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K3 Band button suggestion

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Steve Ellington

K3 Band button suggestion

Since we can't have band stacking and memories are too much trouble, how
about designating one seldom used button of our choice to be the band
stacking button. Example: We scroll to 40 meters with the usual band button
then once we are on 40m, we can use that designated button to scroll through
pre-programmed locations across the band such as CW, SSB, Digital etc. 3
spots would be plenty. To me, this seems like a good compromise. In my case,
I would chose to designate the "SUB" button since I don't have the sub
receiver or maybe the RATE button since I seldom need it. Anything would be
better than using those memories!
Steve N4LQ
[hidden email]

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Don Wilhelm-4

Re: K3 Band button suggestion

Steve (or anyone else who knows),

Please explain the convenience of "band-stacking" memories. I have
never used a radio with "band-stacking" memories, so I really don't know
what that means.
Is it really a 'stack' (as in programming) where one can only select the
item at the top of the stack?
If it is something different, then the term "band-stacking" should not
be used IMHO - I think it was Yaesu that first popularized the term and
I have been confused ever since.

The K3 provides 4 random access memories for each band in the M1-M4
buttons, and you say you want only 3, so you may use only M1-M3 if you
so choose.

Yes, it does take a 2 button tap to retrieve the contents of any of the
M1-M4 memories, but if band-sacking memories can only retrieve the
topmost memory with any one tap, the average number of button taps
required to retrieve the desired memory with a stack depth of 3 is also
two taps.

So please tell me that "band-stacking" is something different than a
"stack" as used in programming, and I will give up my argument and go
off on another tangent about the ills of mis-named functions on a radio.

73,
Don W3FPR

Steve Ellington wrote:

> Since we can't have band stacking and memories are too much trouble, how
> about designating one seldom used button of our choice to be the band
> stacking button. Example: We scroll to 40 meters with the usual band button
> then once we are on 40m, we can use that designated button to scroll through
> pre-programmed locations across the band such as CW, SSB, Digital etc. 3
> spots would be plenty. To me, this seems like a good compromise. In my case,
> I would chose to designate the "SUB" button since I don't have the sub
> receiver or maybe the RATE button since I seldom need it. Anything would be
> better than using those memories!
> Steve N4LQ
> [hidden email]
>
>

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Steve Ellington

Re: K3 Band button suggestion

Don:
Most rigs nowadays have "band stacking registers". The band selection keypad
has a button for each band. Each button is capable of remembering at least 3
frequencies per band. Programming these buttons is automatic.
When we switch between bands, the rig remembers the last frequency we used.
Let's assume I was on 40 meters at 7250 khz yesterday but today I switched
to 20 meters. When I push the 40m button, I'll land on 7250 Khz again. Later
I tune down to the cw band, 7016 Khz, listen a while then jump back to 20M.
Now we have 2 frequencies stored for 40 meters, one for phone and the other
for cw. If I push the 40m button again, I'll land on 7015, push it a second
time and I land on 7250. Eventually all bands that I used will have 3 of my
favorite frequencies stored simply just by me operating and making no
particular effort to program the buttons.
TenTec, Kenwood, ICOM, virtually all rigs work this way.
I've tried programming the M1, M2 etc. buttons but sooner or later I hit the
wrong button and the whole things is screwed up. It's just not intuitive as
having registers. Since the K3 doesn't have individual band buttons, there's
not much you can do about it. That's why I suggested that a separate button
be designated as the band stacking register button for whatever band you
happen to be using. Simply push that button 3 times and you get 3 different
frequencies that you have used in the past. How, you ask, did we program
these frequencies....Well every time you change bands, the last frequency
used is stored in that particular registry. When you go back to that band,
that frequency will pop up first but the last 2 frequencies will be
available by a push of the button.
Hope this makes sense! I'm sure Elecraft is tired of hearing about this but
lack of this feature is a very common complaint on an otherwise perfect rig.
Maybe the new panadpter will have these buttons!
73
Steve Ellington
[hidden email]
----- Original Message -----
From: "Don Wilhelm" <[hidden email]>
To: <[hidden email]>
Sent: Saturday, April 04, 2009 11:49 PM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 Band button suggestion

> Steve (or anyone else who knows),
>
> Please explain the convenience of "band-stacking" memories. I have
> never used a radio with "band-stacking" memories, so I really don't know
> what that means.
> Is it really a 'stack' (as in programming) where one can only select the
> item at the top of the stack?
> If it is something different, then the term "band-stacking" should not
> be used IMHO - I think it was Yaesu that first popularized the term and
> I have been confused ever since.
>
> The K3 provides 4 random access memories for each band in the M1-M4
> buttons, and you say you want only 3, so you may use only M1-M3 if you
> so choose.
>
> Yes, it does take a 2 button tap to retrieve the contents of any of the
> M1-M4 memories, but if band-sacking memories can only retrieve the
> topmost memory with any one tap, the average number of button taps
> required to retrieve the desired memory with a stack depth of 3 is also
> two taps.
>
> So please tell me that "band-stacking" is something different than a
> "stack" as used in programming, and I will give up my argument and go
> off on another tangent about the ills of mis-named functions on a radio.
>
> 73,
> Don W3FPR
>
> Steve Ellington wrote:
>> Since we can't have band stacking and memories are too much trouble, how
>> about designating one seldom used button of our choice to be the band
>> stacking button. Example: We scroll to 40 meters with the usual band
>> button
>> then once we are on 40m, we can use that designated button to scroll
>> through
>> pre-programmed locations across the band such as CW, SSB, Digital etc. 3
>> spots would be plenty. To me, this seems like a good compromise. In my
>> case,
>> I would chose to designate the "SUB" button since I don't have the sub
>> receiver or maybe the RATE button since I seldom need it. Anything would
>> be
>> better than using those memories!
>> Steve N4LQ
>> [hidden email]
>>
>>
> ______________________________________________________________
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> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
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> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
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> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html

David Gilbert

Re: K3 Band button suggestion

In reply to this post by Don Wilhelm-4

My old and greatly inferior 756Pro had band stacking registers, and that
feature essentially lets you cycle through the last three (in the case
of the 756Pro) frequencies/mode with just repeated presses of the same
band-select button. For example, I could set the rig to 14010 CW with a
narrow bandwidth, press the 20m band-select button and set that position
to 14070 USB-D with a wide bandwdith, press the 20m band-select button
again and set that position to 14195 USB with a medium bandwidth, and
from that point on repeated presses of the 20m band-select button would
cycle through all three setups. On the 756Pro, the stacking registers
were unique for each band. It was a nice feature.

73,
Dave AB7E

Don Wilhelm wrote:

K7TV

Re: K3 Band button suggestion

In reply to this post by Steve Ellington

Don, I used to have band stacking on my old Yaesu, and now on the K3 I have
programmed the M buttons to select 3 frequencies in each band. You are
correct w.r.t. the number of button presses: The K3 always needs two, while
band stacking requires anything from one to three (if limited to a "stack
depth" of 3), which makes two on the average. On the other hand, if one has
only one favorite frequency in a band, band stacking requires only one key
press to go there. The term "stacking" might be justified by observing that
the last stored frequency within the band is the first "on top of the
stack", but on the other hand, when one accesses successive levels on the
stack nothing pops off, but the stack contents just rotate.

The advantage of band stacking IMHO is that you only need to use eye-hand
coordination to reach one button, and you are guaranteed to end up on the
desired band regardless of intentional or non-intentional programming. I
have yet to reach the "touch typing" proficiency stage w.r.t. the K3
buttons, and have often re-programmed a memory button when my intention was
to recall a band. At least once I have lost my M button programming when I
upgraded firmware. That said, I think the BAND and MODE controls are quite
convenient, and I use them as often as I use the M buttons.

73,
Erik K7TV

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ON4WIX

Re: K3 Band button suggestion

I've actually had the same thing happen here once or twice when attempting
to record or play back some audio with my K3's DVR. I managed to change the
contents of my M1-M4 freq/mode memories while fiddling with the DVR.
Operator error of course. Some sort of software "lock" that can be turned on
after programming your quick memories would be nice to prevent this from
happening. Or maybe I should just engage my brain before hitting the keypad,
hi.

Enjoy your Sunday everyone!

73
Glenn ON4WIX
----- Original Message -----
From: "Erik N Basilier" <[hidden email]>
To: <[hidden email]>; <[hidden email]>
Sent: Sunday, April 05, 2009 6:43 AM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 Band button suggestion

> Don, I used to have band stacking on my old Yaesu, and now on the K3 I
> have
> programmed the M buttons to select 3 frequencies in each band. You are
> correct w.r.t. the number of button presses: The K3 always needs two,
> while
> band stacking requires anything from one to three (if limited to a "stack
> depth" of 3), which makes two on the average. On the other hand, if one
> has
> only one favorite frequency in a band, band stacking requires only one key
> press to go there. The term "stacking" might be justified by observing
> that
> the last stored frequency within the band is the first "on top of the
> stack", but on the other hand, when one accesses successive levels on the
> stack nothing pops off, but the stack contents just rotate.
>
> The advantage of band stacking IMHO is that you only need to use eye-hand
> coordination to reach one button, and you are guaranteed to end up on the
> desired band regardless of intentional or non-intentional programming. I
> have yet to reach the "touch typing" proficiency stage w.r.t. the K3
> buttons, and have often re-programmed a memory button when my intention
> was
> to recall a band. At least once I have lost my M button programming when I
> upgraded firmware. That said, I think the BAND and MODE controls are quite
> convenient, and I use them as often as I use the M buttons.
>
> 73,
> Erik K7TV
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> 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

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