New hams have not had time to learn how to get their CW signal zero beat
to a received one they intend to QSO. Even if the radio has a properly
working method to know where your CW signal is going to be, such as a
sidetone that is pure enough and accurate in frequency enough to use as
a reference, new hams don't yet understand and know how to use it. (Yes
I know there are some new rigs that will automatically do this. We
started talking about a cheap beginners rig, so I'll assume the rig
doesn't have this feature.) When using a narrow filter some skill is
required to get a CW signal tuned in so that it is not being attenuated
by the filter skirts. This is not a difficult skill to learn, yet is is
a skill that new hams have likely not mastered.
So, now we have a new ham, who has not learned the skill of getting his
transmit signal right on the specific frequency of a CQing station he
wants to call, and also has not learned how to quickly and easily get a
signal right in the center of his receiver's bandpass. Is he going to
establish and complete more QSOs with a 500 Hz filter or a wider one? I
say the wider one.
Almost everyone can distinguish audio tones of different frequencies
from one another, and can focus their attention on one out of many, as
long as they are not too close in frequency and the one being focussed
on is not too low in amplitude compared to the others. This too is a
skill that most of us develop. Still I think most everyone has some
innate ability to discriminate between audio notes, without intentional
practice. Everyone has the ability to listen to a particular conversion
in a room full of people, all involved in separate conversions, so long
as the one they are focusing on is loud enough compared to others. And
loud enough is not necessarily louder than the rest.
I don't care what kind of key, keyer, keyboard or other device is used,
it is absolutely untrue that for any generation of ham a 500 Hz filter
is necessary to receive CW. For an inexperienced ham a 500 Hz filter is
more likely to be an impediment than an aid.
DE N6KB
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