John, I have always felt that the wisest thing is for each ham to decide for themselves what kind of operating they want to do. If they have legacy hardware, they may very well want to continue to use it. I used to work Amtor and Pactor and especially Clover II, but that was quite a few years ago. I have had Kantronics UTU, C64 plus firmware, homebrew RTTY (both tube and then XR chip based), AEA CP-1 with BMKMulty software, and finally the HAL P-38. I was one of the earliest users of the Aplink and Winlink systems. I used to have links with Ray Petit, W7GHM, inventor of CCW, Clover, and Clover II, not that we had great connections much of the time. It was fun to experiment with what was then new technology. I then set it aside due to cost and other interests.
When PSK31 and then other digital modes modes were possible to do with a computer and sound card, I got back into digital modes and find that even more interesting than what we did with the hardware systems. It is sometimes more difficult, but I like the challenge (at least most of the time, HI). Hard to get any other local hams interested though:( I can't exactly compare the new ARQ sound card modes with Pactor since I don't have the hardware anymore, but FAE400 seems to be able to perform at least as well as Pactor for much of the time. The quasi duplex operation is quite similar to Clover II. Have you ever tried to do some comparison testing? I would be interested to hear of the results. Something like the RSGB study done some years ago would be most welcome. The advantage of sound card modes (other than the obvious low cost factor) is that once you are set up for one mode, you can expect to do most of them with the same setup. With hardware, you need to switch boxes and systems which is less convenient and drastically more expensive unless you already have the hardware. At this time, nothing can compare with the newest hardware modes, particularly Pactor 2 and 3, since there are no sound card modes that are as adaptable to conditions with different levels. If you have good propagation, the newest sound card QAM technology is quite competitive for sending images. And you can repair bad blocks after the fact without having resend the entire file. But it is not ARQ on the fly. The main thing is to do what you enjoy doing the most since as radio amateurs it is like having dozens of hobbies under one umbrella. 73, Rick, KV9U John Becker, WØJAB wrote: > > Would you not say that having the, as you put it "legacy hardware" > and not using it would be a step backwards as well? I as well as a lot > of other hams that do have and use that equipment enjoy it. > > There are a lot of very good sound card modes but I have yet to see a > replacement for the ARQ modes. That can keep up with the hardware > driven modes. > > John, W0JAB > > > >
