I think its very counterproductive to discourage the use of any legal mode
as long as its being properly used. Its a form of imposing one's personal
preferences on others, which has no place in this hobby.
Yes, there may be a problem with Pactor II and Pactor III not meeting the
documentation standards for protocols used by US amateurs. I have not
personally looked into this.
73,
Dave, AA6YQ
-----Original Message-----
From: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Behalf Of Roger J. Buffington
Sent: Sunday, January 13, 2008 8:39 PM
To: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [digitalradio] (was : Trouble at mill RTTY contesters war
Dave AA6YQ wrote:
>
> No one is beating on Pactor. The objects of mass disgust are
> unattended stations that transmit without listening, thereby QRMing
> other stations. Many of these happen to use Pactor III, but that's no
> fault of Pactor III. As I've said here before, we don't ban cars
> because some people drive drunk; neither should we ban Pactor because
> some arrogant and inconsiderate hams operate and use unattended
> Pactor stations without busy frequency detectors.
>
> John, do you really characterize the innovation that's been driving
> the development of new digital modes as "madness"? Do you really
> think that the explosion of soundcard digital mode users is "the
> problem". You seem to be saying "turn the clock back 10 or 15 years
> and keep it there".
I find John's position to be incomprehensible, but that's OK I guess.
And you are right. No one has an objection to Pactor so long as it is
Pactor operated in a courteous fashion. There is an interesting
question about Pactor 2 and 3, which is--are these open-documented modes
such that identification in these modes is legal? SCS claims that these
are proprietary modes to which they hold copyrights. I don't know the
answer to the foregoing question; I'm just asking. Put simply, if it
takes ownership of a special modem (SCS modem) to decode the ID, is the
ID legal?
Pactor is dead as an ordinary QSO mode, at least here in North America.
I have received emails from Europe which indicate that it is as dead as
Julius Caesar as a QSO mode in Europe as well. When you visit the SCS
website, it is apparent that Pactor is primarily aimed at
non-ham-operators including boaters and RVers, and commercial users. As
far as amateur radio goes, it is Finis Pactor.
Thank goodness for Peter Martinez and other ham radio Greats who have
made the soundcard modes what they are today--powerful digital modes
within the reach of most ham operators worldwide.
de Roger W6VZV
