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Line In jack and standard stereo cable

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Pete Smith N4ZR

Line In jack and standard stereo cable

If I plug a standard stereo cable into the mono Line In jack on my K3, I
assume that it will short one of the channels to ground. In order to
connect to the Line Out of a computer sound card, does this mean that I
need to build a special cable with a mono plug on one end, connected
only to the tip and shell conductors of the cable, letting the ring float?

Sorry to ask a question that must have been covered before, but I
haven't found anything on this in the manual, and the archive of this
reflector really isn't effectively searchable.

--
73, Pete N4ZR

The World Contest Station Database, updated daily at www.conteststations.com
The Reverse Beacon Network at http://reversebeacon.net, blog at reversebeacon.blogspot.com,
spots at telnet.reversebeacon.net, port 7000

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Iain MacDonnell - N6ML-2

Re: Line In jack and standard stereo cable

Pete,

A stereo plug in a mono jack shouldn't actually cause anything to be
shorted - it's the opposite situation that can be problematic (mono
plug in a stereo jack).

Anyway, the line-in jack is actually a "stereo" one. A standard stereo
cable will work fine.

BTW, for searching the history of this list, try Nabble...

http://elecraft.365791.n2.nabble.com/
http://elecraft.365791.n2.nabble.com/K3-Stereo-Connector-td2141311.html#a2141311

~Iain / N6ML

On Wed, Jun 23, 2010 at 11:25 AM, Pete Smith <[hidden email]> wrote:

> If I plug a standard stereo cable into the mono Line In jack on my K3, I
> assume that it will short one of the channels to ground. In order to
> connect to the Line Out of a computer sound card, does this mean that I
> need to build a special cable with a mono plug on one end, connected
> only to the tip and shell conductors of the cable, letting the ring float?
>
> Sorry to ask a question that must have been covered before, but I
> haven't found anything on this in the manual, and the archive of this
> reflector really isn't effectively searchable.
>
> --
> 73, Pete N4ZR
>
> The World Contest Station Database, updated daily at www.conteststations.com
> The Reverse Beacon Network at http://reversebeacon.net, blog at reversebeacon.blogspot.com,
> spots at telnet.reversebeacon.net, port 7000
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> 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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Philip Leonard WVØT

Re: Line In jack and standard stereo cable

In reply to this post by Pete Smith N4ZR

I just plug a stereo cable from the line-in (and line-out) on the K3 to
the PC's sound card. No problems at all. Been doing this for a couple
of years now.

Philip

On 6/23/2010 1:25 PM, Pete Smith wrote:

Don Wilhelm-4

Re: Line In jack and standard stereo cable

In reply to this post by Pete Smith N4ZR

Pete,

This *is* a little confusing to many, but the jack itself is stereo -
the signal path is mono - which means that the channel connected to the
jack tip (normally the left) will be the only one used by the K3.
You can use either a mono or a stereo plug. looking with hindsight, a
better label than "mono" on those jacks would be "left channel only is
used" - and indeed that is the intent.

The same is not true for the audio output (headphones and speaker out) -
always use a stereo plug even if you are only using one channel.

73,
Don W3FPR

Pete Smith wrote:

Mike Harris

Re: Line In jack and standard stereo cable

In reply to this post by Philip Leonard WVØT

G'day,

Line IN and Line OUT jacks are both physically stereo (see
schematics KIO3). The line IN only uses tip and sleeve (shell).
Select the correct TX channel on your PC audio card.

Regards,

Mike VP8NO

----- Original Message -----
From: "Philip Leonard" <[hidden email]>
To: <[hidden email]>
Sent: Wednesday, June 23, 2010 3:32 PM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Line In jack and standard stereo cable

>I just plug a stereo cable from the line-in (and line-out) on the
>K3 to
> the PC's sound card. No problems at all. Been doing this for a
> couple
> of years now.
>
> Philip
>
>
> On 6/23/2010 1:25 PM, Pete Smith wrote:
>> If I plug a standard stereo cable into the mono Line In jack on
>> my K3, I
>> assume that it will short one of the channels to ground. In
>> order to
>> connect to the Line Out of a computer sound card, does this mean
>> that I
>> need to build a special cable with a mono plug on one end,
>> connected
>> only to the tip and shell conductors of the cable, letting the
>> ring float?
>>
>> Sorry to ask a question that must have been covered before, but I
>> haven't found anything on this in the manual, and the archive of
>> this
>> reflector really isn't effectively searchable.
>>
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> 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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Pete Smith N4ZR

Re: Line In jack and standard stereo cable

In reply to this post by Don Wilhelm-4

Got it, Don, and thanks to everyone else who responded as well.

73, Pete N4ZR

The World Contest Station Database, updated daily at www.conteststations.com
The Reverse Beacon Network at http://reversebeacon.net, blog at reversebeacon.blogspot.com,
spots at telnet.reversebeacon.net, port 7000

On 6/23/2010 3:52 PM, Don Wilhelm wrote:

> Pete,
>
> This *is* a little confusing to many, but the jack itself is stereo -
> the signal path is mono - which means that the channel connected to
> the jack tip (normally the left) will be the only one used by the K3.
> You can use either a mono or a stereo plug. looking with hindsight, a
> better label than "mono" on those jacks would be "left channel only is
> used" - and indeed that is the intent.
>
> The same is not true for the audio output (headphones and speaker out)
> - always use a stereo plug even if you are only using one channel.
>
> 73,
> Don W3FPR
>
> Pete Smith wrote:
>> If I plug a standard stereo cable into the mono Line In jack on my
>> K3, I assume that it will short one of the channels to ground. In
>> order to connect to the Line Out of a computer sound card, does this
>> mean that I need to build a special cable with a mono plug on one
>> end, connected only to the tip and shell conductors of the cable,
>> letting the ring float?
>>
>> Sorry to ask a question that must have been covered before, but I
>> haven't found anything on this in the manual, and the archive of this
>> reflector really isn't effectively searchable.
>>
>
>