[Elecraft] K3 CWT decoding update please

[Don Wilhelm]

If that is the case, tune to a machine sent CW signal under good 
conditions (low QRN and no QRM) - the decode will be good.
Even if there are errors in the decoded CW, that should be an indication 
that decoded CW is not perfect, and thus an encouragement to learn CW in 
order to "fill in the blanks".

Your demo might rather be a decode of perfectly sent CW from a local 
transmitter operating into a dummy load rather than an "on the air" 
transmission with all the attendant QRN and QRM that is present with 
such signals.

No CW decoder is perfect, but the K3 decoder is one of the better ones.

I am not a great CW operator, but I can 'hold my own' at 20 WPM, and 
sometimes at 25.  It does take practice, but I would advise anyone 
contemplating CW operation to learn CW rather than depending on a 
decoder.  There are many operators out there who do not use machine sent 
code, and there are even some that use a bug or straight key with an 
'accent' - CW decoders will have a hard time with that CW, but the human 
brain can figure it out.

While copying W1AW to see what would happen, I noted that the Farnsworth 
spacing used at lower speeds did not decode as words - there was a space 
between each letter - and yes, that is what the Farnsworth method does, 
it sends each character at a higher rate than the set speed, but there 
is a delay between characters, which the decoder properly interprets as 
a space.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 6/19/2013 7:55 PM, Sam Morgan wrote:
> not very helpful to have garbage code displayed on the screen
> when trying to demonstrate the ' CWT feature' of the K3
> to someone new to the hobby and not yet proficient in cw :-(
>