KX3 digital
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I have had my KX3 about a month now. I have never worked digital modes
before. It sounded very easy in the manual. So I listened to a few PSK31 stations. Wow you have to read fast! I hear CQ's and try to reply. No luck! Try a few CQ's myself. No replies. I must be doing something wrong. I don't have any trouble making contacts on CW. I tried both 40 and 20 meters. Help! 72 George/W2BPI ______________________________________________________________ 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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5 watts on PSK will work if you are in an empty section on the waterfall. In a crowded situation with strong signals nearby, you will be stepped on and obliterated by the strong signal. Certain DX stations are notorious for overdriving the waterfall and wiping out other signals. You are better off calling CQ in location away from nearby strong signals. At 5 watts your printing on the waterfall can be faint depending on propagation. I did get Hawaii once on PSK with my K2. My luck with PSK has always been better at 25-30 watts. That is just the nature of this mode. At QRP power, CW is much more efficient. Make sure you have enough drive to just trigger the ALC circuit. You are also better off decoding the PSK signal with Fldigi or DM780 - just a better PSK experience with the macros and all.
Ariel NY4G Sent from my iPad On Jan 11, 2013, at 4:44 PM, [hidden email] wrote: > I have had my KX3 about a month now. I have never worked digital modes > before. It sounded very easy in the manual. So I listened to a few PSK31 > stations. Wow you have to read fast! I hear CQ's and try to reply. No luck! Try > a few CQ's myself. No replies. I must be doing something wrong. I don't have > any trouble making contacts on CW. I tried both 40 and 20 meters. Help! > 72 George/W2BPI > ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ 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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It used to be that 5 watts on PSK31 was all that was needed, most all
operators were using low power because it worked well. Most advice was to keep the power low - below 20 watts if I recall. As time went by, the power levels used on PSK31 have crept up and many operators are now using 100 watts or more. That kind of power in the narrow bandwidth of common PSK wattering holes will take over the AGC in the receiver because most are using bandwidths of 2.5 kHz or greater to see the full waterfall display. The AGC will respond to the strongest signal within the filter bandwidth and will make weaker stations more difficult to copy. Sometimes turning off the AGC will help, but concentrating on the station you wish to copy and narrowing the IF filter bandwidth will help even more. If you only want to work one station, there is no need to see the entire PSK31 band. Narrow the receiver filter and use the VFO to tune the desired station to the center of the IF passband. 73, Don W3FPR On 1/11/2013 6:13 PM, Ariel Jacala wrote: > 5 watts on PSK will work if you are in an empty section on the waterfall. In a crowded situation with strong signals nearby, you will be stepped on and obliterated by the strong signal. Certain DX stations are notorious for overdriving the waterfall and wiping out other signals. You are better off calling CQ in location away from nearby strong signals. At 5 watts your printing on the waterfall can be faint depending on propagation. I did get Hawaii once on PSK with my K2. My luck with PSK has always been better at 25-30 watts. That is just the nature of this mode. At QRP power, CW is much more efficient. Make sure you have enough drive to just trigger the ALC circuit. You are also better off decoding the PSK signal with Fldigi or DM780 - just a better PSK experience with the macros and all. > > ______________________________________________________________ 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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In reply to this post by ny4g
I have done most of my QSOs on PSK31 and 5 watts. They include
49 states (still missing Rhode Island), and about 16 DXCC entities including Japan, Cuba, Brasil, and Australia. You can have a lot of fun with 5 watts, and with QRP you'll have stories about the ones that got away. Don's advice about narrowing your bandwidth is very good advice. I generally use the HI/Low bandwidth adjustments on my K3 to narrow the bandwidth around the station I am trying to contact until my 250Hz filter kicks in. (I lock the K3 VFO to avoid bumping it and moving the station on my computer waterfall.) Your KX3 has similar controls for the DSP bandwidth. I find my dynamic range limit is in the audio interface to the computer, and narrowing the bandwidth in the DSP gets rid of most of the other stations which overload the computer sound input. Have fun with the digital modes. Cheers - Bill, AE6JV On 1/11/13 at 3:13 PM, [hidden email] (Ariel Jacala) wrote: >5 watts on PSK will work if you are in an empty section on the >waterfall. In a crowded situation with strong signals nearby, >you will be stepped on and obliterated by the strong signal. >Certain DX stations are notorious for overdriving the waterfall >and wiping out other signals. You are better off calling CQ in >location away from nearby strong signals. At 5 watts your >printing on the waterfall can be faint depending on >propagation. I did get Hawaii once on PSK with my K2. My luck >with PSK has always been better at 25-30 watts. That is just >the nature of this mode. At QRP power, CW is much more >efficient. Make sure you have enough drive to just trigger the >ALC circuit. You are also better off decoding the PSK signal >with Fldigi or DM780 - just a better PSK experience with the >macros and all. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Frantz |Security, like correctness, is| Periwinkle (408)356-8506 |not an add-on feature. - Attr-| 16345 Englewood Ave www.pwpconsult.com |ibuted to Andrew Tanenbaum | Los Gatos, CA 95032 ______________________________________________________________ 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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In reply to this post by George
George,
Before you become discouraged, let me clue you in on a fairly common, yet silly, problem. Make sure your sound card is set up and calibrated so that you are receiving and then transmitting on the same frequency. I have seen a number of locals have this problem of actually operating split and not know it. What will happen is that the station you are answering will not hear you as you won't be on his frequency. My AC97 in my laptop has that problem, for instance. Have a look and best of luck. 73, Barry K3NDM ----- Original Message ----- From: [hidden email] To: [hidden email] Sent: Friday, January 11, 2013 4:44:14 PM Subject: [Elecraft] KX3 digital I have had my KX3 about a month now. I have never worked digital modes before. It sounded very easy in the manual. So I listened to a few PSK31 stations. Wow you have to read fast! I hear CQ's and try to reply. No luck! Try a few CQ's myself. No replies. I must be doing something wrong. I don't have any trouble making contacts on CW. I tried both 40 and 20 meters. Help! 72 George/W2BPI ______________________________________________________________ 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 ______________________________________________________________ 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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In reply to this post by George
I've only had my KX3 for a month. I tried for a week to make a contact
without success. I was really getting frustrated. As it turned out, I was in PSK D mode rather than Data A. Once I figured out that mistake, everything was fine after that. Chris AB3QV On Fri, Jan 11, 2013 at 4:44 PM, <[hidden email]> wrote: > I have had my KX3 about a month now. I have never worked digital modes > before. It sounded very easy in the manual. So I listened to a few PSK31 > stations. Wow you have to read fast! I hear CQ's and try to reply. No > luck! Try > a few CQ's myself. No replies. I must be doing something wrong. I don't > have > any trouble making contacts on CW. I tried both 40 and 20 meters. Help! > 72 George/W2BPI > ______________________________________________________________ > 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 > 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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In reply to this post by George
Don is spot on. I have filter macros built in DM780 to center my signal of choice and then narrow the filters SW needed. This greatly helps grabbing those weak signals of interest.
73 KD8NNU Don Sent from my HTC on the Now Network from Sprint! ----- Reply message ----- From: "Don Wilhelm" <[hidden email]> Date: Sat, Jan 12, 2013 1:25 am Subject: [Elecraft] KX3 digital To: <[hidden email]> It used to be that 5 watts on PSK31 was all that was needed, most all operators were using low power because it worked well. Most advice was to keep the power low - below 20 watts if I recall. As time went by, the power levels used on PSK31 have crept up and many operators are now using 100 watts or more. That kind of power in the narrow bandwidth of common PSK wattering holes will take over the AGC in the receiver because most are using bandwidths of 2.5 kHz or greater to see the full waterfall display. The AGC will respond to the strongest signal within the filter bandwidth and will make weaker stations more difficult to copy. Sometimes turning off the AGC will help, but concentrating on the station you wish to copy and narrowing the IF filter bandwidth will help even more. If you only want to work one station, there is no need to see the entire PSK31 band. Narrow the receiver filter and use the VFO to tune the desired station to the center of the IF passband. 73, Don W3FPR On 1/11/2013 6:13 PM, Ariel Jacala wrote: > 5 watts on PSK will work if you are in an empty section on the waterfall. In a crowded situation with strong signals nearby, you will be stepped on and obliterated by the strong signal. Certain DX stations are notorious for overdriving the waterfall and wiping out other signals. You are better off calling CQ in location away from nearby strong signals. At 5 watts your printing on the waterfall can be faint depending on propagation. I did get Hawaii once on PSK with my K2. My luck with PSK has always been better at 25-30 watts. That is just the nature of this mode. At QRP power, CW is much more efficient. Make sure you have enough drive to just trigger the ALC circuit. You are also better off decoding the PSK signal with Fldigi or DM780 - just a better PSK experience with the macros and all. > > ______________________________________________________________ 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 ______________________________________________________________ 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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Can you share those macros?
73 a 'kosher ham' Robert -----Original Message----- From: "[hidden email]" <[hidden email]> Sender: [hidden email] Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2013 07:57:28 To: Don Wilhelm<[hidden email]>; <[hidden email]> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] KX3 digital Don is spot on. I have filter macros built in DM780 to center my signal of choice and then narrow the filters SW needed. This greatly helps grabbing those weak signals of interest. 73 KD8NNU Don Sent from my HTC on the Now Network from Sprint! ----- Reply message ----- From: "Don Wilhelm" <[hidden email]> Date: Sat, Jan 12, 2013 1:25 am Subject: [Elecraft] KX3 digital To: <[hidden email]> It used to be that 5 watts on PSK31 was all that was needed, most all operators were using low power because it worked well. Most advice was to keep the power low - below 20 watts if I recall. As time went by, the power levels used on PSK31 have crept up and many operators are now using 100 watts or more. That kind of power in the narrow bandwidth of common PSK wattering holes will take over the AGC in the receiver because most are using bandwidths of 2.5 kHz or greater to see the full waterfall display. The AGC will respond to the strongest signal within the filter bandwidth and will make weaker stations more difficult to copy. Sometimes turning off the AGC will help, but concentrating on the station you wish to copy and narrowing the IF filter bandwidth will help even more. If you only want to work one station, there is no need to see the entire PSK31 band. Narrow the receiver filter and use the VFO to tune the desired station to the center of the IF passband. 73, Don W3FPR On 1/11/2013 6:13 PM, Ariel Jacala wrote: > 5 watts on PSK will work if you are in an empty section on the waterfall. In a crowded situation with strong signals nearby, you will be stepped on and obliterated by the strong signal. Certain DX stations are notorious for overdriving the waterfall and wiping out other signals. You are better off calling CQ in location away from nearby strong signals. At 5 watts your printing on the waterfall can be faint depending on propagation. I did get Hawaii once on PSK with my K2. My luck with PSK has always been better at 25-30 watts. That is just the nature of this mode. At QRP power, CW is much more efficient. Make sure you have enough drive to just trigger the ALC circuit. You are also better off decoding the PSK signal with Fldigi or DM780 - just a better PSK experience with the macros and all. > > ______________________________________________________________ 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 ______________________________________________________________ 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 ______________________________________________________________ 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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