[1000mp] Clicks and thumps in headphones

[John Rippey]

Since taking possession of a Mark V last year, I have been very 
disappointed in the clicks and thumps I was hearing while transmitting CW. 
No amount of tweaking of menu settings as discussed in previous postings 
seemed to help.

On Saturday I pulled the Mark V for first echelon maintenance and in 
vacuuming the rig in some good light I noticed that the tiny blue slide 
switch recessed in the back panel that controls the linear amplifier relay 
was "on." The manual states that the switch comes disabled "to avoid the 
clicking sound when the transceiver is used alone. . ." Oh, my. Apparently 
the previous owner (I bought the Mark V from a ham in Florida) had used a 
non-QSK linear. It had never occurred to me to check the relay switch since 
I run the Mark V barefoot. So on Saturday, I switched it off.

Lo and behold, once back on the air, I discovered the clicks and thumps in 
my headphones were gone. Using Hi-Fi phones does give me a vestigial 
"thump," but with a set of phones with less bass response there now is 
nothing but a pure CW tone to hear. What a difference!

With regard to the "MONITOR" button, the manual says the monitor circuit is 
always on when sending CW, so I guess the only advantage of pressing the 
button is to be able to adjust the sidetone volume via the monitor's volume 
control. I don't use it.

Bottom line: anyone hearing objectionable clicks and thumps in his/her 
headphones with a Mark V needs to make sure the linear amp relay is 
switched off. Don't do as I did and assume it's off.

73,
John, W3ULS