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K3S New Owner - Ergonomic Issue

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Dave Scarfe

K3S New Owner - Ergonomic Issue

I love my K3S. The features and functions are very well thought out, except
(IMHO) the placement of the width control. With only one filter in my rig,
I find that I use the control a lot (as opposed to using the 'XFIL' button
to cycle through filters), and often bump the VFO while making adjustments.

Being new, I know there are many ways to operate this rig that I haven't
discovered yet. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

73,
Dave
VE5UO
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wayne burdick

Re: K3S New Owner - Ergonomic Issue

Administrator

Hi Dave,

There are various ways to control bandwidth on the K3S. One of these methods is likely to work for you:

- rotating the WIDTH/SHIFT controls

- tapping XFIL to cycle through normalized crystal filter bandwidths

- turning APF on/off (hold of XFIL switch)

- pushing/holding the SHIFT control to normalize the passband for the present mode

- pushing/holding the WIDTH control to alternate between two floating presets (I/II) or fixed presets (NORM1/NORM2); see page 26 of the owner’s manual

- alternating VFOs (A/B switch); they can each have different filter settings

- programming PF1 and/or PF2 to execute macros that set bandwidth to specific values

- K-Pod (16 programmable functions plus a remote VFO/RIT knob)

- Computer control (the K3/K3S has a rich set of remote control commands, including shift and width setup)

Let me know if you have questions about any of the above

73,
Wayne
N6KR

> On Apr 6, 2018, at 8:41 AM, Dave Scarfe <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> I love my K3S. The features and functions are very well thought out, except
> (IMHO) the placement of the width control. With only one filter in my rig,
> I find that I use the control a lot (as opposed to using the 'XFIL' button
> to cycle through filters), and often bump the VFO while making adjustments.
>
> Being new, I know there are many ways to operate this rig that I haven't
> discovered yet. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
>
> 73,
> Dave
> VE5UO
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
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> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
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Bill Clarke

Re: K3S New Owner - Ergonomic Issue

I use both the K-pod and a 48 key Genovation keypad (each key is user
programmable using macros for a total of 64 keys).

I rarely have a need to actually touch any control on the K3 itself.

Bill W2BLC K-line

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NK7Z

Re: K3S New Owner - Ergonomic Issue

Hi Bill,
What macros are you using? Could you shoot me a copy of them. I will
add them to the web page on how to install the Genovation if I don't
have them already.

73s and thanks,
Dave
NK7Z
https://www.nk7z.net

On 04/06/2018 10:56 AM, Bill wrote:

> I use both the K-pod and a 48 key Genovation keypad (each key is user
> programmable using macros for a total of 64 keys).
>
> I rarely have a need to actually touch any control on the K3 itself.
>
> Bill W2BLC K-line
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
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>
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Bill Clarke

Re: K3S New Owner - Ergonomic Issue

Hi Dave and others,

I am not using anything that is long or unusual for a macro. The idea of
my usage is to give me similar control of the K3 that I would get from
leaning across the desk to the rig - just to make life simple.

Such as: I have some keys set up as 3x4 keypad on the face of the K3,
others as preset frequencies/mode/filter, can select mode, band up/dn,
various audio settings, and up/down 50/10/1 kcs, and a few other toggle
type macros. I also use a K-pod.

Had the K-Pod been available when I originally set up the Genovation, I
would have stopped with the K-Pod. Creatively building the macros for
the K-Pod allows me to nearly control the K3 as well as from the
Genovation and the K-Pod has a VFO to boot. The K-Pod is an excellently
thought out product, limited only by the imagination of the user.

Bill

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NK7Z

Re: K3S New Owner - Ergonomic Issue

The how to for this project is located at:

https://www.nk7z.net/adding-external-keypad-k3/

and in Fred Cady's K3 book located at:

http://www.ke7x.com/home/guide-to-the-k3

73s and thanks,
Dave
NK7Z
https://www.nk7z.net

On 04/06/2018 01:22 PM, Bill wrote:

> Hi Dave and others,
>
> I am not using anything that is long or unusual for a macro. The idea of
> my usage is to give me similar control of the K3 that I would get from
> leaning across the desk to the rig - just to make life simple.
>
> Such as: I have some keys set up as 3x4 keypad on the face of the K3,
> others as preset frequencies/mode/filter, can select mode, band up/dn,
> various audio settings, and up/down 50/10/1 kcs, and a few other toggle
> type macros. I also use a K-pod.
>
> Had the K-Pod been available when I originally set up the Genovation, I
> would have stopped with the K-Pod. Creatively building the macros for
> the K-Pod allows me to nearly control the K3 as well as from the
> Genovation and the K-Pod has a VFO to boot. The K-Pod is an excellently
> thought out product, limited only by the imagination of the user.
>
> Bill
>
>
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> 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]

Dave Scarfe

Re: K3S New Owner - Ergonomic Issue

In reply to this post by wayne burdick

Thanks Wayne and George, I hadn't considered using the presets in
combination with xfil to help navigate different filtering options. Handy
that they are per band and per mode. Also, the VFO1/2 trick is cool. The
other various DSP techniques are very interesting (NR and APF)...guess
there is no need for the outboard Timewave DSP from my previous rig :D.

I don't have a kpod, but the discussion between Dave and Bill has whet my
appetite.

Thanks all for the great tips! This sort of feedback really helps a newbie
to get the most out of this great platform.

73,
Dave
VE5UO

On Fri, Apr 6, 2018 at 11:44 AM, Wayne Burdick <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Hi Dave,
>
> There are various ways to control bandwidth on the K3S. One of these
> methods is likely to work for you:
>
> - rotating the WIDTH/SHIFT controls
>
> - tapping XFIL to cycle through normalized crystal filter bandwidths
>
> - turning APF on/off (hold of XFIL switch)
>
> - pushing/holding the SHIFT control to normalize the passband for the
> present mode
>
> - pushing/holding the WIDTH control to alternate between two floating
> presets (I/II) or fixed presets (NORM1/NORM2); see page 26 of the owner’s
> manual
>
> - alternating VFOs (A/B switch); they can each have different filter
> settings
>
> - programming PF1 and/or PF2 to execute macros that set bandwidth to
> specific values
>
> - K-Pod (16 programmable functions plus a remote VFO/RIT knob)
>
> - Computer control (the K3/K3S has a rich set of remote control commands,
> including shift and width setup)
>
> Let me know if you have questions about any of the above
>
> 73,
> Wayne
> N6KR
>
>
>
> > On Apr 6, 2018, at 8:41 AM, Dave Scarfe <[hidden email]> wrote:
> >
> > I love my K3S. The features and functions are very well thought out,
> except
> > (IMHO) the placement of the width control. With only one filter in my
> rig,
> > I find that I use the control a lot (as opposed to using the 'XFIL'
> button
> > to cycle through filters), and often bump the VFO while making
> adjustments.
> >
> > Being new, I know there are many ways to operate this rig that I haven't
> > discovered yet. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
> >
> > 73,
> > Dave
> > VE5UO
> > ______________________________________________________________
> > 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]
>
>