Contest software/VOX

[K2WK at aol.com]

In a message dated 95-08-24 11:40:45 EDT, GARLOUGH at tgv.com (Trey Garlough)
writes:

>Why cause yourself all that extra fatigue by listening between your
>own dots and dashes for 48 hours?  I hardly even listen to my own dots
>and dashes during a contest, which is why I turn down my sidetone to a
>whisper.  99% of my CW is robot-sent, so why should I listen to it?  I
>preserve those brief transmit times for quiet relaxation and
>meditation, unless of course I am busy knocking myself out on the
>second radio.  :-)
>
>--Trey, WN4KKN/6

I tend to agree. Using a mechanical vacuum relay, with a life expectancy
of only a few million operations, I've begun to disable full QSK.  Maybe I'll
get a few more contests in before I have to install the replacement. Fast
VOX is a good alternative. Besides, I've yet to find a rig that has clean,
crisp
QSK. 

However,  for S&P-ing and working large pileups, full QSK is a must!!!
Turnover timing and other factors are best realized when running QSK.
In QSK mode the sidetone should be very low. If you're zero beat with the
other station its hard to detect if he/she has begun xmitting. A loud
sidetone invariably
leads to a lot of premature changeovers, or false starts,  in going back to
receive.

In keeping with the tradition to keep ones signal clean, maybe someday
the manufacturers will wise up and fix this annoying shortcoming that is so
pervasive in today's "modern" rigs.

                                           73 de Walt - K2WK 


>From km9p at is.net (Bill Fisher, KM9P  Concentric Systems, Inc.)  Sat Aug 26 20:46:48 1995
From: km9p at is.net (Bill Fisher, KM9P  Concentric Systems, Inc.) (Bill Fisher, KM9P  Concentric Systems, Inc.)
Date: Sat, 26 Aug 1995 15:46:48 -0400
Subject: Stop!!!  What is your main radio?
Message-ID: <199508261946.PAA20427 at mail1.is.net>


Did someone actually ask for each one of us to send this to the entire list
or are there still folks that just don't get it?

---
Bill Fisher, KM9P   -    Concentric Systems, Inc.