[AMPS] Is a clean signal desirable?

[sm5ki]

This may sound stupid and it is: 

I found out in 1970 when I suddenly got a very clean and narrow signal from
my new COLLINS S-line , stations on nearby frequencies suddenly came closer
because they did not hear my low distorsion products . And as many operators
did not know how to set up their stations for a clean signal,  I was then
more often than before QRM:ed by their splatter! 

One very famous contester ( and I am not going to tell you his name ) once
said, after more than one beer, that he takes out his ALC cable in contests
because he wanted elbow space! What a horrible thing to do. 

Nowadays, it is very easy with some of the latest rigs: you do not need your
linears ALC. You just find out by trial how much driving power you need.
Then you simply adjust the output of your rig with the menue to this value.
But you may still have these buckshots from your rigs own ALC if you do not
set up the rig according to its handbook?

By the way, I remember that Collins rigs with their ALC dual time constants
derived in the grid circuit of the final tubes, had a certain amount of
compression.

Now waiting for the storm........... 

73s de Hans SM5KI

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