[Elecraft] Old keys and modern rigs like K4 [was Re: Giving Up]

[Drew AF2Z]

I don't know but am happy to speculate wildly...

Unlike straight keys and bugs, cootie key (sideswiper) sending is almost 
universally heavily weighted: the time between dits and/or dahs is less 
than the duration of a dit. My guess is that this particular rig's 
debounce(?) processing routine could be having trouble interpreting that 
keying characteristic. (I once had a PicoKeyer that had a peculiar 
problem with straight key input above a certain speed, later fixed in 
firmware.)

BTW, heavily weighted code can be perfectly readable to CW operators, 
may even be preferred under some propagation conditions or noise, 
whereas software decoders may have a problem with it. (RBN & fldigi 
decoders seem to have a problem interpreting more heavily weighted 
sending.) IOW, don't automatically blame the key/operator for poor sending.

It would be useful to mechanical key users if modern rigs (hint: K4) had 
an option for varying the parameters in the debounce (or whatever) 
routine to suit various characteristics of bugs, sideswipers & straight 
keys. It is not uncommon for a key to work fine with one rig and produce 
keying glitches on another.

Hoping to be using my 100+ year old Bunnell Double Speed cootie to key a 
brand new K4 at some point...

73,
Drew
AF2Z




On 06/09/21 09:58, Louandzip via Elecraft wrote:
>   
>   >>>>rig will not key properly with a sideswiper key. Dits merge becoming a solid dash over 22 wpm...
> John K7FD<<<
> How does it know you're using a cootie?  I exceed 22 wpm with a straight key or a bug, sometimes operating  35wpm and higher the latter with no probs. Straight key, cootie, or bug are all just a contact closure. How would the rig know the diff?
> An external keyer is still essentially a contact closure and will go higher yet.
> 
> Lou W7HV
>      On Wednesday, June 9, 2021, 7:15:12 AM MDT, Skip Davis via Elecraft <elecraft at mailman.qth.net> wrote:
>   
>   Wes I don’t know about your K3 except mine has both a Mic and Headphone jacks on the front left hand side :)
> 
> Skip Davis, NC9O
> Sent from my iPhone
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