I don't know if I would exactly call it useless -- synch detectors can speed
up the process of tuning. However I agree that nothing beats the
fine-tuning knob (not a button!) / human ear combination for really nailing
down a signal.

-- Stinger
--
"RFCOMMSYS" wrote in message
...
In my opinion, a synch detector that keeps losing lock on problem signals
is
useless. Like another poster in this thread said, if you can't design a
good
synch detector (apparently it's not easy to do considering that ICOM can't
seem
to do it), I would rather have manual ECSS ability (SSB mode with an
extremely
fine tuning (preferably analog) knob)).