[TenTec] The QSK of QSK

[Bill Tippett <btippett@alum.mit.edu>]

K9YC wrote:
>
On the other hand, Bill notes that while he does not use a mode on his
radios called full QSK, he DOES listen often using his foot switch.


        That's correct.  I first used QSK with the E.F. Johnson T-R Switch,
75A-4, HT-32 and Thunderbolt amp around 1960.  Since reactivating in 1976,
my rigs since 1984 (TS-930S, FT-1000MP and Orion) have had full QSK.  Yet
I chose not to use QSK in favor of PTT and a foot switch.  Why?  Partly
because I did not have a QSK-capable amp for many of those years and
partly because I never liked the idea of relays opening and closing for
every CW element.  If Yuri were still here, he would say something very
similar about potential reliability issues.

        I worked for HP in Colorado about 30 years and was General Manager
of the division responsible for in-circuit board testers and data acq
multiplexer products among others.  We used tons of reed relay switches in
these products and did a lot of life-testing of components.  Let me just
say that anything electro-mechanical (fans, relays, switches, etc) tends
to be the most unreliable part of any electronic product.  I suppose a
PIN-diode amp might be OK, but most current QSK amps (mine included) use
vacuum relays.  I simply don't like the idea of those relays using up
their finite number of lifetime cycles every time I send one dit.  Call
it typical engineering conservatism or whatever, but that's really the
primary reason I don't use QSK with an amplifier (meaning the "hear
between the dits" type...not the PTT/foot switch type).  QSK is great
for barefoot rag-chewing, but I never use it with my amplifier, and I
typically use the amp when DX-ing and contesting.  Once learning to use
a foot switch properly, it becomes second nature and you don't even think
about it.  Hearing between the letters at slower speeds and between the
words for higher speeds using PTT works well for most of what I do with
my amplifier online.

        By the way, did any of you notice Heil now has a foot switch with 2
outputs...one for the transceiver and one for the amp or whatever else you
need to switch.

"The Heil Dual Footswitch is a unique product specifically designed for 
controlling TWO devices simultaneously. Two 10 amp micro-switches are 
mounted so that the one feeding the RED lead turns on first and the BLACK 
lead turns on last. A typical application would be to key a transceiver 
with the BLACK lead and an RF power amplifier with the RED lead. This 
unique Heil footswitch eliminates any active interface problems between 
transceivers and RF amplifiers."

http://www.heilsound.com/FS-2-Dual-Footswitch.htm

I wonder why he did ths???  ;-)

                                               73,  Bill  W4ZV


                                                73,  Bill  W4ZV  

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