A CW Question for the group

[Robert 'RC' Conley]

I am not a CW op! I work mostly QRP phone in contests. Current
configuration is K3/10 w/2.7khz filter . I wish to enhance it with 2.1khz,
1.8khz and I intend to purchase P3 and CW filter for use with my K3/P3. I
am wondering which one would be MOST USEFUL FOR ME... 8 pole 400hz or 250hz
or 5 pole 500hz or 200hz?  My CW is very RUSTY but I wish to improve it. I
need help help arriving at this decision. So I'm asking the CW op's in the
group. Thanks
RC KC5WA

--
What is life without a few dragons
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[Cookie]

At the risk of severe flames, I would recommend that you just try the digital filter that is already there and not buy a CW filter right away.  The main function of the narrow filter is to manage a very strong signal that is near your frequency that penetrates the slope of the digital filter, but would be blocked by the steeper slope of the CW filter.  It is not like the older analog rigs that without the 500 Hz filter would receive the entire passband of the SSB filter with no filtering of the signals in its passband.  If you decide that you want a filter, I would recommend the 500 Hz 5-pole, but if money is no object the 400 Hz 8 pole would also be nice.  I am primarily a CW operator and I have the 2.7 kHz 5-pole, the 500 Hz and the 200 Hz.  What ever you decide about filters, give CW a go and welcome to the fun mode.
 
Willis 'Cookie' Cooke
K5EWJ & Trustee N5BPS, USS Cavalla, USS Stewart


________________________________
 From: Robert 'RC' Conley <[hidden email]>
To: [hidden email]
Sent: Friday, February 24, 2012 7:00 PM
Subject: [Elecraft] A CW Question for the group
 
I am not a CW op! I work mostly QRP phone in contests. Current
configuration is K3/10 w/2.7khz filter . I wish to enhance it with 2.1khz,
1.8khz and I intend to purchase P3 and CW filter for use with my K3/P3. I
am wondering which one would be MOST USEFUL FOR ME... 8 pole 400hz or 250hz
or 5 pole 500hz or 200hz?  My CW is very RUSTY but I wish to improve it. I
need help help arriving at this decision. So I'm asking the CW op's in the
group. Thanks
RC KC5WA

--
What is life without a few dragons
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[Dick Dievendorff]

My first choice among the filters you list would be the 400 Hz 8-pole filter

My primary amateur radio activity (when I get on at all) is CW contests.  My
K3 has a 250, 400, 1 kHz, 1.8 kHz, and 2.8 kHz 8-pole filters.

The bandwidth I use most of the time in contests is around 500 Hz, so my 400
or 1000 Hz filters get the most use.  My goal is to keep the bandwidth open
enough for off-frequency callers to be heard.  But sometimes I need to crank
down the bandwidth when several are sharing a small band segment.  

Elecraft sells a 500 Hz 5-pole filter and a 400 Hz 8-pole filter.
International Radio (InRad) sells a 500 Hz 8-pole filter.

73 de Dick, K6KR

> I am not a CW op! I work mostly QRP phone in contests. Current
configuration is K3/10 w/2.7khz filter . I wish to enhance it with 2.1khz,
1.8khz and I intend to purchase P3 and CW filter for use with my K3/P3. I am
wondering which one would be MOST USEFUL FOR ME... 8 pole 400hz or 250hz or
5 pole 500hz or 200hz?  My CW is very RUSTY but I wish to improve it. I need
help help arriving at this decision. So I'm asking the CW op's in the group.
Thanks RC KC5WA



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[Jim AB3CV]

Before I got my P3 I was using the 1K filter that I have in addition to the
250 (actually 350). I now find that with the P3 I can see outside the
filter skirts easily anything lurking there so I now run nearly exclusively
with the 250 (350) as my CW filter.

Jim ab3cv
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[Don Wilhelm-4]

RC,

Your CW aspirations will dictate which filter you would choose (or none
at all).

If you are going to do hot and heavy DXing and contesting, I think the
250 is the only choice., but if you want to do something a bit more
casual in a crowded band, the 400 would be the better.
In actual fact, if your operation is even more casual than that, and you
do not wish to "fight the crowd", then you do not need any roofing
filter at all, the DSP will provide all the selectivity you want and need.

The roofing filter has more to do with the Hardware AGC response than
anything else - if there are strong (S-9+40 or S-9+50) signals within
the passband of the roofing filter, you may find some pumping due to the
Hardware AGC which is protecting the ADC from overload.  If you do not
encounter such conditions, the DSP will do an adequate job of filtering
and no roofing filter is necessary.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 2/24/2012 8:00 PM, Robert 'RC' Conley wrote:
> I am not a CW op! I work mostly QRP phone in contests. Current
> configuration is K3/10 w/2.7khz filter . I wish to enhance it with 2.1khz,
> 1.8khz and I intend to purchase P3 and CW filter for use with my K3/P3. I
> am wondering which one would be MOST USEFUL FOR ME... 8 pole 400hz or 250hz
> or 5 pole 500hz or 200hz?  My CW is very RUSTY but I wish to improve it. I
> need help help arriving at this decision. So I'm asking the CW op's in the
> group. Thanks
> RC KC5WA
>
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[RobertG]

Robert...

I have/had much the same approach to my new K3, hardly one week old. I
bought a 500cps 8-p direct from InRad. I think that gives you a lot of
stopping power without requiring too fine a touch from the start. Then,
as you get deeper into CW - that will be nice - you can decide on
anything narrower. I have the 200cps 5-p, also, and the two filters
together cover the CW ground for me. The 400cps 8-p from Elecraft is
not, IMHO, sufficiently different from the 200cps 5-p from Elecraft,
albeit a slightly better filter. The 500-200 combination made the most
sense to me [also, I don't operate digital modes... yet].

Have a good day

...robert

On 2/25/2012 01:00, Robert 'RC' Conley wrote:
> I am not a CW op! I work mostly QRP phone in contests. Current
> configuration is K3/10 w/2.7khz filter . I wish to enhance it with 2.1khz,
> 1.8khz and I intend to purchase P3 and CW filter for use with my K3/P3. I
> am wondering which one would be MOST USEFUL FOR ME... 8 pole 400hz or 250hz
> or 5 pole 500hz or 200hz?  My CW is very RUSTY but I wish to improve it. I
> need help help arriving at this decision. So I'm asking the CW op's in the
> group. Thanks
> RC KC5WA
>

--
Robert G. Strickland, PhD, ABPH - KE2WY
[hidden email]
Syracuse, New York, USA
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[Robert 'RC' Conley]

*Thanks to all that replied. The help is greatly appreciated. The results
were generally the 400hz 8p but I should use the internal CW filter plus
DSP to determine my operating requirements first.
Thanks again
RC KC5WA
*
--
What is life without a few dragons
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[N5GE]

RC,

My opinion is that at first the filters narrower than 400Hz would be too much
for you at the early stage of seriously working CW.  Later you could add
narrower filters if you thought needed them.  It all depends on what YOU want to
do with CW.  

When I was a novice in 1976 I used a Heathkit 400Hz filter for CW, which was the
only mode we were allowed to use.  It made working CW much more pleasant,
because the Novice portion of the bands were very crowded back then.

I now use the 5 pole 250Hz filter for almost all of my CW operation.  I have had
both the 200Hz 8 pole filter and the 5 pole 250Hz filter, and in my opinion the
5 pole 250Hz is the better of the two.  I also have the 8 pole 2.8, 8 pole 1000
and 8 pole 400Hz filters in both the main and sub RX's.  The RX also has the 5
pole 250Hz filter.  However if I were to load up with filters again I would only
have a 400Hz 8 pole in the sub RX for CW.  The 250Hz filter is too narrow when
working split, because I want to be able to hear more spectrum on the frequency
where the DX is QSX.  I sometimes use the 1000Hz filter in the sub when working
split also.

73,
Tom
Amateur Radio Operator N5GE
ARRL Lifetime Member
QCWA Lifetime Member

"Farmers have learned that rotating crops improves
productivity and saves the land.  Voters should
improve productivity and save OUR LAND by
rotating politicians at the ballot box."
-- Otis Mukinfus - 2008, 2010, 2012 --

On Fri, 24 Feb 2012 19:00:52 -0600, "Robert 'RC' Conley" <[hidden email]>
wrote:

>I am not a CW op! I work mostly QRP phone in contests. Current
>configuration is K3/10 w/2.7khz filter . I wish to enhance it with 2.1khz,
>1.8khz and I intend to purchase P3 and CW filter for use with my K3/P3. I
>am wondering which one would be MOST USEFUL FOR ME... 8 pole 400hz or 250hz
>or 5 pole 500hz or 200hz?  My CW is very RUSTY but I wish to improve it. I
>need help help arriving at this decision. So I'm asking the CW op's in the
>group. Thanks
>RC KC5WA

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