‰  NOW 40 WPM  ‰  TEXT IS FROM OCTOBER 2013 QST  PAGE 54‰

FEED POINT ALONG THE BOTTOM WIRE.  THIS IS A COMPANION ARTICLE TO MARKS QST
ARTICLE THIS MONTH.  THE QEX ARTICLE WILL BE THE SEP/OCT QEX SAMPLE
ARTICLE.  FIND IT AT WWW.  ARRL.  ORG/THIS MONTH IN QEX AFTER THE ISSUE
GOES TO PRESS.  DR. SAM GREEN, W0PCE, REVISITS HIS NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2008
QEX ARTICLE WITH A FULLY AUTOMATED DDS SWEEP GENERATOR MEASUREMENT SYSTEM
TAKE 2.  SAM GIVES CONSTRUCTION DETAILS FOR THIS INDISPENSIBLE PIECE OF
TEST GEAR AND DESCRIBES A VARIETY OF MEA

AFFECT THE APPARENT AUDIO QUALITY.  SIMPLEX CONTACTS REPORTED FINE AUDIO
QUALITY AS WELL.  I AM MOST INTERESTED IN WHAT COMES OUT OF THE RADIOS
LOUDSPEAKER, AND THE TH K20A DIDNT DISAPPOINT.  THERE WAS PLENTY OF AUDIO
OUTPUT WITH SOME DISTORTION AT THE HIGHEST VOLUMES.  THE LAB MEASURED A
HEALTHY MAXIMUM 515 MW OF AUDIO OUTPUT AT 10 DISTORTION.  ONE OF THE
AUXILIARY FUNCTIONS I PARTICULARLY LIKED WAS THE PROGRAMMABLE VFO.  THE
OPERATOR CAN LIMIT THE OPERATING FREQUENCIES WITHIN A CERTAIN RANGE BY
PROGRAMMING THE UPPER AND LOWER LIMITS.  THIS LIMITS THE RADIOS OPERATION
TO THE FREQUENCIES THE OPERATOR IS REALLY INTERESTED IN, AND AVOIDS
SUPERFLUOUS FREQUENCY RANGES THAT CAN REDUCE OPERATING EFFICIENCY.  LAB
TESTS IN THE LAB, THE TH K20A GETS HIGH MARKS FOR RECEIVER SENSITIVITY,
DYNAMIC RANGE, ADJACENT CHANNEL REJECTION AND IF REJECTION.  IN OTHER
WORDS, THE RADIO HEARS WELL AND PERFORMS WELL IN THE PRESENCE OF UNWANTED
STRONG SIGNALS.  THE TRANSMITTER SLIGHTLY EXCEEDED ITS HIGH POWER SPECIFI
CATION AND EASILY MET FCC SPECTRAL PURITY REQUIREMENTS.  SOFTWARE KENWOODS
MCP 5A MEMORY CONTROL PROGRAM FIGURE 2 CAN BE USED WITH THE TH K20A AND AN

USING THE TH K20A THE CURRENT STANDARD SET OF BASIC FEATURESS EXPECTED FROM
MODERN HANDHELDS IS PRESENT.  ENT.  THE SAME APPLIES TO THE MENU OPERATION,
WHICH IS ALSO PRETTY MUCH STANDARD TODAY ON Y ON THE KENWOOD RADIOS.  THE
OPERATOR PUSHES THE MENU BUTTON, TURNS THE ENC KNOB ON TOP OP OF THE RADIO
TO SELECT THE PARAMETER HE/SHEE WANTS TO CHANGE, PUSHES THE F KEY TO ENTER
ER THE MODE WHERE THE PARAMETER CAN BE CHANGED, ROTATES THE ENC KNOB ONCE
AGAINN TO ACTUALLY CHANGE THE PARAMETER, PRESSES S F AGAIN TO STORE IT AND
PTT TO EXIT THE MENU MODE.  THERE ARE 35 FUNCTIONS THAT CAN BE MODIFIED
FROM THE MENU LIST.  A PF KEY ON THE KEYPAD CAN BE CHANGED TO A USER
SELECTED FUNCTION BASED ON PERSONAL PREFERENCE.  A TOTAL OF 200 MEMORY
CHANNELS ARE AVAILABLE, MORE THAN ENOUGH FOR EVEN THE MOST DEMANDING
OPERATOR.  MEMORY CHANNELS CAN BE NAMED VERSUS JUST DISPLAYING THE
OPERATING FREQUENCY.  SCANNING CAPABILITY IS ALSO PRETTY MUCH STANDARDIZED
THE OPERATOR CAN SCAN ALL FREQUENCIES, SCAN FREQUENCY RANGES BETWEEN
FREQUENCIES SELECTED BY THE OPERATOR, SCAN MEMORY CHANNELS ONLY, SCAN THE
CALL CHANNEL A CHANNEL SELECTED BY THE OPERATOR, USUALLY THE MOST USED
REPEATER OR SIMPLEX FREQUENCY AND VFO OR MEMORY CHANNEL AND SCAN FOR
ACTIVITY ON A PRIORITY CHANNEL EVERY 3 SECONDS.  AUDIO REPORTS FROM
REPEATER CONTACTS WERE ALL FINE, BUT, OF COURSE, THE REPEATER ITSELF CAN
‰  END OF 40 WPM TEXT  ‰  QST DE W1AW  ƒ