I enjoy digimodes, also known as digital or data modes. Although I only use RTTY and PSK, the term ‘digimodes’ also encompasses such things as Amtor, Pactor, G-TOR, PactorII, Clover, Olivia, Packet, Hellschreiber, MT63, Throb and MFSK16. There are others!
Some of these data modes have been around for a long time, RTTY being one such mode. Others, such as PSK31 are newer and have only recently gained in popularity. And therein lies the dilemma. PSK31 is now so popular that the parts of the band where this activity is found, especially on 20m around 14.070MHz, are becoming very crowded. RTTY on the other hand is, on the face of it, much less popular, attributed in part to it being seen as somehow more difficult to setup and use than PSK modes.
My problem then is this: As much as I enjoy RTTY there can at times be little or no activity heard on the bands between contests (major RTTY contests do, thank goodness, still bring out many of the RTTY enthusiasts). PSK31 on the other hand is pretty much always to be found on 20m if nowhere else. The problem is that I don’t find it anywhere near as much fun now as I did a few years ago when I first discovered PSK (in September 2005) and when I worked a lot of nice DX using the mode.
I do keep saying to myself I should invest more time in PSK31 DXing and get back to enjoying it as much as I used to. Maybe now is the right time to finally commit to that. I can then use RTTY as and when the activity pops up on the bands.
Dean Amateur Radio PSK31, RTTY
I wrote back in March about the pros and cons of macros in amateur digital communications, particularly RTTY and PSK31. Since that time I have been much more aware of not over doing the use of macros and as you will see from the recent posts about my 30m contacts last week I have been enjoying some nice long ragchew contacts on both PSK31 and RTTY.
I have seen suggestions that if you’re looking for more than the simple rubber stamp exchanges, which can amount to no more than a brief exchange of macros, then calling ‘CQ ragchew’ might be a good idea. I’m not sure about that because I’m sure not all amateur radio operators for whom English is not their first language would understand.
Read more…
Dean Amateur Radio CQ, macro, PSK31, ragchew, RTTY
Another good little session on 30m last night resulting in a few nice RTTY contacts, especially a good long chat with Yngve (LA5FH) where we exchanged thoughts on how different programs for digimodes implement macros.
Before moving to RTTY I had spent a while working a few PSK31 stations and again (as was the case the night before) it was confined to European stations. However, I do often check the PSK Reporter* website to see where I have been heard. As you can see from the screenshot below most stations reporting hearing me were within Europe but I was also heard over 14,000km away in Perth, Australia, by VK6GOS (CQ zone 29, one of only 3 zones I still need towards a ‘Worked All Zones’ award).
Another sign that conditions were pretty good again…?
Screenshot of PSK Reporter 30m spots for G0RIF on 5th May 2010
* PSK Reporter automatically gathers reception records of PSK activity and then makes those records available in near realtime to interested parties. They can also be viewed on a map as seen in this screenshot.
Dean Amateur Radio, Pictures 30m, PSK31
…seemed to be in pretty good shape. The sunspot number of 70 certainly helps. More please sun gods!
I was initially intent on working some PSK31 just to see what came along in response to my CQ calls but before I could get started I noticed JD1BLY (on Ogasawara) spotted down around 10.1055 MHz so I had a quick listen. Nothing heard. Maybe next time.
Having checked out the CW part of the band I tuned up beyond the PSK31/63 signals around 10.141MHz and checked out the top end of 30m where RTTY is usually found. I found a few signals but was intrigued by a station (with a good 59+ signal) dishing out rapid fire 599 reports to a run of Asian stations and apparently working split. After a short wait he identified himself as ZA/OK7RY in Albania, which although not a new one for me is not all that common. I set up a 1kHz split and tried to get a contact but nothing doing. He just seemed to be getting through a succession of Japanese stations with the odd Russian thrown in, and a South Korean for good measure.
As luck would have it though for some reason he suddenly started working stations simplex, when it got a bit chaotic on his frequency as a number of EU stations started sending their callsign, but I got lucky and worked him within a few calls. Maybe not an all time new one but a new one on 30m!
I then moved on to PSK31 where it seemed that as good as conditions were they were favouring short skip because there were many EU stations operating PSK31 with good solid traces showing little fading and with relatively low noise levels. I set about calling CQ and was rewarded with a few nice long QSO’s with CU7CL, 9A8W and LZ1HK before turning off and calling it a night.
Dean Amateur Radio 30m, PSK31, RTTY
I have previously mentioned my failed attempt to upgrade my radio interface unit. The proposed replacement unit on that occasion was one of the very smart G3LIV Isoterm Multimode interfaces.
G3LIV Isoterm Multimode
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Despite my own best advice I have now done the deed and replaced my old SB-2000 unit with an Isoterm Multimode and this time I am happy to report that all went well and everything works at least as well as before the change.
You may well wonder why I bothered to try again having had the problems last time and having made a very public statement to the effect I really shouldn’t be trying to fix something that wasn’t broken. The answer is simply this - the G3LIV interface is a better fit in my setup when you consider how I like to operate and which modes I prefer.
Having had terrific help and support from Johnny (G3LIV) in identifying and resolving the issue I’d seen first time around (FSK RTTY wasn’t working) I was confident that I’d see no such problem this time…and so it proved. |
The unit is now installed and all modes tested and working with the respective software - CW (CWType), PSK31 (Airlink Express*) and FSK RTTY (Airlink Express). The SB-2000 will now be sold off to cover the cost of the new arrival. Job done!
* I will be writing a review of the Airlink Express software in a later post. I only recently discovered the software and I’m liking it a lot. Works well for PSK31 and FSK RTTY. More soon.
Dean Amateur Radio, Pictures CW, FSK, FT-950, G3LIV, PSK31, RTTY
I found an interesting discussion thread on the eHam.net forums recently debating the merits (or otherwise) of macros in digital communications.
The thread I refer to is here - Macros after calling. Annnoying or Lazy?.
I thought I’d express some of my own thoughts on the matter given that I tend to spend most of my operating time using PSK31 and RTTY digital modes.
Read more…
Dean Amateur Radio PSK31, RTTY
…is, that he is using a form of Hellschreiber, a fax like data transmission mode. Hellschreiber (also known as Feldhellschreiber, Feld-Hell or simply Hell ) was invented br Dr Rudolf Hell in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s and was developed to provide intelligible communication even over very poor quality radio or cable links.
You can read more about Hellschreiber in the wikipedia article here.
Dean Amateur Radio Hellschreiber, PSK31, technology
I was checking out 20m last night to see what South American stations might be working PSK31 when I noticed an unusual trace from an Italian station, IT9AQR, Vincenzo in Sicily.
PSK31 ’symbols’ for CQ and 73 from IT9AQR - how does he do that?
He also has a similar symbol for ‘QRZ’ which I didn’t get a screenshot of. I think it’s quite neat.
I’m not going to get into the rights or wrongs of it (because I haven’t yet seen any other comments on this kind of PSK extension) but I’d love to know how he does it. I’ll ask around and report my findings.
Dean Amateur Radio, Pictures PSK31, technology
…with the FT-950 are in the log but it wasn’t all plain sailing! Despite leaving it all in a working state when I powered off last night, turning it on this evening intent on meeting Richard (M0SNR) on 6m for a quick RTTY sked resulted very much in a ‘back to square one’ type scenario - nothing would work!
To cut a long story short the problem appears to have been 6m. Whenever the radio was set to transmit on 6m it would stay in transmit even if the PC software sent a PTT off command. HRD wouldn’t unkey the transmit, neither would MMTTY. Only unplugging the USB cable to the interfce box (the SB-2000) would force the radio back to receive mode.
I’m going to see what others on the HRD forums and the FT-950 Yahoo user group think about this but I suspect RFI on 6m getting the interface software or low level COM port driver into a bad state.
The good news was I made a few contacts tonight once I had figured out what the problem was. At 20:02 UTC I had a short PSK31 QSO using the Digipan software with HA1FB (Feri) and at 20:32 UTC I had a RTTY QSO with OH1LWZ (Hannu) using the MMTTY software. I do eventually hope to use DM780 for PSK31 but I will continue to use MMTTY for RTTY even though this does mean you have to close the HRD software because they both use the same COM port. Not ideal but I am prepared to put up with it for the sake of using MMTTY and FSK keying.
I have more work to do but the first thing I’ll check tomorrow is that tonights settings are still ok when I power it all back up again after shutting it down tonight!
Dean Amateur Radio computers, DM780, FT-950, HRD, PSK31, RTTY, SB-2000, technology, Yaesu
I have received email notification from Martin Lynch & Sons that my Yaesu FT-950 was dispatched today. It should arrive tomorrow while I am out at work so I’ll look forward to unpacking it and getting it setup tomorrow night.
There is a new radio-to-computer interface box being shipped with the radio, the MyDel SB-2000, this enables PSK31 and other soundcard data modes, FSK RTTY, CW keying and rig control. It’s going to be an ongoing setup and configuration exercise through the rest of the week and into the weekend but it’s good to know that the radio is finally on its way!
Dean Amateur Radio, Blog CW, FSK, FT-950, PSK31, RTTY, SB-2000, Yaesu