[Elecraft] Key Clicks

Tue Sep 9 23:46:00 2003

Wow Earl - this is good stuff!  I was never aware of this before
although I do remember hearing that the 1000MP/field had clicks.

How does one go about measuring the CW bandwith of a transmitter
and is this information available in the ARRL reviews or anyplace else?

73
Keith M. Hamilton, W8GX

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Earl W Cunningham" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, September 09, 2003 10:47 PM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K2 Keying Problems

>snip>

> Many hams feel that if a transmitter has key clicks, they will be heard
> up and down the band far from the signal frequency.  This was sometimes
> true in the old days when cathode keying (or some other "dirty" keying
> method) was used.
>
> Most clicks are manifested by wide bandwidth of the CW signal.  When you
> tune slightly outside of the passband of your receiver's narrow CW filter
> where you  no longer hear the signal, you will hear "clicks".
>
> Some of today's modern transceivers are notorious for clicks.  The Yaesu
> FT-1000MP/MkV/Field are among the worst offenders with CW signals almost
> 5 kHz wide.  Many MP owners have alleviated this built-in problem by
> modifying the radio per either of two mods developed by other hams.
>
> The Icom 746Pro and 756Pro2 have clicks that are about 1 kHz wide (+/-500
> Hz).  The Elecraft K2's CW bandwidth is about 3 kHz.  That means that
> just 33 K2s spaced 3 kHz apart will use up the entire lower 100 kHz of
> any band.  This is very undesireable and is frowned upon by most CW
> contesters.
>
> A click-free rig is considered by many to be a rig that has a CW
> bandwidth of 500 Hz (+/-250 Hz) or less.
>
> In typical Elecraft fashion in their effort to make the K2 #1 in all
> respects, Wayne said today in a post to this reflector that he and Eric
> will be looking into the K2 keying issue next week.  I have no doubt that
> they will come up with an answer to cure problem as they have with many
> other past K2 issues.
>
> 73, de Earl, K6SE
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