[Elecraft] K2 Recommended Side Tone Freq

[k6se@juno.com]

Nigel, ZL2DF wrote:

"On page 71 Owners Manual Rev D Oct 22 2002 "pitch can be set from 400 to
800 Hz, although 500-600 Hz is recommended.  What is the reason for this
recommendation?  Is [it] because of a technical reason related to the K2
or is it based on CW operators experience in actual band conditions."
==========
Good question!!  I was wondering myself.

I prefer a 400 Hz pitch (or lower) as most 160-meter DXers do.  We find
that weak signals in a noisy band are easier to copy with the CW tone set
to a lower-frequency pitch.  Perhaps this is because of the high-pitch
characteristics of the "band noise",  I don't know.  I DO know that it
works.

This has nothing to do with the age of the operator, as N0SS suggested,
BTW.  I was taught by Brazil's #1 160-meter DXer (PY1RO) about this
"trick" back in the early 1960s when he was in his early 20s and I was in
my late 20s.  In the early 1970s I preferred a 200-Hz pitch note on my
Drake R-4C.

Why does Elecraft recommend 500-600 HZ???

Cetainly the square-wave sidetone, as KD5NDB suggested was the reason for
this, has absolutely nothing to do with the most important issue -- which
is how well you can copy a weak CW signal in noise.

73, de Earl, K6SE