K4 in its first WPX

[wayne burdick]

OK, so I'm not the most serious contester in the stable. But I did get a chance to put my K4 through its paces in WPX for the first time, and had a blast.

Even though the "hard" controls of the K4 are very similar to those on the K3 (or K3S), the kinesthetic operating experience is quite different due to its display-centric design. The average "reach" as you manipulate panadapter settings vs. other settings on the radio is cut roughly in half.

There's a modest learning curve associated with the three new multifunction controls, given that they're remapped from their counterparts on the K3. But you quickly realize the advantage of persistent parameter labeling. All semantically related operations are efficient; just push the knob briefly to toggle between them. For example, in CW mode the "XMTR" multifunction knob's default assignments are WPM and SPEED, each showing their current settings. The secondary assignments -- DLY (VOX delay) and PTCH (CW sidetone/offset pitch) -- are also displayed, and can be selected as needed.

I made things more challenging by using only 10 watts during the contest and sticking with hunt 'n' pounce. (Those who've known me for a long time won't be surprised by this. I love the smell of lightly toasted electrons in the early afternoon.) This forced me to make more extensive use of the radio's panadapter, VFO, and spotting controls: carefully selecting which stations to call, using VFO B as a leapfrog/holding register for the next-most-likely contact, optimally setting up the span and main/sub filter bandwidths, etc. Compared to parking on a frequency and calling CQ, my preferred modus operandi is akin to the visceral experience of driving a stick.

Despite my obvious bias as a developer of the radio, I have to say that I really love the radio's display. It's very bright and has an extra-wide viewing angle. It drew in unsuspecting passersby, such as my college-age daughter, who seemed mesmerized by it despite having no clue what I was up to. If we ported Instagram to the internal computer she'd be on the waiting list for sure. With a heavy discount, mind you.

I could have made great use of the mini-pan tuning aid and dual-pan configuration, but both are in software dry dock right now as they undergo last minute tweaks. I'll be running them through crunch conditions soon and will report the results here. Field testers, of course, will be weighing in with a lot more data in coming months. Stay tuned....

73,
Wayne
N6KR






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[Rick Robinson]

Lucky guy you are. But really, interaction with the owner/designer is
something special. One of many things that go to making Elecraft,Elecraft.
And putting yourself behind the wheel gives us all confidence in the
product we buy. Thanks for your impressions.

On Mon, May 27, 2019 at 10:23 PM Wayne Burdick <[hidden email]> wrote:

> OK, so I'm not the most serious contester in the stable. But I did get a
> chance to put my K4 through its paces in WPX for the first time, and had a
> blast.
>
> Even though the "hard" controls of the K4 are very similar to those on the
> K3 (or K3S), the kinesthetic operating experience is quite different due to
> its display-centric design. The average "reach" as you manipulate
> panadapter settings vs. other settings on the radio is cut roughly in half.
>
> There's a modest learning curve associated with the three new
> multifunction controls, given that they're remapped from their counterparts
> on the K3. But you quickly realize the advantage of persistent parameter
> labeling. All semantically related operations are efficient; just push the
> knob briefly to toggle between them. For example, in CW mode the "XMTR"
> multifunction knob's default assignments are WPM and SPEED, each showing
> their current settings. The secondary assignments -- DLY (VOX delay) and
> PTCH (CW sidetone/offset pitch) -- are also displayed, and can be selected
> as needed.
>
> I made things more challenging by using only 10 watts during the contest
> and sticking with hunt 'n' pounce. (Those who've known me for a long time
> won't be surprised by this. I love the smell of lightly toasted electrons
> in the early afternoon.) This forced me to make more extensive use of the
> radio's panadapter, VFO, and spotting controls: carefully selecting which
> stations to call, using VFO B as a leapfrog/holding register for the
> next-most-likely contact, optimally setting up the span and main/sub filter
> bandwidths, etc. Compared to parking on a frequency and calling CQ, my
> preferred modus operandi is akin to the visceral experience of driving a
> stick.
>
> Despite my obvious bias as a developer of the radio, I have to say that I
> really love the radio's display. It's very bright and has an extra-wide
> viewing angle. It drew in unsuspecting passersby, such as my college-age
> daughter, who seemed mesmerized by it despite having no clue what I was up
> to. If we ported Instagram to the internal computer she'd be on the waiting
> list for sure. With a heavy discount, mind you.
>
> I could have made great use of the mini-pan tuning aid and dual-pan
> configuration, but both are in software dry dock right now as they undergo
> last minute tweaks. I'll be running them through crunch conditions soon and
> will report the results here. Field testers, of course, will be weighing in
> with a lot more data in coming months. Stay tuned....
>
> 73,
> Wayne
> N6KR
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
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> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>

--
Rick Genesis 1-29
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[wayne burdick]

Correction:  WPM and PWR are the default XMTR knob functions in CW mode.

Wayne

----
elecraft.com

>> For example, in CW mode the "XMTR" multifunction knob's default assignments are WPM and SPEED, each showing their current settings. The secondary assignments -- DLY (VOX delay) and PTCH (CW sidetone/offset pitch) -- are also displayed, and can be selected as needed.
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[Barry]

Wayne must have been the first one to get his deposit in at Dayton... :-)

Barry W2UP



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Sent from: http://elecraft.365791.n2.nabble.com/
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[Don Wilhelm]

Barry,

I think Wayne had his 'deposit' in a LONG time before Dayton.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 5/28/2019 8:37 AM, Barry wrote:
> Wayne must have been the first one to get his deposit in at Dayton... :-)
>
> Barry W2UP
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[Scott Russell]

Sounds like a great experience. I would totally integrate Facebook in the
display! Haha, good one. I can’t wait to hear more about the operation and
features in real world use. Thanks for the walk-through!

Scott, N1SER



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[Dave New, N8SBE]

Actually, how about QRZ, DxMaps, WSPRnet, or other propagation sites?
If not on the internal display, pick/choose to show in a small window on
the big external monitor?

The mind boggles...

-- Dave, N8SBE

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K4 in its first WPX
From: Scott Russell <[hidden email]>
Date: Tue, May 28, 2019 9:22 am
To: [hidden email]

Sounds like a great experience. I would totally integrate Facebook in
the
display! Haha, good one. I can’t wait to hear more about the operation
and
features in real world use. Thanks for the walk-through!

Scott, N1SER




This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
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