Hi Bob, Good questions. But I don't think that the new modes are all that frequent. Maybe only one every three or four months or so:)
Many of the modes will not be used much unless they are available with different software packages. If they are only available one product, it will be difficult to sustain any kind of critical mass. Over the years there are a number of orphan modes as newer modes came along that worked better or had some feature that appealed to users of the mode. For example: - Kantronics G-TOR never really went very far being a proprietary mode - Some modes could not deliver, e.g., 110 baud ASCII in lieu of 45 baud RTTY, even though it had the full character set but could not do well with HF conditions - Even worse was HF 300 baud packet. Still used by a few in what appears to be a make believe HF network, but has extreme problems with propagation on HF - AMTOR was the first HF ARQ mode that was very popular for a while but did have stringent rig timing requirements and has mostly only been able to be used with hardware interfacing although there is a Linux based HF sound card mode. -Clover II was expensive proprietary equipment and was not really good with poor conditions. Clover I (also invented by Ray Petit [SK]), was a hardware design not practical for many but was a concept that was later possible to develop into new digital modes due the the increasing power of computers. Now we have newer modes, mostly sound card types, ofen more for casual keyboard use, that work very well for many conditions. Without looking at proprietary modes or modes on only one fee based product: -PSK31 for casual keyboard chatting under moderate conditions and with extremely narrow bandwidth and can handle -10db S/N or slightly worse -PSK63 for twice the speed and a bit less tolerance for conditions -MT-63, very robust down to about -10 db S/N with the narrower 1K mode and with up to 200 wpm throughput with the 2K wide mode. Currently the fastest sound card mode for difficult conditions, especially multipath. The best non-proprietary HF mode at this time for messaging traffic due to the relatively high speed, but overkill for most keyboarding -MFSK16, more robust with weak signals and can work down below -15 db S/N ratio and can handle some other poor signal issues such as doppler and multipath -Olivia, seems more able to handle weak signals although similar to MFSK16 but requires much wider bandwidth to handle the more difficult conditions Most other modes are not really better than these from what I have seen but some may have specific likes about some of them and may not be universally available to ham operators. 73, Rick, KV9U Bob DeHaney wrote: > I've been following the list now for some months. I'm an OOT first > licensed > in 1960. And I am really interested in digital communication as I've > earned > my living up to now (retiring) as an EE working with networks. > > My question is: Does anyone ever ask: "Do we need another digital Mode?" > It seems a new one is on the list about every 14 days. It takes me > about 30 > minutes to figure out which mode I should be decoding!! > > I am seeing mode proliferation that looks like it's being done to say > "Look > a new mode and it does something better than another mode, ...but not > everything, some things it does worse... > > It's like the feature proliferation in mobile phones, Geez I just want to > telephone with the thing and none of them can do as good a job as a real > camera or a real MP3 player. But they are more expensive and if you > use the > features to send pictures etc. the provider is making a LOT of money. > > 73, > > Bob DJ0MBC/WU5T > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/ELTolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Need a Digital mode QSO? Connect to telnet://208.15.25.196/ Other areas of interest: The MixW Reflector : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/themixwgroup/ Looking for digital mode software? Check the quick commerical free link below http://www.obriensweb.com/digimodes.html Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/digitalradio/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
