On 2/6/2023 9:47 AM, K9ZTV wrote:
CW never means Morse Code. It means continuous wave or carrier wave (used
interchangeably).
Morse-type Code occurs only when a continuous wave is turned on and off to
represent letters, numbers, and punctuation according to a given language's
agreed upon chart of correlation.
Kent,
You're technically correct, but for the 67 years I've been a ham, "CW"
has meant Morse code on the ham bands. This has, indeed, led to
misunderstandings about the bandwidth of Morse transmission. A constant
carrier has near zero bandwidth. Morse transmission occupies hundreds of
Hz in a GOOD transmitter.
And Morse operation on the ham bands is 100% amplitude modulation of a
carrier by a train of rectangular waves, which in poorly designed rigs
produces intermodulation distortion in the RF signal chain, sidebands
that are heard as key clicks. In general, the strength of sidebands is
proportional to the speed of the transitions from on to off and off to
on -- the faster the transition, the stronger the clicks. One of the
many virtues of Elecraft rigs beginning with the original K3 is that
these transitions are carefully shaped to minimize clicks while
maximizing readability.
73, Jim K9YC
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