the earlier talk about the K3 S meter got me to thinking about a problem
I wanted to address.
I wanted to use the S meter to track small changes in level. My IC-746
PRO has twice the segments of my K3 but that was not enough either. The
K3 S meter is great on the air as I never give anyone a 5 5.4 9 report
anyway HI HI. I had never used the RFV and dBV features of the K3 and
find they are just the powerful feature I needed but there is not much
in the way of instructions on how to use them. Here is what I found
works well for me.
My vertical is my nosiest antenna so I would tune the receiver to a
clear frequency on 20 meters with the AGC-F and the RF gain MAX CW. I
would get a AFV reading that would jump between about 105 and 111. I
change the selection to dBV just as I see the meter read about 108,
(average of 105 and 111). The reading takes a second or so to calibrate
to something near 0 DB and it will bounce around a bit above and below.
I changed AGC to OFF and adjusted the RF GAIN control to bring back a
reading near ZERO DB. This completed my calibration and now I am ready
to make my measurements.
My vertical still measured ZERO DB but my beam would peak up about -3 DB
and at times drop to -18 DB as I rotated it. I often have trouble with
noise when working KD5ONS on the 00:00 20 meter Elecraft NET. I found a
small change in beam heading dropped my noise to -18 DB from the -5 DB
of my usual beam heading for KD5ONS. I was able to check into the net
tonight and the signals were weak but I think this procedure made the
difference between hearing and not hearing. The dip in the pattern on my
beam is extremely sharp so I had to hit my rotator bar several times to
catch it.
I also have a MFJ 1026 that I never hooked up because it was too hard to
adjust on my IC-746PRO. I am looking forward to getting cables and try
it with my K3 now that I have a way to measure the levels so well.
I hope these instructions can help others use this powerful feature. The
dBV calibration stays calibrated over a time of at least an hour and
also works to play with the NB and NR features.
73
Ken W0CZ
[hidden email]
_______________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Post to:
[hidden email]
You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
Help:
http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htmElecraft web page:
http://www.elecraft.com
Locked
