K3: New firmware will get a few corrections shortly

[wayne burdick]

Just a quick heads-up:

Now that the new firmware has been released to much wider distribution,
we've been notified of some issues we hadn't discovered earlier. The
following items will be addressed very shortly with another release:

1. FM deviation set too high.

2. Selecting AFX (BIN mode) for receive causes transmit distortion in
SSB modes (AFX DELAYx settings are OK).

3. Transverter power level may be too high after a band change, and the
level can't be controlled by the POWER control.

4. CONFIG:TXG VCE menu entry appears to be non-functional. This menu
entry is needed to establish a higher drive level for voice vs. CW
modes.

I'll do another posting as soon as revised firmware is ready. Thanks
for all the quick feedback.

73,
Wayne
N6KR


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[Augie "Gus" Hansen]

wayne burdick wrote:
> ...
> 4. CONFIG:TXG VCE menu entry appears to be non-functional. This menu
> entry is needed to establish a higher drive level for voice vs. CW modes.

I installed the firmware updates and appreciate the improvements and new
features. Thanks.

Here are a couple of observations regarding items that I think are not
quite right yet:

In line with what others have already mentioned, my K3 (S/N 441)
exhibits a noticeable reduction in the peak power output level on voice
compared to CW output, but it also varies as a function of the selected
sideband. Jim, W7ZQ has found this to be true with his K3 (#28) also.
Output is lower than requested peak power on USB by some 15-30%, with
LSB being lower by as much as another 20%. My K3 has the 2.8KHz filter
and Jim's uses the 2.7HKz filter. The differences noted are consistent
for all bands.

Also, I have rerun the transmit gain setting procedure several times and
noted that the VFO A frequency is no longer displayed when the TXGN menu
is selected. I believe it was in previous versions of the firmware so
that you could see the effect of band changes while using that
configuration item. In addition, when I select the 80 meter band, the
frequency display area shows "Pr80" during the HP calibration (but not
for LP). Nothing shows for any other band selection. I can't find any
description of this item. What does it mean?

Thanks,

Gus Hansen
KB0YH

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[wayne burdick]

Augie Hansen wrote:

> In line with what others have already mentioned, my K3 (S/N 441)
> exhibits a noticeable reduction in the peak power output level on
> voice compared to CW output, but it also varies as a function of the
> selected sideband. Jim, W7ZQ has found this to be true with his K3
> (#28) also. Output is lower than requested peak power on USB by some
> 15-30%, with LSB being lower by as much as another 20%. My K3 has the
> 2.8KHz filter and Jim's uses the 2.7HKz filter. The differences noted
> are consistent for all bands.

We discovered that the TXG VCE menu entry wasn't functioning correctly.
When we post the next update, try setting TXG VCE to about 1.0 dB. The
difference between LSB and USB should be a small fraction of a dB,
although it will vary a bit from one filter to the next due to slight
passband ripple. An extreme amount of variation might indicate a
problem with that filter.


>
> Also, I have rerun the transmit gain setting procedure several times
> and noted that the VFO A frequency is no longer displayed when the
> TXGN menu is selected.

This hasn't been the case for quite awhile. But you should rarely need
to access this menu entry anyway. You can do power calibration without
being in the menu or selecting this entry. Just set it to 5 W, do TUNE
into a dummy load on each band, and repeat at 50 W.

> In addition, when I select the 80 meter band, the frequency display
> area shows "Pr80" during the HP calibration (but not for LP). Nothing
> shows for any other band selection. I can't find any description of
> this item. What does it mean?

This indicates that the preamp is in use during transmit mode (recall
that the K3 has a reversible IF strip so that the low-noise
preamp/mixer/postamp can be used in TX mode as well). The ability to
turn the preamp off on 80 meters sometimes comes in handy for
troubleshooting. This will be noted in the next manual update.

73,
Wayne
N6KR


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[oe9fwv]

hi Wayne,

On 4 May 2008 at 13:35, wayne burdick wrote:

> I'll do another posting as soon as revised firmware is ready. Thanks
> for all the quick feedback.

thank you for the quick help and open communication on the list.
this is unusual these days but gives me a good feeling.
A great radio from honest people. You really deserve the trust we have in
you.

73! de Werner
OE9FWV

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