[Elecraft] This mixer may interest some

Wed Feb 26 01:54:01 2003

John is absolutely technically correct on every point.

The issue is to what extent do any of these considerations enter into the
practical use of a mixer driven from your radio's speaker output directly.

My experience has been to observe no negative effects. And I am usually
pretty observant about such things as distortion, S/N and the like.

My recommendation is to try it for yourself and see. Then if you have
problems, review John's posting carefully and see what needs to be done to
correct the problem.

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!"

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, February 25, 2003 12:52 AM
To: George, W5YR
Cc: John; [email protected]; Elecraft Reflector
Subject: RE: [Elecraft] This mixer may interest some

While George is correct and you CAN drive a line input with a speaker
level output, the S:N ratio is going to be significantly worse than if you
properly match the units and interface at line level.  Driving a mic input
with speaker level is even worse in the S:N area.  Doing either with a K2
is going to sacrifice a great deal of the dynamic range the K2 has on RX,
as heard in your headphones or monitors. While any mixer worth its weight
in dirt will have clip indicators, I generally prefer to drive my
equipment with the signals that they want.  How many people would consider
driving the microphone input of your K2 with speaker level output of
another device and then trying to "match" them with the volume control and
mic gain controls?  It just isn't the RIGHT way to do things.

Something else to consider is that the volume knob on the K2 does NOT
adjust the side-tone volume for your TX side-tone.  The same is true for
my TS-2000 as well as the "beeps" you get when you press the menu buttons
on various other rigs I own.  "Direct boxes" are easy to build and cheap
to buy.  They'll take speaker level and match it properly to your mixer
input.

73 de John - K4WTF