Topband: Keyclicks / AGC

[ws6x at comcast.net]

Message: 4 
Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2013 15:55:23 +0000 
From: "Shoppa, Tim" < tshoppa at wmata.com > 


<SNIP> 

Is it possible... that what folks are attributing to keyclicks in the transmitter, are actually AGC artifacts in their receiver? 

=== Of course it's possible. You can also add DSP NR, NB, etc. to the equation for false indicators. I for one am very sure that all those culprits are eliminated before I send (privately) a panadapter screen shot to the offending station. I can further attest -- the 3 WC stations mentioned earlier were indeed WIDE. The first mentioned looked like a Christmas tree on my P3. In addition, endless CQ-ing at 35 wpm kept the neighborhood pretty well "occupied." 

If done politely and with respect, most hams are appreciative of such feedback. Several years ago we had a K6 -- a 160 newbie -- tear up the band for over a year, before someone kindly mentioned it to him. Not only was he chagrined, but you could almost feel his pain when he asked, "Why did you wait so long to tell me?" 

I will never forget when I first started puttering around with PSK. One evening I had a VE7 send me a screen capture of my signal. It was the most horrible waterfall I had ever seen! I'm red-faced to this very day when I remember that image. Thank you, thank you, VE7 for putting me out of my (unknown, unintended) misery! 

Jim - WS6X 


There are several legal-limit contest stations within a few miles of me and I'm used to a strong-signal environment. And how it can pump AGC causing audible artifacts that are not in the transmitter. And I will generally disable AGC for anything but ear saving purposes. Why set AGC to make all signals sound the loudness as each other, or use AGC to make the noise be as loud as a signal?