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K4 Remote

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VE6WZ Steve

K4 Remote

I eagerly await the K4. (I have pre-ordered.)

The VE6WZ station is a 100% remote station. My remote QTH is a purpose built station with a low-band focus.

I have some questions, and perhaps comments about what the remote functionality of the K4 will look like.

Currently at my remote is the K3 twin setup (rcc-1258 remoterig boxes) and the Flex 6600. I can switch between either radio.
My radio of choice for weak signal CW remains the K3, because of the superior RX. However, the Flex is my preferred radio when traveling away from the home QTH because of the interface to the laptop. Using the Flex SmartSDR software on the laptop and the Flex control knob (like the Kpod) it is exactly the same as sitting at home. The K3 on the other hand requires the remoterig rcc-micro dongle and clumsy third party radio interface software, and will not allow dual channel diversity rx.

So...my questions/comments:

I will never actually see the K4. For all it’s beauty, it will be sitting at my remote shack all by itself never to be touched. Control will be entirely dependant on the “yet to be seen” PC control software. This software is crucial to my operating.

1.) Will the K4 return the CW sidetone back from the remote to the control station PC? Believe it or not, Flex has not corrected this deficiency in their radios even though users have been complaining about it for 5 years!
This is important to many remote operators who, like myself CW key the radio ***at the remote PC*** which is sitting beside the radio at the remote. (This eliminates any chance of corrupted CW from packet loss...which DOES happen) Even if the radio is keyed at the control PC with N1MM, we still need the sidetone returned. All this is done perfectly with the remoterig K3 twin set-up, so I’m assuming this will be done, but after the Flex experience I had to ask.

2.)Apart from the possibility of a K4/0 (front-panel), is there a possibility of a K4 with a detachable front panel, or a K4/0 and a “K4 radio-only” (no front panel) option?
This is not a deal breaker for me since I use PC only control exclusively with the Flex and it is great. Using the Flex control knob I have complete radio control and all CW is sent via the keyboard. I did own the Maestro, but never used it so sold it after a few months.

3.) I hope some functionality will be available to adjust the internet bandwidth for those with limited connection speed.

4.) will the K-pod be available for use with the PC at the control station?

5.) the Flex can integrate DX spots from my logging program directly onto the waterfall on the PC and they are available for “point and shoot” radio control. Is such a feature possible with the K4 architecture?

6.) As explained above, the remote software functionality is crucial for my operating, and committing to a radio purchase prior to viewing is not possible. Is there an eta for when the remote control software will be released for preview, or at least is it planned to be available before radios begin to ship?

I was at Dayton and did speak to both Eric and Wayne, but I forgot some of these questions...and the crowds were thick!

de Steve Ve6wz

From Babcocks iPhone
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Rick Tavan-2

Re: K4 Remote

Smarter folks than I will answer more of your questions more fully but I
can say a few things:

- The K4 is designed from the get-go for remote operation and seems to
already have full remote capability even in the prototype that we saw at
Dayton. The front panel talks to the guts of the radio via Ethernet so any
local or remote K4 can control another local or remote K4, including the
entire front panel display and controls.
- I saw the tablet app which was beautiful but I didn't delve into what
it could and couldn't do. They talked about a similar PC app but I didn't
see it. But I am confident that I'll be able to configure my mountain
remote station so that I can access it either from my valley QTH or from a
hotel room without any cabling differences.
- I vaguely recall hearing that K*Pod will be supported with either a
tablet or PC app. That will be awesome when I travel and want to do some
casual ham radio.
- If you use N1MM Logger+, you can display clickable call signs on its
spectrum display. I think there will be some N1MM programming needed to
support direct I/Q input from the K4 but I'm confident the MM development
team will be right on top of that. If there is a delay, I know I can use an
external Airspy HF+ SDR in the K4 RX ANT loop the way I do with my K3's.
- They said a K4/0 was in the offing but not real soon.
- I am confident that K4 remote operation will be better than the
K3-RRC--RRC-K3 configuration I use today.

73,

/Rick N6XI
--

Rick Tavan
Truckee, CA

On Tue, May 28, 2019 at 2:52 PM VE6WZ Steve <[hidden email]> wrote:

> I eagerly await the K4. (I have pre-ordered.)
>
> The VE6WZ station is a 100% remote station. My remote QTH is a purpose
> built station with a low-band focus.
>
> I have some questions, and perhaps comments about what the remote
> functionality of the K4 will look like.
>
> Currently at my remote is the K3 twin setup (rcc-1258 remoterig boxes) and
> the Flex 6600. I can switch between either radio.
> My radio of choice for weak signal CW remains the K3, because of the
> superior RX. However, the Flex is my preferred radio when traveling away
> from the home QTH because of the interface to the laptop. Using the Flex
> SmartSDR software on the laptop and the Flex control knob (like the Kpod)
> it is exactly the same as sitting at home. The K3 on the other hand
> requires the remoterig rcc-micro dongle and clumsy third party radio
> interface software, and will not allow dual channel diversity rx.
>
> So...my questions/comments:
>
> I will never actually see the K4. For all it’s beauty, it will be sitting
> at my remote shack all by itself never to be touched. Control will be
> entirely dependant on the “yet to be seen” PC control software. This
> software is crucial to my operating.
>
> 1.) Will the K4 return the CW sidetone back from the remote to the control
> station PC? Believe it or not, Flex has not corrected this deficiency in
> their radios even though users have been complaining about it for 5 years!
> This is important to many remote operators who, like myself CW key the
> radio ***at the remote PC*** which is sitting beside the radio at the
> remote. (This eliminates any chance of corrupted CW from packet
> loss...which DOES happen) Even if the radio is keyed at the control PC
> with N1MM, we still need the sidetone returned. All this is done perfectly
> with the remoterig K3 twin set-up, so I’m assuming this will be done, but
> after the Flex experience I had to ask.
>
> 2.)Apart from the possibility of a K4/0 (front-panel), is there a
> possibility of a K4 with a detachable front panel, or a K4/0 and a “K4
> radio-only” (no front panel) option?
> This is not a deal breaker for me since I use PC only control exclusively
> with the Flex and it is great. Using the Flex control knob I have complete
> radio control and all CW is sent via the keyboard. I did own the Maestro,
> but never used it so sold it after a few months.
>
> 3.) I hope some functionality will be available to adjust the internet
> bandwidth for those with limited connection speed.
>
> 4.) will the K-pod be available for use with the PC at the control station?
>
> 5.) the Flex can integrate DX spots from my logging program directly onto
> the waterfall on the PC and they are available for “point and shoot” radio
> control. Is such a feature possible with the K4 architecture?
>
> 6.) As explained above, the remote software functionality is crucial for
> my operating, and committing to a radio purchase prior to viewing is not
> possible. Is there an eta for when the remote control software will be
> released for preview, or at least is it planned to be available before
> radios begin to ship?
>
> I was at Dayton and did speak to both Eric and Wayne, but I forgot some of
> these questions...and the crowds were thick!
>
> de Steve Ve6wz
>
>
>
>
> From Babcocks iPhone
> ______________________________________________________________
> 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

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Post: mailto:[hidden email]

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Art Suberbielle-2

Re: K4 remote

In reply to this post by VE6WZ Steve

Hi Wayne,

We're all excited about the new K4. I'm wondering how we are to connect a
paddle via the remote (or a mike)? With the K3/0 it's a plug and play thing
using the RRC boxes. But since the K4 works directly over the 'net just
wondering how to actually transmit.

I also wonder if there is a way to connect a P3 to the K4? If this were
possible, one could monitor visually a larger segment of a band with the P3
while using the built-in monitor to see a smaller segment in more detail.

73,

Art KZ5D
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Nr4c

Re: K4 remote

Greater span than what? DC to 54 MHz is a pretty large segment of spectrum. Yes I’d like to know what the span of the on screen display is or can be set to.

Sent from my iPhone
...nr4c. bill

> On Jun 2, 2019, at 12:34 PM, Art Suberbielle <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> Hi Wayne,
>
> We're all excited about the new K4. I'm wondering how we are to connect a
> paddle via the remote (or a mike)? With the K3/0 it's a plug and play thing
> using the RRC boxes. But since the K4 works directly over the 'net just
> wondering how to actually transmit.
>
> I also wonder if there is a way to connect a P3 to the K4? If this were
> possible, one could monitor visually a larger segment of a band with the P3
> while using the built-in monitor to see a smaller segment in more detail.
>
> 73,
>
> Art KZ5D
> ______________________________________________________________
> 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