Thanks for the info, I will give it a shot. I have been doing my best
to keep my eyes from straying to that and becoming a crutch. But I
have found it very handy, once a few letters get past me, or I get in
over my head. It is looking like my time for WPX this weekend will be
hit or miss, but I will keep this in mind when dealing with those odd
prefixes.
Dave Wilburn
K4DGW
K2/100 - S/N 5982
K3/100 - S/N 766
"For those who fought for it, freedom has a flavor the protected will
never know."
KM5Q wrote:
The K3 TEXT DEC system works well on CW signals that are above the noise
level, but to use it for weaker signals and noisy conditions requires
some understanding and technique. Here's what I learned.
The decoder gets its signal from the same trigger as the CWT indicator
bar. See for yourself -- When your display is in CWT mode, play with the
RF gain so the CWT bar goes on and off. The moment it disappears, the
decoding stops. As soon as the CWT bar flickers with noise, the decoder
TRIES to read the on/off signal. If the CWT bar is responding to clean
code, you will get good text. If it isn't code, unfortunately, the
decoder tries anyway, and produces junk text.
If the CW signal is audible but is not stronger than the noise, the CWT
bar will flicker from the noise AND the CW, and the decoder will show
too much junk. Once you accept that, you can reduce frustration.
To minimize junk text from QRN, hold TEXT DEC, then adjust threshold
(thr ...) upward until it "squelches" the CWT bar. Now, The text decode
will work if there is CW signal above the noise.
But now, set the threshold a little lower, slightly too sensitive. This
will allow for varying conditions. When noise works the CWT bar, reduce
the RF GAIN until the bar disappears. This is how to fine-tune the
threshold quickly.
If you get static crashes or other erratic noise triggering the decode,
don't let "IISKSK IEN SKSK" distract you. Watch the CWT bar. Let THAT
tell you when to watch the text -- when it LOOKS like code rather than
noise.
Maybe future firmware will improve the decoder so it will ignore noise,
but for now, this is the best way I have found to use it.
Windy KM5Q
Santa Fe, NM
K3 #764
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