With so many musicians on here, including the K1/K2 designer, maybe someone would comment on why sidetones are the frequency they are. Actually, I have been thinking more about how people choose the OFFSET they prefer more than the sidetone, but it's the same idea.
It's interesting that you should say the sidetone was offensive because it was not a pure sine wave. It is my understanding (not being a musician myself), that humans prefer tones with harmonic content. Pure sine waves sound simple and harsh to the ear. Maybe we would find that even with a sidetone, there is some preferred harmonic content that makes it richer and more pleasing to listen to. The same goes for the offset frequency. I, and others, have commented on how much better the K1 sounds to us compared to even the K2. I don't know what quality the K1 has that makes us think that way, but there is something going on there that makes me choose the K1 for ragchewing. Something makes it less fatiguing or otherwise more pleasant for me, and it is independent of the speaker as I have traded external speakers back and forth bewteen the K1 and the K2. While thinking about it, and again, not being a musician, I began wondering why piano keys are tuned to the very specific, but seemingly odd frequencies they are. The lowest note on a piano is 28.5 Hz. Who decided something like that? Esp. way back 200+ years ago. All of the white keys are harmonically related to that bizarre 28 and 1/2 hz, now I know the reason for that, but why did they choose that particular frequency? I don't know the answer to that, but maybe it evolved over decades or even centuries of humans responding well to certain notes and not to others. (I should have done some basic research first, I guess). I doubt they were chosen at random and probably really do seem to be frequencies humans prefer. If that is so, why don't we pick offsets that correspond to musical notes? Why do most of us pick some arbitrary offset rounded to the nearest 50 or 100. When we talk about offsets here, we are nearly always talking about 500 or 600 or 700 or the screeching 1000 hz or higher offset that comes fixed in a lot of earlier rigs. Maybe the offset on the K1/K2 menus should be calibrated in musical notes instead of arbitrary decade increments. Eric KE6US www.ke6us.com -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Charles Sent: Wednesday, January 04, 2006 2:16 AM To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: [Elecraft] Side Tone I built K2 Nr 413 and made lots of CW contacts, the built in Mojo was great. I stopped using it because the crystal oscillator in the side tone was not a pure sine wave and it became offensive to my ear. I only use CW. I have been informed by a K2 op that the more recent versions have a better side tone. If this is so then I may consider building the K2/100. Could some one please help me with this decision? Charles _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
