[Elecraft] Conditions, shmonditions: DXing anyway

[Barry]

Wayne,
     Thanks. You are doing what I've advocated for a long time, don't get 
fancy just put up some wire and it will work. I hope new hams take note 
of what you are doing. :-)

73,
Barry
K3NDM

------ Original Message ------
From: "Fred Jensen" <k6dgw at foothill.net>
To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net
Sent: 9/21/2018 1:17:09 PM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Conditions, shmonditions: DXing anyway

>This probably is related to the commercial CW operators trick of laying 
>the phones down on the desk to copy a weak ship station through noise.  
>It really does work. Unfortunately, today's over-the-ear headphones 
>tend to stick together rather than laying flat on the desk as the old 
>"cans" did, but it still works.  Tailoring the K3 RX equalizer for your 
>ears and headphones/speaker is well worth some time and effort too, 
>even on CW with narrow bandwidths.  You just have to go slowly and 
>evaluate each setting before changing anything.
>
>In SE Asia in the mid 60's, we used 11.5 KVA 400 Hz turbine generators. 
>  The primary reason was weight.  A 10 KVA  60 Hz diesel MB-5 was 
>trailer-mounted and weighed about 3,500 lbs [1,600 kg].  Two troops 
>could carry the turbine units, and of course, the 400 Hz power supplies 
>were correspondingly lighter too.  A side benefit was that the high 
>frequency whine of the turbines, running at around 9,000 RPM, was very 
>easy to muffle with a few sandbags [generators were small].  The low 
>frequency rumble from the 60 Hz generators was essentially impossible 
>to suppress.
>
>High frequencies seem to come forward, straight off a speaker and with 
>compromised hearing, I lose intelligibility if I move off to the side.  
>If I am having a hard time understanding you, speaking louder won't 
>help much, speaking directly at me usually will.
>
>73,
>
>Fred ["Skip"] K6DGW
>Sparks NV DM09dn
>Washoe County
>
>On 9/21/2018 1:03 AM, Jim Brown wrote:
>>On 9/21/2018 12:22 AM, David Cutter via Elecraft wrote:
>>>On a related tack, I am often surprised at how high the radio volume 
>>>has
>>>become in the club shack. On turning it down, it is quite a relief on 
>>>the
>>>ears and yet perception of the signal we are listening to improves.
>>Two possible reasons. First, if a radio has a relatively low power 
>>audio output stage, higher sound levels are more likely to drive it 
>>into distortion. Loudspeakers, especially cheaper ones, also distort 
>>more at higher power levels.  Second, reverberation and echoes are 
>>"noise" as far as speech intelligibility is concerned; while that IS a 
>>linear ratio, human hearing is not, so reducing the level may bring 
>>those echoes/reverb down to a level where it is less perceived.
>>>   It is also significant that a separate loudspeaker on a shelf being 
>>>more in line with our ears provides significant improvement in our 
>>>ability to "hear" the station.
>>
>>Exactly right, and that is ENTIRELY the result of 1) loudspeaker 
>>directivity -- lows are more omni-directional from nearly all 
>>loudspeakers, while the highs becomes increasing directional. [This is 
>>due to wavelength of the sounds as compared to the size of the 
>>loudspeaker diaphragm.] When we and the loudspeaker are facing each 
>>other, we're getting both highs and lows. When the speaker is turned 
>>away from you,  we hear the lows but not the highs, AND those highs 
>>spray to whatever surface they face, and bounce around to create 
>>echoes.
>>
>>2) The higher speech  frequencies are most responsible for speech 
>>intelligibility, lows provide almost none.
>>
>>>   Louder is not better.
>>
>>Louder is only one part it.
>>
>>73, Jim K9YC
>
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