The storms out in the midwestern states are generating a lot of noise on the 80 meter band. I guess that's the reason I'm not hearing much CW activity in the Novice subband.
Weekends usually find several stations active between 3675 and 3725 kHz. The band must be running long, as I heard some Canadians coming in very loudly right around 3715. Both guys were very strong, stronger than most Canucks that time of night.
I switched to 40 meters, tuning from the low end up. Now back in my Novice and Tech days, I used to do the old “squeeze between the broadcast station carriers” routine on the old 40 Novice subband. When the broadcast station hit, 40 was a real challenge at night. I still tune the old 7100-7150 kHz subband late at night, checking for diehards who will put in the effort to “thread the needle” for a CW QSO.
Well sure enough, about 7112 kHz, there's a N5 calling CQ at a slow and steady pace. On my filter-laden Kenwood, I can zero in on him with little effort. But I don't have a key hooked up to the Kenwood — my CW rig is the Heathkit HW-16. It's audio filtering is adequate, but no match for the shortwave broadcast kilowatts. I've been using a Radio Shack audio DSP outboard unit with considerable success.
I tune up the rig and antenna tuner, zero beat him (does anyone know how to do that these days?? LOL) and when he finishes his last 3-by-3 CQ, I call him.
Brian, N5LNL, comes back to my call, and we have a nice QSO. The QRM from the broadcast station isn't too bad at the moment. Brian's signals from his Icom (IC-718, 50 watts to a G5RV) sounds pretty good with only a little QSB. I don't need the DSP. The HW-16 is sweet to listen to without the DSP filtering, you can't beat the “warmth” of a tube receiver.
About halfway thru our QSO (at 0600Z), another station(s) fires up near us. I'm forced to punch in the DSP unit, and it does a fine job. I have to retune the rig to get Brian into the DSP's narrow passband. Once done, he's just about all I hear.
Fortunately the IC-718 has some decent DSP filtering too. Had we both been running rigs without substantial filtering, we probably would NOT have QSO'd in that portion of the 40-meter band!
I spent some time earlier this even playing with some other bugs. I was thinking of taking my trusty WAR bug (shown in the photo at right) off the desk and switching to one of my many others. The WAR bug (circa 1925) just “feels” good. It's like that old flannel shirt hanging in the back of your closet. Your wife hates when you wear it, but you've kept it because it's familiar and it's comfortable. You do good work in it too.
The old, well-worn Vibroplex on my desk is kinda the same way. The thumbpiece has decades of wear, but it feels “right” in my hand. The bakelite piece is actually curved from years of use.
I have a 1944 Vibroplex Original Standard that sits nearby on my Kenwood TS-711 all-mode 2-meter. The key is in near-mint condition, and from the looks of the contacts and chrome, it received little hard use. Likely a ham's key. Anyway, I just didn't feel this bug offered any advantage over the WAR bug.
My desk is getting bug-crowded anyway. Right at the operating position I've got my WAR bug, my previous desk bug ( a 1961 Vibroplex Original De Luxe), along with a 1960s Blue Racer and my recently refurbished 1951 Presentation bug. If I change, I'll probably move to try the Presentation.
Anyway, Brian and I had a nice QSO. The DSP got us through the noise for a couple of transmissions, then it was time to clear.
The DSP works fairly well. The only drawback is that when I'm using it, it filters out the HW-16s sidetone! Everytime I transmit I have to disable the audio DSP so I can hear the sidetone.
It's late and I'm off to bed … 73 es CUL … de KY4Z SK …. dit dit