[Elecraft] EQP my $0..02 worth - SPC, etc...

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

For signal reporting, a much more meaningful report for CW than RST
would be the time-honored "QSA" report. 

QSA is simply a 1 to 5 scale, from unreadable to "arm chair copy". It is
what the commercial operators have used since Marconi was stringing
wires in the skies. You report "QSA 5" or whatever fits. And if you
aren't sure how the other op is copying as cdx change, you ask "QSA? BK"
and he tells you. 

RST was, at one time, a valuable reporting system, especially in the
1920s and 30's when many rigs had more or less a-c on the finals and so
they were modulated with anything from a slight hum to a band-blasting
raw a-c tone. Nowadays a lot of ops have gotten the mistaken idea the
"T" refers to chirps or other keying oddities, but not so. Those were
signified by a "C" for a normal chirp and, if the signal showed no sign
of instability at all  - such as was expected from a "new"
crystal-controlled transmitter - it might be given an "X" signifying
crystal controlled sounding signal. Both of those letters followed the
RST.

Clearly, that sort of reporting is dated. It's been years since I heard
a signal modulated with a-c so as to warrant anything but a T-9. And,
frankly, who cares if the S-meter at the other end is wiggling around S1
or S9+30 dB if the copy is "solid". I can adjust my K2 S-meter to give
anyone whatever report they'd like. 

So perhaps it's time to start championing a historic and valuable signal
reporting system that makes sense for rigs today - and just maybe using
it would be one way to make the EQP more interesting and "distinctive"
by reintroducing it there...

Ron AC7AC
K2 # 1289