[Elecraft] OT: RF Clipper "works with Elecraft"

[Wes Stewart]

Careful reading of the TenTec ad will show, by what they omit, the problem with RF clipping: the intermodulation distortion.

If you are not a K3 owner, or have another radio, and are interested in an add-on device then you might look at Note no. 5 here:

http://k6mhe.com/n7ws/

I sold a couple of hundred sets of boards for this (at cost), Circuit Board Specialists produced them (complete with my call on the board and without my knowledge) and a kit company was founded on the design.  Nope it wasn't mine, the Editor of Ham Radio Magazine founded "Radio Kit" simultaneously with the publication of the article.  Exploring the ethics of this is left for an exercise for the reader.

The split-band approach is also used in the Kenwood TS-870, prized by many for its great transmit audio. See: 

http://k6mhe.com/n7ws/TS870_In_Depth_Manual.pdf

Note to Ignacy: Being outside the ALC loop isn't necessarily bad. A properly adjusted processor can eliminate the need for ALC.  


Wes  N7WS


--- On Thu, 2/5/09, Ignacy <no9e at arrl.net> wrote:

> From: Ignacy <no9e at arrl.net>
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] OT: RF Clipper "works with Elecraft"
> To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
> Date: Thursday, February 5, 2009, 8:50 PM
> I used a number of external speech processors with mobile
> radios to increase
> their punch. My design (2 x 9 Mhz filters), design by DF4ZS
> and and old one
> by MFJ.  It was hard to get good boosts because an extrnal
> processor is
> outside the ALC loop creating extra distortions and filters
> in many
> processors (including DF4ZS) are poor. 715 uses 2
> inexpensive ceramic
> filters with a BW of 4 Khz.  K3 with its processor + an
> equalizer is a
> killer DX machine. Just crank it up. 
> 
> Ignacy