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K3S Radio check?

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ae4pb

K3S Radio check?

I'm not sure if my antenna/coax/radio is deaf because I can hear some
signals. Is there a way to quantify and verify that at least the radio is
receiving as designed ? The K3S, antenna, and coax are all new.

Without a signal generator or such I'm not sure how this can be
accomplished. I was only able to barely hear one or two people on the SSB
net and was not able to check in.

I'm in the Charlotte NC area for reference. My dipole is at 35' broadside to
45 degrees. Due to the height I'd expect high angle radiation which should
help/work for NVIS and longer type contacts.

Thanks in advance.

Jerry Moore

CDXA, INDEXA, SKCC, Fists

AE4PB, K3S - S.N. 010324

http://www.qrz.com/db/AE4PB

An Amateur is - Considerate, Loyal, Progressive, Friendly, Balanced, and
Patriotic.

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Cliff Frescura

Re: K3S Radio check?

I would start with your local AM Broadcast stations like WBT on 1100 KHz. I
would then check out WWV on 5.0MHz, 10MHz, 15MHz, 20MHz as well as CHU in
Canada on 3.33MHz, 7.850MHz and 14.67MHz. You might want to add these into
memory for easy recall.

Be mindful that time of day/current propagation/solar conditions will be in
play as well.

73,

Cliff K3LL/6

-----Original Message-----
From: Elecraft [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of
[hidden email]
Sent: Sunday, October 11, 2015 12:20 PM
To: 'ELECRAFT'
Subject: [Elecraft] K3S Radio check?

I'm not sure if my antenna/coax/radio is deaf because I can hear some
signals. Is there a way to quantify and verify that at least the radio is
receiving as designed ? The K3S, antenna, and coax are all new.

Without a signal generator or such I'm not sure how this can be
accomplished. I was only able to barely hear one or two people on the SSB
net and was not able to check in.

I'm in the Charlotte NC area for reference. My dipole is at 35' broadside to
45 degrees. Due to the height I'd expect high angle radiation which should
help/work for NVIS and longer type contacts.

Thanks in advance.

Jerry Moore

CDXA, INDEXA, SKCC, Fists

AE4PB, K3S - S.N. 010324

http://www.qrz.com/db/AE4PB

An Amateur is - Considerate, Loyal, Progressive, Friendly, Balanced, and
Patriotic.

______________________________________________________________
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ae4pb

Re: K3S Radio check?

2.5 nothing band noise
5 nothing just band noise
10 signal S6.5 with lots of band noise but readable
15 S6.5~S7 readable and clear with band noise
20 S8.5 very strong with almost no noise
25 S9 solid tone of some kind, no other signal or sound evident.

I don't have the all band receive module if that matters..

I'm thinking everything is working and I just need better antennas.. ?
Thanks in advance.

-----Original Message-----
From: Cliff Frescura [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: Sunday, October 11, 2015 3:35 PM
To: [hidden email]; 'ELECRAFT'
Subject: RE: [Elecraft] K3S Radio check?

I would start with your local AM Broadcast stations like WBT on 1100 KHz. I
would then check out WWV on 5.0MHz, 10MHz, 15MHz, 20MHz as well as CHU in
Canada on 3.33MHz, 7.850MHz and 14.67MHz. You might want to add these into
memory for easy recall.

Be mindful that time of day/current propagation/solar conditions will be in
play as well.

73,

Cliff K3LL/6

-----Original Message-----
From: Elecraft [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of
[hidden email]
Sent: Sunday, October 11, 2015 12:20 PM
To: 'ELECRAFT'
Subject: [Elecraft] K3S Radio check?

I'm not sure if my antenna/coax/radio is deaf because I can hear some
signals. Is there a way to quantify and verify that at least the radio is
receiving as designed ? The K3S, antenna, and coax are all new.

Without a signal generator or such I'm not sure how this can be
accomplished. I was only able to barely hear one or two people on the SSB
net and was not able to check in.

I'm in the Charlotte NC area for reference. My dipole is at 35' broadside to
45 degrees. Due to the height I'd expect high angle radiation which should
help/work for NVIS and longer type contacts.

Thanks in advance.

Jerry Moore

CDXA, INDEXA, SKCC, Fists

AE4PB, K3S - S.N. 010324

http://www.qrz.com/db/AE4PB

An Amateur is - Considerate, Loyal, Progressive, Friendly, Balanced, and
Patriotic.

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alsopb

Re: K3S Radio check?

Ron,
Second that. I found it easier to maximize output by substituting a
1k resistor in series with a 1K pot for the 1.8 K resistor. Also after
connecting the battery backwards once, a diode in series with the +
supply was added.

73 de Brian/K3KO

This unit produces about S9 noise on most bands with a fresh battery.
Great for aligning filters.

73 de Brian/K3KO
On 10/11/2015 20:28 PM, Ron D'Eau Claire wrote:

> Cdx are punk here in the Northwest today. Very few signals below 21 MHz.
>
> If one of the little Elecraft sig gens is too pricy ($90 to $180), think
> about assembling a little noise generator. I have one made out of a handful
> of parts with the most expensive piece being the 9V battery. The late Tom
> Hammond, N0SS, still has it on his web site:
>
> http://www.mmccs.com/mmarc/n0ss/noise_generator_ac7ac-style.pdf
>
> There are a couple of other versions on the same page.
>
> Once you note how your S-meter reacts to it on each band when the rig is
> obviously working well you can use it to see if your rig has gone deaf
> later.
>
> Ron AC7AC
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Elecraft [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of
> [hidden email]
> Sent: Sunday, October 11, 2015 12:44 PM
> To: 'Cliff Frescura'; [hidden email]; 'ELECRAFT'
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3S Radio check?
>
> 2.5 nothing band noise
> 5 nothing just band noise
> 10 signal S6.5 with lots of band noise but readable
> 15 S6.5~S7 readable and clear with band noise
> 20 S8.5 very strong with almost no noise
> 25 S9 solid tone of some kind, no other signal or sound evident.
>
> I don't have the all band receive module if that matters..
>
> I'm thinking everything is working and I just need better antennas.. ?
> Thanks in advance.
>
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> 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
> Message delivered to [hidden email]
>
>
> -----
> No virus found in this message.
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>
>

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Bill-3

Re: K3S Radio check?

40 meters is alive with signals as of 16:50 Eastern time. If you don't
have that - something is wrong in your system. No signal generator
needed for that test.

Bill W2BLC K-Line
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dw-4

Re: K3S Radio check?

In reply to this post by ae4pb

Jerry,
I had a 2 foot long alligator clip lead on the antenna input of my K3s
today and was hearing cw signals all over 40 meters.

K3s is a pretty hot receiver.
You might try to connect up a wire 5-10 feet long to the ANT 1 input.
Put the rig in TEST mode and see what you hear.
Fingers crossed you figure it out.
--
[hidden email]

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af4b

Re: K3S Radio check?

Make certain that the selected antenna input is correct.

Bill af4b

Sent from my iPad

> On Oct 11, 2015, at 6:32 PM, dw <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> Jerry,
> I had a 2 foot long alligator clip lead on the antenna input of my K3s
> today and was hearing cw signals all over 40 meters.
>
> K3s is a pretty hot receiver.
> You might try to connect up a wire 5-10 feet long to the ANT 1 input.
> Put the rig in TEST mode and see what you hear.
> Fingers crossed you figure it out.
> --
> [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
> Message delivered to [hidden email]