Elecraft

K3 wierd action.

Classic

List

Threaded

4 messages Options

nf8j

K3 wierd action.

The last couple of days, on 20 meters, 14.070 in data mode for psk31, the TX led lights up intermittently, and the audio make clicking sounds. Of course, while watching the waterfall, the traces are interupted by the radio going into transmit, and I can not print the data on the screen. I am using HRD and DM 780 and have been operating for the last yr and a half with no problems. I powered the radio off and the power supply off and when turning on the ps and the K3, I get an error message on the B vfo line. ERR-Key, and then the banner scrolls and the error message goes away. I cannot find in the owners manual any reference to "ERR KEY". When I switch the K3 to the "Test Mode", the TX led does not light of course, but the traces continue to be interrupted by the radio going into transmit.. As far as I can tell, this behavior does not happen in any other mode. The K3 is serial # 758 and the firmware is 3.11 and the DSP is 2.15. Anyone have a suggestion of something I might ch
eck.
NF8J

Paul VanOveren
Alto, Mi.
[hidden email]
______________________________________________________________
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

Bob Cunnings NW8L

Re: K3 wierd action.

If you have VOX enabled, it may be that strong signals sent to the
sound card via line out are coupling back via line in and triggering
transmit. If so try reducing VOX gain. I ran into a variation on this
theme involving use of NR when tuning through AM signals.

ERR KEY means the K3 detects a keyed condition within 2 seconds after
powerup, and is described in the release notes for firmware MCU 2.13 /
DSP 1.83, 7-3-08.

Bob NW8L

On Fri, Jun 12, 2009 at 7:56 AM, PAUL VANOVEREN<[hidden email]> wrote:

> The last couple of days, on 20 meters, 14.070 in data mode for psk31, the TX led lights up intermittently, and the audio make clicking sounds. Of course, while watching the waterfall, the traces are interupted by the radio going into transmit, and I can not print the data on the screen. I am using HRD and DM 780 and have been operating for the last yr and a half with no problems. I powered the radio off and the power supply off and when turning on the ps and the K3, I get an error message on the B vfo line. ERR-Key, and then the banner scrolls and the error message goes away. I cannot find in the owners manual any reference to "ERR KEY". When I switch the K3 to the "Test Mode", the TX led does not light of course, but the traces continue to be interrupted by the radio going into transmit.. As far as I can tell, this behavior does not happen in any other mode. The K3 is serial # 758 and the firmware is 3.11 and the DSP is 2.15. Anyone have a suggestion of something I might ch
> eck.
> NF8J
>
> Paul VanOveren
> Alto, Mi.
> [hidden email]
> ______________________________________________________________
> 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

Richard Ferch

Re: K3 wierd action.

In reply to this post by nf8j

Paul,

The "ERR KEY" message indicates that you have CONFIG:PTT-KEY set to
something other than OFF-OFF and that either the RTS or the DTR line was
set "On" at the time you restarted.

This may be related to the intermittent TX problem: I find that when
using a USB-to-serial adapter for radio control, making changes to other
USB devices sometimes results in disturbances on these control lines,
and if I have PTT set to use RTS, I see the radio toggling between RX
and TX for a few moments at these times. One solution to that is to turn
CONFIG:PTT-KEY to OFF-OFF and use PTT via software command instead.
Another is to do PTT and CW (and FSK) keying on a different serial port
from the one you are using for radio control.

73,
Rich VE3KI

NF8J wrote:

> The last couple of days, on 20 meters, 14.070 in data mode for psk31,
> the TX led lights up intermittently, and the audio make clicking
> sounds. Of course, while watching the waterfall, the traces are
> interupted by the radio going into transmit, and I can not print the
> data on the screen. I am using HRD and DM 780 and have been operating
> for the last yr and a half with no problems. I powered the radio off
> and the power supply off and when turning on the ps and the K3, I get
> an error message on the B vfo line. ERR-Key, and then the banner
> scrolls and the error message goes away. I cannot find in the owners
> manual any reference to "ERR KEY". When I switch the K3 to the "Test
> Mode", the TX led does not light of course, but the traces continue
> to be interrupted by the radio going into transmit.. As far as I can
> tell, this behavior does not happen in any other mode. The K3 is
> serial # 758 and the firmware is 3.11 and the DSP is 2.15. Anyone
> have a suggestion of something I might check.

Don Wilhelm-4

Re: K3 wierd action.

In reply to this post by nf8j

Paul,

You have something activating the keying line - most likely from the
computer.
Set the K3 menu for DTR-RTS to OFF-OFF.
Then in the DM780 configuration, set DM780 to activate transmit through HRD.

73,
Don W3FPR

PAUL VANOVEREN wrote:
> The last couple of days, on 20 meters, 14.070 in data mode for psk31, the TX led lights up intermittently, and the audio make clicking sounds. Of course, while watching the waterfall, the traces are interupted by the radio going into transmit, and I can not print the data on the screen. I am using HRD and DM 780 and have been operating for the last yr and a half with no problems. I powered the radio off and the power supply off and when turning on the ps and the K3, I get an error message on the B vfo line. ERR-Key, and then the banner scrolls and the error message goes away. I cannot find in the owners manual any reference to "ERR KEY". When I switch the K3 to the "Test Mode", the TX led does not light of course, but the traces continue to be interrupted by the radio going into transmit.. As far as I can tell, this behavior does not happen in any other mode. The K3 is serial # 758 and the firmware is 3.11 and the DSP is 2.15. Anyone have a suggestion of something I might
ch
> eck.
> NF8J
>
> Paul VanOveren
> Alto, Mi.
> [hidden email]
>
>

______________________________________________________________
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