[Elecraft] K3 EEPROM init (was: assistance with learning about an Elecraft S3 needed)

[Geert Jan de Groot]

> *** Wow.  Thinking back, was it a mistake to put in a "break this radio"
> function?

I don't think so, and if there is an issue, frankly, then it right in 
front of the frontpanel, operating the VFO knob.

Seriously: every modern radio these days, depends on settings that are 
"done by software". Looking at Yaesu, radios like the FT897/857/817 have 
a service menu, and it allows adjustment of RX gain paths, TX gain 
paths, max RF output levels, S meter settings, bandfilter adjustments 
and the like. This is the successor to adjusting trimmers and pots, and 
it is required to adjust-out electric part variance. With today's parts, 
doing physical trimmers is not viable anymore.

For instance, to create a radio that can do "100W output", the actual 
design needs to be able to do more than 100W so that if there is a stage 
where the gain is a bit less (part variance), the radio would still 
deliver 100W according to specs.

In come various yaesu forums where Joe Golden Screwdriver talks about a 
"secret hidden menu" which allows his radio to go up to 130W instead of 
100W. A lot of excitement, I-found-what-yeasu-didn't-tell-you and all that.
However, even if the radio is electrically able to do 130W, the cooling 
design is not set up for this and hence, with 130W, the finals overheat, 
fail and the next thing is Joe Golden Screwdrive complaining loudly 
against Yaesu creating "bad equipment" and all that.

It is so bad that on newer radios, the service mode isn't just "a 
combination of buttons at power-on", it requires more to keep Joe Golden 
Screwdriver out. You may want to look up how to go to service mode on 
the IC-705 for instance.

Just think of the IF filter corrosion issue a few years ago; what was an 
incompatibility between the compound used to seal these 455kHz filters 
and the way PCB's were washed.
Huge amounts of people started modifying their radio, adding unnecessary 
decoupling capacitors and all.

The K3 radio, compared to the competition, has a huge number of optional 
modules that can be added and for which sometimes settings are required. 
Think the IF filters, think the RF synthesizer, think adding an optional 
100W module, or a tuner, or the optional 2nd radio. For this, sometimes 
parameters must be set and for some, you need to run diagnostic tests.

In hindsight, Elecraft might have considered two resets, one that only 
reset user parameters and the other one the whole radio, but it isn't as 
easy because is an IF filter offset setting a user parameter or not?

The one thing I would like the K3 firmware to get fixed is about the 50W 
/ 5W calibration issue. If you don't know: don't ever set your radio to 
50.0W (use 50.1 or 49.9) or 5.0W (use 4.99 or 5.01) or 0.5mW on the 
transverter port. Search the archives for the reason why.

At the end of day, when adding / removing options (which is a much more 
severe problem these days since many radios go on the 2nd hand market 
with options added, removed, or changed), you need to know what to do. 
It is in the manual. I don't think hiding the EEPROM reset further would 
have made any difference.

And I don't think making EEINIT available is a mistake.

73, Geert Jan PE1HZG