I expect that the answers to the question will be variable, to a large degree,
on the individuals ears, and will be particularly related to the sweet spot in
their auditory “curve”.
I have profound hearing loss above about 1000Hz, so I prefer a CW sidetone of
about 300Hz. Disregard RX filtering/offset/shift for the moment, and consider
“percentage of separation”.
Using 300Hz sidetone, if another station fires up 100Hz away the percentage of
separation is 33%. Generally my wetware filter can easily reject that signal.
Naturally the judicious selection of hardware width, shift, and even RIT can
improve this situation if needed.
Now consider if I used a sidetone of 800Hz (for an example). The same fellow
fires up 100Hz away. Now the percentage of separation drops to 12.5% (from
33%) and my wetware will have a much more difficult time rejecting the
interference. Obviously I can still apply hardware-based rejection, but my
awareness of the surrounding spectrum will suffer.
Thus I have found that using a lower sidetone is the single most effective tool
in dealing with crowded band conditions.
73, de Hans, KØHB
“Just a Boy and his Radio”™
________________________________
From: CQ-Contest <cq-contest-bounces+kzerohb=gmail.com@contesting.com> on
behalf of Pete Smith N4ZR <pete.n4zr@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2021 10:56:04 AM
To: reflector cq-contest <CQ-Contest@Contesting.COM>
Subject: [CQ-Contest] Receiver adjustments in CW contest conditions
I'm curious to know - except maybe on 160 or VHF, most of my receiving
problems in CW contests seem to come from QRM. When I'm contesting, I
find that the only RX controls I use on my K-3 are the main tuning or
(when running) RIT - this despite having DSP control to shift and narrow
my passband. I just go with my 500-Hz filter and my ears.
So what do you do? What have you found useful - again, not in
weak-signal situations, but in QRM.
73, Pete N4ZR
Check out the new Reverse Beacon Network
web server at<http://beta.reversebeacon.net>.
For spots, please use your favorite
"retail" DX cluster.
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