[Elecraft] KDVR

[Tom W8JI]

> Well I wouldn't say useless. I'm sure no recording is 
> *exactly* like the
> original but I have often played back another station's 
> transmission (eg to
> help them set up their audio to let them know how they 
> sound over a long
> distance), and other people listening  (eg in the same 
> net) usually say the
> KDVR3 is pretty close. I believe it's certainly close 
> enough to be of use.
> Another way of handling it of course is to play the KDVR 
> recording into a PC
> and email it but that's slower and less immediate.

I have a problem with that idea.

When I listen to the other station I hear his audio colored 
by everything between his mouth and my ear. That would 
include his mic, his audio system and transmitter, 
propagation effects like multipath or noise, my receiver 
characteristics, my speaker or headphones, and my hearing.

When I record him and play it back the audio is colored by 
his mic, his audio system and transmitter, propagation 
effects like multipath or noise to me, my receiver 
characteristics, my recorder, my transmitter audio 
characteristics, propagation effects again but back to him, 
his entire receiver system, his speaker or headphones, and 
his hearing.

I often shake my head in disbelief when I witness audio 
playbacks as a disinterested third party, because what I 
hear that is being recorded is rarely like what I hear being 
played back as an example of how the fellow sounds. It isn't 
what the first party sounds like, it is what the first party 
sounds like after being run in and out through a different 
receiver and different transmitter. The recorder is the 
least of the worries.

Which leads me to a question.......

In the K3, is the DVR playback run out through the 
transmitter on a wide bandwidth and perfectly flat so the 
playback is at least a reproduction of what the receiver 
wound up creating, or is the playback run though the 
equalizer at the custom settings of the K3 transmitter's 
owner?

To me, this is one of the silliest ways to adjust audio. An 
on-site receiver with wide bandwidth and a good set of 
headphones (or local recorder) is far more meaningful.

One of the most annoying things to me is someone recording 
me and, with his S3 signal from a wet noodle antenna, saying 
"this is how good you sound here".
:-)

73 Tom