Hi Al and thanks for the note.
I've been an active QRQ'er for some 25 years and have had QSO's at speeds up
to 120 wpm, using both an Omni D and the Corsair II. I have heard Omin V's
running at 90 wpm, but I've never heard an Omni 6 copyable beyond 70 wpm.
When I purchased my Omni 6, I immediately called TT and it was explained to
me the reason the QSK was not any faster was because the phase lock loop had
a lock time of 10 milliseconds. To improve the PLL lock time, they would
have had to given up receiver performance somewhat. The receiver in the Six
was so good that I willingly gave up the faster QSK in favor of the better
receiver. (I'm also an avid 40/80 DX'er where the rcvr DOES count!)
While I do like to 'follow' technology, I think DSP is better for SSB
operation and not so spectacular for CW operation, i.e., I'm concerned about
the 14KC IF frequency in the Orion, NECESSARY because of the wide-spread use
of DSP. But I think the Orion rcvr is going to be a 'screemer' primarily
because of the ability to change the bandwidth of the roofing filter.
50 wpm is excellent and if your enjoying it, just keep plugging when you
can. Running high speed CW QSO's with full QSK is really a great fun thing
to do, more enjoyable than most people realize.
73, Tom/W4BQF
-----Original Message-----
From: Scanandoah, Alan [mailto:ascanand@harris.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 30, 2002 9:09 AM
To: 'Alderman, Chester'
Subject: RE: [TenTec] Pegasus vs. Argonaut V - CW Filter Bandwidth
Tom
For what it's worth, the Omni VI has improved QSK over that of the Omni V;
it
has something to do with processor power and the synthesizer loading scheme.
Split mode is even slower.
I guess that's why I keep looking for the older TT rigs. I recently
obtained an
Omni A (my first) and have been having a blast; the whiz-bang
DSP/ethernet-capable/makes coffee rigs are highly overrated. Alas, I don't
think I can handle much above 50 wpm these days - not enough time to keep in
training :(
73 - Al, K2ZN
-----Original Message-----
From: Alderman, Chester [mailto:CAlderma@ora.fda.gov]
Sent: Wednesday, October 30, 2002 8:56 AM
To: 'Mark Erbaugh'
Cc: 'tentec@contesting.com'
Subject: RE: [TenTec] Pegasus vs. Argonaut V - CW Filter Bandwidth
Since YOU are not a high speed CW op, maybe you could get TT to just
eliminate CW all together???
I am a high speed CW op and I can assure you that TT has already slowed down
QSK in their rigs. The Omni A/C/D and the Corsair II rigs had excellent QSK
at just about any speed you wanted to run. I watched the RF waveform from a
Corsair II and Hercules amp running at 160 wpm (watched on an O'scope, not
copied!!). My Omni 6 that I received in '92 was a severe disappointment in
the QSK department (but certainly not in the rcvr department!) because at
around 68 wpm, the Omni 6 started running dot/dash spacing together (because
of the PLL lock time requirements). It is stated that the Orion has 'silky
smooth QSK as high as 60wpm'!!! Big deal!!
But the trade off for high speed QSK is a better receiver...a better
receiver, not because DSP can not keep up. For my Omni 6 and hopefully for
my Orion, I certainly accept the slower QSK trade-off for the better
receiver design. I just keep my old-faithful Corsair II handy for those
QSO's in excess of 70 wpm.
Tom/W4BQF
|