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BEING INDECIPHERABLE.  AMATEURS WITH COMPUTERS RELY ON INTERNET
BASED TIME SYNCHRONIZATION, BUT THE WSPR DESKTOP TRANSMITTER
SUBSTITUTES A GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM GPS RECEIVER MODULE INSTEAD.
THE PACKAGE INCLUDES A GPS ANTENNA ATTACHED TO A 10 FOOT LONG CABLE.
YOU SIMPLY ATTACH THE CABLE TO THE TRANSMITTER, AND AS SOON AS IT
RECEIVES ENOUGH SATELLITE SIGNALS, IT CALIBRATES ITS CLOCK TO THE
ULTRA PRECISE GPS TIME.  IT ALSO DERIVES LOCATION INFORMATION FROM
THE GPS SIGNAL LAB NOTES THE STATE OF THE ART TECHNOLOGY AND
CONSTANTLY IMPROVING PERFORMANCE OF THE ELECRAFT K4D KEPT ME BUSY IN
THE ARRL LAB.  TABLE 1 AND THE KEY MEASUREMENTS SUMMARY SHOW
CONSISTENTLY GREEN PERFORMANCE ACROSS THE BOARD.  IN JANUARY, THE
ARRL BOARD OF DIRECTORS APPROVED THE CLEAN SIGNAL INITIATIVE
PROGRAM, TO SET A HIGH STANDARD OF TRANSMITTER PERFORMANCE TO HELP
CLEAN UP THE BANDS FROM TRANSMIT IMD SPLATTER, KEY CLICKS, AND
TRANSMITTED PHASE NOISE, TO NAME A FEW EXAMPLES.  ALTHOUGH THE
PROGRAM IS NOT YET READY TO FEATURE THE K4D UNDER ITS BANNER,
PERFORMANCE SUCH AS THE THIRD ORDER TRANSMIT IMD AND 5 KHZ SPACING
KEYING SIDEBANDS IS STELLAR.  THE SDR IMPLEMENTATION IS ALSO STATE
OF THE ART, WITH THE USE OF BANDPASS FILTERS IN THE RECEIVE CHAIN TO
HELP THE RECEIVERS WORK WELL IN MULTI TRANSMITTER ENVIRONMENTS.  THE
DESIGN MAKES USE OF MULTIPLE FPGAS AND MULTIPLE DSP CHAINS TO
IMPLEMENT OR IMPROVE FUNCTIONS LIKE DIVERSITY RECEPTION AND STRONG
SIGNAL PERFORMANCE.  FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE DESIGN, SEE
HTTPS// ELECRAFT. COM FOR DETAILS.  NOTABLY, ELECRAFT HAS
IMPLEMENTED CONTROLLED ENVELOPE SINGLE SIDEBAND COMPRESSION TO
GREATLY ENHANCE TALK POWER.  THIS WAS FIRST DESCRIBED IN AN ARTICLE
BY DAVID HERSHBERGER, W9GR, IN THE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2014 ISSUE OF
QEX.  THE LABS PRELIMINARY MEASUREMENTS SHOWED AN IMPRESSIVE
INCREASE IN TALK POWER OF ABOUT 8 DB.  THIS IS THE EQUIVALENT OF
ADDING A 500 W AMPLIFIER TO A 100 W TRANSMITTER, WITHOUT THE
INCREASE IN THE ELECTRICITY BILL.  CONCLUSION OVERALL, THE K4 IS A
FINE RADIO AS IT IS, ESPECIALLY WITH THE CURRENT FIRMWARE REVISIONS.
IMPROVEMENTS, REFINEMENTS, AND OTHER NEW CAPABILITIES ARE LIKELY TO
BECOME AVAILABLE PERIODICALLY.  STAYING IN TOUCH WITH ELECRAFT
SUPPORT GROUPS IS RECOMMENDED IN ORDER TO KEEP UP WITH NEW
CAPABILITIES AND FOR THE LATEST NEWS ON NEW FEATURES IN DEVELOPMENT.
THE ELECRAFT STAFF MEMBERS LISTEN TO THEIR USERS, AND YOU MAY EVEN
END UP CONTRIBUTING TO THE FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS OF THE K4 THROUGH
YOUR COMMENTS AND OBSERVATIONS.  THE TRANSATLANTIC EVENT WAS A LOT
OF FUN FOR THOSE ON BOTH SIDES OF THE POND.  WE INSTALLED A NORTH
EAST BEVERAGE RECEIVING ANTENNA JUST FOR THIS EVENT, AND BEING ABLE
TO SWITCH BETWEEN IT AND THE HIGH DIPOLE AT 120 FEET WAS VERY
USEFUL.  STATIONS IN EUROPE THAT WE COULD NOT DETECT ON THE TRANSMIT
ANTENNA WERE EASILY COPIED ON THE BEVERAGE.  THEY DO WORK.  THE K4
LETS YOU SWITCH NUMEROUS ANTENNAS FROM THE FRONT PANEL CONTROLS.
ZACHTEK WSPR DESKTOP TRANSMITTER REVIEWED BY STEVE FORD, WB8IMY
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