A few thoughts on the K3 as an AM SWBC receiver

[Bill VanAlstyne W5WVO]

I originally ordered my K3 a couple years ago with the general-coverage
KBPF3 board, having the intention (When I Got a Round Tuit) to put up some
kind of SWBC band resonator-optimized wire antenna. Well, I finally got
around to it. And wow, what a SWBC DX receiver the K3 is! Here's a few
things I've been discovering the past few days:

First, the world of SW broadcasting has changed immensely since my salad
days of SWLing in the 1960s. Used to be, when you heard a station you could
identify as Radio China, for example, you could be highly confident that you
were hearing a radio signal from China. Not so any more! Many countries now
lease out powerful, strategically located short-wave broadcast
transmitters/antennas to the highest bidder, with the program material sent
directly to the transmitter site by satellite from the country of origin.
Last night I was listening to Radio China International broadcasting in
English to North America -- but from Spain, not from China. And I listened
to Vatican Radio broadcasting to Africa in African-accented English -- but
from Madagascar, not from Rome. The World Radio TV Handbook (WRTH) makes all
this clear, after a fashion, but you have to look in three or four different
places in the book to sort it all out for any given broadcast. (There are
also many websites that are very useful in making sense of all this. See
below for an example.)

The K3 offers a lot of options for listening to AM broadcasts. Synchronous
AM mode, which allows you to listen just to the upper or lower sideband
(selectable using the SHIFT knob), is a huge benefit over conventional
double-sideband envelope detection. But my favorite is still USB/LSB,
because I can tailor the LO-CUT and HI-CUT on either sideband to get just
the right selectivity for maximum intelligibility of the audio envelope.
This is highly dependent on the announcer's voice characteristics, as well
as on band conditions and interference sources.

Setting VFO CRS to 5.0 kHz is also convenient, as the K3 remembers this
setting for the SWBC band-mode combinations. I tune the standard 5 kHz SWBC
"channels" with the RIT knob (VFO OFS=ON mode). If a station is
off-frequency, I can use the main VFO A knob to tune it in.

An amazing website I discovered for the SWL is http://www.short-wave.info.
On this site, you can type in a frequency in kHz, click a button, and the
site will report all SWBC stations currently on the air on that fequency
(+/- 10 kHz), both in graphical map and tabular formats -- the map showing
the radio information (actual transmitter locations and frequencies), the
table showing the programming information (country of origin, language
currently being broadcast, and program start and end time intervals). The
database appears to be updated weekly. This is just WAY TOO COOL. :-)

SWLing with the K3 is a whole different experience than with
earlier-generation receivers. With the right adjustments, you can hear and
actually understand a weak station 5 kHz up or down from a 40-over-9 monster
station. Adjacent-channel QRM is now a thing of the past. If you haven't
tried SWLing since you were a kid, you should get the KBPF3 board installed,
if you don't already have it, and check this out. Too much fun.

Bill W5WVO



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[Alan D. Wilcox, W3DVX]

Bill,
Thanks for that website ... and wouldn't you know it ... of the dozens
of languages, the one I wanted wasn't listed!

For those of us trying to listen to broadcast using the Internet,
http://www.radio-locator.com/ provides similar help. Not nearly as much
fun as the K3. Guess I'll need to put the KBPF3 and AM filter on my wish
list!

Cheers, Alan

Alan D. Wilcox, W3DVX (K2-5373, K3-40)
570-321-1516
http://WilcoxEngineering.com
Williamsport, PA 17701



Bill VanAlstyne W5WVO wrote:

> I originally ordered my K3 a couple years ago with the general-coverage
> KBPF3 board, having the intention (When I Got a Round Tuit) to put up some
> kind of SWBC band resonator-optimized wire antenna. Well, I finally got
> around to it. And wow, what a SWBC DX receiver the K3 is! Here's a few
> things I've been discovering the past few days:
>
> First, the world of SW broadcasting has changed immensely since my salad
> days of SWLing in the 1960s. Used to be, when you heard a station you could
> identify as Radio China, for example, you could be highly confident that you
> were hearing a radio signal from China. Not so any more! Many countries now
> lease out powerful, strategically located short-wave broadcast
> transmitters/antennas to the highest bidder, with the program material sent
> directly to the transmitter site by satellite from the country of origin.
> Last night I was listening to Radio China International broadcasting in
> English to North America -- but from Spain, not from China. And I listened
> to Vatican Radio broadcasting to Africa in African-accented English -- but
> from Madagascar, not from Rome. The World Radio TV Handbook (WRTH) makes all
> this clear, after a fashion, but you have to look in three or four different
> places in the book to sort it all out for any given broadcast. (There are
> also many websites that are very useful in making sense of all this. See
> below for an example.)
>
> The K3 offers a lot of options for listening to AM broadcasts. Synchronous
> AM mode, which allows you to listen just to the upper or lower sideband
> (selectable using the SHIFT knob), is a huge benefit over conventional
> double-sideband envelope detection. But my favorite is still USB/LSB,
> because I can tailor the LO-CUT and HI-CUT on either sideband to get just
> the right selectivity for maximum intelligibility of the audio envelope.
> This is highly dependent on the announcer's voice characteristics, as well
> as on band conditions and interference sources.
>
> Setting VFO CRS to 5.0 kHz is also convenient, as the K3 remembers this
> setting for the SWBC band-mode combinations. I tune the standard 5 kHz SWBC
> "channels" with the RIT knob (VFO OFS=ON mode). If a station is
> off-frequency, I can use the main VFO A knob to tune it in.
>
> An amazing website I discovered for the SWL is http://www.short-wave.info.
> On this site, you can type in a frequency in kHz, click a button, and the
> site will report all SWBC stations currently on the air on that fequency
> (+/- 10 kHz), both in graphical map and tabular formats -- the map showing
> the radio information (actual transmitter locations and frequencies), the
> table showing the programming information (country of origin, language
> currently being broadcast, and program start and end time intervals). The
> database appears to be updated weekly. This is just WAY TOO COOL. :-)
>
> SWLing with the K3 is a whole different experience than with
> earlier-generation receivers. With the right adjustments, you can hear and
> actually understand a weak station 5 kHz up or down from a 40-over-9 monster
> station. Adjacent-channel QRM is now a thing of the past. If you haven't
> tried SWLing since you were a kid, you should get the KBPF3 board installed,
> if you don't already have it, and check this out. Too much fun.
>
> Bill W5WVO
>
>
>  

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[callen1155]

Interesting post Bill, and thanks for the url.

I also enjoy listening to SWBC. I don't have the K3 general coverage module nor the 6k filter. I listen to SWBC with my Radio Shack DX-394 receiver. I've thought about using the K3 for SWLing. I wonder how the K3 would perform compared to the DX-394?

Also, I'm currently using a  non-resonant dipole of about 200 ft in length. I switch this back and forth between the K3 (with internal ATU) and the DX-394 (kind of a pain).
How does your dedicated SWL antenna differ?

And lastly, do you use an antenna tuner with you K3 SWBC listening?

Thanks and hope you don't mind the questions.

chuck
af4xk

[Bill VanAlstyne W5WVO]

Chuck,

The antenna I'm using is the Alpha-Delta DX-SWL sloper. It is 60 ft long and
has two strategically placed resonators (coils) which cause it to be
resonant in or near the SWBC bands down to 90 meters. Because our ham bands
tend to be right next door to SWBC bands (40/41 meters, 30/31 meters, 20/19
meters 15/16 meters, etc.), it's also easy to load it up using the K3's KAT3
unit, and I use it to work 30 meters CW mostly. Also loads up on all other
HF ham bands except for 160. The KAT3 is a recent addition to my K3, and
it's a wonderful little autotuner. The DX-SWL isn't a real efficient ham
transmitting antenna for these bands, but it does load. My primary ham
interest is 6 meters and I have stacked yagis on that band, so this little
wire antenna is mostly for SW listening -- but it does work as a TX antenna,
and seems to work best on 30/40 meters.

When using it for SWBC listening, I either put the KAT3 in BYPASS mode, or
just leave it tuned up on the closest ham band. I see no difference in
signal strength either way. There is, to the best of my knowledge, no way to
"tune" the KAT3 outside the ham bands. If there is a way, maybe somebody
would like to share that. :-)

Bill W5WVO


--------------------------------------------------
From: "callen1155" <[hidden email]>
Sent: Sunday, May 02, 2010 7:14 AM
To: <[hidden email]>
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] A few thoughts on the K3 as an AM SWBC receiver

>
> Interesting post Bill, and thanks for the url.
>
> I also enjoy listening to SWBC. I don't have the K3 general coverage
> module
> nor the 6k filter. I listen to SWBC with my Radio Shack DX-394 receiver.
> I've thought about using the K3 for SWLing. I wonder how the K3 would
> perform compared to the DX-394?
>
> Also, I'm currently using a  non-resonant dipole of about 200 ft in
> length.
> I switch this back and forth between the K3 (with internal ATU) and the
> DX-394 (kind of a pain).
> How does your dedicated SWL antenna differ?
>
> And lastly, do you use an antenna tuner with you K3 SWBC listening?
>
> Thanks and hope you don't mind the questions.
>
> chuck
> af4xk
>
> --
> View this message in context:
> http://elecraft.365791.n2.nabble.com/A-few-thoughts-on-the-K3-as-an-AM-SWBC-receiver-tp4990061p4992917.html
> Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
> ______________________________________________________________
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>
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> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>
>

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[callen1155]

Thanks for the reply Bill.

I also have the KAT3 auto tuner.

I have read about SWL listeners using antenna tuners but I'm unclear as to what it  buys you... just fishing for info.

I'd be interested to know if others on the forum use their K3 for SWLing and their experience/opinion of the K3 in that capacity??

thanks again.
chuck

[drewko]

An "unlocked" K3 can auto tune the ATU on any frequency. The problem
with that is you would be transmitting out of band if you tried it in
the SWBC bands.

But you can tune the ATU manually as follows:

Select the CONFIG KAT3 menu item. Choose LCSet instead of AUTO. Exit
the config menu and tap ATU TUNE. This will display your current L/C
elements without transmitting. Then adjust the L and C settings with
the VFO knobs. Tap ANT to place the capacitor on either the antenna
side (CA) or the tuner side (Ct).

When you return to the ham bands you will want to remember to switch
the KAT3 back to AUTO because the AUTO/LCSet setting applies across an
entire band. (In this case "band" is a K3 Band consisting of a ham
band and adjoining general coverage portions. For instance, the 19m
SWBC band is part of the 20m ham band; 31m is part of 30m, etc.).
Unfortunately, when you return to AUTO the K3 will wipe out your
manual setting so you will have to manually retune again when you
return to the SWBC portion.

It would be nice if the K3 could remember the ATU mode (auto or
manual) per each tuning segment instead of just having it apply to the
entire swath of band. Then the SWBC segments would remember their
manual settings while the ham portions could remain in auto tune.

73,
Drew
AF2Z




On Sun, 02 May 2010 10:45:58 -0600, Bill W5WVO wrote:

>Chuck,
>
>The antenna I'm using is the Alpha-Delta DX-SWL sloper. It is 60 ft long and
>has two strategically placed resonators (coils) which cause it to be
>resonant in or near the SWBC bands down to 90 meters. Because our ham bands
>tend to be right next door to SWBC bands (40/41 meters, 30/31 meters, 20/19
>meters 15/16 meters, etc.), it's also easy to load it up using the K3's KAT3
>unit, and I use it to work 30 meters CW mostly. Also loads up on all other
>HF ham bands except for 160. The KAT3 is a recent addition to my K3, and
>it's a wonderful little autotuner. The DX-SWL isn't a real efficient ham
>transmitting antenna for these bands, but it does load. My primary ham
>interest is 6 meters and I have stacked yagis on that band, so this little
>wire antenna is mostly for SW listening -- but it does work as a TX antenna,
>and seems to work best on 30/40 meters.
>
>When using it for SWBC listening, I either put the KAT3 in BYPASS mode, or
>just leave it tuned up on the closest ham band. I see no difference in
>signal strength either way. There is, to the best of my knowledge, no way to
>"tune" the KAT3 outside the ham bands. If there is a way, maybe somebody
>would like to share that. :-)
>
>Bill W5WVO
>
>

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[David Cutter]

Sorry if I missed it, but, can a manual setting be set by a macro?

David
G3UNA


>
> It would be nice if the K3 could remember the ATU mode (auto or
> manual) per each tuning segment instead of just having it apply to the
> entire swath of band. Then the SWBC segments would remember their
> manual settings while the ham portions could remain in auto tune.
>
> 73,
> Drew
> AF2Z
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[drewko]

I think you can change KAT3 from "Auto" to "LCSet" via macro but you
can't actually adjust the L/C values. But since the L/C settings are
not retained when switching back and forth to Auto there isn't much
point to the macro.

73,
Drew
AF2Z


On Thu, 06 May 2010 06:58:50 +0100, David G3UNA wrote:

>Sorry if I missed it, but, can a manual setting be set by a macro?
>
>David
>G3UNA
>
>
>>
>> It would be nice if the K3 could remember the ATU mode (auto or
>> manual) per each tuning segment instead of just having it apply to the
>> entire swath of band. Then the SWBC segments would remember their
>> manual settings while the ham portions could remain in auto tune.
>>
>> 73,
>> Drew
>> AF2Z

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[David Cutter]

Shame, that would allow individual values to be set up for each bc band of
interest, along with mode, band, bwidth, filters, etc.

David
G3UNA

----- Original Message -----
From: "drewko" <[hidden email]>
To: "David Cutter" <[hidden email]>
Cc: <[hidden email]>
Sent: Sunday, May 09, 2010 1:29 PM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] A few thoughts on the K3 as an AM SWBC receiver

>I think you can change KAT3 from "Auto" to "LCSet" via macro but you
> can't actually adjust the L/C values. But since the L/C settings are
> not retained when switching back and forth to Auto there isn't much
> point to the macro.
>
> 73,
> Drew
> AF2Z
>
>
> On Thu, 06 May 2010 06:58:50 +0100, David G3UNA wrote:
>
>>Sorry if I missed it, but, can a manual setting be set by a macro?
>>
>>David
>>G3UNA
>>
>>
>>>
>>> It would be nice if the K3 could remember the ATU mode (auto or
>>> manual) per each tuning segment instead of just having it apply to the
>>> entire swath of band. Then the SWBC segments would remember their
>>> manual settings while the ham portions could remain in auto tune.
>>>
>>> 73,
>>> Drew
>>> AF2Z
>

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