Zoran Brlecic wrote:
Is the best filter between your ears ??

Yes. *After* you pass the signal through the 250-500 Hz second IF
crystal filter.

G!

Depends to some degree on how you work your DX. 250Hz is too narrow for
contesting but probably just about right for pileups.

Do you listen to DX on a Speaker.
No. Waste of time.
Are headphones better ???
Always.

Fully agreed.

Which ones -- Com Phones or Hi-Fi


The cheaper, the better. You definitely don't want hi-fi headphones
because they only contribute to the sound in the range outside of the
transmitted speech, i.e. above 3 kHz, which translates into noise.

Disagreed.

IMHO the most important specification for headphones is physical
comfort. Can you wear them for hours without hurting your ears?

My ears - and the filters in the rig (for which I've paid good money!)
do a pretty good job of filtering out the noise.

I've generally found "communications" phones have an awful lot of ripple
in the audio passband. They tend to sound "tinny" or "bassy" or
otherwise unnatural. Not to mention they're usually heavy and
uncomfortable.

I bought two pair of Labtec LVA-8322's at Dayton a couple of years ago.
($5 each if I remember properly) They're comfortable - sound good -
they've got a boom mike (which keeps getting me great audio reports,
people don't believe me when I tell them what I'm using for a mike!).
One pair sits in the shack, the other I use for DXing the FM broadcast
band. (1,200 stations in 42 states since 1994) Actually, right now I'm
using them to listen to a They Might Be Giants CD... One of the better
bargains I've found at Dayton.

Do you keep the RF Gain at Max?
Normally, yes.

Or advance the audio gain, then bring up the RF Gain control for
APPARENT
improved S/N ratio. Huh how does that work??

I think it does work but only for strong signals. I've done that for
long ragchews with local stations, and it works nicely. Sounds almost
like VHF-FM quality. It's pretty hard to find the "sweet spot" when
working weak or QSB-laden signals though.

Do you use fast AGC or Slow when DXing --- Why ???

Neither. AGC is a dynamic compression which compresses all the signals
into a much narrower dynamic audio range. That's great for strong
signals and easy on the ears, but it completely obliterates the weak
ones by "pumping" strong signals, QRM and QRN. You need to turn off AGC
for dxing (and most of contesting), unless you only want to work strong
signals. The drawback is that the full dynamic range is very hard on the
ears because you get a full blast of S9+ signals interspersed with the
barely audible ones.

Fast.

If I'm going to abuse my hearing, I use the Ramones.
--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com