Johnne, though you have a lot of replies I wanted to add mine because I'd hate to see "power creep" on such a great mode as PSK. I run the Argo V - bought it after being away from ham radio for 20 years.
I run a short Caroline 40M windom about 20 ft. off the ground. I wanted my first contact to be special so I waited and listened and listened and listened and snagged Poland which I figured was pretty good from central Oregon with that setup and a bit under 20W. If you get an Argo, do yourself a favor and get an interface like the Buxcomm Rascal. I use that model and just plug it into the DIN plug in the back of the rig and the sound in/out cables and serial cable into the computer. The sound cable provides for TX/RX and the serial cable allows PTT switching all via the DIN port. Plus, because it is all line level, you can set all soundlevels via the computer sound card software. You don't have to mess with the Argo V front panel mic gain or volume control. One poster said he thought 20 watts was a little light and preferred 30. Not sure how much of an "S" reading difference that would make, but it seems 35 watts is an average. The nice thing about this and other digital modes is we mostly have a common base. I worked Sweden a few night ago (With my sub 20 watts by the way) on USB 20M. took about an hour as caller after caller reported their big towers and 750 = 500 watt rigs (or more). Finally there was no one left and the guy could hear and answer me with a 5 x 3 report. PSK is a different world. If you use something like PSK Deluxe software as part of the free Ham Radio Deluxe package, you an watch twenty QSO's at once and just click on the one you want to work at the appropriate time. If you are thinking mostly of digital modes, there are digital watering holes on each band so you don't need the ability to tune the whole band. Sure - get a good tuner if you are going to work all bands, all modes. But for just digital on 20M for example, you'd be fine with a little plus/minus of 14.070. As another poster said, go for the Jupiter or other 100W rig if you want the versitility. But please don't use that much power for digital modes - your rig will thank you. 73, Paul --- In digitalradio@yahoogroups.com, "Johnne Ables" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Thanks so much for the FB information. I appreciate (and need) the > help! ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Yahoo! Groups gets a make over. See the new email design. http://us.click.yahoo.com/XISQkA/lOaOAA/yQLSAA/ELTolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Need a Digital mode QSO? Connect to Telnet://cluster.dynalias.org Other areas of interest: The MixW Reflector : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/themixwgroup/ DigiPol: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Digipol (band plan policy discussion) 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/
