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Very LOW RTTY audio solution and request

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Chester Alderman

Very LOW RTTY audio solution and request

Yesterday I posted that in FSK D I had low to no audio from my new K3. One
would immediately suspect I had not RTFM, but in this case I have read it
and am in the process of re-reading it.

While the low RTTY audio problem is solved, there is nowhere in the manual,
that I can find, that tells a new user that in the DATA mode, evidentially
the PITCH function changes. The description about PITCH at the bottom of
page 31, second column ambiguously alludes to this function. Since my RX BW
is still set for a flat response, I am not really sure why setting the PITCH
to 915 -170 is what is required to bring the RTTY audio level back up to
normal. And I have no idea what my software has to do with the issue. The
'normal' RTTY MARK frequency is 2125, so I'm still trying to understand why
I have to set PITCH to 915 in order to be able to hear it.

Perhaps in a later revision of the K3 manual, this area could be explained
or explained more clearly.

Thanks tons to the three gents who tried to help me.

73,

Tom - W4BQF

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Don Cunningham

Re: Very LOW RTTY audio solution and request

Tom,
I agree with you, but we are probably in a minority. RTTY has ALWAYS been
2125 Mark and Space 170, 425, or 850 cycles (I'm old, Hz if you must) away
from that. If you don't like the pitch of 2125/2295 for 170 cycle RTTY,
THEN change it, don't make the "normal" users suffer. There, I said it, hi.
I have listened to those tones for so many years I can decode CQ, QBF, RY's
in my head by the rhythm. I haven't tried the K3 on RTTY yet, Tom, so I may
have to ask you a LOT of questions when I do. I am still using my IC-7700,
as RTTY (except the built in encoder/decoder not understanding "word out")
is one thing Icom got right on that rig. I'm an "old stick in the mud",
still using the old HAL gear mostly, hi.
73,
Don, WB5HAK

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n7ws

Re: Very LOW RTTY audio solution and request

In reply to this post by Chester Alderman

I'll confess I probably am not fully understanding your issue.

Nevertheless, when you use "Pitch" to set the tone to 2125 take a look at "Shift" on the IF/DSP control and see if it reads "*2.21". This should be the default value. When it is so, then you can change "Width" to limit the garbage you receive around your desired signal. I assume you have "Net" and "AFC" turned off in your RTTY program.

Personally, I like the 915 pitch, since I like to listen to signals as well as watching them on the RTTY screen and/or panadapter and the lower tone is much easier on my ears. So I set up MMTTY for 915/170.

Wes N7WS

--- On Fri, 9/3/10, Tommy Alderman <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Yesterday I posted that in FSK D I
> had low to no audio from my new K3. One
> would immediately suspect I had not RTFM, but in this case
> I have read it
> and am in the process of re-reading it.
>
> While the low RTTY audio problem is solved, there is
> nowhere in the manual,
> that I can find, that tells a new user that in the DATA
> mode, evidentially
> the PITCH function changes. The description about PITCH at
> the bottom of
> page 31, second column ambiguously alludes to this
> function. Since my RX BW
> is still set for a flat response, I am not really sure why
> setting the PITCH
> to 915 -170 is what is required to bring the RTTY audio
> level back up to
> normal. And I have no idea what my software has to do with
> the issue. The
> 'normal' RTTY MARK frequency is 2125, so I'm still trying
> to understand why
> I have to set PITCH to 915 in order to be able to hear it.
>
> Perhaps in a later revision of the K3 manual, this area
> could be explained
> or explained more clearly.
>
> Thanks tons to the three gents who tried to help me.
>
> 73,
>
> Tom - W4BQF
>
>

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Don Wilhelm-4

Re: Very LOW RTTY audio solution and request

In reply to this post by Chester Alderman

Tommy,

Your software has everything to do with decoding the audio. The
software application must be set to decode at the same pitch that the K3
is sending it. You could have changed either the K3 pitch setting or
the frequency in your software application.

If your software worked when the K3 was set to 915, then the most likely
answer is that the software application was already set to 915 - IIRC
the default setting for MTTY is 915 Hz.

I am not certain what more could be put in the manual.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 9/3/2010 1:06 PM, Tommy Alderman wrote:

> Yesterday I posted that in FSK D I had low to no audio from my new K3. One
> would immediately suspect I had not RTFM, but in this case I have read it
> and am in the process of re-reading it.
>
> While the low RTTY audio problem is solved, there is nowhere in the manual,
> that I can find, that tells a new user that in the DATA mode, evidentially
> the PITCH function changes. The description about PITCH at the bottom of
> page 31, second column ambiguously alludes to this function. Since my RX BW
> is still set for a flat response, I am not really sure why setting the PITCH
> to 915 -170 is what is required to bring the RTTY audio level back up to
> normal. And I have no idea what my software has to do with the issue. The
> 'normal' RTTY MARK frequency is 2125, so I'm still trying to understand why
> I have to set PITCH to 915 in order to be able to hear it.
>
> Perhaps in a later revision of the K3 manual, this area could be explained
> or explained more clearly.
>
> Thanks tons to the three gents who tried to help me.
>
> 73,
>
> Tom - W4BQF
>
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> 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
>

Jim Brown-10

Re: Very LOW RTTY audio solution and request

On Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:47:55 -0400, Don Wilhelm wrote:

>If your software worked when the K3 was set to 915, then the most likely
>answer is that the software application was already set to 915 - IIRC
>the default setting for MTTY is 915 Hz.

Tommy,

I think Don has hit on it. There are TWO places you can (and MUST) set
the frequency of the RTTY tones. First, you must set it in MMTTY, and
second you must set the K3 pitch to match it. One tricky part of it is
that MMTTY seems to have a bit of a mind of its own in this, and may try
to reset to defaults. Look for the setting in MMTTY (one of the RX or
Decode pages) for HAM DEFAULT and set that to the pitch you want to use.

The great thing about the K3 and RTTY is that it works very well at lower
pitches like 915 Hz, which I find much easier to listen to than 2125 Hz.
I also think lower pitches are easier to tune by ear. When I'm running
SO2R RTTY, I set one radio to 915 Hz and the other radio to a the higher
medium pitch (I think it's 1575 Hz) so it's easier to figure out which
radio is calling me.

73, Jim K9YC

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