[Elecraft] New command for K3 macro and K-Pod users: Delay (DE)

[Wayne Burdick]

The latest K3 field test firmware (rev. 5.60) includes a new command, DE (delay), that should be especially useful in switch/K-Pod macros. There are times when it’s desirable to pace certain commands, e.g. during band change and message send.

The format of the DE command is:

   DEnnn;

where <nnn> can be 001-255. This value is the time in 10 ms increments, so the delay can be 10-2550 ms. 

NOTE: DE001 will cause a delay that can be shorter than 10 ms, due to the way timers are handled, so I’d recommend using at least DE002, which will be guaranteed to provide a 10-20 ms delay.

As an example, this [useless but instructive] macro moves the VFO up four tics total, at a rate of one tic per second:

   UP;DE100;UP;DE100;UP;DE100;UP;DE100;

DE command delay is handled in the background, so it only suspends execution of control command processing. There’s no impact on normal radio operation. It also won’t affect the P3, which has its own private dialog with the radio.

This new command is included in rev. 5.60, which also fixes a bug that resulted in an occasional lost K-Pod/switch macro command.

If you’d like to try the new field test firmware, please email me. If you’ve already requested this in the past couple of days, don’t worry; I’ll be sending it to the first batch requesters in a few minutes.

73,
Wayne
N6KR