The operator said it from the start: in CW there is no sidetone, only reception.
My previous fix did not cover it — it wrote off a source that STOPPED, but a
source that never starts has no last-delivery time, so it stayed forever "not
yet dry" and held the mixer at min(A,B)=0. Three empty recordings while the
radio audio streamed perfectly.
A source with no delivery is now measured from when capture started. Tested both
ways: nothing is written off in the first moments, and a source that has never
spoken is written off once the grace period has passed.