I find the K3 S-meter a wonderful contrast to those other rigs I have had where I had to mentally compensate for the terrible non-linearity (in dB), i.e. S9=S9, S8=S8, S7=S7, S5=S6, S1=S5 and nothing below the real S5 even moves the meter. I haven't even begun to play with the AGC settings in the K3, but all the recent firmware releases seem to provide good S-meter readings without this mental translation.
That said, I have run into a situation where I actually miss the meter on the old 1000D. That is when I try to turn the beam for maximum signal strength on a station I don't know the location of. As far as I can see, the K3 displays signal strength only in whole S-units, whereas I would find it useful to see changes smaller than that. I even miss the wildly exaggerated meter swings that you get in the lower part of the scale on a typical bad S-meter; they are just easier to see at a glance. Perhaps it would be useful to have a firmware option to just expand the K3 S-meter to something like 1 or 2 dB per tick on the scale. Of course I would have to use the RF gain control to bring the reading into the smaller range of the expanded scale, and then restore the normal S-meter scale for giving reports. Maybe I could achieve this expanded S-meter scale through an alternative AGC setting, available at the touch of a button? 73, Erik K7TV Ron D'Eau Claire wrote: > > And very few S-meters worked at all in CW mode since the BFO wasn't > isolated > from the AGC, so the AGC (and so the S-meter) was Off. > > Over the years contesters have brought some sanity to the S-number: ignore > the meter and send "5NN". > > The audio output voltage and dB comparison measurement displays available > on > the K3 are far superior to an "S-meter" for serious signal strength > measurements and comparisons. > > Ron AC7AC > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2008 11:30 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Bigger K3 S-meter > > > I'm not sure that I understand the fascination of larger S meters, I > totally ignore mine. But back in the days of my ill spent youth, when > radios glowed in the dark, I owned a Hallicrafters SX-96 which had > an S meter that must have occupied at least a quarter of the front > panel, and went to "80 db over 9" if my memory serves me well. > Man could you give great signal reports.."ur 70 db over 9 but > pls agn ur name" and S-9 meant that the other station was audible. > > Doug > W6JD > > > _______________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Post to: [email protected] > You must be a subscriber to post to the list. > Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm > Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com > -- View this message in context: http://n2.nabble.com/Bigger-K3-S-meter-tp1399030p1400272.html Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [email protected] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
