Thanks for the comments, Floyd. I have noted with my TR-7 that if I get into ALC on CW the sidetone starts to sound "rough" and a scope on the carrier shows what looks like some AM "fuzz" starting to show up on the signal. I was never sure if this was a problem or not as the owner's manual does state that advancing the carrier control past the point where the light comes on "may result in undesirable keying characteristics". I've seen a couple of other TR-7s do something similar. I may look into it at some point, but as long as I stay below ALC illumination everything looks fine. Using even a little ALC to "level" the carrier on transmit doesn't sound like a good idea anyay.
73 -Jim NU0C On Mon, 03 Mar 2014 16:11:24 -0500, Floyd Sense wrote: >In the "Tweak my peak" thread, NU0C said this: > >/On CW, definitely operate below the ALC level. The quality of the transmit >signal starts to degrade when you go into ALC.// >/ > >I decided to take a look at that today, using my Orion II and NaP3 panadapter >to examine the TR7 output spectrum as the ALC was varied. My TR7 is setup to >put out 100W at the point on the carrier level control just before where the >the LED comes on (on 20M). The TR7 was operated into a dummy load and the >Orion had no antenna connected and 18 dB of attenuation dialed in so the TR7 >signal didn't overdrive the panadapter range. > >I watched the panadapter display as I rotated the carrier level control from >that point to full clockwise. The ALC LED came on at about the 1 o'clock >position. The power maxed out at 115 watts. I saw no change in the spurs I >saw at all over that range. The strongest spurs were 60 dB down from the >carrier. > >So, it appears, at least on my TR7, that there is no degradation in the CW >signal (looking 40 KHz in each direction from the carrier) that is related to >ALC action. Maybe if my TR7 were adjusted for maximum output, other factors >might cause increased distortion that would appear to be related to the ALC >level (but might not be). > >I checked again on 10M CW (where my max output is set to 80W) and found the >same thing to be true (but spurs were 67 dB down). > > >73, Floyd - K8AC > > > > > > -- Theres something out of place lets go and poke it with a stick. The Doctor, "Amys Choice" _______________________________________________ Drakelist mailing list Drakelist@zerobeat.net http://mailman.zerobeat.net/mailman/listinfo/drakelist