[TenTec] QSK with QSK-5PC

[al_lorona at agilent.com]

Tommy wrote this:

> 
> What IS full QSK?
> 
> Maybe when you hear between dots and your sending  at no more than 
> 30 wpm. Or is it when you hear between words when your sending at 50 
> wpm, Or is it when you know someone is breaking you when your 
> sending at 70 wpm? Or is it all of the above?
> 
> Tom - W4BQF
> 

Tommy has written the above. And also this:

> Well of course speed is not the issue. I, too, was sending during SS 
> ab 26 and 28 and 30 wpm and my Titan 3 worked flawless but it was 
> being driven with my Omni 6 Plus. 
>
> Tom - W4BQF

But of course, speed is the issue. Speed has always been the issue whenever the subject of QSK has come up on this reflector. Tommy is the one who insisted that at over 100 wpm-- I believe he once claimed 120 wpm to be exact-- he wishes to have QSK ability. He says that one of the Icom transceivers-- I believe it was Icom, correct me if I'm wrong-- can do it, and is the current 'gold standard' for QSK. He claims that above 68 wpm, certain Ten Tec transceivers can't do QSK and he complained about it. 

Somebody else claimed that Ten Tec Omni's can't do QSK above 40 wpm or so. I think it was N4LQ.

Once I questioned the true value of QSK and I questioned how much it's really used to actually break in on someone during a ragchew, and I was greeted by complete and total silence from the reflector. I don't know what the silence meant, honestly.

Rather than turn this thread into an Orion bashing thread, Tommy, please tell us, once and for all, if speed is the issue or not. 

All of which, I think, brings us back to that question, "What *is* full QSK?", which I think, Tommy, is a good one to ask.

On a somewhat different point, could someone tell me what is the difference in QSK behavior, if any, between running a Ten Tec transceiver (let's take an Omni VI as our example) barefoot versus running the same transceiver with a "QSK" Ten Tec amplifier in the keying loop? In other words, how much "QSK" does one give up after adding the amplifier? Thank you.

Al W6LX