or was it "How to set up SSB". Anyhow, I did everything I thought I should. I heard an OM saying CQ on 40, and I went back with a request for an audio report, and again, I get "Horrible". Not much help.
Summary: Mic element went south (I know it worked 2 years ago). I never got an answer from Heil about a replacement element. Gary (Elecraft) says Heil handles mics, not Elecraft. The RadioShack 270-090 appears identical to the MH2 element, and appears to work (At least the o'scope draws pretty pictures). So, to determine the nature of my "horribleness", I need to monitor my transmissions. To that end, I threw together a 40m DC receiver. I transmitted into my dummy load and listened to the monitor receiver on headphones. That doesn't work. You can't tell anything on headphones when you are doing the talking. I set up the monitor receiver to record on my laptop, tuned some rag chewers on 40, found them on the K2, and pressed record. After about 15 seconds of traffic, I switched the K2 to the dummy load and started talking (Kind of a seriously cross-mode qsy<g>). Playing back the recording, both the OT's in Illinois and I sounded fine. So, back on the air. Now my audio reports are "Horrible". There's not enough drive with SSBa on 1, so I think 2 is the way to go. SSBc maybe should be 1:1, but it sounded better to me at 2:1. Of course, the issue may simply be I have no idea at all how to zero beat SSB. I think my next step will be a sched with someone who has a clue (I sure don't) and a while to spend. We can move the bfo's around, or maybe even definitively say my mic element sucks. Another choice (getting more attractive all the time) is stay under 7150 Kcs. Dan / WG4S / K2 #2456 Extreme Northwest Georgia. _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com