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Ghost in my shack

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Jim Farmer

Ghost in my shack

I'm enjoying my K3, which I assembled a couple of months ago. Great rig,
getting great reports. But I have a ghost in my shack who, every so often
when I'm doing something else in the shack, keys the mic, usually three
times, each time for a second or so. Then he doesn't do it for a while.
Since I'm only operating SSB, no signal is put out when he keys it. I'm
using the K3 with the Elecraft hand-held PTT mic. The rig is connected to a
PC running Ham Radio Deluxe, current version, but HRD doesn't seem to know
the rig is going into transmit. Any Ghost Busters out there looking for
work?

Also, I'm running the output through an external peak detecting power meter.
During a transmission, the output power starts at around 50 W peak and if I
get windy (say, a 3-4 minute transmission), will go to about 100 W peak
during the transmission. Current meter on my power supply starts deflecting
higher as the output reads higher. I have the K3 set for maximum 110 W
output.

Thanks,
jim

James O. "Jim" Farmer, K4BSE
678-640-0860
[hidden email] (home, spam blocked)
Boss lady: http://kathysflute.com
Personal: http://home.mindspring.com/~jofarmer/index.html
"Strive for perfection, but settle for excellence."

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Tim Herrick

Re: Ghost in my shack

Do you get the windows sound like hardware is being disconnected then
reconnected. The keying three times sounds like the initialization of the
serial port.

Tim Herrick, KQ8M
[hidden email]

-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email]
[mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Jim Farmer
Sent: Saturday, November 26, 2011 8:48 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [Elecraft] Ghost in my shack

I'm enjoying my K3, which I assembled a couple of months ago. Great rig,
getting great reports. But I have a ghost in my shack who, every so often
when I'm doing something else in the shack, keys the mic, usually three
times, each time for a second or so. Then he doesn't do it for a while.
Since I'm only operating SSB, no signal is put out when he keys it. I'm
using the K3 with the Elecraft hand-held PTT mic. The rig is connected to a

PC running Ham Radio Deluxe, current version, but HRD doesn't seem to know
the rig is going into transmit. Any Ghost Busters out there looking for
work?

Also, I'm running the output through an external peak detecting power meter.

During a transmission, the output power starts at around 50 W peak and if I
get windy (say, a 3-4 minute transmission), will go to about 100 W peak
during the transmission. Current meter on my power supply starts deflecting

higher as the output reads higher. I have the K3 set for maximum 110 W
output.

Thanks,
jim

James O. "Jim" Farmer, K4BSE
678-640-0860
[hidden email] (home, spam blocked)
Boss lady: http://kathysflute.com
Personal: http://home.mindspring.com/~jofarmer/index.html
"Strive for perfection, but settle for excellence."

______________________________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:[hidden email]

This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html

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Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:[hidden email]

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Matt Zilmer

Re: Ghost in my shack

In reply to this post by Jim Farmer

Jim,

If you have a USB-based serial port, the symptom of a USB bus reset is
several burst of enumeration on the bus. This usually affects DTR or
RTS on a serial endpoint, and you may use those for keying or PTT. I
see this here occasionally, but always when plugging in the hub that
hosts the USB-serial adapter. The other times, it's a marginal power
supply somewhere in the massive number of USB devices here in the
shack.

I would check to be sure it *never* happens when the USB-serial is
disconnected - IF that's what your serial connection happens to be....

In case you're using a Microsoft Windows product, the USB bus driver
has a mind of its own and might also have bugs related to this type of
behavior. Keep it up to date.

73,
matt W6NIA

On Sat, 26 Nov 2011 20:47:43 -0500, you wrote:

>I'm enjoying my K3, which I assembled a couple of months ago. Great rig,
>getting great reports. But I have a ghost in my shack who, every so often
>when I'm doing something else in the shack, keys the mic, usually three
>times, each time for a second or so. Then he doesn't do it for a while.
>Since I'm only operating SSB, no signal is put out when he keys it. I'm
>using the K3 with the Elecraft hand-held PTT mic. The rig is connected to a
>PC running Ham Radio Deluxe, current version, but HRD doesn't seem to know
>the rig is going into transmit. Any Ghost Busters out there looking for
>work?
>
>Also, I'm running the output through an external peak detecting power meter.
>During a transmission, the output power starts at around 50 W peak and if I
>get windy (say, a 3-4 minute transmission), will go to about 100 W peak
>during the transmission. Current meter on my power supply starts deflecting
>higher as the output reads higher. I have the K3 set for maximum 110 W
>output.
>
>Thanks,
>jim
>
>James O. "Jim" Farmer, K4BSE
>678-640-0860
>[hidden email] (home, spam blocked)
>Boss lady: http://kathysflute.com
>Personal: http://home.mindspring.com/~jofarmer/index.html
>"Strive for perfection, but settle for excellence."
>
>______________________________________________________________
>Elecraft mailing list
>Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
>Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
>Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
>This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html

______________________________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
Post: mailto:[hidden email]

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Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html

Jim Farmer

Re: Ghost in my shack

In reply to this post by Tim Herrick

Thanks Tom. I have the sounds turned off (they irritate me), but it does
appear to be related to the serial port, which I feed from a USB connector
on the computer (running XP) using the USB to serial cable that Elecraft
supplies.

I appreciate your response very much. Sorry you got caught in my spam
blocker, but you're on the cleared list now.

jim

James O. "Jim" Farmer, K4BSE
678-640-0860
[hidden email] (home, spam blocked)
Boss lady: http://kathysflute.com
Personal: http://home.mindspring.com/~jofarmer/index.html
"Strive for perfection, but settle for excellence."
----- Original Message -----
From: "KQ8M" <[hidden email]>
To: "'Jim Farmer'" <[hidden email]>; <[hidden email]>
Sent: Saturday, November 26, 2011 9:04 PM
Subject: RE: [Elecraft] Ghost in my shack

> Do you get the windows sound like hardware is being disconnected then
> reconnected. The keying three times sounds like the initialization of the
> serial port.
>
> Tim Herrick, KQ8M
> [hidden email]
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [hidden email]
> [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Jim Farmer
> Sent: Saturday, November 26, 2011 8:48 PM
> To: [hidden email]
> Subject: [Elecraft] Ghost in my shack
>
> I'm enjoying my K3, which I assembled a couple of months ago. Great rig,
> getting great reports. But I have a ghost in my shack who, every so often
> when I'm doing something else in the shack, keys the mic, usually three
> times, each time for a second or so. Then he doesn't do it for a while.
> Since I'm only operating SSB, no signal is put out when he keys it. I'm
> using the K3 with the Elecraft hand-held PTT mic. The rig is connected to
> a
>
> PC running Ham Radio Deluxe, current version, but HRD doesn't seem to know
> the rig is going into transmit. Any Ghost Busters out there looking for
> work?
>
> Also, I'm running the output through an external peak detecting power
> meter.
>
> During a transmission, the output power starts at around 50 W peak and if
> I
> get windy (say, a 3-4 minute transmission), will go to about 100 W peak
> during the transmission. Current meter on my power supply starts
> deflecting
>
> higher as the output reads higher. I have the K3 set for maximum 110 W
> output.
>
> Thanks,
> jim
>
> James O. "Jim" Farmer, K4BSE
> 678-640-0860
> [hidden email] (home, spam blocked)
> Boss lady: http://kathysflute.com
> Personal: http://home.mindspring.com/~jofarmer/index.html
> "Strive for perfection, but settle for excellence."
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>

WE5ST

(no subject)

In reply to this post by Jim Farmer

So Matt, does this mean that you are a "Universal Serial ghost-Buster"? (-:
Message: 34
Date: Sat, 26 Nov 2011 20:00:20 -0800
From: Matt Zilmer <[hidden email]>
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Ghost in my shack
To: "Jim Farmer" <[hidden email]>
Cc: [hidden email]
Message-ID: <[hidden email]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Jim,

If you have a USB-based serial port, the symptom of a USB bus reset is
several burst of enumeration on the bus. This usually affects DTR or
RTS on a serial endpoint, and you may use those for keying or PTT. I
see this here occasionally, but always when plugging in the hub that
hosts the USB-serial adapter. The other times, it's a marginal power
supply somewhere in the massive number of USB devices here in the
shack.

I would check to be sure it *never* happens when the USB-serial is
disconnected - IF that's what your serial connection happens to be....

In case you're using a Microsoft Windows product, the USB bus driver
has a mind of its own and might also have bugs related to this type of
behavior. Keep it up to date.

73,
matt W6NIA

On Sat, 26 Nov 2011 20:47:43 -0500, you wrote:

Jack - WE5ST