Fwd: Fw: [CQ-Contest] Lost leading 'dit' - summary

[VR2BrettGraham]

K1HI replied to KD4D:

>Nope, I got the missing dit problem in spades when I run VOX keying on my
>FT-1000MP.  When I hit the key, the transceiver switches to transmit and
>puts the first (in my case) dah's worth of RF onto the coax going to  the
>amplifier. It simultaneously closes the relay that tells the amp
>(indirectly) that it's time to do it's thing. The amp, however, is a bit
>lazyer than it used to be: it's delay in becoming fully involved in the
>transaction causes the volume of the first dah to be, like, zero.  So many
>think I'm N1HI.
>
>Now, if the computer told the transceiver that "it's going to be time to
>transmit pretty damn quick, but not instantly," and the transceiver passes
>the info on to the amp, then all of us old farts can get our acts together
>and not fumble the ball.  The computer does this by "asserting" the PTT line
>to the xcvr to switch it, instead of using the VOX to do that.
>
>Now, why haven't I hooked mine up that way?  I still have dreams that I'm
>young and my rig is young, and my amp is young, and all is well. Delusions,
>you might say.
>
>Rex
>K1HI
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com
>[mailto:cq-contest-bounces at contesting.com]On Behalf Of kd4d at comcast.net
>Sent: Monday, March 01, 2004 6:56 AM
>To: Scott R.; cq-contest at contesting.com
>Subject: Re: Fwd: Fw: [CQ-Contest] Lost leading 'dit' - summary
>
>Hi Scott:
>
>What do you mean by "PTT Control of CW?"  How does it differ from
>"Non-break-in CW?"  I think we are all talking about two or three
>different things. :-)

<snip>

>BTW:  I think the "lost leading dit" problem that Brett is
>referring to is the problem of losing the first character
>of the callsign of stations calling YOU after a CQ.  If
>the QSK delay is adjusted to be long enough so the amplifier
>doesn't drop out between letters, it also doesn't drop out
>after a CQ is completed.  He is not talking about the
>"leading dit" from the transmitter.  That is a different
>issue entirely.

Actually, both - some might not transmit much of that first
character because of the classic slow-switching amp, which
others may miss & even more as they remain in transmit
mode due to having cranked up the hang time for want of
PTT so as to drop into receive as soon as possible when
the time comes to drop into receive.

73, VR2BrettGraham