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K3S CW Optimization

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MaverickNH

K3S CW Optimization

Apologies, as I'm sure this has been addressed before. I'm new to CW, just
finishing CWOPS Beginner, and am looking to set up my K3S/P3 for best use on
CW. Might there be a guide that I can start with? My K3S has filters down to
500Hz. Thanks for the help!

Bret/N4SRN

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KE8G-2

Re: K3S CW Optimization

Hi Bert,
Congrats on the K3s/P3 and getting into CW. It's a great way to
communicate and have fun!

You are going to receive many different answers, and all of them will
probably be correct. As it's a personal preference as to how one likes
their rig set up for CW reception. Some 40+ years ago, I loved my sidetone
set at 650Hz, but now 420Hz is the ideal sweet sound to my ears. Yours
will differ, experiment.

In my K3s, I have in both the main and sub receiver, filtering of 2.8, 2.1,
1.0, 400, & 250. Lots of folks will say I wasted money on the filters, as
some of them are very close in response, but again, my preference. When I
am on the radio in the CWT's, I have my filtering set for 400Hz, and then
use my "wet" filter (ears & brain) to filter beyond that. I will drop down
to 250Hz if someone gets a little close to me. When I am in S & P mode, I
might get down to 100Hz filtering to help zero in on a station, especially
if it's weak, again my preference.

I keep saying "my preference" because today, that's the way I like it, next
year, good Lord willing, it might be something different.

The best advice I can offer is to experiment with the radio and see what
works best for you. That can change on a day-to-day basis depending on
conditions. So, you have to be dynamic on your settings and never believe
it's set in stone.

A good read is Fred Cady's - KE7X, now a SK, book on the K3/K3s radio and
how to use it. It has many good pointers and lots of valuable
information. I believe PDF formats are still available on LuLu publishing.

I hope that helps a little.

73 de Jim - KE8G

On Thu, Feb 11, 2021 at 5:25 PM MaverickNH <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Apologies, as I'm sure this has been addressed before. I'm new to CW, just
> finishing CWOPS Beginner, and am looking to set up my K3S/P3 for best use
> on
> CW. Might there be a guide that I can start with? My K3S has filters down
> to
> 500Hz. Thanks for the help!
>
> Bret/N4SRN
>
>
>
> --
> Sent from: http://elecraft.365791.n2.nabble.com/
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
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Jim Brown-10

Re: K3S CW Optimization

On 2/11/2021 4:04 PM, KE8G wrote:
> In my K3s, I have in both the main and sub receiver, filtering of 2.8, 2.1,
> 1.0, 400, & 250. Lots of folks will say I wasted money on the filters, as
> some of them are very close in response, but again, my preference.

Those are roofing filters, designed to protect the MAIN IF filters from
VERY strong stations close to your frequency. Those main IF filters not
hardware filters, they are implemented in DSP, and are what vary when
you adjust the Width/Center (for CW, RTTY) or Low-High knobs (for SSB,
Digital).

The 1kHz filter is the only one I'd call wasted. The 2.8 filter is a
great TX filter, because it's a lot flatter than the default 2.7 kHz
filter. The 2.1 filter helps a lot with SSB in a contest; my ear/brain
thinks 1.8 kHz is too narrow. The 400 Hz filter is good for RTTY and CW,
and the 250 Hz filter helps with VERY strong CW signals in contests.

But in each case, they ADD to the primary filters in the DSP IF. When
two filters of approximately the same bandwidth are both in the signal
chain, they response "cascade," meaning that the two in combination have
skirts that fall off much faster than only one of them, so their
rejection of off-frequency signals is much greater.

73, Jim K9YC
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jh3sif

Re: K3S CW Optimization

In reply to this post by MaverickNH

K3s provides many parameters to make your K3s with best setup for CW operation such as Pitch, AGC, APF and Dual-Passband CW Filtering, Receive Audio Equalization, etc. Also you may adjust SHIFT, WIDTH, LO/HI Cut in DSP Filtering.
I would suggest you to adjust the parameters to get your best readability.

73 de JH3SIF, Keith

> 2021/02/12 8:24、MaverickNH <[hidden email]>のメール:
>
> Apologies, as I'm sure this has been addressed before. I'm new to CW, just
> finishing CWOPS Beginner, and am looking to set up my K3S/P3 for best use on
> CW. Might there be a guide that I can start with? My K3S has filters down to
> 500Hz. Thanks for the help!
>
> Bret/N4SRN
>
>
>
> --
> Sent from: http://elecraft.365791.n2.nabble.com/
> ______________________________________________________________
> 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
> Message delivered to [hidden email]