Topband: Key clicks

[Eric Scace K3NA]

   I wonder how much of our reflector chatter about performance issues like key clicks ever gets back to the product development
teams in places like Icom etc.  I'm sorry to confess that I've never actually sent a letter or email to a manufacturer to tell them
how one of their products has fallen short of necessary performance standards.

   I try to imagine myself as an engineer or product manager in a large Japanese corporation, a member of the design team for the
next radio models.  I go to work each day... work under a schedule with deadlines... probably time-slice among several parallel
projects... and don't spend my time on English language email reflectors sifting out information about product issues.  It's very
easy to just continue to use the same keying circuits, or synthesizer circuit as the team used last time, with a little updating to
include newer, less expensive components.

   But if a product manager gets 50 letters from customers complaining about key clicks and having to perform post-production mods,
that would get noticed.  When I was working as a product manager, it took far less feedback than that for us to say "hey, maybe we
should pay attention to this."

-- Eric K3NA

-----Original Message-----
From: topband-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:topband-bounces at contesting.com]On Behalf Of Tom Rauch
Sent: 2003 May 10 Saturday 06:55
To: Paul Christensen, Esq.; topband at contesting.com; John Rippey
Subject: Re: Topband: Key clicks


----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Christensen, Esq." <w9ac at arrl.net>

> What does it take for the overseas companies to listen to us on this
issue?  Perhaps the FCC should only "type accept" amateur

I think we need to have a grass-roots effort.

Yaesu recently released a factory mod for one of their clicky radios,
engineered by the factory, and the result was either no change....or the
radio actually got worse!

This probably is because they don't understand the problem. It could go back
to the engineering people relying on the ARRL for technical standards, such
as the poor waveforms shown in the Handbooks as "optimal", and the incorrect
notion that CW changes occupied bandwidth with keying speed.

They just might not understand how CW works, and the ARRL may be afraid to
offend them by publishing honest reviews that apply pressure to correct
problems. Whatever the reason, it appears to be a communications breakdown
between users and designers. We are stuck with the results, and no one
appears to be helping.

73 Tom

_______________________________________________
Topband mailing list
Topband at contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/topband