[Elecraft] K2 S Meter

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

You are right George!!

The little National Regen did is the one I was thinking of... and now =
that
you mention it, it did have an "R" scale on the volume control. You made =
me
go "look" and you were even right on the model number: SW-3.

Now we know who is the REAL resident "Old Timer" around here!  Hi!

You are right about AGC reducing the change in the audio level so signal
changes aren't so obvious as they used to be. I like to play a game of
deciding how strong the signal is by ear then checking the meter to see =
if
we agree. We do more often than not!=20

I  operate with the AGC off a lot too...I like the fact that when =
there's no
signal in the passband the noise stays down in volume instead of having =
the
AGC bring it up loud when there's a pause in the signal.=20

The place where I really appreciate AGC is in round tables or nets where
signal strengths vary a lot.=20

Ron AC7AC
K2 #1289


-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-admin@mailman.qth.net =
[mailto:elecraft-admin@mailman.qth.net]
On Behalf Of George, W5YR S Ron, you may have another radio in mind, but =
the
earliest one I recall with a calibrated gain control was the little =
regen
made by National in the 30's.

Incidentally, the numerals on that one were termed "R" units since in =
those
days prior to the RST system, signal strength was informally reported on =
an
R1 to R9 scale, which is how the dial of the gain control knob was
calibrated....=20
As a side note, now that our super receivers have such excellent =
multi-loop
AGC systems, one finds it very difficult to tell much about the strength =
of
a signal by how much sound it makes. The audio output may vary on a few =
dB
at most for a 100-dB change in signal level at the antenna terminals. =
Maybe
that is why the default "599" signal report obtained on all contest =
contacts
is as good and as meaningful as any when most signals all sound about =
the
same loudness.

73/72, George
Amateur Radio W5YR -  the Yellow Rose of Texas
Fairview, TX 30 mi NE of Dallas in Collin county EM13QE
"In the 57th year and it just keeps getting better!" =
<mailto:w5yr@att.net>