CQ Contest

[Julius Fazekas n2wn]

Lotsa K2 and K3 in WPX CW... One comment gave me a good chuckle, considering it's been a topic here in the past:

"By the way, I love my K3, even though the AF knob is a piece of crap!"

(I've not had any problems with my knobs, only my noggin')

Many brand new K3 users, some of the "big guns" in contesting are now sporting the rigs. This Fall could be VERY interesting on the contesting front.

Watch for a K2 or K3 in the WVQP, we'll be signing N8Q mobile from a few of the tougher counties.


...and then there's Field Day ;o)

72, 73 and GL!

Julius

[WILLIS COOKE]

I was one of the participants with a K3, but not the one that complained about the knob.  I agree with him, but reserve my few complaints for this forum where they will be received in the spirit they were made.  The K3 was a delight to use, I had a blast and I hope to score well in the Single Operator, All Band, Low Power, Tribander category.  Whether I score well or not, it was great fun.  I made 605 Qs and about 493,000 points.  I hope I have most of those left after they remove the busted Qs (G).  I am one more happy contester.

Willis 'Cookie' Cooke
K5EWJ


--- On Tue, 6/2/09, Julius Fazekas n2wn <[hidden email]> wrote:

> From: Julius Fazekas n2wn <[hidden email]>
> Subject: [Elecraft]  CQ Contest
> To: [hidden email]
> Date: Tuesday, June 2, 2009, 10:23 AM
>
> Lotsa K2 and K3 in WPX CW... One comment gave me a good
> chuckle, considering
> it's been a topic here in the past:
>
> "By the way, I love my K3, even though the AF knob is a
> piece of crap!"
>
> (I've not had any problems with my knobs, only my noggin')
>
> Many brand new K3 users, some of the "big guns" in
> contesting are now
> sporting the rigs. This Fall could be VERY interesting on
> the contesting
> front.
>
> Watch for a K2 or K3 in the WVQP, we'll be signing N8Q
> mobile from a few of
> the tougher counties.
>
>
> ...and then there's Field Day ;o)
>
> 72, 73 and GL!
>
> Julius
>
>
> -----
> Julius Fazekas
> N2WN
>
> Tennessee Contest Group
> http://www.k4ro.net/tcg/index.html
>
> Tennessee QSO Party
> http://www.tnqp.org/
>
> Elecraft K2/100 #4455
> Elecraft K3/100 #366
> Elecraft K3        #1875
> --
> View this message in context: http://n2.nabble.com/CQ-Contest-tp3013326p3013326.html
> Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>
> ______________________________________________________________
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[David Gilbert]

I operated SOSB20 in CQ WPX this past weekend and gave the K3 a pretty good workout.  I made 1300+ contacts but that pales in comparison to the zillions of times I repetitively hit the F1 key.  My wife and I have been building our own home the past few years and we still don't have the air conditioning functional, so the ambient temperature in the shack was right at 80 deg F much of the day.  I set the K3 to continuously monitor PA temp, and even with the relatively large duty cycle I was giving the rig I never saw it go above 47 deg C.

The other very impressive thing was the narrow filter.  I used a 250 Hz 8-pole filter with the DSP set to 250 Hz, and it was like a knife edge.  I could operate within a couple hundred Hz of most S9+20 stations and never hear them --- unmodified Yaesu rigs being the exception (there are still some HORRIBLE sounding clicks out there).  Whether those stations heard me was probably a function of whether they were using a K3 or not ;)  The downside was that I had to ride the RIT most of the time ... I had a LOT of people call me pretty far off frequency and the only way I could tell they were there was by the rhythm of their key clicks unless I swept back and forth with the RIT.

Which brings up a side observation ... there is so much disparity now between the performance of various rigs that it seems possible to generate some misconceptions regarding operating skill and courtesy.  I wonder how many times other stations thought I was deaf or couldn't copy their CW merely because they couldn't zero beat my signal within 150 Hz or so?  And I wonder how many people thought I was a LID for calling CQ too close to them on what was for me a clear frequency because they didn't have as tight a filtering as I did?  To minimize the latter, I usually opened up the bandpass a bit when looking for a clear frequency, but the folks with 500 Hz filters and no roofing filters would have still had trouble.

I did have the AF knob for the main receiver crack on me 20 minutes before the contest started, though, and the knob just spun on the shaft.  Luckily one of the set screws still had enough grip to do the job after snugging it up a bit and it held up through the contest.  I've had my K3 since January and had been very careful tightening the screws initially.

73,
Dave   AB7E


------Original Mail------
From: "Julius Fazekas n2wn" <[hidden email]>
To: <[hidden email]>
Sent: Tue, 2 Jun 2009 10:23:01 -0700 PDT
Subject: [Elecraft]  CQ Contest


Lotsa K2 and K3 in WPX CW... One comment gave me a good chuckle, considering
it's been a topic here in the past:

"By the way, I love my K3, even though the AF knob is a piece of crap!"

(I've not had any problems with my knobs, only my noggin')

Many brand new K3 users, some of the "big guns" in contesting are now
sporting the rigs. This Fall could be VERY interesting on the contesting
front.

Watch for a K2 or K3 in the WVQP, we'll be signing N8Q mobile from a few of
the tougher counties.


...and then there's Field Day ;o)

72, 73 and GL!

Julius


-----
Julius Fazekas
N2WN

Tennessee Contest Group
http://www.k4ro.net/tcg/index.html

Tennessee QSO Party
http://www.tnqp.org/

Elecraft K2/100 #4455
Elecraft K3/100 #366
Elecraft K3        #1875
--
View this message in context: http://n2.nabble.com/CQ-Contest-tp3013326p3013326.html
Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com.

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[Julius Fazekas n2wn]

Hi Willis,

I always enjoy reading the post contest comments. They can be fun, informative and downright funny. The knob comment was made because his cracked during the contest, irritating, but not the worst that could happen and he pointed that out in a later comment. It was done in good humor I think...

Glad you did well, and sorry we didn't work. Unexpected circumstances kept me from putting in the effort I had hoped, but had a lot of fun working DX on 10 for a change. Had hoped to add something new, but no luck, need seven states for WAS and six countries for DXCC (worked 112 but can't get the QSLs from any of the outstanding ones).

Hats off to the Top Band folks, just got card 102 for DXCC LP and all 26 zones worked confirmed... A few K2s and K3s in that lot!

See ya in IARU!

Julius Fazekas
N2WN

Tennessee Contest Group
http://www.k4ro.net/tcg/index.html

Tennessee QSO Party: Sunday, 6 Sept 2009
http://www.tnqp.org/

Elecraft K2/100 #4455
Elecraft K3/100 #366


--- On Tue, 6/2/09, WILLIS COOKE <[hidden email]> wrote:

> From: WILLIS COOKE <[hidden email]>
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft]  CQ Contest
> To: "Julius Fazekas n2wn" <[hidden email]>, "Elecraft Reflector" <[hidden email]>
> Date: Tuesday, June 2, 2009, 1:51 PM
>
> I was one of the participants with a K3, but not the one
> that complained about the knob.  I agree with him, but
> reserve my few complaints for this forum where they will be
> received in the spirit they were made.  The K3 was a
> delight to use, I had a blast and I hope to score well in
> the Single Operator, All Band, Low Power, Tribander
> category.  Whether I score well or not, it was great
> fun.  I made 605 Qs and about 493,000 points.  I
> hope I have most of those left after they remove the busted
> Qs (G).  I am one more happy contester.
>
> Willis 'Cookie' Cooke
> K5EWJ
>
>
> --- On Tue, 6/2/09, Julius Fazekas n2wn <[hidden email]>
> wrote:
>
> > From: Julius Fazekas n2wn <[hidden email]>
> > Subject: [Elecraft]  CQ Contest
> > To: [hidden email]
> > Date: Tuesday, June 2, 2009, 10:23 AM
> >
> > Lotsa K2 and K3 in WPX CW... One comment gave me a
> good
> > chuckle, considering
> > it's been a topic here in the past:
> >
> > "By the way, I love my K3, even though the AF knob is
> a
> > piece of crap!"
> >
> > (I've not had any problems with my knobs, only my
> noggin')
> >
> > Many brand new K3 users, some of the "big guns" in
> > contesting are now
> > sporting the rigs. This Fall could be VERY interesting
> on
> > the contesting
> > front.
> >
> > Watch for a K2 or K3 in the WVQP, we'll be signing
> N8Q
> > mobile from a few of
> > the tougher counties.
> >
> >
> > ...and then there's Field Day ;o)
> >
> > 72, 73 and GL!
> >
> > Julius
> >
> >
> > -----
> > Julius Fazekas
> > N2WN
> >
> > Tennessee Contest Group
> > http://www.k4ro.net/tcg/index.html
> >
> > Tennessee QSO Party
> > http://www.tnqp.org/
> >
> > Elecraft K2/100 #4455
> > Elecraft K3/100 #366
> > Elecraft K3        #1875
> > --
> > View this message in context: http://n2.nabble.com/CQ-Contest-tp3013326p3013326.html
> > Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at
> Nabble.com.
> >
> >
> ______________________________________________________________
> > Elecraft mailing list
> > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> > Post: mailto:[hidden email]
> >
> > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
> >
>

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[wayne burdick]

<[hidden email]> wrote:

> The other very impressive thing was the narrow filter.  I used a 250
> Hz 8-pole filter with the DSP set to 250 Hz, and it was like a knife
> edge.  I could operate within a couple hundred Hz of most S9+20
> stations and never hear them --- unmodified Yaesu rigs being the
> exception (there are still some HORRIBLE sounding clicks out there).  
> Whether those stations heard me was probably a function of whether
> they were using a K3 or not ;)  The downside was that I had to ride
> the RIT most of the time ... I had a LOT of people call me pretty far
> off frequency and the only way I could tell they were there was by the
> rhythm of their key clicks unless I swept back and forth with the RIT.

Dave,

Sounds like you may be a candidate for the dual-passband CW feature of
the K3. It gives you a 150-Hz "focus" filter, but allows you to hear
signals either side of this at about -20 dB (the "context"). The
context width is adjustable with the WIDTH control. See the manual for
further details.

> I did have the AF knob for the main receiver crack on me 20 minutes
> before the contest started, though, and the knob just spun on the
> shaft. ... I've had my K3 since January and had been very careful
> tightening the screws initially.

We've corrected the knob material problem, and will send you
replacement knobs on request (no charge). Most of the defective ones
have already been replaced. Sorry you had to deal with it during the
contest.

Thanks for your other comments on how the K3 performed.

Wayne
N6KR

---

http://www.elecraft.com

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[Julius Fazekas n2wn]

Hi Dave,

You do present an interesting point on receiver disparity. I think this has always been an issue, not just due to radios, but also antennas and propagation. It is an interesting question that will most likely be a factor this coming Fall. The winner will still be who has the best signal or maybe who's rarest and the majority can hear and work.

Those who will be hurt the most will be the ones who were able to control large chunks of spectrum.

At what point does it become rude? Hard to say... Generally a really weak station under a power house won't be there very long anyway, because it is unproductive, maybe they will last a bit longer now... If the guy who is running say EU and you're working Asia just off his run frequency, it may be a minor problem. 20 and 160 could be very different animals if they are really open...

Ahhh, the RIT/XIT, my only beef with the K3... still can't adjust them while in transmit. That was a sweet feature on the K2!

73,
Julius

"The other very impressive thing was the narrow filter.  I used a 250 Hz 8-pole filter with the DSP set to 250 Hz, and it was like a knife edge.  I could operate within a couple hundred Hz of most S9+20 stations and never hear them --- unmodified Yaesu rigs being the exception (there are still some HORRIBLE sounding clicks out there).  Whether those stations heard me was probably a function of whether they were using a K3 or not ;)  The downside was that I had to ride the RIT most of the time ... I had a LOT of people call me pretty far off frequency and the only way I could tell they were there was by the rhythm of their key clicks unless I swept back and forth with the RIT.

Which brings up a side observation ... there is so much disparity now between the performance of various rigs that it seems possible to generate some misconceptions regarding operating skill and courtesy.  I wonder how many times other stations thought I was deaf or couldn't copy their CW merely because they couldn't zero beat my signal within 150 Hz or so?  And I wonder how many people thought I was a LID for calling CQ too close to them on what was for me a clear frequency because they didn't have as tight a filtering as I did?  To minimize the latter, I usually opened up the bandpass a bit when looking for a clear frequency, but the folks with 500 Hz filters and no roofing filters would have still had trouble."

[David Gilbert]

Actually, I discovered that you CAN adjust the RIT while in transmit.  You just can't see the frequency offset on the display while you turn the knob, but it does change and the display accurately updates when you finish transmitting.  I found I was able to rather easily estimate how far the RIT would move as I turned the knob, and I often adjusted the RIT to better pick up the calling station even as I was sending him my report, or asking for a repeat on his callsign, etc.  When running a pile it is usually better to keep the activity going to keep other callers from jumping in, so I would often do that on the fly as I was adjusting the RIT.

And of course if you have to go very far afield to pick up someone, you can jump back quickly to center while you stand by for the next caller (or call CQ) by just pressing the RIT/XIT CLR button.

73,
Dave   AB7E



------Original Mail------
From: "Julius Fazekas n2wn" <[hidden email]>
To: <[hidden email]>
Sent: Tue, 2 Jun 2009 12:30:06 -0700 PDT
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] CQ Contest



Ahhh, the RIT/XIT, my only beef with the K3... still can't adjust them while
in transmit. That was a sweet feature on the K2!

73,
Julius

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[Mike K2MK]

I had a lot of contacts all made using search and pounce. The button getting
the most use here was the SPOT button. The auto spot function worked
perfectly even on weak signals. This is a big help for me as I am zero beat
challenged. Not sure if the problem is my ears or the stuff between my ears.

73,
Mike K2MK

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[David Gilbert]

------Original Mail------
From: "wayne burdick" <[hidden email]>
To: <[hidden email]>,
    <[hidden email]>
Sent: Tue, 2 Jun 2009 12:04:04 -0700
Subject: Re: CQ Contest

Hi, Wayne.

Well, I knew about the Dual Passband capability but to tell the truth, I didn't really know how narrow the "focus"filter was ... I can't find any spec on in the manual.  It's nice to know that it is nominally 150 Hz, though.

The more relevant issue for me, though, is that I only have one CW roofing filter ... the 8-pole 250Hz.  As soon as I activate Dual Passband filtering (which works nicely, by the way) I jump into my next roofing filter, which in my case is an 8-pole 1.5 KHz filter.  That's pretty wide for a contest environment with lots of loud stations like CQ WPX.  I previously couldn't see the need for a wider CW filter, but I guess that would be a good reason to have one.

For the time being, I think I prefer the knife edge filtering even if I have to use the RIT.  In my opinion, it's a real competitive advantage to be able to make use of those cracks in the wall to operate.

73,
Dave   AB7E




Dave,

Sounds like you may be a candidate for the dual-passband CW feature of
the K3. It gives you a 150-Hz "focus" filter, but allows you to hear
signals either side of this at about -20 dB (the "context"). The
context width is adjustable with the WIDTH control. See the manual for
further details.


Wayne
N6KR

---

http://www.elecraft.com


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[Richard Davis-5]

My AF knob was 'funny' earlier in the week.  Scott at Elecraft talked to
me Friday on the phone and patiently waited for me to stop sobbing.
Later in the day the knob 'crumbled' just before the contest started.  A
panic run to the hardware store provided a 'jury rig' solution that I
will probably use as a permanent knob.   ...or until Elecraft offer
knobs with brass sleeve inserts to absorb the stress caused by the set
screws.

Echoing others on this thread, the DSP at 250Hz with the 250Hz 8 pole
filter was used most of the time.  Sweet!  ...I also did notice many
signals had monstrous sidebands due to 'key clicks'.

As for the RIT comments...  My special needs placed an entirely
different cast on the fine tuning issue.  Being in the "golden" years,
and being confronted with the on-rush of "Mad Cow's" malady (ask Denny
Crane if you need any elaboration) I am  hopelessly challenged in
contests by the vast majority of 3-letter stations who operate at 30+
wpm, who send everything once-especially serial numbers, who use those
clever non-numeric codes for numbers to spare their electronic keyers
the extra heat overload, and by the time I get the call sign written
down I have forgotten the serial number......   ....sigh....

TO the RESCUE!!!  The CW decoder on the K3 is my sweet savior!  I can
work the high speed guys whose dot streams sound like amplitude
modulated dashes.   100% accurate copy.  With CW decode the K3 puts me
in the contest.

And when you use CWT centering maximizing the decoding accuracy, you get
spot-on, consistently repeatable tuning.  No RIT needed.  Of course that
assumes search and pounce is the preferred style of operation.

If you park on a frequency and call CQ you surrender tuning control to
the other guy.  You choose the fight the pile ups you hope will come to
you.  ...me, I am a 'control freak', I will pounce, thank you very much.

I will probably never be highly competitive in CW contests, but the K3
puts me in the hunt.   ...and that is enough to satisfy me.

....now if the K3 could only send CW using electrical sensors inside my
green eye-shade visor....  How about that Wayne?

...this contest was the most fun I have ever had in 55 years of ham
radio.  Thank you very much Elecraft!!!

73's and 88's to the gang there,

Richard
K5BWV

====================================================================


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[GW0ETF]

Dave,

I too operated SOSB20 as GW6W last weekend and concur with your observations including being slightly uneasy at times at being able to slot in so close to neighbouring signals - didn't suffer any 'band rage' though so presumably they would be using something decent too. We were in the middle of a heat wave and the ambient temperature in my small shack with the Acom 1000 running continuously was in the 80s (F) most of the day hours but FP and PA temps were fine and I stopped checking them after a short time.

Contesting with the K3 filtering is a joy; but last March I took the K3 to the Gambia and had some big pile-ups from C56ETF. It was my first dxpedition experience and I imagined I would be using the narrowest filtering to tune progressively through the split pile-up; what I actually found much better/easier was to use a relatively wide filter setting and pick out the signals from the 3D space between my ears with the AFX. Did wonder what the throng thought of my erratic jumping around compared to the probably more normal progression from high to low or vice versa.....

Region 1 Field Day is this weekend and K3s will be in action from GW4TTA/P. There's a pic from last year's SSB field day featuring some Elecraft gear -  
 < www.radioclubs.net/dragonarc/articles.php?articles_id=341 > - and no it isn't SO3R.....

73,

Stewart Rolfe, GW0ETF

(K3 #145)

David Gilbert wrote

I operated SOSB20 in CQ WPX this past weekend and gave the K3 a pretty good workout.  I made 1300+ contacts but that pales in comparison to the zillions of times I repetitively hit the F1 key.  My wife and I have been building our own home the past few years and we still don't have the air conditioning functional, so the ambient temperature in the shack was right at 80 deg F much of the day.  I set the K3 to continuously monitor PA temp, and even with the relatively large duty cycle I was giving the rig I never saw it go above 47 deg C.

The other very impressive thing was the narrow filter.  I used a 250 Hz 8-pole filter with the DSP set to 250 Hz, and it was like a knife edge.  I could operate within a couple hundred Hz of most S9+20 stations and never hear them --- unmodified Yaesu rigs being the exception (there are still some HORRIBLE sounding clicks out there).  Whether those stations heard me was probably a function of whether they were using a K3 or not ;)  The downside was that I had to ride the RIT most of the time ... I had a LOT of people call me pretty far off frequency and the only way I could tell they were there was by the rhythm of their key clicks unless I swept back and forth with the RIT.

Which brings up a side observation ... there is so much disparity now between the performance of various rigs that it seems possible to generate some misconceptions regarding operating skill and courtesy.  I wonder how many times other stations thought I was deaf or couldn't copy their CW merely because they couldn't zero beat my signal within 150 Hz or so?  And I wonder how many people thought I was a LID for calling CQ too close to them on what was for me a clear frequency because they didn't have as tight a filtering as I did?  To minimize the latter, I usually opened up the bandpass a bit when looking for a clear frequency, but the folks with 500 Hz filters and no roofing filters would have still had trouble.


73,
Dave   AB7E

[AC7AC]

CONTENTS DELETED

The author has deleted this message.

[AC7AC]

CONTENTS DELETED

The author has deleted this message.

[wayne burdick]

Richard Davis wrote:

> My AF knob was 'funny'....
> a panic run to the hardware store...
> will probably use as a permanent knob....until Elecraft offers
> knobs with brass sleeve inserts to absorb the stress caused by the set
> screws.

Richard,

The knob you have was from a small batch manufactured incorrectly
(defective material). When the right material is used, it is extremely
strong, and does not require a metal bushing. We do use a metal bushing
for the VFO B knob because it is part of the integral brass weight.

I thought we had found all the problem knobs by now and replaced them
-- guess not. In any case, it sounds like Scott is sending you
replacements. You shouldn't have any further issues.

Thanks for all of your other comments about using the rig in last
weekend's contest.

73,
Wayne


---

http://www.elecraft.com

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[David Gilbert]

That's not the problem.  The crap I was hearing was often 2 to 3 KHz away, and from signals no louder than others on the band.  On the other hand, I could slide up within less than 200 Hz of the guys with clean signals (even S9 plus 20 db or louder) and not even know they were there.

Key clicks come from keying rise/fall times that are too fast.  The big Yaesu rigs are notorious for this and unless a simple hardware mod (like the one described by W8JI) has been performed they are almost sure to badly trash up the band.  My Icom 756Pro had adjustable rise/fall times, but the factory default setting was 2 msec (!!), and unless users of that series know to crank that out to something more like 6 msec those rigs will click also.

There has been suspicions that some contesters purposely let their rigs generate clicks in order to create elbow room.  Given the crud I hear from some pretty high profile contest stations, both DX and domestic, I'm inclined to believe it.  Maybe somebody will record a full band spectrum sometime and software analyze it to publicize the worst offenders.

>From what I understand, the rise/fall times on the K3 are set by hardware to 5 msec.  Good job by Elecraft ...

73,
Dave   AB7E



------Original Mail------
From: "Ron D'Eau Claire" <[hidden email]>
To: "'Richard Davis'" <[hidden email]>,
    "'Elecraft Reflector'" <[hidden email]>
Sent: Wed, 3 Jun 2009 08:04:03 -0700
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] CQ Contest


Putting a strong signal near the edge of a filter bandpass can create those
"clicks" in your own receiver. Generally, the sharper the filter (steeper
the skirt) the stronger the clicks that may be produced.

Ron AC7AC


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[AC7AC]

CONTENTS DELETED

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[Alan Bloom]

On Wed, 2009-06-03 at 09:36 -0700, [hidden email] wrote:

...
> There has been suspicions that some contesters purposely
> let their rigs generate clicks in order to create elbow room.
> Given the crud I hear from some pretty high profile contest
> stations, both DX and domestic, I'm inclined to believe it.

I have definitely heard of some contesters doing that on SSB -
intentionally cranking up the drive level to the linear, hoping the
resulting splatter will clear out the channel.  I wouldn't be surprised
if some of the CW stations are doing it too.

Kind of like high-sticking in hockey.  Illegal but effective.

Alan


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[David Gilbert]

Well, I'd bet that a rig with bad clicks overdriving an amplifier could generate some pretty wide trash.  Some of what I heard was so bad, though, that I half suspect they had bad timing for the T/R relay in the amplifier ... essentially hot switching the amp.

73,
Dave   AB7E



------Original Mail------
From: "Ron D'Eau Claire" <[hidden email]>
To: <[hidden email]>,
    <[hidden email]>,
    <[hidden email]>
Sent: Wed, 3 Jun 2009 10:18:15 -0700
Subject: RE: [Elecraft] CQ Contest


But even a very simple cathode-keyed vacuum tube rig with minimal click
suppression shouldn't produce anything significant out a 1 kHz or more away
from the carrier.

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[hank_stamper]

Hello All;

I'm a new guy in here.  I just got my K3 a few weeks ago and I've  
been having a blast.  My main interest in the hobby has been  
operating the soundcard digital modes

I have been enjoying this thread on the WPX contest last weekend.  
The contest has really sparked an interest in CW for me.  Hearing all  
that code really knocked the rust off what little code I needed to  
get my general license in 2004.  The code being sent was generally  
too fast for me to copy more than a character here and there but by  
Sunday 20 wpm seemed slow.

I did make a dozen or so contacts using MCW in Digital Master 780.  
First question: should I be using Digital Mode A on the K3 or should  
I be in CW mode with MCW in DM780 for CW?  I was using Digital Mode A  
and everything *seemed* OK.  I'll only send in a check log, if  
anything, because I didn't really read the code unassisted.

Second, whenever I use Digital Mode A, I generally monitor the audio  
sent in my headphones.  I hear soft clicks or pops infrequently  
during the transmission.  Usually at least once per transmission.  
Very similar to the soft pop I hear when the radio goes back into  
receive after transmitting a digital signal.  The end of my trace in  
the waterfall shows a line across the waterfall where my PSK trace  
(or other signal) terminates.  Is this click transmitting across the  
entire bandpass?  I would hate to think I am causing QRM.  The clicks  
and pops I hear during the transmission cause no visible line across  
the waterfall like the termination click.

Ron, AC7AC suggested these clicks might be artifacts in the  
monitoring system and not going out over the air.  Does anybody else  
hear this and do you have any comments/suggestions?

I would love to continue to try my hand at CW contests, if only as  
code practice.  For me they have been quite a motivator in getting me  
back into code.  However I don't want to be a nuisance either.  
Moreover I want to be a good neighbor on the waterfall.

TIA

73 de Eric KG6MZS
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[Jim Brown-10]

On Wed, 03 Jun 2009 09:36:19 -0700, [hidden email] wrote:

>The crap I was hearing was often 2 to 3 KHz away, and from signals
>no louder than others on the band.  On the other hand, I could
>slide up within less than 200 Hz of the guys with clean signals
>(even S9 plus 20 db or louder) and not even know they were there.

Yes. In every contest, there are one or two KH6s and/or JAs who have
loud clicks at 2 kHz, while I can operate within a few hundred Hz of
K6XX, 3.5 miles from me running 1.5 kW with a K3 and Alpha. We have
another neighbor, newly returned to ham radio after several years
off the air, who generates wide clicks with a new/used Icom super
rig. We're gonna have a chat with him. :)

73,

Jim K9YC



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