[CW] Receiver RF Gain

[bill K7WXW]

GM Bill,

Don't beat yourself up... lots of us newer hams don't have elmers unless 
you count youtube. I could get started on a whole rant about the decline 
of mentoring and community but I won't...

I "discovered" the value of reducing RF gain when I started using the 
attenuator on an FT1000D to reduce the noise during the blank moments in 
local HF nets. All of a sudden I could hear weak stations, too! Now, I 
use the it and the RF gain knob quite liberally. Then I started 
adjusting the IF bandpass knob, too, and things often got a little better.

Who knew there was actually a reason for all those adjustments on my 
rig! ;)  And, yes, I am little embarrassed to admit I didn't figure this 
out sooner. After all, reception is all about signal to noise ratio and 
I was, a long time ago, an engineer and allegedly know such stuff.

73 de bill K7WXW

______________
brevity is beautiful.

>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Ron.K3PID <ron.k3pid at sbcglobal.net>
>> To: CW <CW at mailman.qth.net>
>> Sent: Mon, Oct 29, 2018 7:55 pm
>> Subject: [CW] Receiver RF Gain
>>
>> I noticed an article in QST explaining that it is better to run a lower
>> RF gain on your receiver for weak signals and in noisy conditions. WOW!
>> I am thinking that those of us who are seasoned enough to be Elmers must
>> have really fallen down on the job.  Just the idea that someone needed
>> to write that article is an indication that we failed to pass on the
>> basic operating skills. My Elmer taught me ( and a lot of others) to run
>> with a relatively high audio gain and then back off the RF gain to drop
>> the noise. It works welll and I’ve been doing it that way for 57 years.
>> It works on my computerized Yaesu and just as well on my R-390 or my
>> HQ-180.  I just assumed it was common practice.
>>
>> 73
>> Ron K3PID
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