TO: ALL WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS AMATEURS
ALL NON-WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS AMATEURS
FROM: KEN HARRIS WA8LLM
WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS INCORPORATED
WOOD COUNTY BULLETIN NR 14.29 DATE: July 20, 2014
SUBJECT: WHAT IS VOX?
Many years ago Amateur Radio operators were, either getting lazy and they didn't want to have to use their hands or feet to key their transmitter, or they wanted to try something new. They came up with a way to key their transmitter by just talking. This let their hands to be free for other uses like logging their contacts, building a project, or just drinking their coffee.
Somewhere along the way, the letter "X" was used in the place of TRANS, as in transmitter. The abbreviation of transmitter became XMTR, maybe a short cut while operating Morse Code or "CW". In any case the letter X now stands for Transmit.
Since the keying of the transmitter can be done by using the voice, the term Voice Operated Transmit, or VOX came about. VOX can be very handy when you are operating in a contest or very busy and don't want to hold the microphone in your had all the time, or keep picking it up.
VOX can have its draw backs. The VOX voice level needs to be set just right, or any background noise will cause the transmitter to key up. If your receiver speaker audio is up too high, the transmitter may key up when an audio signal comes out of the speaker. Another drawback of VOX is any other background noise such as someone else in the room with you, or you are doing some kind of work, and you hurt yourself. You know what kind of works you might say, and if your transmitter is set for VOX, the rest of the world will hear those words too.
VOX does have its uses and does help you operate when it is set up right, but there is another use for VOX, but that will be in the next ARES Bulletin.
Ken Harris WA8LLM
WCEC
Wood County WV