[Elecraft] Subject: "Another Better Mouse-trap?"

[David Y.]

Hi All,

I've had many QSO's with Don, W6JL, on 40 CW.  He hangs out there nearly 
every morning.  His station is ALL homebrew, a fact he will beat you to 
death with everytime you talk to him.  In fact, much of his station lays 
across his desk in sections, rather than "neatly" packaged in a case.  But 
he is an inveterate builder and tinkerer, and I think he knows a lot!  I 
guess having his station in pieces like that makes it easier for him to make 
changes and experiment.

Don's comments that you quoted don't surprise me at all.  He doesn't think 
much of commercial gear, and insists that "rolling your own" isn't 
difficult.  For him maybe, but not necessarily for everyone.  Nevertheless, 
his comments about noise blankers do make a lot of sense.  And I bet he has 
investigated a bunch of them.  What he describes as a better system seems to 
closely related to noise cancelling devices like the JPS NIR-10, and others. 
But I'm sure Don has a somewhat different approach in mind--he does mention 
using a receiver, rather than an accessory.

I would bet money that Don's suggestion is a good one.  It won't be as easy 
as he will make it sound, but it would probably not be terribly hard either. 
If you talk to Don, he would also probably be happy to tell you just how you 
could do it, and probably where you could info to build what you need.  He 
has a great command of what you can find on the internet.  In his words, 
"you can find just about anything you need on the internet."  The only 
caveat is that he will probably want you to build it, rather than buy it.

It's a shame Don doesn't publish some of the stuff he like to talk about. 
Maybe he has, and I just missed it.

Dave W7AQK


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "JIM DAVIS" <nn6ee at astound.net>
To: <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Friday, August 07, 2009 1:42 PM
Subject: [Elecraft] Subject: "Another Better Mouse-trap?"



This idea was put forth by "Don-W6JL" (Fallbrook, CA)!!!

His quote: "  I have tested many "noise blankers" in modern rigs, on the 
air.  Both the I.F. noise
gates and the DSP-based "noise reducers".  Not one works the way I feel it 
should.  I think you
need a separate noise receiver, independent of the main receiver, and tuned 
to a frequency that is
outside of a ham band.  (There have been excellent homebrew receivers using 
this approach for
noise blanking).  This then drives the noise gate, and is timed so that it 
gates the I.F before
the noise pulse arrives there.  A good blanker should have 40 dB minimum of 
noise pulse
suppression, with adjustable blanking level and widths.  I notice the K3 has 
these features, but
it still does not seem to reduce impulse noise more than an S unit or two 
(6-12 dB), which is
inadequate.  I do not use blankers here myself; my entire station is 
homebrew and the receiver is
a phasing, image cancelling job with no blanking at all, (or AGC for that 
matter).  I get along
fine with neither, even in contests."

******************************************************************************************
Eric-WA6HHQ & Co. + All the loyal "K3ers" WHADDAHYA THINK???

Jim/nn6ee

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