[Elecraft] [K3] Ballistic tuning and other feature musings

[inventor61 .]

Seems like some requests for ballistic tuning have returned to the
reflector after a long quiet spell.  Ballistic tuning is what the JA radios
do when you spin their VFO knob faster; it senses the rotation dynamic and
increments the tuning differently until the rotation speed goes 'back' to a
slower rate.

As a response to the original ballistic tuning feature request made shortly
after the K3 was introduced, a firmware update implemented an option where,
if enabled, the offset encoder (lower right-corner knob) would act as a 1
kHz rate auxiliary 'fast' VFO.

Just like the band-stacking register feature, if one comes 'from' a rig
that had that feature ... to one that doesn't, it's a change that takes a
bit of adjusting to get used to.  Some love having it; others decidedly do
NOT.  Even harder when you have two rigs and one has it and the other
doesn't!

(The TenTec Omni VI had band-stacking registers but not ballistic tuning.
That was weird.)

I know that the K3 cannot ever have *real* band stacking registers, even
with the K-Pod.  There's no dedicated per-band button on the radio so,
that's that.  Some have tried to tell me to use other buttons in a
convoluted two-step process.  Ergonomically, that's even worse, to me, than
not having the feature to begin with.  I always wanted the KPA500 per-band
buttons to be able to enable a band stacking register function on the rig
itself, but that doesn't seem to be possible either.  Alas.

With the advent of the new synthesizers and the better-weighted knob, I do
think an optional ballistic tuning feature would be a welcome addition to
my K3.  I'd turn that feature on instead of the offset-knob coarse VFO, or
maybe have BOTH enabled.  Others would prefer it be left off.

... say ... while I am on the stump, what happened to the other 'board
level' modification for the K3 that was talked about several years ago?  I
added the synthesizers and other updates to my K3.  Was waiting for the
"big board" to become available.

73 HNY
Steve KZ1X/4
celebrating 18 years being on this reflector, every day