No fuss QSK ...

W7NGA

Tom K3TF

W7NGA

Richard McClelland, AA5S

That's pretty much what I was looking for...  :-)

Richard McClelland, AA5S

I spent three days re-hanging my delta loop over the holidays and got my shack put back in order after remodeling the basement.  I spent two hours today trying to send CW into a dummy load and all the clicking and clacking is making it very challenging.  I know it has more to do with my configuration of the winkeyer but one less distraction would be nice.  (Not that this has anything to do with the PG-XL)

Douglas Maxwell

In the interest of having praise where praise is due, I use PTT to put the radio into transmit during CW keying from a computer (contesting). Due to a fault in the QSK implementation you are praising, I have to listen to QSK audio in my headphones with just a loud hiss between CW elements (due to the antenna relay being connected to the transmit chain not the receive chain). I have to listen to the ADC sampling 'nothing' between sent CW elements which is extremely tiring and has caused many contesters to leave the 'Flex experience'. The only way to make this fault tolerable is to turn the 'delay' value up to stop the false QSK audio. In so doing the radio then enforces this delay on its TX -> RX changeover which makes the radio useless for catching fast callers. The pleasure you are describing has come at a cost to CW contesting. It makes me wonder exactly how much of the QSK audio you are listening to between sent CW elements actually comes from the antenna and not an open circuit receive port.

Richard McClelland, AA5S

You have a valid point but in this case, I'm using a Flex 1500 and a small amplifier.  I've set the transmit delay to 1200 ms so there aren't any inter-element T/R transitions happening, just the clacking during long pauses.  I've noticed a large amount of audio hissing in the headphones in the past but I've alleviated much of this by switching from high gain, sensitive headphones to a set of Bose headphones with the configurable gain set to 'low'.  I try to stay informed as to how well the new Flex radios handle qsk in the event that I should choose to upgrade.    

W7NGA

Mark_WS7M

Richard McClelland, AA5S

My first rig was a Drake 2B and a Heath DX-60 & outboard VFO.  I don't recall what TR switch I had with that but I could hear between my dits and dahs, so that is what I was used to.  I replaced that with a clicky-clacky Kenwood TS-520 and I've not had a full break-in rig since.  One of these days I'll have another full break-in rig and I'll probably also find it too distracting to use but that is my gold standard until then.

Richard McClelland, AA5S

This is the TR switch that I had back then:  https://www.eham.net/data/classifieds/images/485505.jpg

Tom K3TF

Wow this brings back memories. Back in the early 60's I ran traffic for SNJ in the NTS system then up to 2RN in New Jersey. Handled a lot of traffic for the Coast Guard Base in Cape May. We all ran QSK to handle traffic. My station was a DX60, Drake 2B, and the Johnson TR switch. We would not use a side tone but rather would listen to our own transmitted CW signal. Brings back great memories!

Tom K3TF

Oh, the Eagles just won a cliff hanger in case you did not know

Richard McClelland, AA5S

I think the Dallas fans are completely aware of that (since they won't be playing
New Orleans now.)  :-)  

Robert-KP4Y

Tom K3TF

W7NGA

Mike W9OJ

W7NGA

You are correct. This 'knife' switch just wouldn't 'cut' it.

Robert Vargas

Joe N3HEE

This is very concerning !!  They should take a listen to a Elecraft K3 and hear what truly good QSK sounds like. I opened a ticket to report the QSK issue with 2.4.9 and it was confirmed to be an issue and that they were working on fixing it ?  I sure hope this gets fixed.

Robert-KP4Y

Hi Joe, I still love FRS and my 6600 but the QSK implementation is ****! Yes, I can care less about QSK itself but I do want the silent keying provided by the pin diodes and reed relay combination. Really concerning to find out that the engineering manager is not aware of any efforts to correct this. Search the internet and you will find this is a known issue within the 6000 series product line. 73, Robert-KP4Y/W4

[Deleted User]

There are a lot of issues with the 6000 series product line. I guess it is more important to bring out Multi-Flex than it is to fix the various issues.

KT8DX

QSK not working is not acceptable in this class of radio.  I am saddened to hear they aren't aware of or addressing the issue.  I am literally one day out of my 30 day return window.  Had I found this out earlier I would have returned the rig.  I operate CW 100% of the time and QSK and ATU operation are critical.  Sheesh.

Jay Nation

You're one day out of your 30 day return window, posting in a 90 day old thread, that was last posted to 30 days ago too. 

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   73, Jay - NO5J

Robert-KP4Y

Jay, the issue has neither been resolved nor has FRS explained when it will be. 73, Robert-KP4Y

Jay Nation

Right, forgive me for being patient, and waiting for a fix, or an official explanation, from Flexradio. Even some official discussion would be nice.

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   73, Jay - NO5J