Newbie Question re: SSB

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Newbie Question re: SSB

Bob-165
I understand that Elecraft transceivers to date have really been a CW ops
dream, which leads me to the following question re the K3: Will phone (SSB)
operators find this rig as wonderful with regard to voice as CW operators do
with CW?

Thanks
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Re: Newbie Question re: SSB

Matt Zilmer
This may or may not answer the question, and is certainly only one
ham's opinion.

I operated both Sweepstakes - CW and Phone.  Did this on purpose, to
compare the K3's operation in both regimes.  Contests like this can be
intense, and Q's are difficult in the best of conditions because of
band crowding.  BCI on 40m doesn't help much either.

Picking a contest to get one's feet wet with a new rig isn't a
half-bad way to go.  You are faced with all the normal problems,
greatly intensified and magnified in a way that's hard to describe -
but it's sort of like a time-compression effect.  It's the best way to
get yourself acclimated to a new transceiver and make the most of its
best features, because you have to make adjustments quickly and have
it come out right the first time.

I found the K3 easy to use in both CW and Phone contests.  After a few
miscues, I was quickly dialing in the DSP filter, notches (needed a
lot in CW), etc.  The AFX set to Delay 3 or 4 helped a lot, both on CW
and SSB.  Now ease of use is one thing, but what did I accomplish?  

CW:  Operated 2.5 hours - 48 Q's.
SSB:  Operated 4 hours - 109 Q's.

Of the two, I enjoyed the CW contest more.  My CW skills need
sharpening, that's for sure.  But I can tell you that the K3 makes it
easy to bring them up to par.  

I have the plain-Jane K3/10 with only the 2.7 KHz roofing filter.  The
antenna is a 195 foot long wire, end-fed with an MFJ tuner.  It's only
up about 30 feet.  No amplifier except what's in the exciter.

Yeah - we're near the bottom of the sunspot cycle, but so what?  If 12
Watts on a Wet Noodle antenna works, the bottom is not as bad as I
remember from 1976 or so.  I can say now with certainty that he K3
makes even the bottom of the cycle a joy to operate in - and in any
mode you care to choose.

73,
matt - WA6EGJ
K3 #24




On Sun, 18 Nov 2007 15:44:11 -0500, you wrote:

>I understand that Elecraft transceivers to date have really been a CW ops
>dream, which leads me to the following question re the K3: Will phone (SSB)
>operators find this rig as wonderful with regard to voice as CW operators do
>with CW?
>
>Thanks
>_______________________________________________
>Elecraft mailing list
>Post to: [hidden email]
>You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
>Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft   
>
>Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
>Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com

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Re: Newbie Question re: SSB

Tom Hammond-2
In reply to this post by Bob-165
Hi Bob:

>I understand that Elecraft transceivers to date have really been a CW ops
>dream, which leads me to the following question re the K3: Will phone (SSB)
>operators find this rig as wonderful with regard to voice as CW operators do
>with CW?

Just finished operating in the SS Phone... NOT my most favorite MODE
of operating,
though I DO enjoy the Sweepstakes... Because of family commitments, I did not
spend a lot of time in the contest, but I did manage to quite easily knock out
well over 100 Q's with my K3.

I used one of the older Heil ProSet headphone/boom mic combinations, with the
Heil HC5 (wider range than the HC4) element, because I didn't like the highly-
restricted audio range of the HC4. I haven't touched the settings on the 8-band
(TX or RX) audio equalizer, so everything there was 'stock', just like it came
from Elecraft. I'll also note that, antenna-wise, I have a Bencher SkyHawk
tribander at 73 feet and a tri-band (80-40-30) dipole (Inv-V) with the apex
at 72' and the ends down around 20' off the ground.

Being a CW operator at heart, I'm accustomed to operating full QSK on CW, so I
saw little reason NOT to try it on SSB as well... or at least as close to full
QSK VOX SSB as I could anyway.

I set the VOX DELAY to ".05" (50 mS), and the MIC IN, VOX GN and ANTIVOX to
points where I cold readily trip the VOX with normal level voice speech, and
to where nothing coming out of the back side of the headphones would cause the
VOX to 'false'. Of course, using headphones, the setting of the ANTIVOX was not
terribly critical, but I was also able to set it so that the VOX didn't false
when I had the cans unplugged from the rig as well.

I first adjusted the MIC IN to give me essentially FULL ALC on the K3's LCD
meter. Then I adjusted the MIC CMP (compression) to give me a nice 'full'
output pattern on the monitor scope. This corresponded to about 101-2 dB of
compression... the effect of the CMP control was REALLY VERY EASY TO SEE,
both on the monitor scope AND on the RF WATTMETER...! Dramatic increase in
average output.

I did some testing prior to the start of the SS, getting both audio quality
and intelligibility reports from a number of operators. To a man, every report
of audio quality was more than glowing! I had one report, from a non-contester,
which said he'd prefer to hear a bit less compression, but that what he was'
hearing during the test was 'clean' and 'very clear' with 'no distortion',
and no clipping of the first syllable of each word as the VOX went on/off
between some words and phrases. A number of reports took the time to volunteer
that what they were hearing did NOT sound like the 'normal contest audio
setting'.

I ran QRP (5W) in the SS, which is a bit more challenging, not only for the
user, but also for the guy on the other end, trying to copy my signals thru
some really BIG QRM. Though there obviously were times when I didn't get the
guy I was calling, and some times when repeats were required, I'd say that
fully 90% of the time I got my station on the first call. Additionally, I
received MANY(!) completely UNsolicited comments of "GREAT SIGNAL" and "GREAT
AUDIO" from other ops who generally won't give you the time of day when they're
trying to knock out as many Q"s as possible and offering such comments just
takes away from their available time to make more Q's.

How did the receiver perform? Very well...!

I found that I'd probably have been better off had I added a 2.1kHz
or possibly
a 1.8kHz SSB filter to my SSB arsenal, but even with only the 2.8kHz roofing
filter available, I was generally able to 'peel off' much of the nearby QRM
and get the other guy's report on the first pass... no requests for repeats
required. Narrowing down the DSP B/W from 2.8kHz to around 2.4kHz and then
adjusting the SHIFT up/dn a bit, on order to roll off QRM from the top/bottom
made copying other stations in the presence of QRM fairly easy... MUCH easier
than with my K2 OR with my TS-950SD...!

The K3's front end is virtually UNCRUNCHABLE!!!  I have a local, W4RK, who
lives almost within rock-throwing distance of me (probably 1/2 mile) and who
runs a 1kW in contests. I found numerous occasions where I'd roll up on a
frequency, work my station, only to find that Bill was 1-2 kHz away and I
never knew it at all...! I hope I wasn't giving him (his FT-2000) any problems,
being that close to him!!!  I ran my AGC in FAST mode the entire contest and
never noticed one instance where a really big nearby signal prevented me from
copying/working the station I was trying to work... just didn't happen.

Back to the VOX for just a second... it was just 'sweet'... I was easily able
to work stations, talking at normal voice levels, and still tell if someone
started talking while I was sending a report, thus allowing me to stop talking
and allow them to either come back to someone else, or to ask for an immediate
fill. Not quite full QSK SSB VOX, but certainly much closer than ANY I've ever
been able to activate prior to the K3.

How do I like the K3 on SSB...?? <Gulp>   I LOVE IT!  Are there things I'd
like to see changes in the SSB compliment of operating features? Maybe, but
I can't think of what they'd be right now.  Will I operate more SSB now that
I have the K3?  Possibly.. but PLEASE don't tell anyone!  I do have a
reputation
to keep up, y'know!  <G>

73,

Tom   N0SS

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Re: Newbie Question re: SSB

w0mu

Tom,

Thanks for the report.  You have me salivating for my K3.

On 11/19/07 7:12 AM, "Tom Hammond" <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Hi Bob:
>
>> I understand that Elecraft transceivers to date have really been a CW ops
>> dream, which leads me to the following question re the K3: Will phone (SSB)
>> operators find this rig as wonderful with regard to voice as CW operators do
>> with CW?
>
> Just finished operating in the SS Phone... NOT my most favorite MODE
> of operating,
> though I DO enjoy the Sweepstakes... Because of family commitments, I did not
> spend a lot of time in the contest, but I did manage to quite easily knock out
> well over 100 Q's with my K3.
>
> I used one of the older Heil ProSet headphone/boom mic combinations, with the
> Heil HC5 (wider range than the HC4) element, because I didn't like the highly-
> restricted audio range of the HC4. I haven't touched the settings on the
> 8-band
> (TX or RX) audio equalizer, so everything there was 'stock', just like it came
> from Elecraft. I'll also note that, antenna-wise, I have a Bencher SkyHawk
> tribander at 73 feet and a tri-band (80-40-30) dipole (Inv-V) with the apex
> at 72' and the ends down around 20' off the ground.
>
> Being a CW operator at heart, I'm accustomed to operating full QSK on CW, so I
> saw little reason NOT to try it on SSB as well... or at least as close to full
> QSK VOX SSB as I could anyway.
>
> I set the VOX DELAY to ".05" (50 mS), and the MIC IN, VOX GN and ANTIVOX to
> points where I cold readily trip the VOX with normal level voice speech, and
> to where nothing coming out of the back side of the headphones would cause the
> VOX to 'false'. Of course, using headphones, the setting of the ANTIVOX was
> not
> terribly critical, but I was also able to set it so that the VOX didn't false
> when I had the cans unplugged from the rig as well.
>
> I first adjusted the MIC IN to give me essentially FULL ALC on the K3's LCD
> meter. Then I adjusted the MIC CMP (compression) to give me a nice 'full'
> output pattern on the monitor scope. This corresponded to about 101-2 dB of
> compression... the effect of the CMP control was REALLY VERY EASY TO SEE,
> both on the monitor scope AND on the RF WATTMETER...! Dramatic increase in
> average output.
>
> I did some testing prior to the start of the SS, getting both audio quality
> and intelligibility reports from a number of operators. To a man, every report
> of audio quality was more than glowing! I had one report, from a
> non-contester,
> which said he'd prefer to hear a bit less compression, but that what he was'
> hearing during the test was 'clean' and 'very clear' with 'no distortion',
> and no clipping of the first syllable of each word as the VOX went on/off
> between some words and phrases. A number of reports took the time to volunteer
> that what they were hearing did NOT sound like the 'normal contest audio
> setting'.
>
> I ran QRP (5W) in the SS, which is a bit more challenging, not only for the
> user, but also for the guy on the other end, trying to copy my signals thru
> some really BIG QRM. Though there obviously were times when I didn't get the
> guy I was calling, and some times when repeats were required, I'd say that
> fully 90% of the time I got my station on the first call. Additionally, I
> received MANY(!) completely UNsolicited comments of "GREAT SIGNAL" and "GREAT
> AUDIO" from other ops who generally won't give you the time of day when
> they're
> trying to knock out as many Q"s as possible and offering such comments just
> takes away from their available time to make more Q's.
>
> How did the receiver perform? Very well...!
>
> I found that I'd probably have been better off had I added a 2.1kHz
> or possibly
> a 1.8kHz SSB filter to my SSB arsenal, but even with only the 2.8kHz roofing
> filter available, I was generally able to 'peel off' much of the nearby QRM
> and get the other guy's report on the first pass... no requests for repeats
> required. Narrowing down the DSP B/W from 2.8kHz to around 2.4kHz and then
> adjusting the SHIFT up/dn a bit, on order to roll off QRM from the top/bottom
> made copying other stations in the presence of QRM fairly easy... MUCH easier
> than with my K2 OR with my TS-950SD...!
>
> The K3's front end is virtually UNCRUNCHABLE!!!  I have a local, W4RK, who
> lives almost within rock-throwing distance of me (probably 1/2 mile) and who
> runs a 1kW in contests. I found numerous occasions where I'd roll up on a
> frequency, work my station, only to find that Bill was 1-2 kHz away and I
> never knew it at all...! I hope I wasn't giving him (his FT-2000) any
> problems,
> being that close to him!!!  I ran my AGC in FAST mode the entire contest and
> never noticed one instance where a really big nearby signal prevented me from
> copying/working the station I was trying to work... just didn't happen.
>
> Back to the VOX for just a second... it was just 'sweet'... I was easily able
> to work stations, talking at normal voice levels, and still tell if someone
> started talking while I was sending a report, thus allowing me to stop talking
> and allow them to either come back to someone else, or to ask for an immediate
> fill. Not quite full QSK SSB VOX, but certainly much closer than ANY I've ever
> been able to activate prior to the K3.
>
> How do I like the K3 on SSB...?? <Gulp>   I LOVE IT!  Are there things I'd
> like to see changes in the SSB compliment of operating features? Maybe, but
> I can't think of what they'd be right now.  Will I operate more SSB now that
> I have the K3?  Possibly.. but PLEASE don't tell anyone!  I do have a
> reputation
> to keep up, y'know!  <G>
>
> 73,
>
> Tom   N0SS
>
> _______________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Post to: [hidden email]
> You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
> Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
>  http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
>
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
> Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com


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Re: Newbie Question re: SSB

Stephen Brandt
In reply to this post by Bob-165
    Opinions are like noses. Everyone has one.  So here is mine.  I have been licensed since 1965, and have been a contester, both phone and cw, almost from the begining.  My first contest was the 1966 Novice Roundup.

    Matt has some good points here.  However, you may not wish to baptise a new rig  or contest logging program in a major contest.  Sweepstakes is probably one of the biggest of the year.  Perhaps a state qso party, sprint or the North America QSO Party might be a good place to start.  You might also wish to try starting out at the high end of the appropriate band, and work your way down as you become more comfortable.

    Band conditions for this just completed sweepstakes were some of the strangest that I have ever seen.  Especially on 80 and 40 meters. Contacts between 50 and 200 miles were often difficult because of long skip.  I am surprised that more people didn't try 160 meters.  It is a legal band.  Just my zwei  pfennings worth.

    73,

    Steve Brandt N7VS ex: WN6QYP and WB6VVS

    Portland, Oregon
This may or may not answer the question, and is certainly only one ham's opinion.

I operated both Sweepstakes - CW and Phone.  Did this on purpose, to
compare the K3's operation in both regimes.  Contests like this can be
intense, and Q's are difficult in the best of conditions because of
band crowding.  BCI on 40m doesn't help much either.

Picking a contest to get one's feet wet with a new rig isn't a
half-bad way to go.  You are faced with all the normal problems,
greatly intensified and magnified in a way that's hard to describe -
but it's sort of like a time-compression effect.  It's the best way to
get yourself acclimated to a new transceiver and make the most of its
best features, because you have to make adjustments quickly and have
it come out right the first time.

I found the K3 easy to use in both CW and Phone contests.  After a few
miscues, I was quickly dialing in the DSP filter, notches (needed a
lot in CW), etc.  The AFX set to Delay 3 or 4 helped a lot, both on CW
and SSB.  Now ease of use is one thing, but what did I accomplish?  

CW:  Operated 2.5 hours - 48 Q's.
SSB:  Operated 4 hours - 109 Q's.

Of the two, I enjoyed the CW contest more.  My CW skills need
sharpening, that's for sure.  But I can tell you that the K3 makes it
easy to bring them up to par.  

I have the plain-Jane K3/10 with only the 2.7 KHz roofing filter.  The
antenna is a 195 foot long wire, end-fed with an MFJ tuner.  It's only
up about 30 feet.  No amplifier except what's in the exciter.

Yeah - we're near the bottom of the sunspot cycle, but so what?  If 12
Watts on a Wet Noodle antenna works, the bottom is not as bad as I
remember from 1976 or so.  I can say now with certainty that he K3
makes even the bottom of the cycle a joy to operate in - and in any
mode you care to choose.

73,
matt - WA6EGJ
K3 #24




On Sun, 18 Nov 2007 15:44:11 -0500, you wrote:

>I understand that Elecraft transceivers to date have really been a CW ops
>dream, which leads me to the following question re the K3: Will phone (SSB)
>operators find this rig as wonderful with regard to voice as CW operators do
>with CW?
>
>Thanks
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Re: Newbie Question re: SSB

Matt Zilmer
Hey Steve,

I didn't really baptise the K3 with SS.  It was just the first serious
contest opportunity I've had time for.

And you're right - weird conditions prevailed.

matt

On Mon, 19 Nov 2007 10:38:16 -0800, you wrote:

>    Opinions are like noses. Everyone has one.  So here is mine.  I have been licensed since 1965, and have been a contester, both phone and cw, almost from the begining.  My first contest was the 1966 Novice Roundup.
>
>    Matt has some good points here.  However, you may not wish to baptise a new rig  or contest logging program in a major contest.  Sweepstakes is probably one of the biggest of the year.  Perhaps a state qso party, sprint or the North America QSO Party might be a good place to start.  You might also wish to try starting out at the high end of the appropriate band, and work your way down as you become more comfortable.
>
>    Band conditions for this just completed sweepstakes were some of the strangest that I have ever seen.  Especially on 80 and 40 meters. Contacts between 50 and 200 miles were often difficult because of long skip.  I am surprised that more people didn't try 160 meters.  It is a legal band.  Just my zwei  pfennings worth.
>
>    73,
>
>    Steve Brandt N7VS ex: WN6QYP and WB6VVS
>
>    Portland, Oregon
>This may or may not answer the question, and is certainly only one ham's opinion.
>
>I operated both Sweepstakes - CW and Phone.  Did this on purpose, to
>compare the K3's operation in both regimes.  Contests like this can be
>intense, and Q's are difficult in the best of conditions because of
>band crowding.  BCI on 40m doesn't help much either.
>
>Picking a contest to get one's feet wet with a new rig isn't a
>half-bad way to go.  You are faced with all the normal problems,
>greatly intensified and magnified in a way that's hard to describe -
>but it's sort of like a time-compression effect.  It's the best way to
>get yourself acclimated to a new transceiver and make the most of its
>best features, because you have to make adjustments quickly and have
>it come out right the first time.
>
>I found the K3 easy to use in both CW and Phone contests.  After a few
>miscues, I was quickly dialing in the DSP filter, notches (needed a
>lot in CW), etc.  The AFX set to Delay 3 or 4 helped a lot, both on CW
>and SSB.  Now ease of use is one thing, but what did I accomplish?  
>
>CW:  Operated 2.5 hours - 48 Q's.
>SSB:  Operated 4 hours - 109 Q's.
>
>Of the two, I enjoyed the CW contest more.  My CW skills need
>sharpening, that's for sure.  But I can tell you that the K3 makes it
>easy to bring them up to par.  
>
>I have the plain-Jane K3/10 with only the 2.7 KHz roofing filter.  The
>antenna is a 195 foot long wire, end-fed with an MFJ tuner.  It's only
>up about 30 feet.  No amplifier except what's in the exciter.
>
>Yeah - we're near the bottom of the sunspot cycle, but so what?  If 12
>Watts on a Wet Noodle antenna works, the bottom is not as bad as I
>remember from 1976 or so.  I can say now with certainty that he K3
>makes even the bottom of the cycle a joy to operate in - and in any
>mode you care to choose.
>
>73,
>matt - WA6EGJ
>K3 #24
>
>
>
>
>On Sun, 18 Nov 2007 15:44:11 -0500, you wrote:
>
>>I understand that Elecraft transceivers to date have really been a CW ops
>>dream, which leads me to the following question re the K3: Will phone (SSB)
>>operators find this rig as wonderful with regard to voice as CW operators do
>>with CW?
>>
>>Thanks
>_______________________________________________
>Elecraft mailing list
>Post to: [hidden email]
>You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
>Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft   
>
>Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
>Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com

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Re: Newbie Question re: SSB

n6wg
In reply to this post by Tom Hammond-2
Hi Tom
Thanks much for the report of the K3 in ssb contesting.

I'm very interested in the hardware noise blanker.  Do
you have it yet?  If so, did you notice an artifacts from
using it in a crowded band like that contest?

Thanks and 73
Bob N6WG

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Hammond" <[hidden email]>
To: "Bob" <[hidden email]>; <[hidden email]>
Sent: Monday, November 19, 2007 6:12 AM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Newbie Question re: SSB


> Hi Bob:
>
> >I understand that Elecraft transceivers to date have really been a CW ops
> >dream, which leads me to the following question re the K3: Will phone
(SSB)
> >operators find this rig as wonderful with regard to voice as CW operators
do
> >with CW?
>
> Just finished operating in the SS Phone... NOT my most favorite MODE
> of operating,
> though I DO enjoy the Sweepstakes... Because of family commitments, I did
not
> spend a lot of time in the contest, but I did manage to quite easily knock
out
> well over 100 Q's with my K3.
>
> I used one of the older Heil ProSet headphone/boom mic combinations, with
the
> Heil HC5 (wider range than the HC4) element, because I didn't like the
highly-
> restricted audio range of the HC4. I haven't touched the settings on the
8-band
> (TX or RX) audio equalizer, so everything there was 'stock', just like it
came
> from Elecraft. I'll also note that, antenna-wise, I have a Bencher SkyHawk
> tribander at 73 feet and a tri-band (80-40-30) dipole (Inv-V) with the
apex
> at 72' and the ends down around 20' off the ground.
>
> Being a CW operator at heart, I'm accustomed to operating full QSK on CW,
so I
> saw little reason NOT to try it on SSB as well... or at least as close to
full
> QSK VOX SSB as I could anyway.
>
> I set the VOX DELAY to ".05" (50 mS), and the MIC IN, VOX GN and ANTIVOX
to
> points where I cold readily trip the VOX with normal level voice speech,
and
> to where nothing coming out of the back side of the headphones would cause
the
> VOX to 'false'. Of course, using headphones, the setting of the ANTIVOX
was not
> terribly critical, but I was also able to set it so that the VOX didn't
false
> when I had the cans unplugged from the rig as well.
>
> I first adjusted the MIC IN to give me essentially FULL ALC on the K3's
LCD
> meter. Then I adjusted the MIC CMP (compression) to give me a nice 'full'
> output pattern on the monitor scope. This corresponded to about 101-2 dB
of
> compression... the effect of the CMP control was REALLY VERY EASY TO SEE,
> both on the monitor scope AND on the RF WATTMETER...! Dramatic increase in
> average output.
>
> I did some testing prior to the start of the SS, getting both audio
quality
> and intelligibility reports from a number of operators. To a man, every
report
> of audio quality was more than glowing! I had one report, from a
non-contester,
> which said he'd prefer to hear a bit less compression, but that what he
was'
> hearing during the test was 'clean' and 'very clear' with 'no distortion',
> and no clipping of the first syllable of each word as the VOX went on/off
> between some words and phrases. A number of reports took the time to
volunteer
> that what they were hearing did NOT sound like the 'normal contest audio
> setting'.
>
> I ran QRP (5W) in the SS, which is a bit more challenging, not only for
the
> user, but also for the guy on the other end, trying to copy my signals
thru
> some really BIG QRM. Though there obviously were times when I didn't get
the
> guy I was calling, and some times when repeats were required, I'd say that
> fully 90% of the time I got my station on the first call. Additionally, I
> received MANY(!) completely UNsolicited comments of "GREAT SIGNAL" and
"GREAT
> AUDIO" from other ops who generally won't give you the time of day when
they're
> trying to knock out as many Q"s as possible and offering such comments
just
> takes away from their available time to make more Q's.
>
> How did the receiver perform? Very well...!
>
> I found that I'd probably have been better off had I added a 2.1kHz
> or possibly
> a 1.8kHz SSB filter to my SSB arsenal, but even with only the 2.8kHz
roofing
> filter available, I was generally able to 'peel off' much of the nearby
QRM
> and get the other guy's report on the first pass... no requests for
repeats
> required. Narrowing down the DSP B/W from 2.8kHz to around 2.4kHz and then
> adjusting the SHIFT up/dn a bit, on order to roll off QRM from the
top/bottom
> made copying other stations in the presence of QRM fairly easy... MUCH
easier
> than with my K2 OR with my TS-950SD...!
>
> The K3's front end is virtually UNCRUNCHABLE!!!  I have a local, W4RK, who
> lives almost within rock-throwing distance of me (probably 1/2 mile) and
who
> runs a 1kW in contests. I found numerous occasions where I'd roll up on a
> frequency, work my station, only to find that Bill was 1-2 kHz away and I
> never knew it at all...! I hope I wasn't giving him (his FT-2000) any
problems,
> being that close to him!!!  I ran my AGC in FAST mode the entire contest
and
> never noticed one instance where a really big nearby signal prevented me
from
> copying/working the station I was trying to work... just didn't happen.
>
> Back to the VOX for just a second... it was just 'sweet'... I was easily
able
> to work stations, talking at normal voice levels, and still tell if
someone
> started talking while I was sending a report, thus allowing me to stop
talking
> and allow them to either come back to someone else, or to ask for an
immediate
> fill. Not quite full QSK SSB VOX, but certainly much closer than ANY I've
ever
> been able to activate prior to the K3.
>
> How do I like the K3 on SSB...?? <Gulp>   I LOVE IT!  Are there things I'd
> like to see changes in the SSB compliment of operating features? Maybe,
but
> I can't think of what they'd be right now.  Will I operate more SSB now
that

> I have the K3?  Possibly.. but PLEASE don't tell anyone!  I do have a
> reputation
> to keep up, y'know!  <G>
>
> 73,
>
> Tom   N0SS
>
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