And to clarify ... exceeding necessary power is not the same as driving the rig beyond linearity. It is the later that causes the wide traces and multiple traces in most cases (sometimes could be due on the receiving end with some lower quality sound cards).
If you are not triggering ALC, you are probably OK with your transmitted signal. When you do cause ALC action, you are likely transmitting distortion products and actually have a less readable signal even though it is stronger. Here is a question I would ask: how much power can you run without triggering the ALC with a typical 100 watt rig? 73, Rick, KV9U Danny Douglas wrote: > Absolutely spot on Erick. That is one reason that we try to tell new > people, on the digital bands, to start with as few watts as they can. There > is just no reason to run 100 watts ( and I expect some run more) on the PSK, > etc. digital modes. Everytime I say that though, someone jumps in the > middle and says that a well adjusted signal, blah blah blah, wont cause > problems. Ive been told to get a receiver: get a rig: get a filter, etc. I > have all three thank you - but that doesnt mean that the person transmitting > such signals is not responisble to the amateur code and should not run the > "minimum power needed to make contacts". One can almost always tell who is > exceeding necessary power, just from the view on the waterfalls. When one > signal out of 20 appears 4 time brighter, and has traces above and below > their main signal for half the width of the waterfall, they are exceeding > power badly. Especially with PSK, many of us use broadband copy software, > so we can see and copy every signal on the band at the same time. With one > of those signals, I see the same station readout on a dozen or more channels > of that window. Often, they just wipe out everyone else. >
