Elecraft K3 Owner's Manual - Manual (Page 36)

36
SPLIT and Cross-Mode Operation
Normally, VFO A is used for both receive and
transmit. When
S P L IT mode is selected, VFO B
becomes the transmit VFO. In this case the SPL T
icon turns on, the TX arrow points to B (pg. 12)
and the yellow delta-F LED ( ∆f ) turns on if receive
and transmit frequencies or modes differ.
Cross-mode operation is possible in some cases,
such as SSB/CW. You can use
B S E T to directly
change the mode of VFO B (pg. 22).
You can transmit in CW when SSB mode is
selected by just hitting the key or paddle; there’s no
need to use cross-mode split in this case. The SSB
station will hear the signal at your sidetone pitch.
See CONFIG:CW WGHT.
Extended Single Sideband (ESSB)
An increase in SSB voice bandwidth may improve
fidelity and reduce listening fatigue.
The K3’s normal SSB receive bandwidth is about
2.7-2.8 kHz. If you have a 6 kHz filter installed,
you can use
WID T H to select a wider passband.
ESSB transmit is set up as follows:
• A 6-kHz filter on the RF board is required.
Set this filter’s bandwidth to exactly 6.0 0 kHz
(CONFIG:FLx BW). It must also be enabled
for AM transmit (switch to AM mode, then use
FLTX AM to specify the filter number).
• Switch back to SSB mode. Locate
CONFIG:TX ESSB, tap 1 to turn ESSB on,
and use VFO A to select the desired transmit
bandwidth. The
+ icon will turn on in the mode
area of the LCD. See cautions below.
• ESSB, AM and FM have separate TX EQ from
regular SSB, allowing you to optimize the
transmit passband for these wider-bandwidth
modes. See MAIN:TX EQ.
• Assign TX ESSB to a programmable function
switch if you’ll be turning it on/off frequently.
Carrier and spurious signal suppression,
passband shape, delay characteristics, fidelity,
and other aspects of ESSB performance are not
specified. Use ESSB only after carefully
monitoring your signal.
General-Coverage Receive
The KBPF3 option module includes band-pass
filters that cover the areas between ham bands. The
K3 will switch between its narrow ham-band filters
and the KBPF3 filters as you tune the VFOs.
A KBPF3 module can be installed on the RF board
(main receiver) and/or KRX3 (sub receiver).
CONFIG:VFO CRS selects C O A R S E VFO tuning
rate in each mode. AM coarse tuning rates include
5, 9, and 10 kHz.
Sensitivity below 1.8 MHz will be reduced due
to the high-pass response of the T-R switch, which
protects the PIN diodes.
VFO B Alternate Displays
The VFO B display can show time, date, RIT/XIT
offset, supply voltage, current drain, KPA3 heatsink
temperature (PA), and front panel temperature (FP).
Tap
D IS P to turn the selected display on or off.
Rotate VFO B to select the desired display.
If CONFIG:TECH MD is ON , additional VFO B
alternate displays will be available. PLL 1 and
PLL 2 show the main and sub synthesizer PLL
voltages; if either is out of range, (*) will appear.
AFV shows the true RMS value of receiver AF
output (mVp-p), unaffected by AF GAIN control.
After the AFV reading stabilizes, you can use VFO
B to select
dBV , which is useful for comparative
signal strength measurements. Also see
CONFIG:AFV TIM.
AFV and dBV apply to the sub receiver if it is
turned on. In this case, you may want to select
diversity mode (pg. 38) so you can tune the sub
receiver’s frequency with VFO A.
Alarm and Auto Power-On
Once you’ve set the K3’s real-time clock
(CONFIG:TIME), you can use MAIN:ALARM to
set an alarm. This can be used to remind you of a
schedule or net, or to start warming up for a contest.
When an alarm is set, (*) appears in the time
display. (Time can be displayed by tapping
D IS P .)
The K3 will turn ON automatically if it was off
at alarm time. It will be on the last-used band.