[Elecraft] KX3 settings for digital and other modes

[Frank O'Donnell]

Don, thanks for the comments. I didn't mention it in my prior post, but 
setting the mike gain to achieve ~4.5 bars on the ALC meter is indeed 
something I paid a lot of attention to.

On that general topic, I've heard others talk about a couple of 
strategies for making sure that you're getting a clean digital signal 
out that isn't overmodulated. One is to have a local friend take a look 
at your signal as received at their location. Another apparently is to 
run your transceiver into a dummy load, then use an SDR or similar 
receiver close by with a hank of wire as an antenna to sample the signal 
you're putting out. I can't remember, however, if those discussions were 
in the context of Elecraft radios. Does it seem reasonable to run my KX3 
into a dummy load (perhaps with the power out turned down) and listen to 
it with, say, an SDRplay to evaluate the signal out? Keeping the levels 
low of course to protect the SDR.

One other point about the audio setup for digital. When I was getting my 
gear configured, I tried using a couple of different soundcard devices. 
One of them seemed to work fine with both right and left stereo channels 
plugged in between the soundcard and KX3. When I tried the other 
soundcard, however, I got a PTT error when powering up the KX3. After I 
unplugged the stereo channel on that soundcard that went to the ring 
connector on the KX3 mike in, everything worked fine. Is that a problem 
known to occur with some soundcards?

Thanks again,

Frank K6FOD


On 4/24/18 1:24 PM, Don Wilhelm wrote:
> Frank,
>
> As you have indicated, those settings will get you started.
> But definitely use DATA A, not USB.
> Reason is that Compression and EQ is automatically set to zero, and 
> your SSB settings can remain undisturbed.
>
> You mic gain setting is the most important when using data modes. Set 
> it so you have 4 bars solid on the ALC meter with the 5th bar flashing.
>
> You may want to read the article dealing with setting the audio gains 
> (yes, there can be up to 3) that is on my website www.w3fpr.com.  
> Scroll the left column down to the bottom and click on the link to the 
> article.
>
> There is no sense in setting RS232 to a slower baud rate unless the 
> application software demands it.
>
> For voice and CW modes, you want to have AGC on.  TX and RX EQ can be 
> set to whatever your ears like.
>
>
> 73,
> Don W3FPR
>
> On 4/24/2018 4:02 PM, Frank O'Donnell wrote:
>> Hi all, new ham here and a KX3 owner for three weeks. In the time 
>> I've had the radio, I've used it exclusively for FT8. The first thing 
>> I did was to set it up for digital modes using settings from a 
>> YouTube video by K5ACL. Specifically:
>>
>>
>> AGC MD: off (default is on)
>>
>> Mike bias: off (default is on)
>>
>> RS232: Set to desired baud rate. KX3 supports max 38400 baud
>>
>> RX EQ: off
>>
>> TX EQ: off
>>
>> TX GAIN: ALC 25 (this is the default)
>>
>> Mode: USB
>>
>>
>> This all worked fine. Not long thereafter II changed from setting the 
>> KX3 mode to USB, and have been using the Data mode instead.
>>
>
>