[Elecraft] K3: An Observation for Struggling Brass-Pounders

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

Today I had a few minutes to scan 20 meters with the K3. I heard a slow,
hesitant fist calling CQ on 14057, so I grabbed my trusty J-38 hand pump and
answered him. 

We commenced a nice slow QSO at something less than 10 WPM. His fist was
perfectly R5 but his spacing was very ragged and uneven. At 10 WPM I had
lots of time to 'kill' copying his transmission my head so I punched up CW
text decode on the K3, choosing the CW 5-40 (WPM) setting, just to see if it
could make sense of his fist. 

Frankly, I was amazed! The decoder software kept up with the constant
changes in speed and spacing well enough that I could have shut off the
audio and, while the copy wasn't 100% for every letter, I wouldn't have
missed a single thing of importance. Sure, now and again when he'd suddenly
send a "B" as "dah"..........."di-di".."dit" the decoder faithfully printed
out "T" "I" "E", but as his speed shifted all around it very quickly
recovered and caught onto whatever new CW rate he was sending at before
changing speeds again. He was using a straight key and the relative length
of his dots and dashes changed constantly too, but the decoder quickly
figured out which was which! Of course the decoder had the help of an
adjustable threshold level and the superb K3 filtering that makes puny
signals stand out. 

This is a great feature for anyone who wants to hone their CW skills from
the most basic level on the air. As a  Novice myself back in '52 who could
barely get through a short signal exchange before my arm 'fell off' or my
last pencil point broke in my nervous hand I believe that actual on-air
experience is the fastest way to build CW confidence and skill. 

Off-air CW practice is good. After 55 years I still do it regularly, but I
hate to see anyone messing about for hours on a practice oscillator, denying
themselves the fun of a real QSO, simply because they are afraid they aren't
"good enough". That's the real value of FISTS (whose frequencies this fellow
was hanging out near) and why I'll gladly slow down for a chat with someone
brave enough to put a signal on the air. If your copy skills are shaky at
best, the decoder will let you QSO with others who are hammering away
unsteadily on a straight key even if you can't figure out a single letter in
your head. 

What a 'safety net'! No one learning CW need worry about getting on the air
now and not being able to understand the other station! 

Every time I get a chance to spend a few minutes operating the K3 I
rediscover just how quickly using it becomes addictive! Shoot, if these
things could be grown in your garden, they'd be illegal! 

Ron AC7AC