Hi Lacie? In a contest, you are maximizing the number of QSO's and multipliers. The signal report is just a marker. By the way, for SSB you don't send RST, you only send RS. No tone in SSB to rate for the signal report. (look up the RST system on Wikipedia) Back to the contest report... if you are going for a good score, you just send 59 because it's fast and it doesn't matter for the score. The part of the exchange that is more important in the CQ WW SSB contest is the CQ zone number. The CQ zone will need to match for log checking. Again, the RS in the case of SSB for this and most other contests will usually be sent as 59. You can send a real RS report, but for anyone competitive, they will just log 59. You could start your own contest an make the RS report (in the case of SSB) a requirement to match on log checking. You should do that. Just start your own contest, nothing says you can't do that. Max NG7M

I just got a K3 and your video help me to understand, right now I’m in the middle to configure the SDRUno to Win4k3suite to get the panadapter.

Hi, what you are watching in this video is the other end of the pileup. This video was recorded in Utah by Don N5LZ. I know Don well and he is an outstanding operator and top notch DX'er. I was on Swains Island and he called me. I knew his call and when I worked him, I broke a bit of rhythm and said 73 de NG7M. Don then knew I was the operator and he quickly setup his webcam and made this recording of me working the pileup from Swains, from Utah. He was kind enough to share the video and let me post it on my website after we returned from the expedition. Its intersting to see and hear what it sounds like in this case. Don uses a higher side tone so it sounds different and he made the video very quickly with just the mic from his webcam. It wasn't a great recording but it captures what it's like for someone trying to work a DX station in a lager pileup. So back to your question. The K4 has the spectrum built in so you can use a mouse to click on the spectrum to change the frequency you are transmitting on or listening on depending on the mouse button. For an Elecraft K3 you would need a P3 to do that. There are other ways to do it with software on both the K4 and K3, Win4K4Suite or Win4K3suite for example. I assume that is what you mean by the auto tune function. I hope that helps and thanks for watching. 73, Max NG7M

Hi NI0K, I used draw.io. Just google up draw.io and you should find the download. It is/was a free program at the time I made this drawing. I hope that is still the case. 73 and thanks for watching. Max NG7M

The hdmi to usb adapter presents the hdmi input to the operating system as a camera via the usb port you plug it into. Just like a webcam... but the input to the adapter is the hdmi output from the Elecraft K4D. You can use any software that will show webcam output and display the image. This was all described in detail in the video. I has nothing to do with the windows version. If the windows version you are using supports usb webcam input, you are good to go. Max NG7M

Jim, hang in there! Thanks for watching and I expect you will put them in your log soon if you haven't already. 73, Max NG7M

Ha! Well, it's rare when I'm pointed at Africa, that is for sure. :) Max NG7M

Yes, exactly. They are 7700 miles from Utah. This is why I don't enhance the audio. I want these recordings to be realistic and true to form for those that listen. The more you practice the better you get. I would suggest putting on headphones and listen again. Turn up the volume but not to the point of it being uncomfortable. This is a real audio level even if I have the AF turned up on the receiver. This is the beauty of HF and the distances and hops off the ionosphere and earth multiple times. I still find it magic after all these years. I too could barely hear Steve AG4W operating from the DX side as TJ9MD. This is with 3 elements pointed at 65 degrees from Utah at 70 ft. It is magic! :) An end fed wire 25 feet of the ground would be useless in this case. 100 watts with an end fed wire 25 feet off the ground would be useless. It's all about a gain based beam and more than 100 watts to make this SSB contact happen. Keep listening and work on your antenna setup above all else. It's all about the antenna and not a fancy transceiver at the end of the day. Get that antenna 1/2 wave above the ground and magical things will happen! Max NG7M

Hi Jay! That was quick on the post here. Glad the spot helped. A lot of fun to work someone you know on the other end. Steve AG4W does a great job on SSB and he is a machine. He will stick with it and just keep going on any long schedule. I got to know Steve really well in Djibouti where we roomed together in one of the bungalows. In fact, Steve is the reason I jumped in and joined the Swains Island team W8S. Steve had some things come up and couldn't make it to Swains. Steve and Adrian KO8SCO must have been desperate, and they reached out to see if I could go :) And obviously I pulled the trigger. Max NG7M

@@ng7m-ham-shack what a great experience that must’ve been. I’ve always wanted to be on the rxing end of a dxpedition. Maybe as I improve and my kiddos get a bit older. I think for the most part you have to be financially sound as well. Unless someone has to cancel out 😆 you did a great job I’m sure!

Thanks for watching. You are doing the right thing doing some research and it will become easy for you too. Plus, I may show you some things not to do with a bad operating! :) 73, Max NG7M

Thanks Jay! Hope all is well on your end. 73, Max NG7M

Thanks for watching. That has been awhile, but I'm glad I captured and presented data to demonstrate what I did. To this day, I have not had anyone challenge the results. I stick with FSK using EXTFSK64 on my K3S and K4D. It's just easy and I don't worry about drive levels. The Elecraft K3/4 put out a very clean signal via FSK. Max NG7M

Holger, thanks for stopping by and I'm glad you found the video. You had a nice signal here in Utah. Nice work managing the pileup too. Well done. Max NG7M

Hi Jay, glad you stopped by to watch and comment. Hope all is well on your end too. Max NG7M

Hi Chuck, thanks for stopping by. Always great to hear you on the bands. Max NG7M

Ray, very good comment. I have had some trouble with low audio. For future videos I'm going to record the radio AF on a different channel so I can change the volume without increasing my talking commentary. Plus, I might need to provide less commentary! Thanks for watching! 73, Max NG7M

Thanks for the nice comments. I'm sure you will really enjoy the K4. The pin diode switch works really well and has been refined throughout the production of the K3 series too. Thanks for taking time to comment. 73, Max NG7M

Hi Scott, thanks for watching. I'll keep that in mind when I make another video. I'm always torn between audio and the commentary. It's probably best to keep the RX left and right channels more prominent than my banter. :) Thanks for the feedback as always Scott. My hearing isn't what it used to be that is for sure and ironically, my right ear is the one that is much worse. Max NG7M

I did early on doing a bunch of experiments. Since 2019 after getting the ldmos clamps that are used on the newer S model I haven't had any issues at all.

@@ng7m-ham-shack thank you , that's what I wanted to hear about the S model

Hi Jay, thanks for the comment and the thumbs up. Glad I remembered to post this... I was only about 4 weeks late! :) Max NG7M

@@ng7m-ham-shack hehe yeah it’s ok though. I enjoy seeing the k4 working. Noise floor compared to the 101 is unmatched

The Yaesu FTDX101D is an outstanding rig as are all of the top rigs from different manufacturers. The noise floor concern / nut was cracked over 20 years ago (watch the Rob Sherwood video below). The noise floor on all of the manufacturer rigs is good enough based on the noise floor you are going to get from even great antennas. The noise you will hear on any HF band is going to be above the sensitivity of the rig's receiver. Receiver sensitivity is academic at this point. (It hasn't mattered for a couple of decades now) I would highly recommend you watch Rob Sherwood's complete presentation on the topic: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fX_LYaqGbrWfqa8 This will help you understand what the limit is today, just as the title of the video suggests. I would suggest watching this video more than once and really internalize what Rob is teaching. Rob could have any rig on the list... and he chooses to operate primarily with IC-7610's and he likes to operate with the IC-7300 too. Again, a discerning operator / contest / DX / casual oriented choose a rig for many reasons and each rig is going to have its strong points and not so strong points. Ergonomics, size, weight, interfacing in the shack, support, frequency of updates etc.. K3LR chooses to operate ICOM rigs at his superstation, K9CT chooses to operate Flex rigs at his superstation... PJ2T Geoff chooses to operate Elecraft K3/S rigs in Curacao. I have operated at PJ2T by the way a few years back in the CQWW CW. All of these stations could have any rig they want, but there are reasons they choose the rigs they choose, and honestly, all the top rigs would do the job on the sensitivity front and narrow spaced dynamic range. These guys don't look at the top rig in Rob's list and just buy that rig. Everyone doesn't operate the FTDX101D in other words. They could... honestly, I'm not aware of a superstation that uses the 101. I'm sure there might be one out there. For example, one thing I like about the K4 is that it weighs 10 lbs, not 30 lbs like the 101. I like that, but others may not care about a 30 lb rig because they don't want to go portable with it. Everyone has different needs or wants. Rob's receiver rankings webpage listing (which everyone loves to refer to and usually knows very little about) is ranked by Dynamic Range Narrow Spaced tests. And yes, indeed the FTDX101D is at the top of the list. Rob had to rank rigs by something, and he picked dynamic range narrow spaced which he will tell you he regrets at times. Hams look at his list and assume the top listed rig is the best rig in the list. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is more to a rig and its dynamic range narrow spaced rating. If you are in a multi transmitter environment, that is a number you should pay attention too. The top rigs all have good numbers but those with a superhet frontend will accel in a close in multi transmitter environment. The K3/K3S does really well etc... and the K4HD module will bring those numbers up when that module ships for the K4. The SDR trend is great across the manufacturers because it gives the capability to add features without requiring hardware changes as I'm sure you already know. The hybrid superhet/sdr design makes it a great rig when you are in a mult-transmitter environment like an SO2R environment or a multi-two etc... Rob speaks to this and actually regrets to some degree that he originally sorted the list by that parameter. And as Rob makes very clear, any of the top listed rigs actually going quite deep into the list have very good performance in a multi transmitter environment. The FTDX101 as you know is a hybrid design and includes superhet / sdr hybrid design which with the addition of the superhet filtering, gives it very good numbers on the narrow spaced dynamic range blocking. Who really wins with all the manufactures out there are the hams. It's great to have competition and drive the technology. The 101 is an awesome rig and the K4 is an awesome rig and the TS-590 is an awesome rig. It's all perspective and what matters to you. By the way, we ran TS-590's at J28MD last year in Djibouti. I was one of the CW operators there... we made 92000+ QSO's on TS-590's. They are great rigs. N2IC uses TS-590's and posts top notch numbers that just kill other operators running much more expensive rigs. Watch the video above... I think Rob mentions Steve (N2IC) in the video. Have fun with your 101! Again, it's a great rig. I'm glad you are taking time to look at the competition. It's good to be familiar with many different rigs in the event you get invited to a DX-pedition or to a contest operation etc. I see you have operated some CWT's with your previous callsign W4ZXT and I have worked you with that call a number of times. It looks like you upgraded and now obviously are N4GO, I like that callsign. Hope to hear you in the CWT's and maybe in some other contests. It's all good! Have fun! Good antennas are far more important than your rig at the end of the day... I forgot to mention that. Put your hard-earned money into your antennas and not the rig. Max NG7M

@@ng7m-ham-shack yep just lucked up with N4GO on the 14th. Very good video presentation that Rob did there. He’s spot on at the end. Saying location and antenna is everything. I operate mostly at n4ss during contest. I’m not sure if it’s considered a super station but it works. 3,110’ towers with 5 over 5s. 5 bevs and inverted L for 160 with about 140 radials. The rigs we run are the ftdx3000 and the 101 if doing a multi 2. Mostly MS there. Bryan W5mx bought the place about 5 years ago. It’s on a summit and I always ask if he’s sure the coax is plugged in. It’s that quiet up there. It definitely puts me in check when I come home to this .25 acre city lot with the Mosley 33. Hehe! It would be cool to do PJ2T or any dx expedition. Maybe one day when my Cw gets a little better. I’m hoping to move if the market gets better. I’d love to be about 3-5 miles out of the city and 60’ tower with a real tribander. That extra layer makes for any of these rigs to be at their full potential. I asked Icom if there was a chance of a hybrid in the future. That was a big no. 😆 I really like Icom but not in town. Elecraft shines here. Thanks for the vid brother. Cya soon.

Yes, Elecraft K4D. Hope you enjoyed the video. Max NG7M

I have updated the link so that it will work. My photo gallery software needs to be replaced. Here is the link again to the pictures.... Max NG7M www.nc7j.com/pa/NG7M/KF7P%20Metalwerks/Junction%20Box%20&%20Entry%20Panel/

@@ng7m-ham-shack Thank you so very much!

Hi Rick, I key with VOX and don't use the PTT input jack on the back of the K4 with a WinKeyer. I just set the K4 menu delay before RF out (not the DLY setting on the knob on the front of the radio) to 8ms. N6TV tested and claims the delay before RF is 3ms slow, so 8ms is 11ms. But I still just set it to 8ms. I also replaced my low power relay early in the RF-KIT (for a little faster switching). There are pros and cons with WinKey using the PTT out of the WinKey into the PTT in on the K4. What I love with the WinKeyer, is the dynamic hangtime based on your keying speed so that you always have semi breaking regardless of the keying speed. The hand time on the PTT dynamically adjusts. This is a point of confussion on how that feature works. You must you PTT out on the WinKeyer for that to work. Honestly with my K4 I haven't used PPT output from my WinKeyer. Longest time, I just used the internal keyer in the K4 and used vox. For software keying like N1MM, I used the DTR line on one of the K4 usb serial ports. The caveat here is the internal keyer isn't synched up with the N1MM keyer. It's funny you ask about WinKery, because I just switched back to the WinKeyer a few weeks back, so the keying speed is the same in N1MM and the WinKeyer being controlled by N1MM. Plus, I like the separate knob on the WinKeyer. However! since I'm keying with VOX on the K4, I still have to tune the DLY knob on the K4 to keep things at semi breaking when I change keying speeds. I may, go back to the PTT input from the PTT output on the WinKeyer just to get the auto magical hang time handled by the WinKeyer. A long answer! But if you are keying with VOX I would se the TX delay on the WinKeyer to zero (in N1MM for example) when not using the PTT output of the WinKeyer. The K4 setting for delay to RF will take care of the delay to the PTT output on the K4 to your amp. Set the delay in this case. Honestly, I think for VOX keying from the WinKeyer I can't tell a difference if I leave the default at 5ms in N1MM for example when it's controlling the WinKeyer. The TX delay to RF in the K4 is really the controlling factor here and I think it's still in play when you are using external PTT with the WinKeyer. This is a long time gripe from many of us on the K3/S and it's carried over to the K4. The delay to RF menu setting applies to all CW code elements. So if you set the menu delay to RF too high, your CW will start to sound choppy because all the elements are shorted due to that delay happening before every single element. Hope that helps. you might want to post to the groups.io K4 group. However, plan on N6TV / Bob, jumping in and telling you to use USB serial port keying. He is obsessed about that. He isn't a WinKeyer fan and he makes it clear. I still like the features of a WinKeyer as long as you know how everything works. That auto hang time using PTT out on the Winkeyer is so nice if you are doing semi break-in. Max NG7M

@@ng7m-ham-shack I've followed your mods over the last few years. If you need another amp to upgrade let me know. I would love to bring my 2k+ up to the 2k-s configuration. LOL Appreciate the info. I've set the K4 delay to 10ms and will try that for a while. So far love the k4, just got to get over the learning curve. Getting there! Rick NJ5W

I don't remember what the thickness was on the indium sheets I used. Glad to hear your MRF1K50's survived. The liquid metal was an interesting experiment, but I too didn't have a good experience with it. I think liquid did have a better lower resistance to ground, but the indium pads have really worked well since the video. I haven't had any issues all these years now. 73, Max NG7M

Yes, you can just search for it... click the windows key and then type in camera. It will show the app and you can then right click on it and pin it to your task bar so that you can quickly click it next time. You can also pin it to the start menu and then move it up to the top of the list if you want. Max NG7M

@@ng7m-ham-shack Got it thanks. Slowly learning the K4. Nice rig. Keep up the videos, it helps.

Hi Wes, well the K4 is really getting better over time. The last firmware update (free always) was a big improvement. I really appreciated the incremental updates. Have fun! Max NG7M

Hi thanks for watching. I really won the lottery with the city I live in. They have a complete exemption for ham radio towers and antennas. I filled out the form, paid the $25 and an inspector came right out and did the walk around before I even had the tower attached to the tilt over base. He signed off on it and I'm still pinching myself over how easy the whole process was. Others of course are not so lucky and fight a batter that can be a nightmare. It was dumb luck. I had put my ham radio hobby in a box for about 8-9 years and when we had the house built, a couple of years later, I got the bug again and haven't looked back. Thanks again for watching. 73, Max NG7M

@@ng7m-ham-shack I appreciate your reply and I'm glad you had an easy time getting your tower approved, but my main question was about the SteppIR. Are the elements designed to sag like that? Cheers!

I forgot to mention the SteppIR DB-18 elements. They are hollow tubes... if you are familiar with SteppIR antennas. They sag a bit for a reason because moisture can get in the tube tubes potential and there are vents at the end of the tubes and loops on the trombone elements. The guys to hold the elements from sagging too much are very helpful in my environment where we get snow. It can be very heavy and bend the elements a lot. Plus, IMHO they help in wind situations and keep the elements from flopping around as much. SteppIR will tell you they are aesthetic only. And they do make the antenna look better with the elements not sagging as much, but there must be some sag for moisture potential is the real reason / SteppIR claims. Max NG7M

@@ng7m-ham-shack Ah, that makes perfect sense. Thank you!

I was able to get a pair in 2019 as you can see here in the video. I was in Xenia / Dayton and met with Reinhard. I would reach out to Reinhard and see if they are still available for the RF2K+. I suspect they are the same as what is being used on the RF2K-S too. Max NG7M

I'll try on the reflector and also maybe thru John at Island Amps. How big are the holes you cut in the sides? I'm thinking of adding a couple of fans for now to cool things some. It really only gets warm on 6 meters. Output there isn't very good and it heats up pretty fast.

Off the top of my head, I think used a 1 1/2" (inch) punch. it was one of the easy to find used Greelee punches that are very popular in the used market. My experience is that those holes make a big difference. When the fans do come on, you can put your hand by the holes and feel air being drawn in.

I don't use CW skimmer directly, because I use a telnet connection to get the CW skimmer server spots. For example, depending on conditions in a contest or the contest type, I might set a dx cluster filter for the telnet connection to only show skimmer server spots originating in the west and mid-west part of the US. However, I actually run a multi band skimmer server locally. Any spots you see coming from NC7J are from my QTH. It runs 24x7. And I run a dx cluster telnet server, dxc.nc7j.com on port 7373. So I can actually get spots from my skimmer server. What when I'm operating, my local skimmer server isn't skimming when I'm transmitting, so it will miss some spots, so I always get skimmer server spots from other stations that surround me. Some stations do like to use the user version of skimmer server, but I never have. It's common actually for stations to use the standard version and not the skimmer server version. For general DX, I use the DXLab suite. It's free and has a massive feature set to help you chase and track your progress. It's free and supported really well by the author and community. Some might say it has too many features! So for general operating, I use the SpotCollector application in DXLab and it has telnet connects to get human spots and cw, rtty and ft mode spots. I then limit the originating stations where the spots come from and I exclude all spots for K and VE prefixes so I see all the domestic local spots. For contesting I use N1MM Logger+. Which has an amazing feature set and is also free. It has excellent support, documentation and a very active team of developers usually make changes on a weekly basis. Again, N1MM has a telnet interface to get the real-time spots from the human and skimmer server spotting network. For rotor control I use PstRotator, which does have a cost, but it's reasonable and is supported well by the community and author. For rig control, I use Win4K4Suite to multi plex and serial connections that I have which need CAT control. The serial port use requirements are much less with the K4 and it's CAT and spectrum data over TCP/IP. Win4K4Suite also has a nice natively supported spectrum display for the K4. I usually use this spectrum when chasing DX. It's easy to see the pile up and use the mouse to change the TX frequency based on the pattern of the DX station and or the station that the DX last worked (assuming I can hear the station working the DX station). For antenna switching on my simple station, I use the 4O3A antenna genius. Not inexpensive, but it supports SO2R and has probably the best port RF issolation for an antenna switch. It has software that I use on the desktop which knows that antenna to switch to based on the band I'm on, getting cat data from my rig. For 160 meters I use a Palstar HF-AUTO tuner and there is software which lets you automate the tuning in real-time as you tune around the band. My 160 antenna is a comprimise like most have so it's very narrow banded and I always need to use the tunner. For amplifier control, I use VNC to see the visual display on my RF-2K+ amplifier. And for my SPE 2K-FA amplifier, I use the SPE software to turn it on and off and go between operate and standby etc.. The VNC to the RF-2K+ gives me the same capability. I also have a Telepost Inc. LP-700 station monitor that has software to visualize the screen output on my computer screens if needed, but I usually just look at the nice big display on the LP-700. It's very nice and is a very accurate coupler based power monitor and station monitor with muti coupler support for two transmitters if have that kind of a setup. Wow, I think that covers most of it! Ther certainly are other ways to do what I do and I'm sure I could even optimize things more! Max NG7M

Hi Rick, I did consider the Flex option, but owning a K3 and K3S I decided to jump on board with the K4. One thing I'm still waiting on is what Elecraft is calling the VK4 as in virtual K4. I hear the software is close now, but it's been a long wait. We do have other options, for example Win4K4Suite works well for remote, including the spectrum over the internet. However, the remote option from Elecraft and the superhet module have yet to have been delivered which is very disappointing considering how long the K4 has been shipping now. I don't think you can go wrong with Flex either. Flex had a lot of growing pains early on, that is no secret but I think they have things working pretty well from what I hear. Once thing that alway bothered me with Flex was the fact that they use a mechanical tx/rx relay. Not a big deal for some and I'm sure it's pretty quiet. But the pin diode switching in the K3 and K4 line sure is nice. The other thing for Flex was the charge for software updates. But as far as the flashy factor on the computer spectrum viewing side of it, Flex is pretty appealing. I think with any rig, there will be some give and take. I wish I had some operating experience with the Flex 6400 for example. I think all the major manufacturer rigs are very good, but in most all cases, there is always something that needs improvement. A long answer, but keep in mind, some of the claimed features on the K4 have been a lot of time coming. It's a very nice rig, and thanks to the primarily software implementation, software will fix some of the outstanding issues without hardware changes. Elecraft still is working through issues with QSK and keying artifacts. This has been a real pain point for me, but they are making progress. Max NG7M

@@ng7m-ham-shack It's a hard decision. I've had the K3 for 10 years now and it's still works like a champ. No complaints and I wonder if I shouldn't just stick with it. I had a Flex 3000 back when they first came out and the software was terrible. They have come a long way now however. I'm watching a couple of sales so we will see which works best. It's only a hobby, that's what I keep telling myself. Great video's keep them up. Rick NJ5W