Questions from a Liberal Arts Major

[Don Rasmussen]

The K3 keeps the S-meter data in 1 decibel increments, and it's on the enhancement list to be made available through the K3 RS232 command set. I've done some early testing on this and the virtual analog meter on the PC display mimics a true analog S-meter convincingly.

Five DB steps that can be on or off with a flicker fall way short for me as well, a convincing analog meter is 50% of the listening experience at this QTH.

[Elecraft] Questions from a Liberal Arts Major
Kurt Pawlikowski kurtt at pinrod.com
Thu Nov 13 09:54:28 EST 2008

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Lee,

    Don't know about the connector issues (I suppose that might be a
matter of personal preference). The S-Meter issue has to do with "fine"
adjustments. Since the meter is a bar graph type, "blocks" are either
lit or not. If, for instance, you are attempting to "see" the difference
between 4.3 blocks and 4.4 blocks, they display the same (either 4 or 5
blocks, depending on software design). Apparently, this design issue is
also in the data given to a control computer. That is, instead of giving
a "value" (i.e., 4.321), it is just mimicking the bar graph (i.e., 4
"blocks"). So, if you're trying to make a comparative measurement
between similar signals, unless they "happen" to be on the "edge" of two
"block" values, they will look the same. While this is normal for this
type of display, it is a little unusual for the computer data stream.
That usually reflects "raw" data. Does that help? {'-)



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[Grant Youngman]

> Five DB steps that can be on or off with a flicker fall way short  
> for me as well, a convincing analog meter is 50% of the listening  
> experience at this QTH.

I'm trying to figure out how to "hear" an S_Meter, but I suppose we  
all "listen" in different ways.

I'm really surprised, after happily monitoring this list in stealth  
mode for some time while waiting for my K3 to arrive, how much it has  
begun to sound from time to time like every other vendor/product list,  
all of which I finally retired from after tiring of these sorts of  
discussions.  Or perhaps I just haven't yet realized how many serious  
problems my new K3 has :)

(returning to stealth mode)

Grant/NQ5T

UR RST 5 8.39974 9

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