On Oct 28, 2020, at 17:48, JP Tucson, AZ <samcat88az@...> wrote:

I having hearing loss & tinnitus, so sitting there listening to that thing squeal just gives me a headache, so I turn down the volume all the way, sound just isn't needed!

As do I. However, there is much information to be had by keeping a close ear to the frequency on receive. Just run it at a very low level. Same for transmit audio if your rig has the capability. Keep the monitor on at a very low level to keep tabs on whether you are transmitting garbage with your signal or not. That’s a sore subject, as if you monitor 40 meters, you’ll likely see multiple signals that are very dirty. There are also any number of stations that transmit a chime or chord EVERY TIME THEIR TRANSMITTER KEYS! So every transmit cycle, they are sending musical notes before any data content is even attempted.

No one says you need to monitor with the audio blasting the speaker. It’s just good operational practice to pay attention to what you are transmitting. Personally, I wear headphones for the purpose. I’m always listening to the transmitted signal, no matter what mode I’m on.

73, Gary - AG0N

On Oct 28, 2020, at 16:33, JP Tucson, AZ <samcat88az@...> wrote:

I had been playing with CW for a bit, & while I returned the radio to usb... I had forgotten to re-select the wide ssb audio filter setting (instead of the very narrow cw filter)!

I’m not sure how you missed it! You should have been able to hear the fact that you were on the wrong filter, if nothing else. The waterfall would have shown it also, as you finally discovered.

Gary - AG0N

I'm big enough to admit when I do dumb stuff...

So early this morning, I worked a bunch of FT4 & FT8 & everything worked fine.

I then did some experimenting for about half an hour, & after that I went back to working FT8 - or rather tried to!

Something wasn't right, for try I as I did, I now couldn't seem to 'hear' or decode hardly anyone!  Where I had been decoding a couple dozen signals on 40m, I was now seeing only a few. 

It took me about 5 minutes to realize that I had minimized the wide-graph & after I brought it back up, I saw the issue in that I was only seeing a small portion of spectrum, it took another min. Or so to recheck my frequency, check, usb, check...

Scratching my head, it suddenly dawned on me the cause... I had been playing with CW for a bit, & while I returned the radio to usb... I had forgotten to re-select the wide ssb audio filter setting (instead of the very narrow cw filter)!  Which is why I was only seeing a few signals in that small region.

Duh!  It helps to run in upper sideband with the wide audio filter to match.

Recheck & double-check all of your setting after changing operating modes...