K3 has internal noise with high compression settings
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Gents,
Last night I disconnected all the antennas and started to look at basics within the shack because of my antenna problem, I decided that I should check the basics with my dummy load and found an interesting thing happening inside my K3. What I found is that when directly connected to a dummy load and I run the k3 at full power 110 watts, as I dial up the compression above 35 on the settings , I hear a hum inside the K3 and it shows RF out power in SSB when I am not speaking into the microphone. Basically key up the mike in a quite environment in SSB mode and it goes into TX where there is output. I made a coax choke with snap on ferrites between the dummy load and the K3 to see if I could kill it but it made no difference. Also power settings below 110 did make some difference and mike gain had little to no effect. This happens on all frequencies, does not matter if on 160m or 10m. I then connected the amp between the K3 and dummy load and this noise starts at about a compression setting of 30 to 33. This is with a drive power of 40 watts into an SGC powercube, and when the humming started there was TX power on my meter. The internal noise sounds like a ferrite vibrating. Other items, power is supplied via 12v batteries using a floated battery charger, existing antennas were disconnected from the system. Is this something that others have seen or should I call Elecraft support. I am hoping I don't also have a K3 problem. Thanks Don ~73 Don KD8NNU ______________________________________________________________ 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 |
Re: K3 has internal noise with high compression settings
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Don,
My first reaction is that compression of 35 is way too high. I never go over 15 or so because of all of the background noise in the shack that is picked up by the mic at high compression settings. Something of that sort is perhaps what you are hearing .. maybe a fan or other hum-like sound in the local environment. High compression makes the system super sensitive to low level sounds. Don K7FJ On 1/12/2012 9:58 AM, [hidden email] wrote: > Gents, > > Last night I disconnected all the antennas and started to look at basics > within the shack because of my antenna problem, I decided that I should > check the basics with my dummy load and found an interesting thing > happening inside my K3. > > What I found is that when directly connected to a dummy load and I run > the k3 at full power 110 watts, as I dial up the compression above 35 on > the settings , I hear a hum inside the K3 and it shows RF out power in > SSB when I am not speaking into the microphone. Basically key up the > mike in a quite environment in SSB mode and it goes into TX where there > is output. > > I made a coax choke with snap on ferrites between the dummy load and the > K3 to see if I could kill it but it made no difference. Also power > settings below 110 did make some difference and mike gain had little to > no effect. This happens on all frequencies, does not matter if on 160m > or 10m. > > I then connected the amp between the K3 and dummy load and this noise > starts at about a compression setting of 30 to 33. This is with a drive > power of 40 watts into an SGC powercube, and when the humming started > there was TX power on my meter. > > The internal noise sounds like a ferrite vibrating. > > Other items, power is supplied via 12v batteries using a floated battery > charger, existing antennas were disconnected from the system. > > Is this something that others have seen or should I call Elecraft > support. I am hoping I don't also have a K3 problem. > > Thanks > Don > > > ~73 > Don > KD8NNU > ______________________________________________________________ > 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 |
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In reply to this post by KD8NNU
Hi Don,
First I agree that that is not a normal setting to run that high. Normally I only have it in the range between 10 to 20 mostly at 15 like you do. I did the experiment as when the antennas were hooked with the RF issue, I found that dialing down compression to under 10 sometimes helped reduce the RF triggering. So as stated I wanted to find the boundries when connected only to the dummy load. The part that it showed power output at that high level of compression is not that suprising. What concerns me is that I clearly heard internal to the K3 something like a ferrite buzzing. I put my ear directly on the top of the case to listen and this buzzing was internal. I only want to know could this be considered normal. Or if there is an internal component problem and my K3 is more sensitive to RF issues than normal which is contributing to my problems. ~73 Don KD8NNU On Thu, Jan 12, 2012 at 1:26 PM, [hidden email] wrote: > Don, > > My first reaction is that compression of 35 is way too high. I never > go over 15 or so because of all of the background noise in the shack > that is picked up by the mic at high compression settings. Something > of that sort is perhaps what you are hearing .. maybe a fan or other > hum-like sound in the local environment. High compression makes the > system super sensitive to low level sounds. > > Don K7FJ > > > On 1/12/2012 9:58 AM, [hidden email] wrote: >> Gents, >> >> Last night I disconnected all the antennas and started to look at >> basics >> within the shack because of my antenna problem, I decided that I >> should >> check the basics with my dummy load and found an interesting thing >> happening inside my K3. >> >> What I found is that when directly connected to a dummy load and I >> run >> the k3 at full power 110 watts, as I dial up the compression above 35 >> on >> the settings , I hear a hum inside the K3 and it shows RF out power >> in >> SSB when I am not speaking into the microphone. Basically key up the >> mike in a quite environment in SSB mode and it goes into TX where >> there >> is output. >> >> I made a coax choke with snap on ferrites between the dummy load and >> the >> K3 to see if I could kill it but it made no difference. Also power >> settings below 110 did make some difference and mike gain had little >> to >> no effect. This happens on all frequencies, does not matter if on >> 160m >> or 10m. >> >> I then connected the amp between the K3 and dummy load and this noise >> starts at about a compression setting of 30 to 33. This is with a >> drive >> power of 40 watts into an SGC powercube, and when the humming started >> there was TX power on my meter. >> >> The internal noise sounds like a ferrite vibrating. >> >> Other items, power is supplied via 12v batteries using a floated >> battery >> charger, existing antennas were disconnected from the system. >> >> Is this something that others have seen or should I call Elecraft >> support. I am hoping I don't also have a K3 problem. >> >> Thanks >> Don >> >> >> ~73 >> Don >> KD8NNU >> ______________________________________________________________ >> 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 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 |
Re: K3 has internal noise with high compression settings
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Administrator
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35 is too high of a compression setting. A setting of 35 can easily pick
up internal electrical noise in the radio, in addition to shack background noise. This is much higher than normal compression setting and results in excessive microphone input gain. Its not unusual to hear some low level acoustic noise from inside the K3 when transmitting. 73, Eric --- www.elecraft.com On 1/12/2012 10:46 AM, [hidden email] wrote: > Hi Don, > > First I agree that that is not a normal setting to run that high. > Normally I only have it in the range between 10 to 20 mostly at 15 like > you do. > > I did the experiment as when the antennas were hooked with the RF > issue, I found that dialing down compression to under 10 sometimes > helped reduce the RF triggering. > > So as stated I wanted to find the boundries when connected only to the > dummy load. The part that it showed power output at that high level of > compression is not that suprising. > > What concerns me is that I clearly heard internal to the K3 something > like a ferrite buzzing. I put my ear directly on the top of the case to > listen and this buzzing was internal. > > I only want to know could this be considered normal. > > Or if there is an internal component problem and my K3 is more sensitive > to RF issues than normal which is contributing to my problems. > > ~73 > Don > KD8NNU > > > On Thu, Jan 12, 2012 at 1:26 PM, [hidden email] wrote: > >> Don, >> >> My first reaction is that compression of 35 is way too high. I never >> go over 15 or so because of all of the background noise in the shack >> that is picked up by the mic at high compression settings. Something >> of that sort is perhaps what you are hearing .. maybe a fan or other >> hum-like sound in the local environment. High compression makes the >> system super sensitive to low level sounds. >> >> Don K7FJ >> >> 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 |
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In reply to this post by KD8NNU
Thanks Eric,
That is why I asked, now I can go back to RF hunting and fix my antennas. Don ~73 Don KD8NNU On Thu, Jan 12, 2012 at 2:04 PM, Eric Swartz - WA6HHQ, Elecraft wrote: > 35 is too high of a compression setting. A setting of 35 can easily > pick up internal electrical noise in the radio, in addition to shack > background noise. This is much higher than normal compression setting > and results in excessive microphone input gain. > > Its not unusual to hear some low level acoustic noise from inside the > K3 when transmitting. > > 73, > > Eric > --- > www.elecraft.com > > > On 1/12/2012 10:46 AM, [hidden email] wrote: >> Hi Don, >> >> First I agree that that is not a normal setting to run that high. >> Normally I only have it in the range between 10 to 20 mostly at 15 >> like >> you do. >> >> I did the experiment as when the antennas were hooked with the RF >> issue, I found that dialing down compression to under 10 sometimes >> helped reduce the RF triggering. >> >> So as stated I wanted to find the boundries when connected only to >> the >> dummy load. The part that it showed power output at that high level >> of >> compression is not that suprising. >> >> What concerns me is that I clearly heard internal to the K3 something >> like a ferrite buzzing. I put my ear directly on the top of the case >> to >> listen and this buzzing was internal. >> >> I only want to know could this be considered normal. >> >> Or if there is an internal component problem and my K3 is more >> sensitive >> to RF issues than normal which is contributing to my problems. >> >> ~73 >> Don >> KD8NNU >> >> >> On Thu, Jan 12, 2012 at 1:26 PM, [hidden email] wrote: >> >>> Don, >>> >>> My first reaction is that compression of 35 is way too high. I >>> never >>> go over 15 or so because of all of the background noise in the shack >>> that is picked up by the mic at high compression settings. >>> Something >>> of that sort is perhaps what you are hearing .. maybe a fan or other >>> hum-like sound in the local environment. High compression makes the >>> system super sensitive to low level sounds. >>> >>> Don K7FJ >>> >>> 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 |
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