Firmware Updates

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The K3 firmware loading utility program is available from Elecraft's website (click here).

There have been some reported problems with certain virus checkers that falsely consider the K3 utility as spyware. Not to worry, there is no spyware in the utility and the virus programs can be configured to allow the K3 utility program to function.

W4ZV - The download went fine again after in initial glitch which required removing power to shut the K3 off. My heart skipped a beat when it came back up with a dark LCD display and the red TX LED flashing. But then I realized it was reloading and all was OK.

The K3 Utility screen says: 

               Installed in K3       Available
 MCU             01.48                  01.48
 DSP1            01.45                  01.45
 DSP2             N/A                   01.36
(DVR)            (N/A)                 (Missing)
(  ) above is light gray...i.e. not active

Q: What is DSP2 above and why is it "Available" but "N/A"?

A: DSP2 is for the 2nd Receiver


W4ZV: If that is true for the unavailable KRX3, why not treat it identical to DVR which is also unavailable? Seems confusing to display unavailable options in two different ways.

K6KR: "Available" means that there is a corresponding file (hauxsomething) available in your firmware folder. I made some attempt in the Help section on the Firmware topic to describe what the columns (and DSP2) mean. I know nobody reads help (I rarely do), but I did make an attempt in the Help file to describe each page.

The K3 Utility is used by Elecraft firmware development, production, and testers. That's good, because it gets pounded heavily by a demanding audience. Every K3 that leaves Aptos is pre-loaded with firmware using this utility.

I have to enable certain utility features before the corresponding hardware is generally available so that the firmware developers can use the utility for their daily work. They have other ways of loading firmware, but have found some of the features of the K3 Utility a convenient timesaver. The command macros get a lot of use.

We could have opted for different utility software for internal use versus customer use. But we thought it better to have one development path, and in some support cases it's convenient to have a fully capable utility installed. One product, with the same capability everywhere, satisfies that need. And there aren't very many of us doing this software development effort.

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