New KX3 up & running.
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I completed the assembly of the KX3 and the 100 watt Amp. Also set up the Buddie pole Deluxe and was blown away by the overall quality of all the equipment.
Now to get it all tuned up; need to do the temperature compensation for the roofing filters,figure out how to get the Heil headset / mic working so when I talk it transmits ... the sound in the earphones is great but I cannot get the mic to go VOX. No matter how I follow the manual for set up it doesn't seem to work. The included Elecraft mic works of course ... The auto tuner is phenomenal though I haven't yet fired up the amp with its auto tuner. This Friday I'm heading down to Kislof, Alaska for work and plan to take the KX3 for its first field test. My main focus will be HF voice; I have to wonder if a firmware upgrade in the future may allow digital voice from the KX3? I also want to use Ham Radio Deluxe for rig control and other digital operations like PSK, RTTY, etc. so now to figure out the cable connections. I've seen a number of photo's showing the use of the Signalink USB but cannot understand why one would be needed; I have one on my Icom IC7000 so if needed I could change the internal links for the KX3. Memorial Day will see us heading out to Deadmans Lake and another field test; Field Day will see us up on Tower Mountain at Ft. Wainwright, then the big test will be in July when we head up above the Arctic Circle on the haul road for some real Alaska bush ops ... I'm itching to try out some QRP and see what happens. There is a easy access mountain up there that I would love to try SOTA too ....I have to get back into my CW daze and get up to speed. When I use the KX3 paddles I hear a ping from the speaker when I get to sending CW; what would cause this? If anyone is interested in follow up reports I'll post them ... photo's too if anyone would like to see my "go bag" set up. 73 all, Mike AD7VV Michael D. Heit A&P/IA DAR-TPresidentNorth Star Aviation LLCNorth Pole, Alaska 99705 ______________________________________________________________ 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 Message delivered to [hidden email] |
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Congrats! And on the Buddipole, I'd suggest ordering a set of the long telescoping whips (the near-10 footers) and just getting that overwith now, if you don't have them already. The stock short whips work ok on 15 meters and up, but on 20 meters tuning gets very very sensitive and narrow-banded. 30 and 40 forget it lol.
With the long whips, it's much easier to tune on the lower bands, and 15 and up they're long enough to form full length dipoles. The performance on the air is significantly better as well... But even so, the Buddipole is one of the best ham radio investments you'll find you've made, next to your Elecraft rigs of course ;) 73 LS W5QD |
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On Tue,5/3/2016 9:28 PM, lstavenhagen wrote:
> But even so, the Buddipole is one of the best ham radio investments you'll find you've made, I've never understood the logic of that -- lightweight, easy to support antennas that are more effective are a lot cheaper. 73, Jim K9YC ______________________________________________________________ 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 Message delivered to [hidden email] |
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Well, you get what you pay for is about all I can say there. The Buddipole is so well thought out and constructed you don't have to replace half of it with upgrades as soon as you buy it, like some of the cheaper alternatives I looked at. You're basically done with the credit card the first time around unless you need extra accessories like the aforementioned whips, and you don't have to get it out again for a long time. It just works and it stays together in the field, which for me makes it worth what I paid for it.
The only thing I had to repair was the painters-pole style attachment at the top of the telescoping mast. It's held on with just a set screw; I had to remove it and reinstall using hot melt glue and it's been permanent ever since. That's the only problem I've had. So yeah you can get other antennas for cheaper, but nothing else I looked at looked like it could survive throwing around and setup/teardown etc. on a repeated basis for a long time like the BP. And it's definitely proven itself to not break or strand me out in the mountains for sure... 73 LS W5QD
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Digital Voice, was: New KX3 up & running.
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In reply to this post by Elecraft mailing list
The real problem is which codec and transmission protocol do you
use. Icom has D-Star, and Yaesu, instead of supporting D-Star which might have improved digital voice uptake due to larger critical mass, decided to push out its own protocol. (I think they were listening to their commercial division which wants to lock customers into using only their gear. IMHO, that's not ham radio.) Note that with D-Star, the only proprietary part of the protocol is the codec. If you use the chip which supports the codec, you are covered on the intellectual property issues. For me, the supreme irony is that both Icom and Yaesu use the same chip, but can't talk to each other. The other issue is that under weak signal conditions, FM is likely to be better for getting the message through than either of these digital voice protocols. There is a open source protocol which is used on HF, but I don't see much activity using it. As far as Elecraft is concerned, there just isn't usage to justify the engineering time. We didn't see PSK63 support until after the Europeans were running PSK63 contests. 73 Bill AE6JV On 5/4/16 at 8:05 PM, [hidden email] (Michael Heit via Elecraft) wrote: >I have to wonder if a firmware upgrade in the future may allow >digital voice from the KX3? ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Frantz | Concurrency is hard. 12 out | Periwinkle (408)356-8506 | 10 programmers get it wrong. | 16345 Englewood Ave www.pwpconsult.com | - Jeff Frantz | 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 Message delivered to [hidden email] |
Re: New KX3 up & running.
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In reply to this post by lstavenhagen
The first rule of antennas is "put up the biggest thing you possibly
can, and if it stays up, it was too small." The Buddipole is SMALL. That's why I don't have one. The other reason, it seems to me that you're paying a premium for a nicely packaged units. I have a 33 foot collapsible kite pole off of eBay, some heavy velcro straps from a big box home improvement store, and some wire. The Buddipole may be a good buy, especially for those who don't want to put a kit together, but I think the "best money you'll ever spend" is a little bit over the top. 73 -- Lynn On 5/3/2016 10:22 PM, lstavenhagen wrote: > Well, you get what you pay for is about all I can say there. The Buddipole is > so well thought out and constructed you don't have to replace half of it > with upgrades as soon as you buy it, like some of the cheaper alternatives I > looked at. ______________________________________________________________ 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 Message delivered to [hidden email] |
Re: Digital Voice, was: New KX3 up & running.
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In reply to this post by Bill Frantz
Please look up E field or Cross field antennas. This antenna design has been around for a long time and has not been terribly accepted.
Mel, K6KBE From: Bill Frantz <[hidden email]> To: Michael Heit <[hidden email]> Cc: [hidden email]; Michael Heit <[hidden email]> Sent: Wednesday, May 4, 2016 7:55 AM Subject: [Elecraft] Digital Voice, was: New KX3 up & running. The real problem is which codec and transmission protocol do you use. Icom has D-Star, and Yaesu, instead of supporting D-Star which might have improved digital voice uptake due to larger critical mass, decided to push out its own protocol. (I think they were listening to their commercial division which wants to lock customers into using only their gear. IMHO, that's not ham radio.) Note that with D-Star, the only proprietary part of the protocol is the codec. If you use the chip which supports the codec, you are covered on the intellectual property issues. For me, the supreme irony is that both Icom and Yaesu use the same chip, but can't talk to each other. The other issue is that under weak signal conditions, FM is likely to be better for getting the message through than either of these digital voice protocols. There is a open source protocol which is used on HF, but I don't see much activity using it. As far as Elecraft is concerned, there just isn't usage to justify the engineering time. We didn't see PSK63 support until after the Europeans were running PSK63 contests. 73 Bill AE6JV On 5/4/16 at 8:05 PM, [hidden email] (Michael Heit via Elecraft) wrote: >I have to wonder if a firmware upgrade in the future may allow >digital voice from the KX3? ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Frantz | Concurrency is hard. 12 out | Periwinkle (408)356-8506 | 10 programmers get it wrong. | 16345 Englewood Ave www.pwpconsult.com | - Jeff Frantz | 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 Message delivered to [hidden email] ______________________________________________________________ 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 Message delivered to [hidden email] |
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In reply to this post by Bill Frantz
Once DV is working well, and stable, it would be so cool to see it on
the K3, as a mode. -- 73's, and thanks, Dave (NK7Z) For software/hardware reviews see: http://www.nk7z.net For MixW support see: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/mixw/info For SSTV help see: http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/MM-SSTV/info On Wed, 2016-05-04 at 08:46 -0700, Walter Underwood wrote: > Dave Rowe is doing some exciting work with digital voice, all open > source specifications and code. It isn’t appropriate for rig firmware > yet, because he keeps improving it! > > You can run FreeDV on a computer or get the outboard SM1000 box > ($195). That does the coding and has an audio bypass mode so you can > leave it in-line. > > http://www.rowetel.com/blog/?page_id=3902 > <http://www.rowetel.com/blog/?page_id=3902> > https://freedv.org/tiki-index.php <https://freedv.org/tiki-index.php> > > wunder > K6WRU > Walter Underwood > CM87wj > http://observer.wunderwood.org/ (my blog) > > > > > On May 4, 2016, at 7:55 AM, Bill Frantz <[hidden email]> > > wrote: > > > > The real problem is which codec and transmission protocol do you > > use. Icom has D-Star, and Yaesu, instead of supporting D-Star which > > might have improved digital voice uptake due to larger critical > > mass, decided to push out its own protocol. (I think they were > > listening to their commercial division which wants to lock > > customers into using only their gear. IMHO, that's not ham radio.) > > > > Note that with D-Star, the only proprietary part of the protocol is > > the codec. If you use the chip which supports the codec, you are > > covered on the intellectual property issues. For me, the supreme > > irony is that both Icom and Yaesu use the same chip, but can't talk > > to each other. > > > > The other issue is that under weak signal conditions, FM is likely > > to be better for getting the message through than either of these > > digital voice protocols. > > > > There is a open source protocol which is used on HF, but I don't > > see much activity using it. > > > > As far as Elecraft is concerned, there just isn't usage to justify > > the engineering time. We didn't see PSK63 support until after the > > Europeans were running PSK63 contests. > > > > 73 Bill AE6JV > > > > On 5/4/16 at 8:05 PM, [hidden email] (Michael Heit via > > Elecraft) wrote: > > > > > > > > I have to wonder if a firmware upgrade in the future may allow > > > digital voice from the KX3? > > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > > ------ > > Bill Frantz | Concurrency is hard. 12 out | Periwinkle > > (408)356-8506 | 10 programmers get it wrong. | 16345 Englewood > > Ave > > www.pwpconsult.com | - Jeff Frantz | 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 > > Message delivered to [hidden email] > ______________________________________________________________ > 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 > Message delivered to [hidden email] 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 Message delivered to [hidden email] |
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In reply to this post by Lynn W. Taylor, WB6UUT
Maybe it's more an in-the-eye-of-the-beholder sort of thing then lol.
My first rule of antennas is "put up what stays up, and stays up every time". That of course, is my /P influence talking, so the rules are a little different for me: - The Buddipole may just look nicely packaged, but in actually it really is as well built as it looks. Unlike the typical DIY project it really truly doesn't break on you way out in the mountains in some way you never would have thought of unless you've built it 50 times already before. It's already got all that experience behind it and yes I was quite pleasantly surprised to find that thoughtfulness in it when I first took it out of the bag. - The Buddipole is NOT small. With the 9' whips, you can deploy a full length dipole on 15 meters and up. And on 20 it's not that far off from full length and performs really well. - if you need REALLY big, a longwire inverted V is a simple matter to DIY with the "Versatee" and the mast by itself. You could even buy ready-made counterpoises from BP but I made mine out of 140' or so of speaker wire, bolts and hot melt glue using existing parts that came with my BP. Works great on 30M on down with the tuners in my rigs. I think it was an extra $10 to do the whole thing. So it just depends on what your needs are. I need something that can withstand throwing around, dropping, and repeated over and over deployment/takedown without something wearing out or snapping off or locking up when I'm 20 miles from home 11,000 feet in the mountains. I could have DIY'ed something that did the same thing but the cost would have come out the same in the end and I'd have likely made mistakes that BP has already made and solved. So I just bought it already made from BP. Don't get me wrong - I'm all for DIY; heck I've built 2 K2's already hi hi. But when something is a quality product, it's a quality product and that's just the truth about the BP, IMO. 73 LS W5QD
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In reply to this post by Jim Brown-10
Nor have I. I had a full-up BP for several years and discovered that,
despite pictures of various configurations ... arms out, up, down, in a Vee, one up/one down ... there really were only two configurations -- horizontal and vertical. In the horiz mode, it's an OCF short loaded dipole which never worked well for me. I had better results [mainly on SOTA summits] with a vertical ground plane configuration using two of the long telescoping whips as radials. It is very well made and durable. Tuning was a bear, essentially non-repeatable, so all the "recipe's" I came up with for each band didn't help much. The full kit weighed in at about a dozen pounds. Setup took a minimum of 30 min, usually more. I finally sold it and got an Alexloop for almost exactly what I got for the BP. 1.4 lbs, sets up in about 5 min, quite insensitive to ground and surrounding objects, and works very well. It's not really large enough on 40 and the BW is barely enough for a SSB signal, but it has proven to be very usable in field environments, especially on 20 and up. It's a bit "spendy" as the Oregonians say, you can build one much more cheaply, I'm just lazy. It too is very well made. Many of the SOTA folks use EFHW wires. Extremely light, lots of support options. 73, Fred K6DGW - Northern California Contest Club - CU in the Cal QSO Party 1-2 Oct 2016 - www.cqp.org On 5/3/2016 9:42 PM, Jim Brown wrote: > On Tue,5/3/2016 9:28 PM, lstavenhagen wrote: >> But even so, the Buddipole is one of the best ham radio investments >> you'll find you've made, > > I've never understood the logic of that -- lightweight, easy to support > antennas that are more effective are a lot cheaper. > > 73, Jim K9YC ______________________________________________________________ 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 Message delivered to [hidden email] |
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In reply to this post by lstavenhagen
I am not going to be a proponent of the Buddipole system, nor am I going
to be an adversary. In other words, the Buddipole system works well, and the standard system will tune to 15 through 10 meters without the added inductors. For bands below 15 meters, some inductance is added to lower the resonant frequency. Those inductors do reduce the efficiency, but it is proportional. The amount of inefficiency on 20 meters is small, but on 30, 40 and 80 meters, it increases substantially. For those doing SOTA and operation from places where there are no trees or other natural supports, the Buddipole is a real salvation, especially on 20 meters and above, but below that, inefficiencies creep in and it becomes a physically small antenna unless extra measures are added. One of those extra measures is to add wire to the tips of the extended buddipole whips. Clip on alligator clips or others can be easily used to extend the antenna and increase its lower frequency/ OK. please let me be clear -the Buddipole is a good system, but does have its limitations. For those of you who have home stations, a resonant dipole at 40 meters and below will outperform the Buddipole. For those who do not have that as a possibility, then the Buddipole is a good alternative. My reference is to use a 32 foot telescoping pole with the antenna deployed at the top for a 40 meter and below antenna - the center is at 32 feet and it is usually strung as an inverted Vee in the field. The lengths of each can vary from a resonant length to whatever the height and length can provide. Other than the the pole height, the rest is up to you. Put up a resonant dipole with the feedpoint at the center, or put up a vertical with counterpoise wires,it makes no difference, you have an antenna that can communicate. Cost is the price of the pole plus the cost of the antenna wire and feedline -nothing more, and you get to experiment with many different antenna configurations. 73, Don W3FPR On 5/4/2016 6:09 PM, lstavenhagen wrote: > Maybe it's more an in-the-eye-of-the-beholder sort of thing then lol. > My first rule of antennas is "put up what stays up, and stays up every > time". That of course, is my /P influence talking, so the rules are a little > different for me: > - The Buddipole may just look nicely packaged, but in actually it really is > as well built as it looks. Unlike the typical DIY project it really truly > doesn't break on you way out in the mountains in some way you never would > have thought of unless you've built it 50 times already before. It's already > got all that experience behind it and yes I was quite pleasantly surprised > to find that thoughtfulness in it when I first took it out of the bag. > - The Buddipole is NOT small. With the 9' whips, you can deploy a full > length dipole on 15 meters and up. And on 20 it's not that far off from full > length and performs really well. > - if you need REALLY big, a longwire inverted V is a simple matter to DIY > with the "Versatee" and the mast by itself. You could even buy ready-made > counterpoises from BP but I made mine out of 140' or so of speaker wire, > bolts and hot melt glue using existing parts that came with my BP. Works > great on 30M on down with the tuners in my rigs. I think it was an extra $10 > to do the whole thing. > > So it just depends on what your needs are. I need something that can > withstand throwing around, dropping, and repeated over and over > deployment/takedown without something wearing out or snapping off or locking > up when I'm 20 miles from home 11,000 feet in the mountains. I could have > DIY'ed something that did the same thing but the cost would have come out > the same in the end and I'd have likely made mistakes that BP has already > made and solved. So I just bought it already made from BP. > > Don't get me wrong - I'm all for DIY; heck I've built 2 K2's already hi hi. > But when something is a quality product, it's a quality product and that's > just the truth about the BP, IMO. > > 73 > LS > W5QD > > > Lynn W. Taylor, WB6UUT wrote >> The first rule of antennas is "put up the biggest thing you possibly >> can, and if it stays up, it was too small." >> >> The Buddipole is SMALL. >> >> That's why I don't have one. >> >> The other reason, it seems to me that you're paying a premium for a >> nicely packaged units. >> >> I have a 33 foot collapsible kite pole off of eBay, some heavy velcro >> straps from a big box home improvement store, and some wire. >> >> The Buddipole may be a good buy, especially for those who don't want to >> put a kit together, but I think the "best money you'll ever spend" is a >> little bit over the top. > > > > > -- > View this message in context: http://elecraft.365791.n2.nabble.com/New-KX3-up-running-tp7617152p7617179.html > Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com. > ______________________________________________________________ > 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 > Message delivered to [hidden email] > ______________________________________________________________ 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 Message delivered to [hidden email] |
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On Wed 04 May Don Wilhelm wrote:
> For those doing SOTA and operation from places where there are no > trees or other natural supports I prefer to carry a light-weight telescopic pole and a linked dipole, and not just for the better efficiency it offers; it also weights quite a bit less, even including the telescopic pole, pegs, guy lines, etc.. If space is a bit limited then the pole can always be used to support a random wire (or whatever) and the KX3's ATU gets to do a bit of work. -- 73, Rick, M0LEP (KX3 #3281) ______________________________________________________________ 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 Message delivered to [hidden email] |
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