K3: spurious CW T/R switching while VOX off

[Mario Lorenz]

Hi,

I have brought my K3 to our local club station to see how the K3
would play within a contest setting. We use the external T/R
output to control various things, like the PA.

What I noticed is that in CW mode, with VOX/QSK to OFF, when
accidentally hitting the paddle, the T/R and all the other connected
relays would spring into "full-qsk-style" action, ie. activate for
each single dot (with PTT/XMit not pressed). No HF is being generated.

Normal behaviour (with any other radio) would be no action at all -
Since the K3 Manual says that when VOX is not active, one MUST either
push PTT or the XMIT button to transmit, I regarded this behaviour as
an error and duly reported it to Elecraft.

Thats what I received as an answer:

"We hashed this out for months in our focus group. This is the behavior
 that  probably 90% of our customers prefer. But I've noted it for a possible
 future menu entry."

I'm now somewhat at a loss. I absolutely cannot imagine any possible
reason why someone would want the T/R switch when accidentally hitting
the CW paddle, and thus also cannot see why this would need to be
configurable (since menu entries, as was explained earlier, are a limited
resource).

Hello "focus group", as it obviously was a hot topic in some
discussions, would you mind sharing even one single use case in favour
of this behaviour ?

Mario

--
Mario Lorenz                            Internet:    <[hidden email]>
                                        Ham Radio:   DL5MLO@DB0ERF.#THR.DEU.EU
Remember: In god we trust -- all others we polygraph.
  -- Jim Christy, Assistant for law enforcement, US Air Force
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[Ralph Parker]

>What I noticed is that in CW mode, with VOX/QSK to OFF, when
>accidentally hitting the paddle, the T/R and all the other connected
>relays would spring into "full-qsk-style" action, ie. activate for
>each single dot (with PTT/XMit not pressed). No HF is being generated.

Tnx, Mario - this drives me crazy too!!
I hit the paddle on purpose, usually to match my speed with a received signal.
(or sometimes just to send CW to myself :-)
I also don't understand why this would be preferred.

VE7XF

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[Alexandr Kobranov]

Hi Mario,

this is very long time known behavior see

http://www.zerobeat.net/smf/index.php?topic=215.0

This is not error as output port is KEY OUT not PTT OUT :-)

But you described common experience with this, I had the same with
VHF/UHF stuff connected to K3 - more complex system (as I have for
23cm QRP EME station, stricly in PTT mode) is reacting to accidentally
pressed Key and first experience was very stressy.... As no RF is
going out, no demages in system, but...

There is some ways, how to control - having external PTT system
activating Key input is one approach, there are some others.

But you are right - the rest of my eqp (FT1000, FT897, TS850) dos not
activate control line when in PTT mode.

GL, 73!
Lexa, OK1DST
K3/10 #727

Mario Lorenz napsal(a):

> Hi,
>
> I have brought my K3 to our local club station to see how the K3
> would play within a contest setting. We use the external T/R
> output to control various things, like the PA.
>
> What I noticed is that in CW mode, with VOX/QSK to OFF, when
> accidentally hitting the paddle, the T/R and all the other connected
> relays would spring into "full-qsk-style" action, ie. activate for
> each single dot (with PTT/XMit not pressed). No HF is being generated.
>
> Normal behaviour (with any other radio) would be no action at all -
> Since the K3 Manual says that when VOX is not active, one MUST either
> push PTT or the XMIT button to transmit, I regarded this behaviour as
> an error and duly reported it to Elecraft.
>
> Thats what I received as an answer:
>
> "We hashed this out for months in our focus group. This is the behavior
>  that  probably 90% of our customers prefer. But I've noted it for a possible
>  future menu entry."
>
> I'm now somewhat at a loss. I absolutely cannot imagine any possible
> reason why someone would want the T/R switch when accidentally hitting
> the CW paddle, and thus also cannot see why this would need to be
> configurable (since menu entries, as was explained earlier, are a limited
> resource).
>
> Hello "focus group", as it obviously was a hot topic in some
> discussions, would you mind sharing even one single use case in favour
> of this behaviour ?
>
> Mario
>

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[G3TCT]

Mario said
> What I noticed is that in CW mode, with VOX/QSK to OFF, when
> accidentally hitting the paddle, the T/R and all the other connected
> relays would spring into "full-qsk-style" action, ie. activate for
> each single dot (with PTT/XMit not pressed). No HF is being generated.
>

I agree entirely with Mario and I don't understand what purpose this serves.
Given that the TX test function disables rf but allows keying of external
amps etc, it seems odd to allow the same thing to happen with TX norm and
VOX off.
Why did 90% of the focus group think this was useful?

Graham

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