[Elecraft] K2 Problem in NAQP

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

The technology has changed so rapidly over the past decade it's no wonder
that some might wonder why the K2 used audio and SSB mode, but that was what
Hams were equipped to use in 2000 and it works extremely well.

Using SSB mode for data goes back much, much farther than 2000 or the
inception of the K2. It goes back to the days when AM was the dominant mode
and SSB was still called "Donald Duck Talk". In the 1950's we used AFSK
(audio frequency shift keying) for RTTY on VHF because, frankly, rigs
weren't stable enough for direct FSK. (And other than CW, RTTY was the ONLY
"data" mode used by 99.9% of the hams.)

As SSB took hold in the 60's with a proliferation of factory-built rigs on
the market, audio data transmission modes continued because it was too hard
to modify those rigs for direct FSK and audio-derived FSK did a very good
job. Shoot, many early SSB rigs even transmitted "CW" by injecting a keyed
audio tone into the SSB signal path! 

Add the personal computer which made generating audio-level digital signals
simple and by the 1990's, most Hams were generating digital signals in their
computers and feeding audio into their SSB rigs, such as the K2. 

Only recently, with the process of generating signals entirely digitized,
has the use of SSB with audio tones began to recede. 

73, 

Ron AC7AC