[CW] "Spot" Buttons

[John Rippey]

I don't know if I'm the only one who finds the lack of a "Spot" button on 
ICOM's PRO series a significant nuisance. Yaesus and Ten-Tecs continue to 
provide spotting buttons, but not ICOM.

Apparently, ICOM thinks CW is going the way of the DoDo bird, and therefore 
is uninterested in providing such a basic feature on its radios. To spot a 
CW signal on a "PRO," you use the "Bk-In" button, which cycles between off, 
semi-break-in, and full break-in. You turn off "Bk-In,"  press your key to 
get a steady sidetone (if you are using a paddle you need to have a key 
plugged in as well), zero-beat the sidetone with the signal, then push 
"Bk-In" once or twice to get back to semi or full break-in. This requires 
pushing a tiny button three times every time you want to zero-beat a CW 
signal. From what I can tell of the forthcoming IC-7800, the same 
arrangement will be carried over in this top-of-the-line transceiver.

Further nuisances: In the case of the IC-746PRO which I own, you can adjust 
the sidetone but there is no readout to know what it is--you have to guess. 
Also, there is no readout of the speed setting of the built-in keyer. (The 
keyer itself is exemplary, there are some convenient settings such as 
adjustable rise times, and the keying envelope seems to be fb, so it is not 
all bad.)

We CW fans ought to let ICOM know that there is still a demand for rigs 
that make it simple to tune a CW signal, provide a readout of the sidetone, 
etc. Otherwise, we might see Yaesu make the same judgment. I doubt if 
Ten-Tec would follow suit, though.

73,
John, W3ULS