[Elecraft] K3 #1037 in IARU contest

[Ian White GM3SEK]

Bill W5WVO wrote:
>This is probably slightly OT, but Ed's and Jim's comments prompt me to take
>this thread further.
>
>I can add my agreement to the generally poor state of the transmitters of a
>few of the top contest operators on 6 meters during the recent ARRL contest.
>Some of them you could literally hear 20 kHz away on either side -- with the
>NB off, the preamp bypassed, and the attenuator kicked in to boot. Of
>course, this is just plain unacceptable technically, but more to the point,
>it is very rude and not in keeping with long-standing amateur traditions of
>technical excellence.
>
>Now, I've been told a couple times times that I was splattering, and in all
>cases it was found to be untrue, as reported by other stations on the
>frequency who were using correctly adjusted receivers and confirmed I was
>about 2.4 kHz wide. (The complaining station having his noise blanker
>enabled is the most usual culprit, though you would think all hams would
>know about this and check for it before opening their mouths.)
>

A feature of contesting is the larger percentage of guest operators who 
are totally unfamiliar with the equipment they're using. An additional 
feature of VHF contesting is the larger number of temporary hilltop 
stations, which are assembled for the weekend and haven't been properly 
run-in.

Also, the demands for clean signals are greater at VHF, because the 
strong signals are stronger than at HF, and weak signals are weaker.

As someone who has been involved with clean signals on VHF/UHF for a 
very long time, I don't think the problem has become significantly worse 
in recent years. It can happen at any time, because every individual has 
to learn - and some people never will.

This last group is a nightmare for responsible 'station engineers' who 
are trying their best to put out a clean signal for the whole 
24/48hours. Some people simply cannot be trusted to leave the MIC and 
PWR controls alone.  (Still, everything has its compensations: such 
people are also the least likely to notice that those controls have been 
disconnected, and replaced by trimpots behind the panel  :-)


>When you have done your technical due-dilligence on the receive end and you
>know for a fact that another station is splattering badly and QRMing you and
>a lot of other people... How do you tell him? Or do you?

Yes, you do tell him.  The line that sometimes works is "I'm afraid you 
have a problem: your signal is a lot broader than others of the same 
strength. Can I help you to do some tests?"

>I hate creating bad
>feelings on the air, and the usual rejoinder when I've actually tried this
>is angry defensiveness and sometimes even abusiveness.
>
The defensiveness comes from not having any clue how to fix the problem 
and the feeling that they have to press on with making QSOs. A contest 
is absolutely the worst time to be setting up the station for a clean 
signal, because the tests require time, patience and a quiet band.

On the other hand, the information has been available for a very long 
time:
http://www.ifwtech.co.uk/g3sek/cleansig/no-splat.htm

If you do complain during a contest, you need to be prepared to commit 
some of your own time to helping fix the problem. You may also need to 
understand the other station's setup much better than the guy who's 
sitting there looking at it!

Coming back on-topic, a feature for the K3 that could be very helpful in 
setting RF output and compression levels would be a peak-holding RF 
output meter (for SSB only, just like the CONFIG: SMTR PK option). Or is 
it already there and I missed it?


-- 

73 from Ian GM3SEK
http://www.ifwtech.co.uk/g3sek