BasicB-008-003-008
What should you do if you learn your transmitter is producing key clicks?
D
Answer
Safety
Type
A
Adjust your key
B
Use a choke in the RF power output
C
Regulate the oscillator supply voltage
D
Check the keying filter and the functioning of later stages
Answer Notes
Key clicks happen when a CW (Morse code) transmitter turns the RF signal on and off too abruptly. This creates a sharp square-wave envelope that generates wideband frequency transients, causing interference to operators on nearby frequencies.
To prevent this, transmitters use a keying filter (or shaping circuit) to slightly round the rising and falling edges of the waveform. If your signal is producing key clicks, it means this filter has failed, or the amplifier stages following it are distorting the shaped envelope.
Adjusting the physical key will not change the electronic shaping of the signal. Similarly, adding a choke to the RF output is a remedy for common-mode RF on a feedline, not for an improperly shaped CW envelope.
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In a Morse code transmission, broad bandwidth RF interference (key clicks) heard at a distance is produced by:
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What term describes an unwanted oscillation in an amplifier or oscillator circuit?