[Elecraft] VP6DX RTTY QSOs on the K3 -- without a computer

[dj7mgq at muenchen-mail.de]

Hi Keith,

> When doing RTTY the old fashioned way (with a teletype machine) how fast
> are chars sent?

Depends on how you look at it. The speed of a character is always the  
same (bit speed) and this defines the baud rate. The number of  
characters per minute depend on your typing speed, assuming that you  
can not type so fast that the machine no longer has enough time to get  
the 5 bits per character out.

> If a person generates RTTY from the K3's keyer at 20 wpm is the RTTY
> going to look odd to the receiver because of excessive inter-char gaps
> or are those gaps rather common since many of us type slower than 60
> wpm?

If you are not transmitting from a stored text (paper strips with  
holes were used for this on the old machines), then gaps are normal.  
Many people feel it is good to use the "shift to letter" character as  
a "diddle" during the gaps.

vy 73 de toby