AJ Lake wrote:

Bob wrote:

My valve (tube - U.S.) receivers far out-perform /any/ semiconductor
receiver.

Your tube receivers outperform *any* semiconductor (solid state -
U.S.) receiver? I guess that would mean in all ways. That's a big
claim. What receivers might those be?

Yes. In every way. Intermodulation, noise floor, selectivity, ultimate
sensitivity, every parameter you can think of! The receivers were very
carefully designed and constructed by me, (though taking advice from some
of the "classic" designs), and have been widely tested against some really
serious, exotic receivers!

I don't need any digital processing at all.

Ah, I'm getting the picture now. You are firmly rooted in the past.

Not at all. I'm a professional electronics designer, and use the very
latest technology when applicable. I haven't seen /any/ digital processor
that assists me in actually picking signals out of QRM. I'd rather use
tight filtering (RF, IF and AF), and synchronous demodulation when needed.
The real trick is a receiver with extreme selectivity (not the bogus
pseudo-selectivity given by digital filters with all their nasty artifacts)
and a really low noise floor.

Not unusual with old timers. The problem often is that we think
everyone else should be the same. That's why it took so long to kill
the code test.

Absolutely not - I'm happy for you if you're happy with your digital Rice
Box - I'd rather use something *I* made and get results that often astonish
my friends and colleagues.

I can "work the world" on tiny power using CW, whereas I'd have to use
stupid amounts of power to get similar results with SSB.

Less power needed is an advantage of CW. Also less antenna needed. I
run 50 watts to a random wire 8' high (HOA stealth antenna) with quite
satisfactory results.

I have a loop over my garden (backyard - U.S.), which is (just) resonant on
7 Mhz and has a reasonable match on other bands. It's basically two long
wires above each other, connected by a vertical section at the far end and
with a transformer coupling at the house end (the transformer is 6 metres
of UR 67, and the horizontal sections are about 9 metres long). It's not
the world's greatest antenna, but works surprisingly well for its small
size.

It's not a DX antenna, though I do snag one every now and then.

Me too!

CW ragchewing's my game, and I seldom fail to complete a QSO.

My latest game has been working on a /really/ simple and cheap frequency
synthesiser and SSB generator that's not too critical in component values
and easy to align. It's entirely digital!

Also, the people you meet on CW tend to be much more friendly!

Yes CW is a gentlemans band.

Certainly is!

Bob