[Elecraft] Elecraft gear relative IMD

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

Sure the rules apply, and rules for spectrum bandwidth provide no numbers,
saying only "... in accordance with good amateur practice."

Right now, New Year's eve, there is an on air event taking place, Straight
Key Night, that encourages the use of antique rigs on the air and is
sponsored by the largest association of Radio Amateurs in the USA, the ARRL.


Amateur radio is still a homebrewer's hobby, encouraging Hams to design,
build and maintain their own rigs frequently without access to modern
equipment to evaluate their performance. I believe it is for that reason the
rules are very loose about things like spectrum bandwidth. 

73, Ron AC7AC

-----Original Message-----
From: Elecraft [mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Jim
Brown
Sent: Thursday, December 31, 2015 3:27 PM
To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Elecraft gear relative IMD

On Thu,12/31/2015 3:07 PM, Ron D'Eau Claire wrote:
> The same is true for Ham rigs. It's perfectly okay to run an old 
> Heathkit
> AT-1 or a 1930's homebrew rig with cathode keying today as it was back 
> then, even though the keying bandwidth will be substantially greater 
> than modern rigs.

WRONG!  The rule about bandwidth governs.

> The bottom line is to make sure the rig you have is being operated to 
> produce the cleanest signal its design allows in the mode of operation 
> being used.

The rule says NOTHING about the design of the rig. It speaks ONLY about the
means of transmission, which refers to the communications mode (CW, SSB, FM,
RTTY, PSK, etc.)

> That's why double-sideband amplitude modulation is still legal even 
> though it requires more than twice the spectrum of an SSB signal and 
> CW is still allowed even though SSB and the various digital modes 
> provide the same information in yet smaller bandwidths.

WRONG. Double-sideband AM with a carrier is legal because it is a DIFFERENT
mode permitted by the FCC Rules.  (A3 is the FCC designator). 
SSB is J3 if the carrier is suppressed. CW is A1.

73, Jim K9YC