[CQ-Contest] DSP Boxes for CW Contesting

[Pete Smith]

It's been some time since the last discussion on any reflector about the
usefulness of outboard DSP boxes for contesting.  Last weekend lent some
new urgency to this question, because the thunderstorm Friday night was
followed by S9+ rain static all night and into Sunday morning - no fun at
all  I don't need extra signal selectivity on CW, and I understand the
limitation imposed by receiver AGC action, but would sure like to find a
way to cope with atmospheric noise and rain static, and to roll off the
high frequencies to reduce fatigue.  Unfortunately a new DSP radio isn't an
option.

I'm looking for any actual experience anyone has had with DSP boxes in
contest use.  Please identify the one you used, and evaluate:

-- Effectiveness against rain static - the steady roar type - and
atmospheric noise.
-- Does the unit have its own AGC, and does it make a difference?
-- Can it both reduce noise and shape the passband simultaneously (at least
a low pass function).

Please reply to me directly and I'll summarize for the reflector.
73,

Pete N4ZR

In Wild Wonderful, fairly rare WEST Virginia


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>From Zack Lau <zlau at arrl.org>  Mon Nov  3 18:03:37 1997
From: Zack Lau <zlau at arrl.org> (Zack Lau)
Date: Mon, 03 Nov 1997 13:03:37 -0500
Subject: [CQ-Contest] 10M STACKS
References: <63cplh$plm at mgate.arrl.org>
Message-ID: <345E11F9.40E2 at arrl.org>

> Do you have any photos of the 9 antennas, 2 horns and a vert?

Too much confusing background in the shots... plan to do 
better next year.

I mounted a rotator on a roof rack. I've since added
a wooden plank to stand on while working on the antennas :-)

I put an inverted christmas tree stack for 2/222/432, along
with a small H frame.  Inverting the stack allows the 2M antenna
to be higher off the ground, and more clear of the H-frame below.

All the antennas have short booms of less than 5 ft.

The H frame has the 903/1296/2304/3456 loopers. At the last 
moment I added small vertically polarized yagis for 223/446
attached to the horizontal part of the H frame.

For 6M and 2M FM I used a 5/8 wave 2M Mag mount on the trunk, 
though I wasn't really pleased with 6M performance and need 
something better... The horns were kept inside the car--I also
need to work on 5.7/10G antennas for next year.

It was really surprising how well the car handled with the
antennas--Zack W1VT


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