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New K3 owner needs help

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ac8jd

New K3 owner needs help

I am a CW 95% of my operating time. I have the CW side of this rig pretty down pat. And it is really a great rig for that!

I am however having trouble with SSB. I have a PR40. I bought the correct cable for the PR40 for the K3 from Heil. I have the ALC and COMP dialed in just fine, but when I transmit on SSB I get less than half the RF power from what I have the rig set for. (K3/100). I also noticed that the RF meter on the K3's front panel doesn't even budge when I TX on SSB.

Any help would be appreciated. I don't get on SSB much but when I do, I do it to Rag chew with friends.

TNX,
AC8JD

Jack Berry

Re: New K3 owner needs help

Don't know about the PR40 but if it is an electret mic you will need to turn the bias on. You'll see mic bias in the menus somewhere.

Good luck,

Jack

On Jun 16, 2012, at 8:41 PM, ac8jd <[hidden email]> wrote:

> I am a CW 95% of my operating time. I have the CW side of this rig pretty
> down pat. And it is really a great rig for that!
>
> I am however having trouble with SSB. I have a PR40. I bought the correct
> cable for the PR40 for the K3 from Heil. I have the ALC and COMP dialed in
> just fine, but when I transmit on SSB I get less than half the RF power from
> what I have the rig set for. (K3/100). I also noticed that the RF meter on
> the K3's front panel doesn't even budge when I TX on SSB.
>
> Any help would be appreciated. I don't get on SSB much but when I do, I do
> it to Rag chew with friends.
>
> TNX,
> AC8JD
>
> --
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ac8jd

Re: New K3 owner needs help

Settings are FP.H bias.

The meter does not even move on the RF.

John_N1JM

Re: New K3 owner needs help

Quite sure the PR40 doesn't need bias. Looks like you have it on. You should turn off any bias.

John N1JM

dmb@lightstream.net

Re: New K3 owner needs help

In reply to this post by ac8jd

The PR40 may benefit from the microphone preamplifier that is built into
the K3. To access it, tap the 'Menu' button and rotate the VFO-B knob
until you see "MIC SEL".

Once there, you have a couple of options:
- GAIN RANGE:
Tapping the "1" button on the keypad will toggle the microphone gain
setting between .Low and .High, where .High provides significantly more
gain.

- MICROPHONE PREAMP:
Tapping the "7" button on the keypad will toggle the microphone preamp
on and off.

Although both of the above can increase the available gain for the
microphone, it's been my experience that if you find you need the
additional mic gain, it's better to get it from the Microphone Preamp
(7) (with the Gain Range set to Low) -- rather than by setting the Gain
Range (1) to High. Just my opinion. I'd suggest you experiment by
transmitting into a dummy load while monitoring your signal on another
receiver.

73, Dale
WA8SRA

On 6/16/2012 9:41 PM, ac8jd wrote:

ac8jd

Re: New K3 owner needs help

Thanks to everyone here for the suggestions! I already had the internal Mic set to FPL.H with bias off, but did not see that you could push "7" there to add pre-amp! This seems to have done the trick. So much so that I set the MIC Sel to FP.L!

This group has been a huge help for my first experience. As I get more acclimated with the rig and monitor this reflector, I hope to able to give back myself as well as seek more of your expert advice!

73!
AC8JD