Cryogenic radio? - White noise

[K8DO at aol.com]

007 at astro.as.utexas.edu
In a message dated 95-09-14 16:29:29 EDT, you write:

>Is this just a physiological thing, or something more quantifiable?

Well, I suspect that it is one of those annoying, neurobiologic responses
which are difficult to quantify....It utilizes the integration/discrimination
ability of the ear/brain combination...
It appears that simply filling in the chinks/low-spots in the random noise
fluctuations of the background noise level with white noise, smooths it
enough to allow the ear/brain to to a better job of sensing the
presence/absence of signals just at, or slightly below, the noise level...

Whether this is an electromechanical (i.e. within the ear canal) or a neural
phenomenon (i.e. within the cortex of the brain) is unknown to me... 

If it is the first, one can hypothesize that the presence of the white noise
actually changes the threshold and harmonic response  of the celia (nerve
endings which look like hairs) inside the cochlea (the hearing organ), which
are vibrating under the influence of the sound, thus forming a tuned
circuit... This tuned circuit may be actively pulled into phase or out of
phase with the incoming sound, depending on whether the brain wants to
enhance or diminish that particular frequency...
If it is the second, one can hypothesize that the presence of white noise
makes the background smoother so the brain can more effectively perform a
"DSP like" signal processing to enhance some frequencies while diminishing
others...( I lean toward this theory)

If I am tired the effectiveness of the white noise enhancement diminishes or
ceases...
It seems to require the ability to "copy behind", to give the brain time to
integrate the Noise+Signal and compare it to the baseline noise, and when the
noise returns to baseline to say, "Gee, there was a dot/dash buried in
there"....

A fascinating subject, and an ability which is used by CONTESTORS far more
than others...

Cheers  ...  Denny

>From Keith Morehouse-WB9TIY <blckhole at ripco.com>  Fri Sep 15 17:18:28 1995
From: Keith Morehouse-WB9TIY <blckhole at ripco.com> (Keith Morehouse-WB9TIY)
Date: Fri, 15 Sep 1995 11:18:28 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Participation in CW Sprints...
Message-ID: <Pine.SV4.3.91.950915110222.22107D-100000 at foley.ripco.com>

I don't work CW sprints because I don't think I'm good enough.....

Yeah, I can admit it !

I CAN'T copy CW at 50WPM, 'specially when guys throw those weird names at 
me.  Since I like to be competitive in contests, I just don't get on.  
The thread about the "sprint elite" doing their thing kinda hit home.  I 
don't have ANY problem with those that "can", doing whatever they want. BUT, 
I don't think that weird names combined with ultra-high speed CW with little 
hope for a slower repeat and a "elite 10" (or whatever number...) goes 
real far in attracting people to an operating event.  Those that complain 
about the declining participation may need to think about their operating 
habits and how they relate to guys who are new to contesting and ham radio.

I have all the skills to contest.  I consider myself a "top-ten" operator 
(I said operator, not station owner or user...) and have played from both 
sides of DX contest pileups and participated in many world class 
multi-op's.  I feel I can hold my own with all but a handful of op's on 
SSB.  But, when it comes to the challenge of high speed CW contesting, 
combined with the extra challenge of the sprint rules and exchange, forget 
it.  If I feel this way, being a seasoned op, I can imagine what runs through
the mind of the average new guy when listening to a CW sprint !!

---------------------------###-----------------------------
PROBE ELECTRONICS 100 Higgins Road, Park Ridge IL 60068 USA
Keith J. Morehouse / WB9TIY / Society of Midwest Contesters
708-696-2828  FAX: 708-698-2045  e-mail: blckhole at ripco.com
---------------------------###-----------------------------


>From i4ufh at contest.dsnet.it (Fabio I4UFH)  Fri Sep 15 20:58:01 1995
From: i4ufh at contest.dsnet.it (Fabio I4UFH) (Fabio I4UFH)
Date: Fri, 15 Sep 1995 21:58:01 +0200
Subject: ARRL EU Result Wanted
Message-ID: <9509151958.AA28251 at maggiore.dsnet.it>


Hi Guys,

Could someone send me the Top Ten scores in the Multi-Single 
(DX) section of the SSB ARRL contests?

I have a lot difficulties to obtain a very fast QST copy.

73 de Fabio and tnx.


e-mail i4ufh at contest.dsnet.it


>From Keith Morehouse-WB9TIY <blckhole at ripco.com>  Fri Sep 15 16:43:21 1995
From: Keith Morehouse-WB9TIY <blckhole at ripco.com> (Keith Morehouse-WB9TIY)
Date: Fri, 15 Sep 1995 10:43:21 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Cryogenic radio?
Message-ID: <Pine.SV4.3.91.950915102842.22107A-100000 at foley.ripco.com>

Several manufacturers have been messing around with filters produced on 
superconducting ceramic substrates.  They have less insertion loss and 
better response then your typical filter.

The cost of power at PCS frequencies (1.9 GHz +) is pushing designers 
into finding ways of meeting design output levels with better efficiency 
and less loss of RF within the radios.  This has become important enough 
that some people are willing to incure the greater expense AND put up 
with the LN (sorry...liquid nitrogen) or whatever required to cool things 
down to the superconducting point.  A local Chicago company is offering a 
superconducting BP filter for 800 MHz cellular frequencies that has a 
cooler consderably larger then the filter itself !!  Ah, progress.....

Anybody want to buy into a liquid gas franchise ??

---------------------------###-----------------------------
PROBE ELECTRONICS 100 Higgins Road, Park Ridge IL 60068 USA
Keith J. Morehouse / WB9TIY / Society of Midwest Contesters
708-696-2828  FAX: 708-698-2045  e-mail: blckhole at ripco.com
---------------------------###-----------------------------


>From George Daughters" <G.DAUGHT at Forsythe.Stanford.EDU  Fri Sep 15 21:33:31 1995
From: George Daughters" <G.DAUGHT at Forsythe.Stanford.EDU (George Daughters)
Date: Fri, 15 Sep 95 13:33:31 PDT
Subject: low temperature is good for gin

Dear gang,

Am I too far away from it to remember correctly,
but isn't the main source of noise at HF the
*antenna*?!

Doing low-low-cryogenic superconducting receiver
type things and noise injection (enhancement?)
are not apt to be very effective below 30MHz,
are they?  If you want low noise on HF bands,
hook your receiver to a 50 ohm resistor, and
put *it* in liquid helium.  *Now* your Rx
noise is important, and you can work on improving
it.  I don't know how many Q's you'll get, though!

Or am I, as usual, missing the point?

And that was CONTEST Q's, of course.

73, ab6yl
g.daught at forsythe.stanford.edu


To:  CQ-CONTEST at TGV.COM

>From oo7 at astro.as.utexas.edu (Derek Wills)  Fri Sep 15 21:58:33 1995
From: oo7 at astro.as.utexas.edu (Derek Wills) (Derek Wills)
Date: Fri, 15 Sep 1995 15:58:33 -0500
Subject: Participation in CW Sprints...

	>I don't work CW sprints because I don't think I'm good enough.....

	>I CAN'T copy CW at 50WPM, 'specially when guys throw those weird 
        >names at me. 

Hey, the Sprint scares me too!   When I hear everyone start up at 0000,
I nearly turn the radio off, then I make a few tentative QSOs and I'm
hooked for 4 hrs.

Nobody sends at 50, most not even at 40.  If you feel uneasy about the
speed, listen to an exchange that you can copy, and call the non-sprinter 
right after it, all that happens is that the QSO number goes up by 1, so
you know the exchange in advance.  I did this the first time, and was often 
too scared when someone called me after a QSO so I just sprinted away...

The Sprints are humbling and depressing for many of us, I'm sure.  I just
tell myself that the best CW contesters in the country take part in these
things, and even if I come near the bottom I'm still in the top few hundred 
ops in the USA.  Nobody comes to your house to arrest you if you only make 
a dozen QSOs, or you put an extra dit in someone's call.

One day the bands will be no-coders wall-to-wall; doing any CW while you
still can is important, I think.   Better bad CW than no CW - do it!

Derek AA5BT, G3NMX
oo7 at astro.as.utexas.edu


>From km9p at is.net (Bill Fisher, KM9P  Concentric Systems, Inc.)  Fri Sep 15 23:01:36 1995
From: km9p at is.net (Bill Fisher, KM9P  Concentric Systems, Inc.) (Bill Fisher, KM9P  Concentric Systems, Inc.)
Date: Fri, 15 Sep 1995 18:01:36 -0400
Subject: Participation in CW Sprints...
Message-ID: <199509152201.SAA00887 at mail1.is.net>


>I have all the skills to contest.  I consider myself a "top-ten" operator 
>(I said operator, not station owner or user...) and have played from both 
>sides of DX contest pileups and participated in many world class 
>multi-op's.  I feel I can hold my own with all but a handful of op's on 
>SSB.  But, when it comes to the challenge of high speed CW contesting, 
>combined with the extra challenge of the sprint rules and exchange, forget 
>it.  If I feel this way, being a seasoned op, I can imagine what runs through
>the mind of the average new guy when listening to a CW sprint !!


How can you expect to play if you don't try?  I work plenty of guys in the
Sprint where I slow down to sub 30 WPM.  If they are sending 27 WPM, so am
I.  I don't want to send the exchange twice.

As my elmer K9WA told me when I was struggling to get over the 25wpm hump...

Practice, practice, practice...

I like Derek's quote...  "Just do it!"  Or was that Nike?


73

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




>From Neal Sulmeyer <humecon at crl.com>  Fri Sep 15 23:22:05 1995
From: Neal Sulmeyer <humecon at crl.com> (Neal Sulmeyer)
Date: Fri, 15 Sep 1995 15:22:05 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Sept 95 ARRL VHF Contest - AA4S score
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.91.950915145002.12139A-100000 at crl2.crl.com>

The Fourlanders VHF club again operated from Bald Knob, VA in FM07.  Many 
thanks to Gene, WA4PGI, for the use of this wonderful site.  We had our 
fair share of 'murphies' including blown transverters, exploding 
amplifiers, and busted tower on trailer (required welding on site to repair).
I sure wish we had use of an F-117 to take out the radar site to the east 
as it made 1296 a nightmare.  Even so, we were very pleased with the 
improvement at the microwave station and with our rovers.

I got the 'final' tally last night from Ron, AA4S. So here it is:

50	271	73
144	452	76
222	100	43
432	152	50
903	22	17
1296	29	17
2304	7	6
3456	10	5
5760	4	4
10G	3	2
-------------------
total	1050	293

Score => 432,468

Thanks to all those stations who worked us and make this event so special.

73's and see you next year!

Neal, AE6E