Subj:  Monitor Results
Date:  Wed, May 24, 1995 5:52 PM CDT
From:  fhmoore@po7.pcmail.ingr.com
To: cq-contest@tgv.com ('cq-contest@tgv.com')

Everyone,

  Thanks for the opinions and suggestions about monitors. The responses 
varied a bit in that some people preferred the VGA resolution and colors and 
others thought that CGAs were "quieter". However, other people said that the 
VGA monitors that they had were as quiet as CGAs. My guess is that there is 
a bit of variability in the RF emissions of different monitors, no matter 
the resolution. It seems like the old adage is true however, you get what 
you pay for and in an ideal world I would be able to afford a low emission 
SVGA :-) Anyway here are some of the comments that I received. Again, thanks 
for the help. Frank, KE4GY fhmoore@ingr.com



"Hi Frank, it's been my experience that most EGA/CGA setups put out much
more crud than a VGA.  I thought that  the EGA signals from the video
card to the monitor were basically digital signals with fast rise times
and the VGA has an analog interface to the monitor but I may be wrong on
that.  I do know that some monitors/video cards generate more RFI than
others.  I'm currently using a 15" Orchestra monitor with a generic
Trident video card that is dead quiet"

"I have no RFI problems with my VGA monitor, but my antennas are several
hundred feet away from the shack."

"I used an EGA color monitor up through CT version 9. I then switched
to a VGA monitor. The noise wasn't much worse than the EGA. I think this
is really more dependent upon the manufacturer than whether it's EGA
or VGA. One major pain with the VGA is that it is much more susceptible
to magnetic fields. It sits right next to the power transformwers in
an SB-220. When the SB-220 is on, the screen wiggles annoyingly."

"Get a clean SVGA monitor.  EGA/CGA and Monochrome are dead ends.
Having said that, a very small monochrome monitor takes very little desk 
space
if all you're doing is CT.
EGA monitors may give hash as well."

"What about a good old monochrome monitor (herculese graphics board)? High
resolution and good on the eyes.  I won't use anything but this setup
in my station as it has the lowest amount of video hash that I have found.
Plus it's cheap.....$12 for video card and $70 for monitor."

"Although I use a colour screen for every-day stuff, I always
switch to a green monochrome MDA-type screen for contest use.  I know
that CT still works with it, at least up to v8.  I find the green screen 
very
pleasant to look at for extended periods.  I keep two video cards in the PC,
ane for the VGA and one MDA for just contest use, and I switch between
the screens using DOS's 'mode' command.
I think you'll find the monochrome screen resolution excellent for text, and
much quieter, RF-wise."

"By far (by far...) the best monitors for contesting are VGA which
support 800x600x256 resolution (buy the 32-bit video card for this
resolution to send to the monitor - $60). The monitor itself does not
need to be multi-synched (which are worth the money, but I can;t justify
the difference for my business computer much less for contesting...well,
maybe!) and needs some medium type resolution (.28??? pick some number
in the middle of what they show you). Non-interlaced is a must.
Do NOT buy EGA or CGA. You can only get VGA monochrome in the monochrome
mode.
Here is why it is important:
CT and NA now have multicolored windows up on the screen with the latest
versions. In our last contest, we had 11(!) windows open on CT at one
time in a standard (for the four positions at KS9K) position on the
screen (for example, the rate for last 10/last 100 only showed the
numbers on the blue background-we know what it means, we just need the
1/2 inch of screen real estate to see the numbers...). And,
interestingly to me, we actually USED all of the 11 windows."

"I use a GoldStar, InSync, and a CTX.  All three are SVGA, work fine, and
as far as I can tell I don't have any significant interference problem
with them. "

"i am using ct 9.23 with mono-cga monitors because they are very quiet...
however they are also getting very hard to find.  you also loose the 50 line
mode that ct does now and the pretty colors.  i tried a mono-vga but it
was just about as noisy as the color vga."

"No problem with VGA monitors, just get one with low emissions. I have an 
NEC
Multisync 12" from the radio and no problems. You really don't want to go
cheap on the monitor. After all, you are looking at it for a VERY long time.
I find the color keeps my attention. In fact, I've customized the CT color
scheme and find it helps keep the eyes from getting bleary."

"I use a Sony Multiscan HG Trinitron Super Fine Pitch,
which comes with a big sticker across the top saying "Low
Emission".  Still not as quiet as my old monochrome, but a
damn sight better than other VGA monitors I've tried here in
the shack."