[Elecraft] K3: An Observation for Struggling Brass-Pounders
Doug Person
doug at northroutt.net
Tue Nov 6 21:02:01 EST 2007
I'm curious - does the K3 send the decoded text through the serial port
where it might be displayed in a terminal program?
Doug -- K0DXV
Ron D'Eau Claire wrote:
> 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
>
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