[Elecraft] DSP - 4 questions

[Lyle Johnson]

Hello Tim!

>... Here is what I would like to know:
>
> 1 - How much noise will I notice if I add the DSP unit?

I am not sure what sort of noise you mean.

The DSP noise reduction will significantly reduce thermal, hissy, background
band noise.

The DSP filters will sharpen your audio response, so you will hear less
noise outside the desired passband.

The DSP notch filter will reduce interference (noise) from heterodynes, like
other stations tuning up nearby, etc.

I have not heard, and no Field Tester has reported, any increase in
background noise in the K2 receiver.

So, I guess the best answer I can give you is:  the DSP doesn't add
noticeable noise, and sure helps get rid of the noise you want to eliminate!

> 2 - Cab the DSP unit be disengaged at will so any DSP noise is
> not constantly present.

Again, there is no 'DSP" noise that has been reported.

But, you can place it in "bypass" mode which puts the DSP chip to sleep, and
turns off the analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters, so the
unit acts as if it weren't present.  Power consumption drops to about 10 mA
in this mode.

> 3 - If I am mainly a cw op, is the KAF2 a better choice than the DSP unit?

Many of the testers are CW ops as well.  Some of them report really liking
how the noise reduction lets them open up the bandwidth to hear what's going
on around them, without increasing the noise.  And the CW audio filters are
useful, too, with both "hard" and "soft" slope characteristics.

The DSP is not perfect, of course, and there may be circumstances where you
might prefer bypassing it, or using an analog filter like the KAF2.

With the tremendous level of customization available, I suspect you would be
happy with the KDSP2.

73,

Lyle KK7P