Sidetone etc. - DX-60

[Multi-Volti Devices]

You would need to check the schematic and do a little calculation for the
resistor sizes, but I have done the following in lieu of sidetone.

I started out monitoring my own signal, so I knew what exactly it sounds
like, tone, chirp, etc. I knew exactly where my signal was in dx pileups, in
cw nets, etc. I hate sidetone because it's almost 'blind'.

On receivers with a mute jack that interfaced with a transmitter, I added a
potentiometer so that the across the mute jack so that the receiver would
not be totally muted on transmit. Varying the mute voltage acted a lot like
the rf gain control; in fact on one receiver the mute circuit and rf gain
had some common circuitry.

If power dissipation in the pot is a problem (large wattage pots are harder
to find nowadays), you could substitute a fixed resistor once you determined
a reasonable receive signal level.

You essentially can run full break-in, or at least alot closer to it than tr
switching with mute recovery.

Murray
-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Harrison <ko0u at OS.COM>
To: HEATH at LISTSERV.TEMPE.GOV <HEATH at LISTSERV.TEMPE.GOV>
Date: Saturday, June 05, 1999 8:05 PM
Subject: Re: Sidetone etc. - DX-60


>At 02:14 PM 6/5/99 MDT, Gabe Sellers wrote:
>>> Does anyone know of a simple way to get a CW sidetone out of a DX-60
with a
>>> straight key?
>[snip]
>
>>Ha!  I would like to know too.
>[snip]
>
> >...Manning the receiver standby switch, I found that I
>>had no sidetone when keying.  Not knowing better I called CQ anyway and
>>got my first QSO with a guy in Long Island, NY.  I wonder how I sounded.
>
>First off, guys, you need to understand that until the advent of the
>transceivers such as the SB10x and KWM2s and fancier SSB/CW transmitters
>such as the SB40x and 32Sx (and the Hammarlund and Hallicrafters
>equivalents), sidetone was never needed: you simply monitored yourself on
>your receiver by not muting it. During the late '50s/early '60s, however,
>the manufacturers began including sidetone with SSB/CW transmitters
>intended to be transceived with a companion receiver, and with transceivers
>that included CW capability. Or at least, the more expensive transmitters,
>the ones that CW enthusiasts considered *really* worth buying (my bias
>unabasedly shows here :o)). It's possible that Morrow or other smaller
>manufacturers might have included a CW sidetone with their AM/CW
>transmitters, I wouldn't know as those units were basically before my time.
>
>There were notable exceptions, of course: one that comes to mind, and which
>always galled myself because I considered the radios to be much better than
>anything else other than a Collins, were the Galaxy III and early V series.
>To remedy their lack-of-forethought, WRL eventually made outboard lil black
>boxes containing VOX units and CW audio filters and CW sidetone
>oscillators. By that time, however, we "serious" CW ops had already
>designed and built our very own CW sidetone and VOX units.
>
>The Heath DX-series transmitters did NOT have sidetone oscillators,
>primarily because they were NOT transceived with any receiver although one
>could buy a receiver which essentially matched the cabinet and panel design
>of the transmitter. None of the DX-series were originally designed for use
>on SSB where pure convenience would dictate that you be able to transceive
>with the companion receiver, although Heath eventually did market the SB-10
>SSB adapter which could be connected to some of their earlier transmitters,
>including the DX-100. But the SB-10 still did not allow full transceive
>capability with any receiver, nor did it provide any additional CW
>capabilities such as VOX keying or sidetone. Heath marketed a separate
>little box to provide VOX for those early AM transmitters but it was not
>intended to be used on CW, and so it, too, did not include a sidetone
>oscillator. But you *could* build your own external sidetone oscillator and
>use it to drive the VOX box which would provide you with semi-breakin
>capability on the earlier transmitters/receivers.
>
>So, with no sidetone, it was left to the User to develop his/her own method
>of monitoring one's CW transmissions. This was normally no problem; you
>simply didn't mute your receiver. But of course, some folks can't stand to
>hear what they actually sound like when their receiver is overloaded so
>badly by the close proximity to their transmitter; so some folks designed
>and built their own sidetone oscillators, or bought such devices from the
>outside market, or even used keyers which had internal sidetone oscillators
>and internal little, tiny, really-crummy-sounding speakers. Folks using
>actual keys or bugs, which never came supplied with sidetone oscillators,
>were simply outta luck and had to monitor their fists the hard way, or make
>something.
>
>So, the answer to the question posed by both of you guys is you have to
>either monitor yourself on your receivers, or you have to make something
>up. The ARRL HBs are (were??) chock-full of simple, easy-to-build devices
>of that type (as were many issues of 73 Magazine which, in those days, was
>a really valuable technical resource largely because its editor-in-chief, a
>really fantastically-talented technical guy known as Jim Fisk, WA6SBO, who
>later became editor-in-chief of Ham Radio Magazine, was at the helm); and
>if you do some research, you will find a number of different ways to
>generate a sidetone by which to monitor yourself. Some of them will
>actually be useful with headphones, believe it or not! :o))
>
>73, Steve K0XP
>
>P.S. Carefully read the manuals with your transmitters; NOWHERE will the
>manuals mention that a sidetone oscillator is included within the circuitry
>of your transmitter. The manual MAY mention that an EXTERNAL sidetone
>oscillator is necessary if you don't want to leave your RX unmuted.
>
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