PSK & Whurm Noise

[Bill Henderson]

Hi

I'm a new owner of a K3 and I'm still in the "setting up" process.

Yesterday I managed to have a PSK QSO via Winwarbler which is part of the DXLabs logging software suite. Today I updated the firmware using the K3 Utiltiy. Following this I tried another PSK QSO. This time when transmitting my signal the radio made a strange whurm noise. I'm not sure if t was from the speaker or not. It sounded as if it was coming from somewhere near the back of the K3. A similar thing happened with RTTY.

I've switched of the K3 and it'll stay switched off until I'm sure that I'm not hurting it.

I'm at a loss. Any help gratefully received.

73

Bill
GM0VIT

[Julian, G4ILO]

I'm not sure what you mean by a "whurm noise". I presume it's some Scottish term. :)

If you have the audio monitor enabled then the K3 will play the digital audio from the computer sound card through its speaker. Depending on the pitch selected with the waterfall I suppose it might sound like "whurm". If the sound definitely isn't PSK31 at whatever pitch you selected then perhaps you are getting RF feedback into the audio.

What you can do is long-press the TX button to put the K3 into Test mode. You can then TX and it will go through the motions but not actually produce any RF. If you still hear the noise then it is audio-related, if you don't then it is RF-related.

Screwtop wrote

Hi

I'm a new owner of a K3 and I'm still in the "setting up" process.

Yesterday I managed to have a PSK QSO via Winwarbler which is part of the DXLabs logging software suite. Today I updated the firmware using the K3 Utiltiy. Following this I tried another PSK QSO. This time when transmitting my signal the radio made a strange whurm noise. I'm not sure if t was from the speaker or not. It sounded as if it was coming from somewhere near the back of the K3. A similar thing happened with RTTY.

I've switched of the K3 and it'll stay switched off until I'm sure that I'm not hurting it.

I'm at a loss. Any help gratefully received.

73

Bill
GM0VIT

[Bill Henderson]

Julian

The only Scottish term that I can think of  comes to whurm is whauruma.  This term used to express confusion on waking after a heavy session on the amber liquid :-)

The noise is not PSK it is on top of the PSK sound. It sounds as if the rig is protesting at something. I know that I am being vague.

Bill

[Mike Reublin]

Bill, any particular reason why you're using WinWarbler? The K3 is
perfectly capable of doing PSK and RTTY without any interface other than
a sound card in the computer. I'd take that out of the equation for a test.

What mode is the K3 in?

Are your computer speakers close enough to the K3 that the sound might
be coming from them? Mine sometimes make am odd sounding hum.

I've suffered some whauruma before!
73, Mike NF4L

Screwtop wrote:

> Julian
>
> The only Scottish term that I can think of  comes to whurm is whauruma.
> This term used to express confusion on waking after a heavy session on the
> amber liquid :-)
>
> The noise is not PSK it is on top of the PSK sound. It sounds as if the rig
> is protesting at something. I know that I am being vague.
>
> Bill
>  

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[Joe Planisky]

Hi Bill,

You didn't say whether your K3 has the 100W option (KPA3), but if it  
does,  are you sure it's not the fans?  Maybe kicking up to a higher  
speed than they did previously?

You can turn the fans on manually to see what they sound like at all 4  
speeds with the CONFIG:KPA3 item in the menu.  See the entry for the  
KPA3 setting in the manual for details.

73
--
Joe KB8AP



On Mar 26, 2010, at 7:02 AM, Screwtop wrote:

>
> Hi
>
> I'm a new owner of a K3 and I'm still in the "setting up" process.
>
> ...This time when transmitting
> my signal the radio made a strange whurm noise. I'm not sure if t  
> was from
> the speaker or not. It sounded as if it was coming from somewhere  
> near the
> back of the K3.

> ...

> 73
>
> Bill
> GM0VIT

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[Bill Henderson]

Mike

Winwarbler is part of the DXLabs integrated logging software suite. It takes care of my logging and DXCC record. It's not a very impressive record but none the less important to me.

The mode I'm using for PSK is"DATA A" and for RTTY is "AFSK A".

I am using the internal speaker.

Thanks

Bill

[Bill Henderson]

Hi Joe

The radio is the K/100 version.

It's not a rubbing noise. I've tested the fans.

The sound's a bit like one of those older rigs with an internal ATU tuning up. Not the prtch noise but more the whirring noises.

Bill

[Doug Alspaugh]

Do you have a mic open maybe?








73 Doug N3QW





----- Original Message -----
From: "Screwtop" <[hidden email]>
To: [hidden email]
Sent: Friday, March 26, 2010 11:46:19 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] PSK & Whurm Noise


Mike

Winwarbler is part of the DXLabs integrated logging software suite. It takes
care of my logging and DXCC record. It's not a very impressive record but
none the less important to me.

The mode I'm using for PSK is"DATA A" and for RTTY is "AFSK A".

I am using the internal speaker.

Thanks

Bill
--
View this message in context: http://n2.nabble.com/PSK-Whurm-Noise-tp4804024p4804693.html 
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[Mike Reublin]

For some reason, I thought it was hardware, sorry. I'm out of bullets,
but someone here will hit it.

Mike

Screwtop wrote:

> Mike
>
> Winwarbler is part of the DXLabs integrated logging software suite. It takes
> care of my logging and DXCC record. It's not a very impressive record but
> none the less important to me.
>
> The mode I'm using for PSK is"DATA A" and for RTTY is "AFSK A".
>
> I am using the internal speaker.
>
> Thanks
>
> Bill
>  

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[Bill Henderson]

Mike

Thanks for trying to help.

My ammunition pouch was empty a long time before yours was (Hi).

Bill

[Bill Henderson]

Doug
Thanks for the suggestion. I disconnected my Mike and it makes no difference.

Thanks

Bill

[Bill Henderson]

Hi all

Problem solved.

I was driving the sound card too hard.  

It's having a new radio that made me think that it had to be the radio's fault. As it turned out it was something simple that I would have spotted and fixed with my old radio.

Thanks again

Bill