K3: Best AGC settings for QRN?

[Steve Ellington]

I enjoy rag chewing on 80 CW during the evenings, even during summertime
conditions. I've been experimenting with various AGC settings. Tonight I had
a QSO with a fellow who was S9 but QRN was hitting 20db over that.
Here's what I'm using.
AGC DCY...........Soft
AGC HLD...........0
AGC PLS ...........nor
AGC SLP..........003
AGC THR.......008
AGC - F...........120
The AGC F adjustment seems to have little or no effect. Something has
changed because this used to really make an obvious difference.
AGC ....Soft vs. Nor doesn't seem to do much. When it was first introduced
it did too much but now it's rather difficult to tell a difference. BTW, I
usually end up using the 400 HZ filter. It seems to offer the best
compromise for QRN.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
N4LQ
Steve Ellington
[hidden email]

______________________________________________________________
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

[N5GE]

On Mon, 20 Apr 2009 22:51:06 -0400, "Steve Ellington"
<[hidden email]> wrote:

Here are my settings for all modes (Hardly ever work phone on HF).

AGC DCY nor
AGC HLD 0.30
AGC PLS Nor
AGC SLP 0
AGC THR 008
AGC F 120
AGC S 008

I too find that a maximum of 400hz on CW kills much of the band noise,
but 250hz is IMHO best for QRN & QRM

As an aside, when the phone bands are QRN I use from 1.8 to 2.1
settings on my 2.8 filter.

On VHF and UHF I use the 2.7 filter in K3 #1055 in the same way.

Tom, N5GE
K3 #806, K3 #1055
XV144, XV432
W1 and other small kits.
http://www.n5ge.com

>I enjoy rag chewing on 80 CW during the evenings, even during summertime
>conditions. I've been experimenting with various AGC settings. Tonight I had
>a QSO with a fellow who was S9 but QRN was hitting 20db over that.
>Here's what I'm using.
>AGC DCY...........Soft
>AGC HLD...........0
>AGC PLS ...........nor
>AGC SLP..........003
>AGC THR.......008
>AGC - F...........120
>The AGC F adjustment seems to have little or no effect. Something has
>changed because this used to really make an obvious difference.
>AGC ....Soft vs. Nor doesn't seem to do much. When it was first introduced
>it did too much but now it's rather difficult to tell a difference. BTW, I
>usually end up using the 400 HZ filter. It seems to offer the best
>compromise for QRN.
>Any suggestions would be appreciated.
>N4LQ
>Steve Ellington
>[hidden email]

[snip]

______________________________________________________________
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

[Steve Ellington]

Tom
Why is your DCY on nor instead of SOFT? SOFT seems to lessen the band noise
between CW characters. Does it have any negative effects?
Steve Ellington
[hidden email]
----- Original Message -----
From: "Radio Amateur N5GE" <[hidden email]>
To: <[hidden email]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 11:27 AM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3: Best AGC settings for QRN?

> On Mon, 20 Apr 2009 22:51:06 -0400, "Steve Ellington"
> <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> Here are my settings for all modes (Hardly ever work phone on HF).
>
> AGC DCY nor
> AGC HLD 0.30
> AGC PLS Nor
> AGC SLP 0
> AGC THR 008
> AGC F 120
> AGC S 008
>
> I too find that a maximum of 400hz on CW kills much of the band noise,
> but 250hz is IMHO best for QRN & QRM
>
> As an aside, when the phone bands are QRN I use from 1.8 to 2.1
> settings on my 2.8 filter.
>
> On VHF and UHF I use the 2.7 filter in K3 #1055 in the same way.
>
> Tom, N5GE
> K3 #806, K3 #1055
> XV144, XV432
> W1 and other small kits.
> http://www.n5ge.com
>
>>I enjoy rag chewing on 80 CW during the evenings, even during summertime
>>conditions. I've been experimenting with various AGC settings. Tonight I
>>had
>>a QSO with a fellow who was S9 but QRN was hitting 20db over that.
>>Here's what I'm using.
>>AGC DCY...........Soft
>>AGC HLD...........0
>>AGC PLS ...........nor
>>AGC SLP..........003
>>AGC THR.......008
>>AGC - F...........120
>>The AGC F adjustment seems to have little or no effect. Something has
>>changed because this used to really make an obvious difference.
>>AGC ....Soft vs. Nor doesn't seem to do much. When it was first introduced
>>it did too much but now it's rather difficult to tell a difference. BTW, I
>>usually end up using the 400 HZ filter. It seems to offer the best
>>compromise for QRN.
>>Any suggestions would be appreciated.
>>N4LQ
>>Steve Ellington
>>[hidden email]
> [snip]
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> 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]

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

[N5GE]

On Tue, 21 Apr 2009 11:34:28 -0400, "Steve Ellington"
<[hidden email]> wrote:

>Tom
>Why is your DCY on nor instead of SOFT? SOFT seems to lessen the band noise
>between CW characters. Does it have any negative effects?
>Steve Ellington
>[hidden email]
[snip]

I just like it better that way.  No real technical reason.  It's kind
of like some like to hear code sent with bugs and some don't.

73,

Tom, N5GE
K3 #806, K3 #1055
XV144, XV432
W1 and other small kits.
http://www.n5ge.com

______________________________________________________________
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