[K3] KY Command

[Julian, G4ILO]

Has there been a change in the way the K3 KY command works recently?

In CW mode it is not normally necessary to send TX; before using the KY command to send CW as TX is activated by enabling VOX which is the normal situation for QSK operation. In FSK D or PSK D however I am sure that it was always necessary to use TX; to start sending and RX; when you were finished, which makes sense as VOX is not normally used in these modes.

Today I found that when sending TX; the K3 goes into sending an idle sequence and never starts sending the text contained in the KY commands. By chance I found that if you don't send TX; even if VOX is not enabled, the transceiver does go into TX and begin sending the text as soon as a KY command is sent.

Is this the way the command is supposed to work, or has something changed since the last time I used it? The K3 Programmers Reference says nothing about whether the K3 needs to be put into TX mode before sending in this way so I have just found what worked using trial and error and assumed that's how you are supposed to do it.

[vk4cmv]

Interesting that you bring this up Julian.

I've been using KY mode from HRD DM780 but it just wasn't 'conversational' enough for me - so today I've gone back to using the trusty Winkey to generate CW.

Maybe it was a function of VOX timing, but at 25wpm, I'd send something like de <callsign> and the d would be sent and then a pause, then the e etc. Embarassing!

I could get more scientific about this, but the Winkey seems to work fine ...

rgds, Julian VK4CMV

[Julian, G4ILO]

Hi Julian.

Perhaps it has something to do with the way HRD implements KY keying? I have used it for CW for years, first on the K2 with my old program K2Net and then on the K3 with KComm and I have never noticed the issue you mention. KY keying still works fine on CW, it is only the digital modes PSK D and FSK D that appear to have a problem with it.

[Laurent F6DEX]

Julian,

To avoid the iddle sequence, just send ^D at the end of the string as indicated in the doc. You can send text word by word or phrase by phrase (24 characters less one for ^D). Letter by letter is not convenient in data mode but supported in CW.

Laurent F6DEX

[Julian, G4ILO]

I know that. It isn't the problem, though. The problem is when you send TX; the K3 *only* sends the idle sequence. It does not send any of the text sent to it using the KY command.

Laurent F6DEX wrote

To avoid the iddle sequence, just send ^D at the end of the string as indicated in the doc. You can send text word by word or phrase by phrase (24 characters less one for ^D). Letter by letter is not convenient in data mode but supported in CW.