Elecraft K3 Owner's Manual User Manual

Page 62

TXGN{pwr}
[T]

(Troubleshooting.) Shows transmit gain constant for the present band and power
mode, where {pwr} =

(0-12W),

(13-120W), or

(0.1-1.5 mW). The

gain constant is updated whenever the

T U N E

function is activated on a given

band at one of three specific power levels: 5.0 W, 50 W, and 1.00 milliwatt. See
transmit gain calibration procedure, pg. 49.
On 80 m with high power (> 13 W) selected, you should see

PR8 0

as part of the

TXGN parameter display. This indicates that the preamp is turned on during QRO
transmit on 80 m, and is the default. It should only be turned off for
troubleshooting purposes; this is done by tapping

P R E

If TX ALC (above) is

OFF

, the TXGN parameter can be set manually, at very

fine resolution. This should only be done for troubleshooting purposes.

TXG VCE [T]

0.0 dB

(Advanced) Balances voice transmit peak power in relation to CW peak power
in

T U N E

mode. Typically set between -1.5 to 1.5 dB.

VCO MD [T]

SUB

NOR xx

(varies w/

VFO freq)

(Troubleshooting.) VCO L-C range view/change/calibrate. Once the VCO is
calibrated (pg. 49), the parameter which appears here will include

NOR

. You can

change the setting to troubleshoot VCO L-C ranges. When finished, set the
parameter back to

NOR 127

, then exit the menu and change bands to restore the

original setting. Note1: In this menu entry only, the main/sub receiver prefix (

SUB

) is not displayed at all times. However, the

SUB

icon will flash as usual

when

S U B

is tapped. Note 2: Tapping

before starting a VCO CAL will force it

to use “manufacturing” PLL voltage tolerances (

TOL =MFG

is flashed on VFO

B). These tolerances are more stringent than normal. This might be useful for
those using the K3 over a wider temperature range.
VFO Tuning Noise Reduction (Advanced): Tapping

in this menu entry

alternates between

SPI 1

(default) and

SPI 2

. The

SPI 2

setting may eliminate

a weak “ticking” noise sometimes heard in the vicinity of 5, 28, or 50 MHz while
rotating the VFO. Older K3s will require a simple RF board modification before
the

SPI 2

setting can be used; without the modification, synthesizer tuning errors

may occur, and

SPI 2

may not be effective. Contact Elecraft for details.

VFO B->A

Function

Copies VFO B’s frequency to VFO A. Cannot be used within the menu itself;
must be assigned to a programmable function switch.

VFO CRS

Per-mode

Per-mode coarse tuning rate (hold

C O A R S E

and tune VFO A or B). Tap

to turn

rounding on/off. Also applies to the RIT/XIT tuning knob if CONFIG:VFO OFS
is set to

, and both RIT and XIT are turned OFF.

VFO CTS

200

VFO counts per turn (

100

200

, or

400

). Smaller values result in easier fine-

tuning of VFO; larger values result in faster QSY. Doesn’t apply to the

C O A R S E

tuning rate, which always uses 100 counts per turn.

VFO FST

50 Hz

Specifies the faster of the two VFO tuning rates (

R A T E

). The faster rate is

per step by default, but can be set to

Hz if desired. In this case, VFO CTS =

400

is recommended to ensure adequate fast-QSY speed.

VFO IND

If set to

YES

, VFO B can be set to a different band than VFO A, which allows

listening to two bands at once (main/sub). See pg. 37 for independent main/sub
band considerations.

VFO OFS

OFF

, the RIT/XIT offset control can be used to tune VFO A in large steps when

both

RIT

and

XIT

are turned off. The step sizes vary with mode (see VFO CRS),

and are the same as the

C O A R S E

VFO tuning rates.

WMTR {pwr}
[T]

100

Wattmeter calibration parameter. {pwr} is the power mode:

(0-12W),

(13-120W), or

(0.1-1.5 mW). See calibration procedure (pg. 49).

XVn ON

Tap

–

to select applicable transverter band (

). Set parameter to

YES

turn the transverter band on.