Elecraft K3 Owner's Manual - Manual (Page 40)

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Scanning
The K3's scanning features let the K3 tune any band
segment continuously, with or without the receiver
muted. Scanning can be used to monitor any portion
of a band, from a 1-2 kHz range where a station or
net is expected to appear, to an entire band. (6-
meter scanning range is limited to 50-54 MHz by
default; contact Elecraft for details.)
Scanning while muted (normal scanning mode)
allows the K3 to ignore stable carriers, unmuting
only when "interesting" signals are found. Scanning
unmuted (“live” scanning mode) is especially useful
when listening for weak signals on very quiet
bands. Both are covered below.
Scanning Setup
To use scanning, you first need to store the desired
tuning endpoints (VFO A and B) in a memory.
After that, you’ll be able to simply recall the
memory, then start scanning. You can set up
scanning ranges for various bands, modes, etc.
To set up a memory for scanning use:
• Set VFO A to the starting frequency, and VFO
B to the ending frequency.
• Select the operating mode, preamp/attenuator
settings, and filter bandwidth. Also select the
tuning rate (using
F IN E , C O A R S E and
R A T E ), which affects speed of scanning.
• Store this setting in any memory (pg. 16).
To start scanning:
• Recall a saved scanning memory using M V .
• Hold S C A N to start scanning. To scan with the
receiver live (unmuted), continue to hold
S C A N until you see AF ON (about 2 seconds).
To stop scanning, rotate VFO A manually, or tap
any switch, key, keyer, or mic PTT switch. To
restart, hold
S C A N .
If the sub receiver is on the same band as the
main receiver, and the sub is turned on, you can
tune VFO B/sub manually while VFO A/main is
scanning.
Channel Hopping
Scanning or manually tuning VFO A over a
numbered memory range, rather than a frequency
range, is referred to as channel hopping. This is
included in the K3 primarily for use on 60 meters, 6
meters, and transverter bands, although it can be
used on any band.
The U.S. 60-meter channel assignments
correspond to VFO settings of 5330.5, 5346.5,
5366.5, 5371.5, and 5403.5 kHz. USB is the only
mode allowed on this band.
Memories to be used for channel hopping
must be within the same band and have
consecutive numbers. They also require a text
label that starts with an asterisk (*).
To set up channel hopping:
• Set VFO A to the first frequency in the intended
channel-hopping range. (VFO B does not have
to be set higher than VFO A for channel
hopping purposes.)
• Tap V M , then select a memory ( 00 - 99 )
using VFO A. For the five 60-meter channels,
we suggest using memories 61-65. Start with
memory 61 for 5330.5 kHz (US), or your
country’s first 60-meter allocation.
• Rotate VFO B to select each memory label
position in turn as indicated by the cursor.
• Use VFO A to change characters. The first
character must be an asterisk (*); other label
characters are optional.
• After editing, tap V M again.
• In the same manner, set up all other memories
to be used for channel hopping.
To enable channel hopping (manually, with VFO A,
or via scanning), tap
M V , use VFO A to locate
one of the memories in the sequential range set up
earlier, then tap
M V again. VFO A will now
cycle through this range of memories as you turn it.
To disable channel hopping, tap
R A T E or F IN E or
change bands.
To start channel-hop scanning, hold S C A N . You
can also use “live” scanning as mentioned at left.