[Elecraft] K3: "Ultimate" Digital (WAS: Automatic Character Spacing)

[Brian Lloyd]

On May 23, 2008, at 1:49 PM, Lyle Johnson wrote:

>> I wonder how far away we are from rigs in which you speak into a  
>> microphone
>> and it transmits PSK, RTTY, CW or that "ancient" SSB modulation?  
>> And then,
>> instead of a scrolling row of characters across a display, a voice  
>> of our
>> choosing speaks whatever is being received in any of those modes.
>
> Be careful, Ron.  You are then doing "digital voice" and must only  
> do so in the voice sub-bands...

Yes, that is so silly. Bits is bits. If you want to be literal, it is  
all digital down at the quantum level.

So when we have a optimized adaptive protocol that adapts to available  
band conditions and available bandwidth and then enables or disables  
the codecs accordingly, what then? You might be doing "digital", i.e.  
text mode, and then start sending voice bits multiplexed over the same  
stream. Heavens!

Frankly, this means that the only reasonable mechanism for the future  
is a scheme based on transmit bandwidth. You tell the radio how much  
bandwidth it has to work with (or more likely it already knows based  
on the frequency and your class of license) and then it figures out  
which bit rates can be supported and enables the appropriate codecs.  
It can then fill the Shannon box any way it knows how.

Oh yes, the future could look mighty different!

Brian Lloyd
Granite Bay Montessori School          9330 Sierra College Bl
brian AT gbmontessori DOT com          Roseville, CA 95661
+1.916.367.2131 (voice)                +1.791.912.8170 (fax)

(Kids and teacher working diligently on the KPA100 to get the K2 ready  
for Field Day.)