[Elecraft] K3 CW Rx Audio

Sun Apr 20 18:53:15 EDT 2008

"well, having just turned 70,"
Welcome to the club, Fred.
73, Bob N6WG
The Little Station with Attitude

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill W4ZV" <btippett at alum.mit.edu>
To: <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, April 20, 2008 3:44 PM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 CW Rx Audio

>
>
>
> DOUGLAS ZWIEBEL wrote:
> >
> > I can't, for the life of me, figure why anyone would want to
listen to
> > cw with a really wide filter, but.....
> >
>
> >From K3ZO many time winner of Dayton pileup contests:
>
> I just got back from Thailand so am reading all of this old
discussion
> for the first time, but as an
> Orion owner, and since someone mentioned me in a post, I thought I
> ought to comment.
>
> I have always preferred to use the filters between my ears rather
than
> the ones that come
> with radios and never liked narrow filters because the ringing
bothers
> me a lot.  N3UM and
> W4AU convinced me to go with the Orion mainly because they said it
> "doesn't ring."  Well
> in my opinion it does, but you can zero out the ringing by using a
> bandwidth of exactly
> 970 Hz, so when I'm on CW that's where my bandwidth is always set.
> Precisely because
> in a DX contest I had a loud W2 perch 670 Hz above me and used the
> Orion's very FB notch
> filter to notch him out, I now also use the notch filter set for 670
> Hz tone and 300 Hz bandwidth
> full time while on CW, because in the Orion the notch filter appears
> to the user to act like another filter in series with the regular
one.
>  This combination has given me reception pleasure like I
> haven't had for years (maybe my Drake R4C with the Sherwood mods got
> close way back when).
>
> Nevertheless taking Tom's main point, narrowing a filter mainly so
you
> can squeeze up right close to another guy running on an adjacent
> channel is not a good reason to use a narrow filter.  In my
experience
> you always want to know what is going on around you as you run.
> Narrowing the filter beyond a certain point deprives you of the
audio
> version of peripheral vision, and you lose if you
> cut yourself off from what's going on around you that way.  Tom is
> right when he says that it will
> lower your rate even though you think you're really banging away.
>
> With a rig like the Orion the tone you set your sidetone monitor to
is
> also very important.  I like to copy CW at 400 Hz, and I have been
> surprised when people have commented that 400 Hz is a much lower
tone
> than they like to use.  I believe it is established science that the
> lower the tone you use to copy, the better your ear is at separating
> out tones which differ in frequency very
> little from each other.  I actually thought I was using a rather
high
> choice of tone, as I recall
> some articles I read years ago, perhaps by professional
ship-to-shore
> ops, advocating 200 or
> 300 Hz as their tones of choice.
>
> I also believe in using a first-class pair of headphones.  The
> arguments about "communications quality audio" vs "high fi audio"
have
> never cut any mustard with me.  In 60 years of using all kinds of
> different receivers, speakers and headphones, I am of the firm
belief
> that the ear wants to extract as much information as it can get from
> any receiving setup, meaning that whatever is the final
> apparatus used to translate electrons into sound, it should be as
good
> as scientifically practical in transmitting the widest range of
sounds
> with as flat a response as possible.  Therefore my German Sennheiser
> headset has pride of place in my shack.
>
> As those who are familiar with my views on the subject of people who
> are quick to send "QRL" can attest however, this does not mean that
I
> allow  someone else to determine for me what my optimum receiving
> bandwidth should be.  When I started contesting in 1952 nobody ever
> talked about level playing fields or how someone stole your
frequency.
>  It was just assumed that if things got too hot for you, you moved.
> That was part of the game.  We have since shot ourselves in the foot
> by relegating our beginners to two meter FM  where they got the idea
> that all channels everywhere should be as crystal clear as the ones
> they got started with at the beginning.
>
> Back when men were men, a crowded band full of signals was a joy to
> behold, a challenge to be reckoned with and mastered.  I know this
> discussion has been mainly about CW, but the best example I can
think
> of to illustrate this particular point was 75 meter phone on a
winter
> night with
> the green tinge of aurora flickering on the northern horizon.  Yes,
in
> the "AM days" the band on such a night would be filled with
> heterodynes from one end to the other -- we called it "jingle bells"
> -- and there were about three signals in the whole band that you
could
> actually copy, and yet the presence of all those heterodynes meant
> there were sure a hell of a lot of us in there trying.
>
> Over the years we have been afforded the right to QSY at will within
> wide portions of spectrum
> of which most of our bands consist precisely because we have
convinced
> our authorities that we, more efficiently than any other radio
> service, have demonstrated that we can share limited spectrum
capably
> and get maximum production out of it.  Be careful how much you wish
> the QRM would just go away, the FCC's answer might be to duplicate
the
> 60 meter experience on all our other bands.
>
> And if I sound like a nasty old codger, well, having just turned 70,
I
> feel I have a right to act my age, and besides, if I don't comment
> now, I may never get another chance.
>
> Season's greetings to you all!
>
> 73, Fred, K3ZO
>
> -- 
> View this message in context:
http://www.nabble.com/K3-CW-Rx-Audio-tp16798925p16799865.html
> Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>
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