On Nov 5, 4:03?pm, Michael Coslo wrote:
wrote:
On Fri, 2 Nov 2007 11:44:34 EDT, wrote:
(The Elecraft K3 can send and receive RTTY and PSK31
without a computer, monitor, or
keyboard).

Couple of other modes, too. See the website - the manual is online
now:

www.elecraft.com

You send Morse Code to the rig and it translates/encodes the
Morse
into the PSK31, RTTY, etc. Paddles are the usual input device.

That is pretty darn clever.

Yup.

Of course it means you have to know how to send Morse Code in order to
do PSK31 or RTTY without a keyboard, but still.....

Does it have any special characters for
backing up/corrections?

Check the manual. It's interesting reading.

I don't know if you've ever done it or not, but
I suspect that it would be really easy to drop into "cw speak",
which
might be a little strnge for us native psk'ers.

O RLY?

In any event, props go
out to Elecraft for an innovative solution.

They've got a lot of them. Their manuals are worth a read
just for the ingenuity that went into the rig designs.

I got a chance to use a KX1 on Field Day this year. Amazing
little rig. Complete with accessory paddles, it's about the size of a
stack of QSL cards.

73 de Jim, N2EY

wrote:
On Nov 5, 4:03?pm, Michael Coslo wrote:
wrote:
On Fri, 2 Nov 2007 11:44:34 EDT, wrote:
(The Elecraft K3 can send and receive RTTY and PSK31
without a computer, monitor, or
keyboard).
Couple of other modes, too. See the website - the manual is online
now:
www.elecraft.com

You send Morse Code to the rig and it translates/encodes the
Morse
into the PSK31, RTTY, etc. Paddles are the usual input device.
That is pretty darn clever.

Yup.

Of course it means you have to know how to send Morse Code in order to
do PSK31 or RTTY without a keyboard, but still.....

Indeed! My Morse code shortcomings are all on the receiving side. I can
send fairly well, but I have to have a pretty clean signal to hear it
easily.


Does it have any special characters for
backing up/corrections?

Check the manual. It's interesting reading.

I don't know if you've ever done it or not, but
I suspect that it would be really easy to drop into "cw speak",
which
might be a little strnge for us native psk'ers.

O RLY?

I've always said that Hams are probably the origin of leet.

In any event, props go
out to Elecraft for an innovative solution.

They've got a lot of them. Their manuals are worth a read
just for the ingenuity that went into the rig designs.

I got a chance to use a KX1 on Field Day this year. Amazing
little rig. Complete with accessory paddles, it's about the size of a
stack of QSL cards.

Well so is my IC-761, as long as you can stack up a few thousand in
maybe 30 piles.....

Seriously, the KX-1 is a nice little Xceiver.

- 73 de Mike N3LI -

On Nov 6, 8:17?pm, Michael Coslo wrote:
wrote:

Of course it means you have to know how to
send Morse Code in order to
do PSK31 or RTTY without a keyboard, but still.....

Indeed! My Morse code shortcomings are all on the receiving
side. I can
send fairly well, but I have to have a pretty clean signal to hear it
easily.

IMHO the circle game is complete.

I recall an article in QST (March 1964) where, by using
the right key sequences, a 60 wpm RTTY machine
could be made to send Morse Code. This was
particularly useful because in those days amateurs
using RTTY had to ID in Morse Code.

A few years later came the first CW keyboards,
which permitted someone with no Morse Code
sending skills to generate near-perfect Morse Code.

Now we have a rig that will permit a person with
no typing skills to send perfect RTTY or PSK31.

O RLY?

I've always said that Hams are probably the origin of leet.

Naw, the landline telegraphers started it.

- 73 de Mike N3LI

Congrats on the new call!

73 de Jim, N2EY

Now we have a rig that will permit a person with
no typing skills to send perfect RTTY

I thought that was the punch tape reader


Jeff

On Nov 9, 6:57 am, "Jeff" wrote:

I thought that was the punch tape reader

BWAAHAAHAAA - good one!

--

Another neat RTTY trick involved paper tape.

By using certain sequences of letters, the holes in
the paper tape could be made to form letters and numbers.
What was printed on the page looked like gibberish-with-a-pattern
but if you looked at the tape the message was clear.

Of course since it took several characters to make one letter, the
effective speed on a 60 wpm machine was about 15-20 wpm. And
there was no going back if you made a mistake. But the effect could
be impressive to the uninitiated.

73 de Jim, N2EY

....remembering the smell of hot machine oil in the W3ABT room...

On Nov 9, 11:12 am, wrote:
On Nov 9, 6:57 am, "Jeff" wrote:

I thought that was the punch tape reader

BWAAHAAHAAA - good one!

--

Another neat RTTY trick involved paper tape.

By using certain sequences of letters, the holes in
the paper tape could be made to form letters and numbers.
What was printed on the page looked like gibberish-with-a-pattern
but if you looked at the tape the message was clear.

Of course since it took several characters to make one letter, the
effective speed on a 60 wpm machine was about 15-20 wpm. And
there was no going back if you made a mistake. But the effect could
be impressive to the uninitiated.

73 de Jim, N2EY

...remembering the smell of hot machine oil in the W3ABT room...

I remember back-spacing and nulling out the mistake, then continuing.
But I wasn't 10 years old, either.

posted on Fri, 9 Nov 2007 10:12:59 EST:

On Nov 9, 6:57 am, "Jeff" wrote:

Another neat RTTY trick involved paper tape.

"Trick?" TTY p-tape was standard practice among the big guns
in communications of the 1940s. Back then it was 60 WPM on
a 24/7 basis...just keep them fed with paper, ink, and once in a
while, some lubricant. Teletype Corporation made a fine piece
of goods.



Of course since it took several characters to make one letter, the
effective speed on a 60 wpm machine was about 15-20 wpm. And
there was no going back if you made a mistake. But the effect could
be impressive to the uninitiated.

TTY p-tape makes it possible to do an immediate re-send of the
SAME message if a wire or radio circuit is blitzed by something.
During WWII and afterwards it was the standard way at big hubs
of networks that spread around the globe...be they military or
commercial, the 'torn tape relay' rooms were big and efficient.


...remembering the smell of hot machine oil in the W3ABT room...

I can easily remember an entire second floor at ADA's control
center tape relay room of the early 1950s. Over 200 teleprinter
machines busy working away 24/7. Impressive all by itself. And
that was only the third-largest hub (RUAP) in the Army network
then.

73, Len AF6AY

On Thu, 08 Nov 2007 22:25:12 -0500, N2EY wrote:

On Nov 6, 8:17?pm, Michael Coslo wrote:
wrote:
some snippage
Now we have a rig that will permit a person with no typing skills to
send perfect RTTY or PSK31.

Like they say, "It's all good". I don't know anyone nearby that has a K@,

but at Dayton next year I'm going to haunt the Elecraft booth.


I've always said that Hams are probably the origin of leet.

Naw, the landline telegraphers started it.

Point conceeded! ;^)


- 73 de Mike N3LI

Congrats on the new call!

Thanks. I was toying around, not too serious, looking for something a
little shorter, and found this one. I like it both for Morse and Voice.

And N5EE was taken already, hehe

-73 de Mike N3LI -

On Nov 10, 8:29?pm, Mike Coslo wrote:
On Thu, 08 Nov 2007 22:25:12 -0500, N2EY wrote:
On Nov 6, 8:17?pm, Michael Coslo wrote:
Now we have a rig that will permit a person with no
typing skills to
send perfect RTTY or PSK31.

Like they say, "It's all good". I don't know anyone nearby that has a K@,

Did you mean "K2" or "K3"? I have a K2 and at least one other
regular here does too. Great rigs. I've used the KX1 and K1 as well.

but at Dayton next year I'm going to haunt the Elecraft booth.

You and a lot of others...

Elecraft has shipped a few dozen K3s so far. The first two production
runs sold out long ago, if you order now, expect
a few weeks' wait as they catch up on backlog. Some reviews
have started to appear on the 'net, and eventually there will be
QST and Sherwood measurements of the truly amazing numbers.

I worked a couple of stations using K3s in CW SS last weekend, so they
*are* on the air.

From the descriptions, assembling a K3 is more like building a PC than
it is assembling a Heathkit. The boards and modules are all
preassembled; you simply put it together and configure it. Which is
not a trivial job!

And like a PC, you have a choice of which options to add to the basic
unit. Options can be added at initial build or later. This helps keep
the price down - if you don't need things like general coverage
receive or a second receiver, you don't have to pay for them.

I don't work for Elecraft and my only interest is as a stisfied
customer and builder.

- 73 de Mike N3LI

Congrats on the new call!

Thanks. I was toying around, not too serious, looking for
something a
little shorter, and found this one. I like it both for Morse and Voice.

And N5EE was taken already, hehe

Yup, one of the shortest possible US CW calls that's not a 1x1. It's
tied with AE5E. Compare with a call like KQ0JJJ....

Besides, "N3LI" has the same rhythm as "N2EY"...

73 de Jim, N2EY

On Sun, 11 Nov 2007 08:29:02 EST, wrote:

Yup, one of the shortest possible US CW calls that's not a 1x1. It's
tied with AE5E. Compare with a call like KQ0JJJ....

Besides, "N3LI" has the same rhythm as "N2EY"...

One of my former staffers and still friends, Bob Weller, picked up the
call N6NE about 20 years ago. Bob spent 9 years with the FCC, then
went to the private sector as a broadcast engineering consultant, and
this week returned to the FCC as the RadHaz specialist. AFAIK he's
still a CW contester, hence the short call.
--

73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane

From a Clearing in the Silicon Forest
Beaverton (Washington County) Oregon

e-mail: k2asp [at] arrl [dot] net