[TenTec] QSK with QSK-5PC

[al_lorona at agilent.com]

> The major problem I have been 
> having for the past 16 months is the Orion has failure modes when 
> driving the Ten Tec Titan 3 in the Orion's Keying Loop. The Orion, 
> the last time I tested mine, will run QSK at speeds almost up to 66 
> wpm. MY ORION AND MY TITAN 3, WHEN BEING DRIVEN BY THE ORION'S 
> KEYING LOOP, AT NORMAL OPERATING SPEEDS, WILL NOT OPERATE FOR MORE 
> THAN AN HOUR WITHOUT EITHER THE RCVR GOING OUT, OR THE ORION JUST 
> STOP'S OUTPUTTING RF POWER. That is why, for this recent SS CW 
> contest, I switched back to my Omni 6 Plus.

Fine. I couldn't really care less what the Orion can or can't do. I think you should get rid of that thing.

> 
> I don't believe there is a standard definition of QSK. 

Yeah, I think that's part of my point. Even some of the replies to this thread obviously have vastly different ideas of what QSK is. I don't have any use for QSK above 100 wpm, so the differences between your Corsair/Hercules and your IC-781/other amp don't mean as much to me as they do to you. I don't begrudge your wish for this kind of QSK speed. 

Oh, and by the way, I don't begrudge the use of QSK in a ragchew. I think I may be misunderstood on this point. I sometimes question the applicability of all that QSK power in a normal situation. Duane says 45 wpm, okay, I just timed my call at 45 wpm and it takes 1.5 seconds. If I can't hear the DX station for 1.5 seconds until I let up, that's not going to kill me, nor do I believe it will make me a lid. C'mon, get real.



> 
> As far as what I used to be able to do in terms of having a CW rag 
> chew at high speeds, I really do not give a damn if you or anyone 
> else believes that or not. I did it only because it was a fun and 
> slightly different part  of this hobby that I still enjoy. Having 
> had two strokes, I do not have the ability to run CW over about 80 
> wpm any more, either sending it or copying it. I find running 
> contest at normal rates of 22 to 30 wpm just as enjoyable as having 
> my morning 65 wpm QSO's on 40m. The majority of my QSO's are in the 
> 30 wpm range, but when I do find the hams that also enjoy high speed 
> CW, up the speed goes. I am also in the process of helping two 
> ex-CB'ers to get their code speed up over 10 wpm.
> 
> How can you question the true value of QSK if you don't work CW, Al? 
> Don't you think it might be synomonous with VOX on SSB? Or maybe you 
> don't even run VOX on SSB? If you run VOX on SSB Al, do you like to 
> hear between syllables, or between words, or between sentenances?
> 

Did I say I didn't work CW?

I was the one who specifically debunked the notion that QSK on CW is equivalent to VOX on SSB. We took a poll here several months back and found out that far fewer SSB ops prefer to use VOX. The two are not equivalent.

Al W6LX