"well, having just turned 70," Welcome to the club, Fred. 73, Bob N6WG The Little Station with Attitude
----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill W4ZV" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, April 20, 2008 3:44 PM Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 CW Rx Audio > > > > DOUGLAS ZWIEBEL wrote: > > > > I can't, for the life of me, figure why anyone would want to listen to > > cw with a really wide filter, but..... > > > > >From K3ZO many time winner of Dayton pileup contests: > > I just got back from Thailand so am reading all of this old discussion > for the first time, but as an > Orion owner, and since someone mentioned me in a post, I thought I > ought to comment. > > I have always preferred to use the filters between my ears rather than > the ones that come > with radios and never liked narrow filters because the ringing bothers > me a lot. N3UM and > W4AU convinced me to go with the Orion mainly because they said it > "doesn't ring." Well > in my opinion it does, but you can zero out the ringing by using a > bandwidth of exactly > 970 Hz, so when I'm on CW that's where my bandwidth is always set. > Precisely because > in a DX contest I had a loud W2 perch 670 Hz above me and used the > Orion's very FB notch > filter to notch him out, I now also use the notch filter set for 670 > Hz tone and 300 Hz bandwidth > full time while on CW, because in the Orion the notch filter appears > to the user to act like another filter in series with the regular one. > This combination has given me reception pleasure like I > haven't had for years (maybe my Drake R4C with the Sherwood mods got > close way back when). > > Nevertheless taking Tom's main point, narrowing a filter mainly so you > can squeeze up right close to another guy running on an adjacent > channel is not a good reason to use a narrow filter. In my experience > you always want to know what is going on around you as you run. > Narrowing the filter beyond a certain point deprives you of the audio > version of peripheral vision, and you lose if you > cut yourself off from what's going on around you that way. Tom is > right when he says that it will > lower your rate even though you think you're really banging away. > > With a rig like the Orion the tone you set your sidetone monitor to is > also very important. I like to copy CW at 400 Hz, and I have been > surprised when people have commented that 400 Hz is a much lower tone > than they like to use. I believe it is established science that the > lower the tone you use to copy, the better your ear is at separating > out tones which differ in frequency very > little from each other. I actually thought I was using a rather high > choice of tone, as I recall > some articles I read years ago, perhaps by professional ship-to-shore > ops, advocating 200 or > 300 Hz as their tones of choice. > > I also believe in using a first-class pair of headphones. The > arguments about "communications quality audio" vs "high fi audio" have > never cut any mustard with me. In 60 years of using all kinds of > different receivers, speakers and headphones, I am of the firm belief > that the ear wants to extract as much information as it can get from > any receiving setup, meaning that whatever is the final > apparatus used to translate electrons into sound, it should be as good > as scientifically practical in transmitting the widest range of sounds > with as flat a response as possible. Therefore my German Sennheiser > headset has pride of place in my shack. > > As those who are familiar with my views on the subject of people who > are quick to send "QRL" can attest however, this does not mean that I > allow someone else to determine for me what my optimum receiving > bandwidth should be. When I started contesting in 1952 nobody ever > talked about level playing fields or how someone stole your frequency. > It was just assumed that if things got too hot for you, you moved. > That was part of the game. We have since shot ourselves in the foot > by relegating our beginners to two meter FM where they got the idea > that all channels everywhere should be as crystal clear as the ones > they got started with at the beginning. > > Back when men were men, a crowded band full of signals was a joy to > behold, a challenge to be reckoned with and mastered. I know this > discussion has been mainly about CW, but the best example I can think > of to illustrate this particular point was 75 meter phone on a winter > night with > the green tinge of aurora flickering on the northern horizon. Yes, in > the "AM days" the band on such a night would be filled with > heterodynes from one end to the other -- we called it "jingle bells" > -- and there were about three signals in the whole band that you could > actually copy, and yet the presence of all those heterodynes meant > there were sure a hell of a lot of us in there trying. > > Over the years we have been afforded the right to QSY at will within > wide portions of spectrum > of which most of our bands consist precisely because we have convinced > our authorities that we, more efficiently than any other radio > service, have demonstrated that we can share limited spectrum capably > and get maximum production out of it. Be careful how much you wish > the QRM would just go away, the FCC's answer might be to duplicate the > 60 meter experience on all our other bands. > > And if I sound like a nasty old codger, well, having just turned 70, I > feel I have a right to act my age, and besides, if I don't comment > now, I may never get another chance. > > Season's greetings to you all! > > 73, Fred, K3ZO > > -- > View this message in context: http://www.nabble.com/K3-CW-Rx-Audio-tp16798925p16799865.html > Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com. > > _______________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Post to: [email protected] > You must be a subscriber to post to the list. > Subscriber Info (Addr. 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