[TenTec] In praise of older technology

[k6jek]

What does a 15 Hz difference sound like?

Anyone can easily hear the difference between say A1 = 55 Hz and C#2 = 69.3 Hz. That's 4 semi-tones. That is a lot, from Do right past Ray all the way to Mi. That's missing by a mile.

And we all can hear the difference between A2 = 110 Hz and A#2 = 116.5 Hz, one semi-tone. It's the beginning of 2001 a Space Odyssey A#, A, (boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom boom). 

When we get up to A4 = 440 Hz and A#4 = 466.2, 15 Hz is less than a semi-tone. That's when we cringe at the ball park because the singer can't make it to Rocket's Red Glare -- painfully flat.

A5 = 880 A#5 = 932.2. 15 Hz is about a quarter tone. This is why Indian music sounds strange to the Western ear. They like quarter tones, mainly as ornamentation, but there they are those weird intervals. Something sounds wrong if you aren't used to it.

A6 = 1760 A#6 = 1864.7 15 Hz off? You are flat. You do that often enough, I'm kicking you out the band. Yes, you trumpet. 

A7  = 3520 A#7  = 3729.3 -- Trumpet player gets away with it.

That logarithmic curve coupled with our logarithmic brains is my theory for why wider receive bandwidth at the low end allows me to better line up with the other guys in the  QSO just by listening. I have absolutely no proof for this theory but I like it and am sticking to it.


(And yes, I know the first two examples are below lower edge most people set for their passband but they help illustrate the curve and you know what? Some people actually do go all the way down there. Not me but I know a guy ...)