Re: K3 DSP, Ergonomics - update.

[Don Rasmussen]

My thanks to Wim DeWilder who suggested that I check my values in the AF-LIM (af limiter) CONFIG. I ran this through the range from 0 to NOR 030 and there was little to no noticable effect UNTIL the K3 is powered down then powered up. After doing these things, LIM to NORM 030 and power reset, then everything is equal AF wise when going from AGC Off, to AGC-S, to AGC-F. This is greatly preferable to any change at all from one to the other. So - my K3 has improved. I'd like to have my old DSP board back again to compare how the AF LIM CONFIG may affect it differently and the new DSP board, but thats all water under the bridge.

It may be a good idea to make a change to your AF LIM setting by some small amount then power down. With the new DSP board I wont be running with the AGC off anyway, so Norm 030 seems to be the way to go for that.

Don...


That is to say that simply making some change in that CONFIG value and doing power down seems to have affected the firmware

--- On Mon, 8/24/09, Don Rasmussen <[hidden email]> wrote:

From: Don Rasmussen <[hidden email]>
Subject: K3 DSP, Ergonomics
To: "[hidden email]" <[hidden email]>
Date: Monday, August 24, 2009, 7:42 PM

http://www.zerobeat.net/mediawiki/index.php/SpotLight_on_K3
I have a new photo of K3 #272 on the K3 wiki including the finger dimple I got from www.FingerDimple.com. They are also sold by Elecraft for the K2 - same product.
Other things I missed from stock K3 were analog S-meter and band stacking registers as implemented on (example Orion, IC746 IC756). I achieved these through the "Cool" program I wrote, also available on the K3 wiki.
However the biggest positive I saw as a K3 improvement happened when I paid Elecraft for a DSP board upgrade last month.
The stock DSP board for both K3 #272 and K3 #2308 would have one AF level when the AGC was OFF, and a muted level
 when AGC was set to AGC-F or AGC-S. That is to say that the stock version sounded like the receiver had the attenuator turned on anytime I was using the AGC-S or AGC-F.
I could work around this somewhat by keeping the AGC off, or by setting the SLOPE and THRESHOLD at their lesser most values in the CONFIG. This produced a much better result on CW than (example) IC756Pro. 
But after I installed the new DSP board, AGC-F and AGC-S provide a satisfactory AF level, and when AGC is turned OFF, that is when the receiver sounds like I turned on the receiver RF attenuator. That is to say, the pattern is reversed. That is 100% more desirable here. Elecraft has suggested that the only difference in the upgrade DSP boards would be limited to AF frequency response, that is, more low end frequency available. 
But I am hearing these AGC differences. 
I'd
 like anyone interested to perform this test, and email your results to me directly.
- K3 on 7.0 MHZ or another band that you have antenna for using widest crystal filter setting  - AGC set AGC-S- Turn AF gain up very high - no signal in passband- Now turn off AGC
Would like to know 1 - Your K3 serial number2. - If the AF increased or decreased.
send to wb8yqj at yahoo dot com 
PLEASE do not clutter this email list with responses!!!!!!
It does not seem to be firmware dependent in any way. 
TIA... Don...



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