[Elecraft] How "clean" is a clean signal?

[Jim Brown]

On Mon, 23 Feb 2004 12:57:48 -0800, Ron D'Eau Claire wrote:

>I have absolutely no argument with putting as clean a signal as practical on
>the air, but there are limits. 

I think a reasonable limit is that a clicks should not be bothersome
outside the passband of a decent receiver that doesn't include the
signal. For example, if you've got a K2 or TenTec screwed down to a few
hundred Hz with a good multistage filter, you shouldn't hear clicks
more than about 500-800 Hz away.  During the DX contest this weekend, a
surprising number of really big signals met that standard with my K2 at
200 Hz with both KDSP2 and crystal filters engaged, and only a few were
serious offenders. 

I also believe that the bigger one's signal and the closer one might
live to another ham, the more critical this issue is. And if we want
our rigs to be taken seriously by contesters (and they already are),
it's also a big deal. I plan to use my K2/100 on Field Day, and
although I haven't done the mod yet, you can bet that I will before
then! 

Jim Brown K9YC