to avoid
> inter-character and inter-word dropouts, the 100 millisecond
> transmit-receive switchover for real time messages cannot be
> achieved because unfortunately the K3 adds a VOX delay to
> the end of the computer generated PTT when the K3 is in VOX
> mode.
I can't make this happen on my K3.  VOX off/QSK off, the K3 reverts to 
receive as soon as I release PTT. I use the footswitch on SSB and I've 
used the CW+SSB option occasionally.  Works exactly as advertised.
>
> A very effective solution is to use an external K1EL Winkeyer
> and not use the internal K3 keyer because of  its unacceptable
> behavior for contest operation.
Hmmm ... "unacceptable behavior for contest operation?"  There are 
several thousand K3's out there, many in contests, and a number of 
DXpeditions have used them.  That's a fairly broad assertion considering 
how common they are and how long the K3 has been around.
>
> Perhaps the most desirable solution is to correct the shortcomings
> of the current K3 internal keyer and eliminate the unwanted
> VOX PTT delay so that K3 behavior is similar to the Winkeyer.
When keying the K3 using RTS/DTR from N1MM+, Windows will very 
occasionally lapse into 90 WPM Klingon, almost always at exactly the 
worst time, of course.  That's why I went to the WinkeyUSB.  I'm 
left-handed but I normally send right. However I have a second paddle on 
the internal K3 keyer on the left and I switch often in a contest 
depending on which hand is free.  They seem to work exactly the same for me.

I thought I might be able to help but that does not seem to be the case 
here.  I'll defer to others who understand what's going on better than I do.

73,

Fred ["Skip"] K6DGW
Sparks NV DM09dn
Washoe County