[CQ-Contest] Handicap For Dirty Rigs

[Jim Brown]

On 10/20/2014 2:05 PM, Stuart Phillips wrote:
> The FCC publishes required levels of operation for several aspects of radio performance but is silent on matters like phase noise etc beyond using phrases like “commonly accepted engineering practice”.

Hi Stu,

As I wrote in TXNoise.pdf,

"FCC Rules 97.307 (a) No amateur station transmission shall occupy more 
bandwidth than necessary for the
information rate and emission type being transmitted, in accordance with 
good amateur practice. Figure 12
clearly shows that Yaesu and Icom transceivers are using 3 times more 
bandwidth than Kenwood and 5 times
more than Elecraft. As I read the Rules, this puts anyone using them in 
violation of 97.307 (a)."

Follow my logic. Elecraft, with their K3, have defined "good amateur 
practice" with respect to CW. Kenwood's TS590S, less than half the cost 
of a K3, is next best, and the modern ICOM and Yeasu rigs are much 
worse. I've seen data from Flex for their 6xxx-series rigs putting them 
in a class with the K3 for cleanliness, but these data have not been 
verified by ARRL. In simple terms, today's ICOM and Yeasu rigs are in 
violation because they use MUCH more than the minimum bandwidth needed 
for transmission. 97.307 (b) and 97.307 (c) expand upon that standard.

As I see it (and as principal author of all AES Standards on EMC, I have 
used similar wording), "good amateur practice" with respect to occupied 
bandwidth was specifically written into the Rules to not tie the hands 
of innovative designers and allow the State of the Art to advance. Wayne 
Burdick, Elecraft chief engineer, showed many (all?) of his cards in an 
Appendix to my report. There is no magic there, simply good, innovative 
engineering. The methods are available to all.

For years, we were taught that CW bandwidth was related to CW speed, 
which is a total falsehood -- CW bandwidth is solely a function of rise 
and fall waveforms, distortion in RF stages, including the output, and 
phase noise.

73, Jim K9YC