Most people don't like QSK. I got my start in cw by handling traffic, "cw
messages" on the cw nets. QSK is a necessity for traffic handling. The
receiving operator must be able to instantly break the sender for repeats
and fills. When we used separate transmitter and receivers, I used a home
brew TR switch or even separate antennas. The old tube receivers could
handle the overload with no problem.
There are still a few of us who prefer "conversational " cw QSOs versus the
usual long monolog type QSO where each party transmits for a while then
either uses BK or call-sign exchange.
To me the monolog QSO is not interactive and reminds me of the old AM days
when you threw the big switch and yaked for 5 minutes. With QSK you avoid
"doubling" and never having to worry about the other guy not being able to
copy. All he has to do is tap the key to get your attention.
Granted, these types of operators are becoming fewer and most cw operator's
ability to concentrate is disturbed by the band noise between characters
therefore they don't like QSK. For me, the faster the QSK, the better. A
good QSK QSO is something beautiful to experience.
Real QSK rigs should not have clicking or thumping noise when keying. That
can really wear you out.
TenTec was the first manufacture of transceivers with QSK. The imports all
used the vox relay or semi-breakin as they called it. CW operators flocked
to purchase the Tritons and early Omni series because of the QSK feature.
Kenwood introduced QSK with the TS-930 and it was outstanding. ICOM and
Yaesu were late getting into the QSK business. ICOM rigs have always had the
problem of dit chopping when in QSK mode and required the use of an external
keyer with the weighting increased. Yaesu rigs such as the FT-1000MP have
QSK but it is slower than the others.
73
Steve
N4LQ
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Fifield" <dave@ad6a.com>
To: <tentec@contesting.com>
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2004 9:05 AM
Subject: [TenTec] Don't like QSK / TUNE Knobs
> Am I alone in not actually liking QSK at all? I much prefer semi break-in,
> which, of course, the (my) Orion is fully capable of being tweaked to
> acheive.
>
> Dave F.
> AD6A
>
> _______________________________________________
> TenTec mailing list
> TenTec@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
>
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