[Elecraft] K3 post SS observations

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

There is absolutely no substitute for hearing your own signal on the air.
Not even the K3's built-in monitor. 

Commercial broadcast stations (at least when I was messing around in
broadcast in the 50's and 60's) always had at least one monitor going that
everyone could hear that was driven by a radio tuned to the actual on-air
signal. It was not only reassured them about quality but was a station-wide
announcement if anything went down (at least in the little WKRP-sized
stations I worked in). 

Smart Hams do the same, at least sporadically, for both 'phone and CW
signals. 

You don't need a top tier receiver for use as a monitor. SSB capability is
available cheap in many portable receivers. That also gives you a nifty
portable for various things, such as chasing RFI or listening to the band
away from the shack. Some even come with built-in recorders - solid state or
cassette tape. 

If you have the KDVR3 option you can transmit a recording while you tune in
your signal on the monitor. If not, it's still easy if you can hear a true
"zero beat" like us OTs learned to do long ago. Just transmit into a dummy
load and send a tone (or whistle or hum) while listening to the monitor.
Tune the monitor for zero beat between the tone source (you, if whistling or
humming) and the audio from the monitor. Now you can record some
transmission and listen critically on playback.

Just don't forget to use the dummy load :-)

Ron AC7AC



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

Noticed two things with this contest. First, how many stations were  
occupying as much as 4 kHz of bandwidth. And, did you notice how man  
were using some form recorded exchanges/calls? And how many sounded  
absolutely terrible? I'm talking outright lousy distorted audio. Some  
I had to ask for a repeat item by item to get him to actually speak  
and not re-play the recording. I think they would be astounded and  
maybe embarrassed if they heard them selves on the air.
I started using my KDVR3 but after hearing some of the others, I quit,  
not knowing how I really sounded. I know my mic sounds good. Will have  
to check this out soon with some on air recordings from friends.

OK, who's got the Kool-Aid pitcher? Where are the nuts and pretzels?

...bc nr4c