[CQ-Contest] PTT control SO2R CW (was: Portable contest rigs)

[Clive Whelan]

W4PA wrote


<My personal opinion is that an SO2R CW contest stations built around
PTT control of station equipment violates the KISS rule and is an
overall handicap to a serious single op contest operation.>

My personal opinion is, absolutely not!

I am a long time user of QSK, having started with a Ten-Tec Triton back in
1978. Present ICOM and Kenwood rigs implement that perfectly, and  ditto my
Alpha 78 amplifier b-u-t imo, QSK is superfluous in SO2R operation. I think
Brett has already articulated this, but this is my perspective. When I am
transmitting on radio 1, I am only listening on radio 2, so all the clacking
relays are a distraction, and may not last more than a few 48 hour events.
If o.t.o.h I disable the QSK, and rely on semi-bk mode, then I have to
fiddle all the time with the recovery delay, else I lose the "first dit" of
callers, a real p.i.t.b. However PTT control solves all this at a stroke,
and furthermore my DXdoubler, requires a PTT *input*, to perform all it's
magical switching functions. If there is a viable way to avoid all the
paraphernalia of PTT cabling, I'm all ears!


73



Clive
GW3NJW