[Elecraft] K4

[Clay Autery]

I've been working in the yard all day rather than having ANY fun at my 
bench, so I am a little cranky.  I recognize this, and am consciously 
going to respond inline with the intent of NOT being overly cranky...  
<smile>

On 05/19/18 05:38, Stefan von Baltz, DL1IAO wrote:
> - I would like to see Elecraft revising the NR-function. While you can achieve nearly infinite noise attenuation with the K3’s NR it comes at the cost of signal intelligibility. At least I have failed to hit a setting for CW which works for me. The NR also seems to be dependent on AGC settings. With the IC7851’s NR at ca. 9 o’clock the band noise is cut about in half without affecting signals, even when they are weak. I do not miss this much in everyday operation. But the additional band noise really hurts in my ears when doing SO2R causing fatigue and ultimately increased error rate.
I know NOTHING of the "I" radios including their NR or NB capabilities 
or approach.
I DO know that Elecraft's NR system has never failed me.  I failed IT in 
the beginning, but not PROPERLY EDUCATING myself on its operation and 
PRACTICING the task until it become second nature, like tuning the VFO.  
Once you have actually used it and understand it, you will find that you 
can zoom in on the right NR selection in the heat of battle just fine.  
<Smile>

> - I continue to be impressed by ICOM’s APF function. Combined with a few dB of additional amplification in the APF level menu this sort of has become a great „panic button“ for me when a weak station calls or QRM shows up. Elecrafts APF is way too sharp for this purpose. Maybe another APF with wider bandwidth could be added?
Again, I know nothing of the APF function on the "I" brand.  But I 
absolutely LOVE the APF on my K3s.  Yeah, it's narrow.... that's the 
point.  The trick is to do things right from the beginning.... First, 
you need to tune the frequency properly..  Use the FINE setting and dial 
it in to the 1 Hz.  If you get "lost" use SPOT to get in the 
neighborhood again and then tune.  This is ONE of the reasons I have the 
better TXCO, use a good time source, and keep my set calibrated as 
accurately as possible with the tools I have at hand.

You can shift the APF center freq, but that's 5 Hz.... and a workaround 
for lazy tuning.  Another option is to prepare your presets and set APF 
to be ON on one or the other.  That way you don't even have to reach 
over to that button panel.  You can stay below the screen around the VFO.

> - Elecraft should consider adding mouse support for the panadapter.
THIS would be great...  I'd love to have point and click tuning at least.

> - Coming from ICOM rigs I noticed that the knob resolution seems slow. This sticks out with the filter, RIT and power knobs. Too much knob spinning required for my taste. However, this may be subjective and there are work-arounds.
"Slow knob resolution"?  You mean high resolution, right?  Because 
that's what they are.  I absolutely love them.  Not twitchy at all and 
give me finer control over settings....  Again, the key to making these 
"slow" knobs hum right along is PRACTICE using them.

> - I would also like to see Elecraft using higher quality buttons which are more responsive. When the K3 came out one of the reasons I never got one was the wobbling feel of the A/B (and other) knobs. It simply was not compatible with my style of operation which involves constantly switching VFOs when S&P. Yes, there are work-arounds, too.
I'm actually 180 degrees out from you on the push buttons..... they are 
"wobbly" so you can hit them at larger angles (activation cone).  This 
is awesome for touch tuning.... mobile.... contesting.... et al.  They 
actually remind me of the buttons on a lot of military gear.

Y'all have a great evening!
73,

______________________
Clay Autery, KY5G
(318) 518-1389