CW copy on narrow bandpass sounds too soft and mushy. Cure?

Bob KW4CQ

In the CW mode on my 6600M as you go down from 400 Hz to 50 Hz bandwidth the copy becomes softer and mushier sounding (like ringing?).  NB and NR is off and AGC is mid or even off.  Can the cw copy be made sharper (harder keying)?  Is the a way to sharpen up the keying?

Clay N9IO

Have you turned on APF ?

Bill W2PKY

Start the settings menu Radio Setup and navigate to the filters tab; click auto to off and reduce the skirt sharpness on the CW line by moving the slider to the left. My setting is the second position from the left. 

Duane_AC5AA

As Clay noted, above, APF may change the way you hear CW signals with narrow filters, so try it on and off to see how it changes.

Mark Erbaugh

Extreme narrow filters can sound mushy due to just the physics. The sharpness of the tone depends on the sharpness of the ON/OFF transition. As the transition gets sharper, the bandwidth of the signal increases.

Ken - NM9P

Also be sure to adjust your AGC-T properly.  Its effect is more pronounced with more narrow bandwidths.  If it is too high (too far to the right) you will have excessive noise in the bandpass, making it sound sort of like ringing, though it is actually just resonant noise, not ringing.  On the 50 & 100 Hz filters, I engage three different functions:  NR=10-15, APF = 25-30, RX EQ ON with 500 Hz all the way to the top and all the others to the bottom, and then adjust AGC-T so that the band just starts to quiet, or sometimes a little more if the band is extra noisy.  (BTW, I use a 500 Hz tone on CW, so the RX EQ fits well.)

I don't have any problems with that setup, and I always keep my filters as sharp as they go in the Radio Setup tabs... I like the brick wall filters.

Ken - NM9P

Bob KW4CQ

I'm still climbing the learning curve here, Ken.  How do you adjust the AGC-T in smartSDR?  On the radio itself no problem.

Ken - NM9P

It is on the slice flag pull-down menus, underthe audio (speaker icon) tab. Begin with it on the right and slide to the left until you find the “knee” or “sweet spot” where the background noise just begins to drop off. Then you can tweak it a few tics either way as you prefer. It is a bit different from your classic RF gain control, but ultimately more effective in noise reduction. Once you find the knee point, which changes with band, bandwidth, and conditions, even weak signals seem to pop up from a quiet background. Add a little NR and APF etc. and CW starts to get fun! Especially with the narrow filters.

Bob KW4CQ

Bingo!  Thanks, Ken.  Love it, what a great feature. 
73, Bob KW4CQ

Bill W2PKY

One more suggestion is to maximize the PC Audio sliders [upper right on radio screen] and use less audio on the flag position. Hope this makes sense.

Ken - NM9P

Yes...I have the main speaker at max, and run the individual slice volumes at 50%. That lets MON and Sidetone levels work better. Then I set the maximum shack volume with my powered speaker volume control. And I know it will never be too loud. The other advantage with this is that I can tweak individual slice volumes up or down from the “standard” 50% as needed, depending upon what I am listening to... digi modes get turned down, because I don’t need to hear much of them..... Master Headphone volume usually works OK at 50% for me.

Bob KW4CQ

Thanks, Ken.  I never use a speaker on CW.  Makes my dog go ballistic. :-)
Strictly headphones here for digging out the rare DX who are usually at the ESP level these days.
73, Bob KW4CQ