[Elecraft] QSK? Newbie question

[N2EY@aol.com]

In a message dated 10/18/03 5:38:51 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
rondec@easystreet.com writes:


> But for those of us with a single transmitter/receiver site, it was a bit
> more challenging. I know that up into the 70's, QSK was not the norm. 

I had full QSK in a homebrew rig in the mid 1970s. I used an electronic TR 
switch consisting of a 6AH6 tube connected to the final tube end of the 
transmitter pi network. This was not a new idea - there was a similar commecial TR 
switch as far back as 1956. 

To provide receiver muting, I used a high speed SPDT relay. Swinging contact 
was grounded, NC went to earthy end of RF gain control, NO keyed the 
transmitter. This was a heterodyne-type transmitter, with all the oscillators running 
all the time and the TX mixer and final grid-block keyed.  

I could hear a breaking station in between dits at 35+ wpm. 

> 
> The biggest problem with those schemes was the recovery time of the
> receiver. It might take several seconds for the AGC to recover so it could
> hear after transmitting. 

Another reason I don't use AGC. My rx's recover very fast without it!


> 
> I think that QSK in Ham rigs started to appear in quantity as an off-shoot
> of VOX for SSB. That is, voice-controlled transmit for SSB phone operators.
> In the late 60's and 70's VOX started to become commonplace, and emphasis
> was placed on more fast-paced and "natural" phone conversations. 

I disagree. The Ancient Ones had QSK back in the '30s. Master builder W2LYH 
described a deluxe QSK system using relays in 1961. I heard it on the air more 
than 30 years after he built it and it was still perfect QSK. His trick was to 
leave the tx connected to the antenna at all times and use the relay to 
disconnect the rx from the antenna when the key was down. His system was in QST.

Up until
> 
> then, a phone station (like a CW station) might hold a transmission lasting
> 5 or 10 minutes before passing it "over" to the next station. I used to hold
> some massive "rag chews" lasting for hours with several buddies on 160 that
> way, and it was rather entertaining to hear the "broadcast" various
> operators would dream up. Almost like mini-radio "shows". 

The classic term for this is "old buzzard transmission".


73 de Jim, N2EY


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