General Category => Morse Code => Topic started by: KC9TNH on January 27, 2013, 08:47:18 PM
Title: What - is - THAT ?
Post by: KC9TNH on January 27, 2013, 08:47:18 PM
I gotta ask someone here, maybe someone even has one.
There is a device I hear on the bands doing CW that is so, well, gross to my middle-A sidetone brain that I just wonder what it is. It sounds like a cross between a George Lukas blaster sound-effect from Star Wars, and Edgar Winters' synth solo on the record Frankenstein.
What IS that thing? I'd rather listen to old re-runs of "Run Silent, Run Deep." AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
:o
Title: Re: What - is - THAT ?
Post by: gil on January 27, 2013, 10:12:18 PM
It might be a Hartley or TNT transmitter..
I am building one..
Gil.
Title: Re: What - is - THAT ?
Post by: KC9TNH on January 28, 2013, 05:20:08 AM
Hmmm. Maybe, thanks. If so, and it's the transmitter, then that would explain why it's still copyable, because of the clean transition the on/off binary characteristic of code is still being done by a key. But mercy, what a tone...
Title: Re: What - is - THAT ?
Post by: gil on January 28, 2013, 10:25:13 AM
QuoteBut mercy, what a tone...
Well, it all depends on your perception. Certainly, it doesn't make it easier to copy, but I love it. When I hear one, I know the operator went through the effort of building or restoring a 1930 or thereabout piece of history.
Gil.
Title: Re: What - is - THAT ?
Post by: KC9TNH on January 28, 2013, 10:42:34 AM
Yeah, that's cool, I get all that. So what is it in that type of gear that causes that kind of modulation?
Title: Re: What - is - THAT ?
Post by: gil on January 28, 2013, 10:55:37 AM
QuoteSo what is it in that type of gear that causes that kind of modulation?
I am no expert, but I would assume the frequency drifts significantly because of environmental interractions. The power supply voltage also isn't regulated by a zener diode or anything else. Someone more knowledgeable might have another explanation...
Gil.
Title: Re: What - is - THAT ?
Post by: KC9TNH on January 28, 2013, 11:22:11 AM
Ahhh. OK, work filter previously blocked that it was a vid you posted, thought I was just looking at a pic. Watched the vid. So, extremely sensitive to vibration, as well as hand-capacitance. Got it. Thanks.
Being able to hear it from the vid, perhaps when/if I end up in QSO with one I'll adjust my own sidetone to a higher pitch so that zero-beating won't result in the same effect when that Led Zeppelin theremin effect is down at 400hZ.
Title: Re: What - is - THAT ?
Post by: gil on January 28, 2013, 11:41:21 AM
The simplicity of the circuit is elegant. That's what I like about it.. Or maybe it's because I don't understand anything more complicated ::) Those transmitters look great too, like out of a Jules Verne story!
Gil.
Title: Re: What - is - THAT ?
Post by: KC9TNH on January 28, 2013, 11:48:30 AM