[Elecraft] K3 Band changing...

Ron D'Eau Claire ron at cobi.biz
Thu May 29 23:40:26 EDT 2008 

Great Alan! 

One of the wonderful things about the phasing exciters was that the
bandwidth was not arbitrarily limited by a filter. It was limited *only* by
the audio bandpass of the speech amps. Now, one could *not* do what today is
called real ESSB with it because the phasing accuracy failed if the audio
frequencies got too high, but it did not have the tight roll-off of a
crystal filter. Many phasing rigs showed audio out to 4 or 5 kHz, at least.

And they sounded *great*. 

Their sound was lost as more and more Hams made the change to the common
filter transceivers because the filter in the receiving unit threw away the
extra bandwidth, but on a receiver with a wide bandwidth they sounded really
good.

I've often looked at modern components and realized how easy it'd be to
homebrew a phasing exciter. As a 99.9% CW buff, I've not been highly
motivated to do so, but it's still on my "to do" list just for the
interesting exercise.

As for changing bands, one of the things that gave me pause when I was
living in my parent's house as a High School student back in the 50's was
that I'd wake up half the family if I changed bands with my HRO-5 receiver.
That coil set with about 20 mechanical contacts that had to be pulled out
and replaced with a different one for the new band always made a
particularly loud *SQUEEEEK* as it was pushed "home" into the Rx. 

That, and all the stuff you've listed below, did make it more likely I'd
stay put. 

One of the things modern ops miss is that there is often a LOT going on
around a "dead" band. They don't stick around long enough to notice: I mean
spend a few nights scanning the QRN listening for a signal. 

More than a few times I've called CQ on a totally dead 20 meter CW band and
had a nice strong DX signal call me back. Sometimes we'd get into quite a
long rag chew before other stations started tuning up all around us, ready
to pounce for a contact the moment we signed. 

At one time for over a year all of my operating was with a one-tube CW
transmitter running about 10 watts output (single 5763) crystal controlled
on 20 meters. I was always amazed at what I could scare up on a dead 20
meter band with that rig, and I had no way to shift frequency either other
than choosing a few crystals! 

Those were the days of real operators who didn't expect their radio to work
like a cell phone with full quieting signals right on frequency that
required no tuning or fooling around at all! 

I much prefer a rag chew with a fellow in Russia, somewhere in Africa or at
an Antarctica station once a week than simply getting the contact in the log
for a QSL in a daily pileup.  

Ron AC7AC

-----Original Message-----

Many (many, many) years ago my station consisted of a Heathkit Apache TX1
transmitter, Mohawk RX-1 receiver, and SB-10 SSB adapter.  I figured that I
had to switch or adjust a minimum of ---12--- controls to change bands.  If
I needed to change between LSB and USB, add two more for a total of 14.  And
that does not include switching antennas and changing the dial frequency if
required (on both transmitter and receiver).

That also does not include my 6 and 2 meter transverters.

In those days I thought twice before deciding to change bands.  :=)

On the other hand, the SB-10 phasing-type SSB exciter had absolutely
WONDERFUL-sounding audio.  I got unsolicited compliments on nearly every
QSO.

Al N1AL

P.S. The list as I recall it:

TX-1:  Bandswitch
       Tune/operate switch
       Driver tuning
       Driver gain
       Plate tuning
       Plate loading
RX-1:  Bandswitch
       Antenna trimmer
SB-10: Bandswitch
       Carrier null #1
       Carrier null #2
       Tuning


On Thu, 2008-05-29 at 13:33, Bob Nielsen wrote:
> You forgot to add changing the coils in the HRO receiver :^)
> 
> Bob, N7XY
> 
> On May 29, 2008, at 1:23 PM, Mark Bayern wrote:
> 
> > Sure sounds easier than turning off the plate supply, opening the 
> > top of the cabinet, changing the coil(s), closing it up, turning the 
> > HV on again, then tuning the rig for the new band.
> >
> > Mark  AD5SS
> >
> >
> >
> > On Thu, May 29, 2008 at 3:04 PM, David Ferrington, M0XDF 
> > <M0XDF at alphadene.co.uk> wrote:
> >> 5 presses?
> >> --
> >> A good cook is like a sorceress who dispenses happiness. -Elsa 
> >> Schiaparelli, fashion designer (1890-1973)
> >>
> >> On 29 May 2008, at 20:28, Dave G. wrote:
> >>
> >>> What's wrong with
> >>> "FREQ ENT" -> '1' -> '4' -> '.' -> 'ENTER'
> >>> ?
> >>> --
> >>> Dave G.   KK7SS
> >>> '65 MK III Sprite in Richland, WA
> >>> "Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time."
> >>>   Terry Pratchett, 'Hogfather'
> >>>
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> Bob Nielsen
> n7xy at clearwire.net
> 
> 
> 
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