Problem with Elecraft's built in 2 meter

[Julie Royster]

Larry K4MWE and I are hearing lots of distortion (clipping probably) on the
K144XV tuned to local repeaters for anyone with strong signals.  Weak
stations are OK.  Dale and Howard have made numerous suggestions but the
problem appears to be that the FM filter is too narrow to allow some
real-world repeaters to be received well.  In contrast, the same repeaters
sound just fine on our old Icom 706.  We had hoped to be able to use the K3
for all bands.

Has anyone else had this problem?

Would the external tranverter be any different or does it use the very same
filter?

73, Julie KT4JR, wife of Larry K4MWE

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[Bruce Beford-2]

> Would the external transverter be any different or does it use the very
> same filter?

The filter in question is part of the radio, not the transverter. So yes, it
would use the same filter. You _may_ have a defective 13 KHz FM filter, or
it is not configured properly, or the FM Deviation parameter is not set
properly. I would imagine the Elecraft support team has gone through these
various possibilities with you.

In any event, it is NOT a design problem, or a widespread one. I am sure it
can be resolved. As a last resort, you could send the radio to Elecraft to
get it corrected.

good luck,
Bruce, N1RX




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[Don Wilhelm-4]

Julie,

It does sound like you may have a bad 13 kHz filter installed - that is
only a guess.
Work with Elecraft support to get it resolved.

The external transverter will not help, I believe it has to do with your
FM filtering, and that will not change whether the transverter is
internal or external.

73,
Don W3FPR



On 5/3/2012 10:31 AM, Julie Royster wrote:

> Larry K4MWE and I are hearing lots of distortion (clipping probably) on the
> K144XV tuned to local repeaters for anyone with strong signals.  Weak
> stations are OK.  Dale and Howard have made numerous suggestions but the
> problem appears to be that the FM filter is too narrow to allow some
> real-world repeaters to be received well.  In contrast, the same repeaters
> sound just fine on our old Icom 706.  We had hoped to be able to use the K3
> for all bands.
>
> Has anyone else had this problem?
>
> Would the external tranverter be any different or does it use the very same
> filter?
>
> 73, Julie KT4JR, wife of Larry K4MWE
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> 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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[David Pratt]

In a recent message, Julie Royster <[hidden email]> writes
>Larry K4MWE and I are hearing lots of distortion (clipping probably) on the
>K144XV tuned to local repeaters for anyone with strong signals.  Weak
>stations are OK.

Julie - What you say suggests that the strong signals going through the
repeater are the problem if the weaker ones are okay.  Perhaps those
strong stations are over-deviating and are hence being clipped by the
repeater's receiver.

The K3 is a precision transceiver so maybe the fault lies with remote
transmitters. I presume you have your AGC on the K3 correctly set.

No problems with 2 metre repeater use with my K144XV here, nor with
repeaters on 6 metres.

73/88

de David G4DMP

--
 + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - +
 | David M Pratt, Kippax, Leeds.   |
 | Website: http://www.g4dmp.co.uk |
 + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - +

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[Guy, K2AV]

A defective FM filter for the K3 can be

1) Well off frequency and a loud station well into normal limiting will
"fill" the filter's skewed bandwidth, and present a badly distorted signal
to the following IF.
2) can have defective internal crystal mounts, or defective crystals.
 Being non-linear, these have been known to generate IMD all by themselves.

3) Not defective, but somehow the offset for the filter has been set to
some wild value, and that part of K3 setup utility needs redoing.

Call the support staff and get help.

73, Guy.

On Thu, May 3, 2012 at 10:38 AM, Bruce Beford
<[hidden email]>wrote:

>
> > Would the external transverter be any different or does it use the very
> > same filter?
>
> The filter in question is part of the radio, not the transverter. So yes,
> it
> would use the same filter. You _may_ have a defective 13 KHz FM filter, or
> it is not configured properly, or the FM Deviation parameter is not set
> properly. I would imagine the Elecraft support team has gone through these
> various possibilities with you.
>
> In any event, it is NOT a design problem, or a widespread one. I am sure it
> can be resolved. As a last resort, you could send the radio to Elecraft to
> get it corrected.
>
> good luck,
> Bruce, N1RX
>
>
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> 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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[Julie Royster]

Hi David and thanks for your answer.  I don't think the repeater is doing
the clipping as the same signals sound fine on our Icom 706.  I think the
K144XV is doing the clipping.
Yes, we have checked the AGC and tried every possible setting for that.
Thanks,
Julie

-----Original Message-----
From: David Pratt [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: Thursday, May 03, 2012 10:47 AM
To: Julie Royster
Cc: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Problem with Elecraft's built in 2 meter

In a recent message, Julie Royster <[hidden email]> writes
>Larry K4MWE and I are hearing lots of distortion (clipping probably) on
>the K144XV tuned to local repeaters for anyone with strong signals.  
>Weak stations are OK.

Julie - What you say suggests that the strong signals going through the
repeater are the problem if the weaker ones are okay.  Perhaps those strong
stations are over-deviating and are hence being clipped by the repeater's
receiver.

The K3 is a precision transceiver so maybe the fault lies with remote
transmitters. I presume you have your AGC on the K3 correctly set.

No problems with 2 metre repeater use with my K144XV here, nor with
repeaters on 6 metres.

73/88

de David G4DMP

--
 + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - +
 | David M Pratt, Kippax, Leeds.   |
 | Website: http://www.g4dmp.co.uk |
 + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - +

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[Tom Azlin N4ZPT-2]

Thanks Julie,

Strong and weak are then their audio levels?  Given that you are
listening to the repeater output the RF carrier level should be the same
for some that are fine and some that are clipping. Are all the ones
clipping on the same repeater?  Perhaps then strong means loud means
higher deviation but not so as to clip the repeater receiver since I
presume the same talkers are fine on your 706. My 706 had pretty wide FM
filters, something like 20-30 KHz wide. ( we used to have a local
repeater that clipped with excessive input deviation.)

Using your panadapter are the ones that clip clearly wider than 13 KHz?
Or offset?  Perhaps the repeaters being used by those talkers are older
ones with wide filters that allow wide deviation input?

So is a puzzle. Strong and weak alike are fine on my K3 with internal
transverter but my local repeaters are all on 15KHz centers and do not
seem to be much wider than 13-15KHz on my P3 ( or my LP-PAN or SDR-I/Q ).

I am wondering then if you have a bad filter?

73, tom n4zpt

On 5/3/2012 10:31 AM, Julie Royster wrote:

> Larry K4MWE and I are hearing lots of distortion (clipping probably) on the
> K144XV tuned to local repeaters for anyone with strong signals.  Weak
> stations are OK.  Dale and Howard have made numerous suggestions but the
> problem appears to be that the FM filter is too narrow to allow some
> real-world repeaters to be received well.  In contrast, the same repeaters
> sound just fine on our old Icom 706.  We had hoped to be able to use the K3
> for all bands.
>
> Has anyone else had this problem?
>
> Would the external tranverter be any different or does it use the very same
> filter?
>
> 73, Julie KT4JR, wife of Larry K4MWE
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> 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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