Elecraft KX3 Owner's Manual - Manual (Page 10)

10
Band Selection
The KX3 covers the 160-6 m amateur bands.
Characteristics of each band are summarized below.
For further information, see the ARRL band plan:
http://www.arrl.org/band-plan-1
You can change bands using B A N D + or B A N D - ,
memories (pg. 17), or F R E Q E N T (see below).
You can remove bands you don’t use from the
B A N D + / - switch group using MENU:BND MAP.
Band
(m)
Range
(MHz)
Best
DX
Other
Characteristics
160 1.8-2.0 Night Challenging “Top Band”; high
power often used to counter noise
80 3.5-4.0 Night Excellent regional band; many
CW and SSB nets; AM ~3.870
60 ~5.3-5.4 Night Shared with government services;
power level and modes restricted
40 7.0-7.3 Night Excellent local CW/SSB band by
day; QRP & data modes, 7.03-7.04
30 10.0-10.15 Both DX possible anytime; no contests
20 14.0-14.35 Both Very popular DX & contest band;
many nets on SSB; Data modes:
PSK31 ~14.070; RTTY ~14.085
17 18.068-
18.168
Day Long-haul DX band; no contests;
“HF Pack” at 18.1575 (often QRP)
15 21.0-21.45 Day DX/contest band; low power very
effective when band is open
12 24.89-24.99 Day Excellent DX band; no contests
10 28.0-29.7 Day Great DX band when open; CW
beacons 28.2-28.3; FM 29.6-29.7
6 50-54
(VHF)
Both Active night or day during rare
DX openings; some FM repeaters
Direct Frequency Entry
The controls below function as a numeric keypad
(see
0 - 9 labels) when used with F R E Q E N T .
First, tap F R E Q E N T . Then enter up to three
MHz digits, optionally followed by a decimal point
(
A T U T U N E switch) and up to three kHz digits.
Next tap . ( M S G switch) to accept, or any
other switch to cancel. Examples:
14.255 MHz: F R E Q E N T 1 4 . 2 5 5 . . .
7.000 MHz: F R E Q E N T 7 .
Mode Selection
Each mode is described briefly below. Later
sections cover each mode in detail.
Tap M O D E one or more times to select SSB, CW,
AM, or FM mode. A L T selects alternate modes,
such as CW reverse. Tap D A T A to select data
mode. To select a data sub-mode, tap D A T A again,
then rotate O F S / V F O B .
SSB (single sideband, pg. 15) is a narrow-banded
voice mode that conserves space in crowded band
segments. It’s the most popular mode overall. LSB
(lower sideband) is usually used on 160, 80, and 40
meters, while other bands use USB (upper
sideband). You can override the default using
A L T .
CW mode (pg. 16) uses on-off keying of the
carrier. CW requires very little bandwidth,
providing a high signal-to-noise ratio that’s ideal
for low-power (QRP) use. It’s also a popular mode
for DXing and contests. Holding
A L T switches to
C W R E V (CW reverse), reversing the received
sideband in CW mode from LSB to USB. This may
reduce the level of interference (QRM).
AM mode (amplitude modulation, pg. 15) is
characterized by its good fidelity . It is much less
power-efficient than SSB. AM amateur operation is
often found on 160, 80, 40, and 10 meters.
FM mode (frequency modulation, pg. 15) is most
often used for local communications, and can be
found on 10 m and up (see ARRL band plan). The
KX3 supports simplex and repeater operation,
including tone encoding. Many repeaters can be
found on the 2-m band (144-148 MHz), which is
covered by the KX3-2M option module (pg. 25).
If you don’t plan to operate in AM or FM
modes, you can turn them off individually using the
AM MODE and FM MODE menu entries (pg. 35).
DATA modes (Advanced Operating Features, pg.
18) typically use a computer connected to the
transceiver to send/receive text. Although SSB
modes can also be used for this purpose, the KX3’s
audio-based data modes (
D A TA A and A FS K A )
optimize settings for data rather than voice.
The KX3 also has two built-in data modes that
don’t require a computer:
FS K D (narrow-shift
RTTY) and P S K D (PSK31). These modes use the
KX3’s display for receive, and a keyer paddle for
transmit, converting the CW you send into data.