K2: KDSP2 - Should I or Shouldn't I?
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K2: KDSP2 - Should I or Shouldn't I?
 
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The area I live in has gotten much noisier (QRN) over the past few years
and it's killing me. I know that there are stations I want out there -- I can kinda sorta hear them but I can't hear them over the noise well enough to have a QSO. As much as possible I've checked everything in the house and the local telephone poles and one of my neighbors was even kind enough to replace the circulator motor in his Koi pond, but the noise level is still pretty bad. I mostly operate digital modes on 80-10 (PSK, RTTY, Olivia, etc.) with a fair amount of CW and the occasion sideband QSO. My K2 does not have the KDSP2 (or the KAF2) and the noise level drives me nuts. My FT-897 does have DSP, and the problem isn't as bad as on the K2, but the effectiveness of the 897's DSP seems limited, especially on digital modes. Is it worth building a KDSP2 or not? Those of you who have one what do you think of it. I've listened to the sample on the KDSP2 page ( http://www.elecraft.com/KDSP2/kdsp2.htm) and it sounds impressive, but what are people finding in real life? Recommendations? Thumbs up or thumbs down? Thanks and 73s Jon WB2RYV ______________________________________________________________ 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 |
Re: K2: KDSP2 - Should I or Shouldn't I?
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I've got one in mine and love it.
The demo's are pretty close to reality here. On 03/10/2012 12:30 PM, Jon Perelstein wrote: > The area I live in has gotten much noisier (QRN) over the past few years > and it's killing me. I know that there are stations I want out there -- I > can kinda sorta hear them but I can't hear them over the noise well enough > to have a QSO. As much as possible I've checked everything in the house > and the local telephone poles and one of my neighbors was even kind enough > to replace the circulator motor in his Koi pond, but the noise level is > still pretty bad. I mostly operate digital modes on 80-10 (PSK, RTTY, > Olivia, etc.) with a fair amount of CW and the occasion sideband QSO. > > My K2 does not have the KDSP2 (or the KAF2) and the noise level drives me > nuts. My FT-897 does have DSP, and the problem isn't as bad as on the K2, > but the effectiveness of the 897's DSP seems limited, especially on digital > modes. > > Is it worth building a KDSP2 or not? Those of you who have one what do you > think of it. I've listened to the sample on the KDSP2 page ( > http://www.elecraft.com/KDSP2/kdsp2.htm) and it sounds impressive, but what > are people finding in real life? Recommendations? Thumbs up or thumbs > down? > > Thanks and 73s > Jon > WB2RYV > > -- R. Kevin Stover AC0H ______________________________________________________________ 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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In reply to this post by Jon Perelstein
Any attempt to compare my experience with yours depends on the noise, which
is as variable one place to the next as snowflakes. But my K2 has the noise blanker in it, in addition to the DSP and all my K2 wars with noise would have used the NB if it helped at the time, and I do not have a researcher's data catalogue on it to separate it out. Nevertheless, I found the DSP to be a great help to the K2, particularly in the selectivity department, and I thought adding the DSP and and the A/B mods to be transformational. 73, Guy. On Sat, Mar 10, 2012 at 1:30 PM, Jon Perelstein <[hidden email]>wrote: > The area I live in has gotten much noisier (QRN) over the past few years > and it's killing me. I know that there are stations I want out there -- I > can kinda sorta hear them but I can't hear them over the noise well enough > to have a QSO. As much as possible I've checked everything in the house > and the local telephone poles and one of my neighbors was even kind enough > to replace the circulator motor in his Koi pond, but the noise level is > still pretty bad. I mostly operate digital modes on 80-10 (PSK, RTTY, > Olivia, etc.) with a fair amount of CW and the occasion sideband QSO. > > My K2 does not have the KDSP2 (or the KAF2) and the noise level drives me > nuts. My FT-897 does have DSP, and the problem isn't as bad as on the K2, > but the effectiveness of the 897's DSP seems limited, especially on digital > modes. > > Is it worth building a KDSP2 or not? Those of you who have one what do you > think of it. I've listened to the sample on the KDSP2 page ( > http://www.elecraft.com/KDSP2/kdsp2.htm) and it sounds impressive, but > what > are people finding in real life? Recommendations? Thumbs up or thumbs > down? > > Thanks and 73s > Jon > WB2RYV > ______________________________________________________________ > 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 > 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 |
Re: K2: KDSP2 - Should I or Shouldn't I?
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In reply to this post by Jon Perelstein
Jon,
The KDSP2 will reduce the noise - the nr is quite effective. However, if you operate digital modes, I don't think you should be using noise reduction with digital modes, it will reduce your copy. Many digital modes can decode at or below the noise level anyway, and th enormal recommendation is to turn nr off when receiving digital. So consider the cost vs. the amount of time you spend on CW or SSB to determine how cost effective it will be for you. 73, Don W3FPR On 3/10/2012 1:30 PM, Jon Perelstein wrote: > The area I live in has gotten much noisier (QRN) over the past few years > and it's killing me. I know that there are stations I want out there -- I > can kinda sorta hear them but I can't hear them over the noise well enough > to have a QSO. As much as possible I've checked everything in the house > and the local telephone poles and one of my neighbors was even kind enough > to replace the circulator motor in his Koi pond, but the noise level is > still pretty bad. I mostly operate digital modes on 80-10 (PSK, RTTY, > Olivia, etc.) with a fair amount of CW and the occasion sideband QSO. > ______________________________________________________________ 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 |
Re: K2: KDSP2 - Should I or Shouldn't I?
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In reply to this post by Jon Perelstein
I bought one used a few years ago and never installed it until I dug my
radio out of a box and put an antennna back up. I played with them in the past and thought they made things sound funny. However, I also got a new heat pump that puts all sorts of funny noises on 15M. I switched on the DSP and it shoved the funny noises into the noise floor which is higher, but much easier to listen to than the goofy motor noises. But I think someone else pointed out that you don't want to use it for digital modes. On Sat, 10 Mar 2012, Jon Perelstein wrote: > The area I live in has gotten much noisier (QRN) over the past few years > and it's killing me. I know that there are stations I want out there -- I > can kinda sorta hear them but I can't hear them over the noise well enough > to have a QSO. As much as possible I've checked everything in the house > and the local telephone poles and one of my neighbors was even kind enough > to replace the circulator motor in his Koi pond, but the noise level is > still pretty bad. I mostly operate digital modes on 80-10 (PSK, RTTY, > Olivia, etc.) with a fair amount of CW and the occasion sideband QSO. > > My K2 does not have the KDSP2 (or the KAF2) and the noise level drives me > nuts. My FT-897 does have DSP, and the problem isn't as bad as on the K2, > but the effectiveness of the 897's DSP seems limited, especially on digital > modes. > > Is it worth building a KDSP2 or not? Those of you who have one what do you > think of it. I've listened to the sample on the KDSP2 page ( > http://www.elecraft.com/KDSP2/kdsp2.htm) and it sounds impressive, but what > are people finding in real life? Recommendations? Thumbs up or thumbs > down? > > Thanks and 73s > Jon > WB2RYV > ______________________________________________________________ > 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 > -- Hisashi T Fujinaka - [hidden email] BSEE(6/86) + BSChem(3/95) + BAEnglish(8/95) + MSCS(8/03) + $2.50 = latte ______________________________________________________________ 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 |
Re: K2: KDSP2 - Should I or Shouldn't I?
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The nice thing about the KDSP2 is that you can tailor the settings to do different things when required. I have had good luck reducing atmospheric and similar wideband noise, effectively lowering the noise floor (sometimes to the point where, in the lack of a received signal, you can hardly tell if the radio is on. I also have the KNB2, which acts on different noise types than the KDSP2.
Bob, N7XY On Mar 10, 2012, at 5:23 PM, Hisashi T Fujinaka wrote: > I bought one used a few years ago and never installed it until I dug my > radio out of a box and put an antennna back up. I played with them in > the past and thought they made things sound funny. > > However, I also got a new heat pump that puts all sorts of funny noises > on 15M. I switched on the DSP and it shoved the funny noises into the > noise floor which is higher, but much easier to listen to than the goofy > motor noises. > > But I think someone else pointed out that you don't want to use it for > digital modes. > > On Sat, 10 Mar 2012, Jon Perelstein wrote: > >> The area I live in has gotten much noisier (QRN) over the past few years >> and it's killing me. I know that there are stations I want out there -- I >> can kinda sorta hear them but I can't hear them over the noise well enough >> to have a QSO. As much as possible I've checked everything in the house >> and the local telephone poles and one of my neighbors was even kind enough >> to replace the circulator motor in his Koi pond, but the noise level is >> still pretty bad. I mostly operate digital modes on 80-10 (PSK, RTTY, >> Olivia, etc.) with a fair amount of CW and the occasion sideband QSO. >> >> My K2 does not have the KDSP2 (or the KAF2) and the noise level drives me >> nuts. My FT-897 does have DSP, and the problem isn't as bad as on the K2, >> but the effectiveness of the 897's DSP seems limited, especially on digital >> modes. >> >> Is it worth building a KDSP2 or not? Those of you who have one what do you >> think of it. I've listened to the sample on the KDSP2 page ( >> http://www.elecraft.com/KDSP2/kdsp2.htm) and it sounds impressive, but what >> are people finding in real life? Recommendations? Thumbs up or thumbs >> down? >> >> Thanks and 73s >> Jon >> WB2RYV >> ______________________________________________________________ >> 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 >> > > -- > Hisashi T Fujinaka - [hidden email] > BSEE(6/86) + BSChem(3/95) + BAEnglish(8/95) + MSCS(8/03) + $2.50 = latte > ______________________________________________________________ > 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 _____ N7XY DX Cluster Node - telnet to n7xy.net, port 7300 ______________________________________________________________ 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 |
Re: K2: KDSP2 - Should I or Shouldn't I?
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In reply to this post by Jon Perelstein
Thank you all for your replies (most of which were off reflector).
While it's true that some digital modes can be heard well below the sound floor, that's not true of many of the digital modes, and especially some of the most popular like PSK-31. The "right" answer is for me to move up to a K3. Since my children insist on eating three meals a day, I think I'll add the DSP to my K2 rather than get the K3. 73s Jon, WB2RYV ______________________________________________________________ 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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What has been more effective for me than any DSP has been a Timewave ANC-4 noise cancelling unit. It constantly phases out any noise that happens upon any HF frequency I operate. Once you have an adequate noise sense antenna the only difficulty is learning how to use the device correctly. It works with any mode and has been 100% effective at this QTH.
Andy N3LCW |
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