[Elecraft] Digital, smigital...Irreversible signal loss...

[John Ragle]

1. The original question I proposed in starting this thread was: "(a) Is 
there irreversible signal loss in reception of a RF signal using the K3, 
and (b) is it possible by use of fancy speakers and high fidelity audio 
amplifiers at the output to recover signal fidelity?" If the answer to 
(a) is "yes" then the answer to (b) is "no" (by definition). I believe, 
at least in a practical sense, the answer to (a) is "yes." Signal 
fidelity and pleasantness to the ear are not the same thing.

2. The discussion does not impute falsity to Shannon's several theorems 
on channel width and information flow. The subsequent discussion in the 
thread is somewhat tangential to my original questions.

3. There are numerous papers in the literature that analyze signal 
transmission as a thermodynamic process...these are extensions and 
elaborations of the parallels between entropy as (irreversible) signal 
loss and entropy as it relates to the efficiency of thermal engines. The 
discussions range from radio communication to gene expression and DNA 
replication.

John Ragle -- W1ZI