[Icom] No Anti Dsp Conspiricy Exists

[George, W5YR]

I recently conducted an interesting - to me at least - experiment. I
obtained a soundcard program that would generate random cw characters
within a defined white noise background at a specified S/N ratio.

I am 72 and the old ears have lost a lot of highs but still fairly decent
below about 5 KHz. My companion for this test is 77 and in about the same
shape.

We started the test at S/N = +10 db to get a feeling for the tone and
sending, etc. Speed was about 18 wpm. Then we started dropping the S/N
down. We were both amazed to find that we could still hear and read the
code almost without any problem with S/N = -10 db. Going lower, we lost the
code in the noise at about -13 db. We could still tell that there was a
code signal in there but could not make out any characters. Back to -10 db
and almost solid copy again.

The surprising thing here is that I had always had the notion that at S/N =
0 db, one could perceive a signal but not really read it. To be able to get
almost solid copy at -10 db was really an eye opener - or ear opener as the
case may be!   <:}

73/72/oo, George W5YR - the Yellow Rose of Texas         
Fairview, TX 30 mi NE of Dallas in Collin county EM13qe   
Amateur Radio W5YR, in the 56th year and it just keeps getting better!
QRP-L 1373 NETXQRP 6 SOC 262 COG 8 FPQRP 404 TEN-X 11771 I-LINK 11735
Icom IC-756PRO #02121  Kachina 505 DSP  #91900556  Icom IC-765 #02437


Wayne Montague/Ann Beattie wrote:
> 
> Regarding "the myth that CW gets through" the statement is quite
> accurate. What is conveniently overlooked is that the digital
> modes are hardware intensive and that a good CW operator can
> hear signals "in the noise" too. I, and everyone have a pretty
> good 'processor' between the ears that requires no hardware at
> all. Metaphorically, I'd much prefer to be scratching a 'help'
> message out with two bare wires while the water level is rising
> rather than wait for the 'pooter to boot. 'SOS' is universally
> understood, which is what I would desire under adverse
> conditions. This is where "CW gets through" is coming from. On a
> day to day basis, the digital modes are clearly superior for
> information exchange.
> 
> Despite all the state of the art hardware, the Shuttle at one
> time had a Morse hand key on the panel, and for good reason
> (news article some years ago titled "The Death of CW?").