Rob's comments are very correct and accurate on-air reports are good but not
really good enough to my thinking. To which I ask a question "how many hams
today use a monitor scope in line?" I would imagine very few. Some years
ago I acquired a Heathkit SB-610 that is located in the path between the
Centurion amp and the 238 tuner. A little watching will give one a clue as
to what the signal is really like. Fuzzy edges or peaks, or blooming
waveforms and the such simply say trouble is brewing and splatter abounds.
Well worth the $$ spend and space on the desk.
73
Bob, K4TAX
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rob Atkinson K5UJ" <k5uj@hotmail.com>
To: <tentec@contesting.com>
Cc: <k5uj@hotmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 22, 2004 5:55 PM
Subject: [TenTec] RFI and Orion Mic connector - bad info
> There have been a few comments along the lines of "I run <really high QRO
> watts> and I have never had any RF problems." Some or all of you may be
> right but I would like to point out that
> there are many hams out there who have RF in their tx audio and don't know
> it. It's bad enough to cause distortion but not completely wreck
> intellegibility. Unless you have done something to be very sure, such as
> have someone who knows what he's doing and will give you the straight
dope,
> listen to you at full power on all the bands you operate on, who is
located
> far enough away to not be overloaded, or employed some other method, you
> don't know. Not ever having anyone in a qso complain about RF on your
audio
> isn't enough. I have read the mail on a bunch of QSOs on HF where ham A,
> who has some distortion asks ham B how his signal is and ham B, out of
> ignorance, or wanting to be nice, or who knows what else, tells A he
sounds
> great. Maybe B thinks anyone he can understand sounds great. I always
tell
> people, what they sound like, with the bark off, within my ability. It's
> also important to be prepared to help them too. They may get mad because
> they don't want to hear bad news. That's their problem.
>
> They may also get mad because of bewilderment. RF can be weird stuff to
the
> nonprofessional. I got the RF bad news when I first got on the air from a
> good friend who didn't care about being nice. He did me a great favor. I
> had a sinking feeling, like this was going to be one of those problems,
like
> a glitch in my car engine that would never get fixed by anyone until I got
a
> new car. I figured this strange RF in audio bug would stay with me until
I
> moved or God decided I'd had enough after 10 years and lightning would hit
a
> power pole and my weird problem would suddenly go away after some bizarre
> flash. The first thing you have to do with a new problem is get past the
> bewilderment by getting information. This reflector, googling on
internet,
> ARRL handbook, ARRL RFI book, Radioworks booklet W4THU gives with his line
> isolators has good stuff in it. Then you have to take general information
> and apply it to your specific situation and filter out things that don't
> apply. Then you are ready to experiment and try things after picking what
> seems to be the most promising avenue from your information. No two ham
> stations are alike. No one can tell you exactly what to do without a site
> visit. Have a positive attitude. Station building and fixing things like
> this are a part of the hobby just like operating. I learned a lot I
could
> apply to other situations from the reading I did to solve the RF in audio
> problem. I will repeat what I wrote somewhere else: Many people do not
> give themselves enough credit for successfully setting up a properly
> functioning ham station. Think about it, a HF station:
>
> A. not only receives, but
> B. transmits,
> C. not on just one frequency or one band, but
> D. on many bands across the HF spectrum.
>
> And all this from a site that was not constructed with this in mind (your
> house or apartment). That's actually not a trivial thing. People who
don't
> appreciate this (especially new hams) give up and quit when things don't
> work perfectly right out of the boxes. This isn't like setting up a PC or
> stereo. They need to be taught the significance of what it means to set
up
> a _radio_ station. I think in some ways what hams do is more difficult
than
> setting up a commercial MW broadcast site that only transmits, on one
> frequency, from a site designed from the ground up with this in mind (but
> broadcasters do have a number of other problems to deal with).
>
> enough rambling
> Rob/K5UJ
>
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