K3, TenTec Titan-III and QSK

[Bill Cotter]

CW ops:

Has any one coupled their K3 to a TenTec Titan III (or,
Hercules-II, Titan-II) for QSK using the TX-out and TX-enable
keying loop?

If so, did you use any of the K3 configuration settings to get the
QSK timing correct?

I prefer keying the K3 and letting it control the amp, rather than
keying the amp and letting the amp key the K3.

Your advice appreciated.

Thanks es 73 Bill N4LG

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[Jim Brown-10]

On 2/12/2012 7:05 AM, Bill Cotter wrote:
> I prefer keying the K3 and letting it control the amp, rather than
> keying the amp and letting the amp key the K3.

I have verified that doing that works FB, even with full QSK, with the
K3 driving a Titan 425 (original Titan) and Hercules II.  One great
thing about Ten Tec's amps is that they include circuitry that prevents
them from going into transmit if the relays are not pulled in (they
sense the connection), so if the delay in the exciter is not enough,
they don't transmit. That makes it easy to adjust the delay -- you
simply start with a short delay and increase it in small steps until it
works (or start with a longer delay and shorten it in steps until it
doesn't).  You can't break anything or hot switch because of Ten Tec's
internal logic. I've not studied their newer amps, but I'll bet they are
built he same way.  The default delay in the K3 is 8 msec, and was
chosen because it is enough for most good amps.

73, Jim K9YC


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[Barry N1EU]

Bill Cotter wrote

I prefer keying the K3 and letting it control the amp, rather than
keying the amp and letting the amp key the K3.

Key the K3 and use Key Out to key the Titan III.  Ten-Tec amplifier keying loops are very idiosyncratic and tend to work only with Ten-Tec radios.

Barry N1EU