[Elecraft] Key Clicks

[Fred Jensen]

Not really Dave, until you're sending at sufficient speed to tax the 
sequencing of the radio.  QSK is "inherently" a receive function -- mute 
the receiver while generating RF, unmute when it's not.  TXDelay waits 
<mumble> ms before starting RF to let amplifier switching settle, at 
which point you're either going to generate key clicks or not depending 
on the timing and waveshape of the RF envelope.

If you hot switch anything, you're going to create lots of noise, much 
of which will be indistinguishable from simple key clicks. But, stop the 
hot switching and you do NOT automatically stop the key clicks, 
particularly if the radio allows you to adjust the rise/fall times of 
the RF envelope [a very stupid idea] and you've set it very short.

In today's radios, other things may happen such as shifting frequencies 
if you're split, and that just adds to the complexity.  But basically, 
the fact that QSK means you can hear between code elements does not 
impact your CW waveform.  Your CW bandwidth is a result of the timing 
and waveform of the beginning and end of your RF envelope for each 
element which Joseph Fourier figured out way before any of us were born 
or radio and CW had been invented.

73,
Fred ["Skip"] K6DGW
Sparks NV DM09dn
Washoe County

On 6/6/2020 6:00 PM, David Gilbert wrote:
> QSK has everything to do with it.  If you hot switch the amp you create
> sharp waveforms every element even if the K3 keying is soft.  The
> discussion on the contesting forum included comments that the default
> setting for TXDELAY on the K3 (apparently 008) isn't long enough and that
> it should be set to 009.  Not sure which amps were being considered.
>
> 73,
> Dave   AB7E
>
>