Topband: The use of digital modes on 160 metres
Hi Topbanders, I would like to bring up a topic which I suspect must be tantamount to heresy among the diehard CW operators and that is the question of the use of some of the digital modes on the Gentleman's Band. It may be that CW can still hold its own by the speed and simplicity and use of narrow bandwidths?? These dangerous thoughts have come about because a friend put me on to a programme called Ham Radio Delux with its imbedded programme Digital Master 780 which supports a whole raft of digital modes. As we all know some of these modes are capable of digging out intelligence from signals that are undetectable because they are below the noise floor. As one who is very much in the little pistol league with a small suburban back yard with a 10 metre height restriction and only enough space to install a very meagre earth matt and the additional problem of electrical noise - I see this as a way to improve my chances of chasing the elusive DX. I was thinking of resorting to the use of digital modes such as Olivia and JT65. I keep a reasonably close eye on the threads posted in the Top Band Archives and this is a topic I do not remember seeing being discussed. I do, however, suspect that because going digital is such an obvious answer that there must already be some activity among devotees so I would be interested in hearing what frequencies and what modes are used on 160 meters and any comments. 73 George, VK5IT Email: mailto:vk...@bigpond.com ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: The use of digital modes on 160 metres
Hi George, My own experience with those modes that can dig out signals from below the noise is they are too slow to be any use for much beyond propagation studies. I am doing a very little bit of that on the 600 meter band. The typical story is set the radio and the computer and let it run all night (*ALL* night) to get a few words through IF propagation cooperates. Look at your results in the morning after breakfast. Not my cup of tea. YMMV. Can the other stations hear you? If not..can you apply more power? (not already doing the limit) There are some antennas talked about here that might help you with receive. I have the small lot problem too but I am slowly working my way toward better reception and I'll be increasing power soon, too. Even with my puny station (25 watts!) I have worked some other stations on Top Band. I can hear better than I can send. Some people detest that there is digital activity on Top Band but it is there. Somebody else will have to point you at it (1840 or so?) as I don't use it. If you decide to join those guys let me wish you best of luck. 73, Bill KU8H On Sat, 2012-09-15 at 20:59 +0930, George, VK5IT wrote: Hi Topbanders, I would like to bring up a topic which I suspect must be tantamount to heresy among the diehard CW operators and that is the question of the use of some of the digital modes on the Gentleman's Band. It may be that CW can still hold its own by the speed and simplicity and use of narrow bandwidths?? These dangerous thoughts have come about because a friend put me on to a programme called Ham Radio Delux with its imbedded programme Digital Master 780 which supports a whole raft of digital modes. As we all know some of these modes are capable of digging out intelligence from signals that are undetectable because they are below the noise floor. As one who is very much in the little pistol league with a small suburban back yard with a 10 metre height restriction and only enough space to install a very meagre earth matt and the additional problem of electrical noise - I see this as a way to improve my chances of chasing the elusive DX. I was thinking of resorting to the use of digital modes such as Olivia and JT65. I keep a reasonably close eye on the threads posted in the Top Band Archives and this is a topic I do not remember seeing being discussed. I do, however, suspect that because going digital is such an obvious answer that there must already be some activity among devotees so I would be interested in hearing what frequencies and what modes are used on 160 meters and any comments. 73 George, VK5IT ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Re: Topband: The use of digital modes on 160 metres
On 9/15/2012 4:29 AM, George, VK5IT wrote: I keep a reasonably close eye on the threads posted in the Top Band Archives and this is a topic I do not remember seeing being discussed. It has. Search for JT65. so I would be interested in hearing what frequencies and what modes are used on 160 meters and any comments. There is considerable JT65A activity between about 1838.5 kHz and 1840.5 kHz, transmitted and received by using K1JT's WSJT9 software or W6CQZ's JT65-HF with a transceiver set for 1838 USB. JT65-HF is the most user-friendly of the two programs, and includes multi-decode capability. The bandwidth of a JT65A signal is about 225 Hz, and it is common to decode a half dozen different signals during each one-minute cycle. There are times when I see more JT66A signals on Topband than CW or SSB! You can see some of this activity on W6CQZ's Reverse Beacon web page. From my QTH near San Francisco, I watch stations on the east coast of North America working at least one station in VK. Activity in North America slows down a lot during our summer. It's been quiet here since early June, but I expect to see it pick up pretty soon. This spring, I heard and decoded both sides of a QSO between W1 and ZS, and called the ZS station several times without success. I don't know of any other digital modes being used on Topband, but that doesn't mean that they're not there. For best decoding, it helps to use a decent (but not expensive) USB sound card. This winter, I bought and tested three low cost units from Numark, Tascam, and Byterunner. All three worked fine, and produced roughly twice as many decodes as the sound card built into my Thinkpad. The Numark and Tascam were well built. The Byterunner was not. The Tascam I bought was a model 100 (about $70), which was recently discontinued, replaced by a model 122 (about $80). The Numark doesn't have a model number, but is their lowest cost unit about $35. 73, Jim K9YC ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
Topband: The use of digital modes on 160 metres
George, While there may be many that disagree with me I love digital modes on 160. I primarily use JT65 and it has been one of the reasons that I have worked Japan and New Zealand on TB. I use it primarily when my hearing disabillity kicks in and my ears start ringing and I work CW the rest of the time. I can tell you that my ears do not like CW close to the noise floor. The frequencies and modes most used (so far as I have heard) are 1.836 6 for WSPR, 1.838 for JT65 and also 1.838 for PSK31. There may be other modes but they must be on other frequencies because I have not heard them. Simply put digital is the big equalizer you can gain 30+ db over SSB by using digital modes that effectively lets you compete with the Killowatts on the band (we dont use amplifiers on digital modes). Let me know how you make out and maybe you will run into me on JT65 as I leave it on freq most nights. Jim WA3MEJ p.s. Even digital contacts count for DXCC etc so go for it. http://www.qsl.net/wa3mej/index.htm - Original Message - Message: 3 Date: Sat, 15 Sep 2012 20:59:57 +0930 From: George, VK5IT vk...@bigpond.com To: Topband postings topband@contesting.com Subject: Topband: The use of digital modes on 160 metres Message-ID: 000501cd9335$6faef860$4f0ce920$@com Content-Type: text/plain;charset=us-ascii Hi Topbanders, I would like to bring up a topic which I suspect must be tantamount to heresy among the diehard CW operators and that is the question of the use of some of the digital modes on the Gentleman's Band. It may be that CW can still hold its own by the speed and simplicity and use of narrow bandwidths?? These dangerous thoughts have come about because a friend put me on to a programme called Ham Radio Delux with its imbedded programme Digital Master 780 which supports a whole raft of digital modes. As we all know some of these modes are capable of digging out intelligence from signals that are undetectable because they are below the noise floor. As one who is very much in the little pistol league with a small suburban back yard with a 10 metre height restriction and only enough space to install a very meagre earth matt and the additional problem of electrical noise - I see this as a way to improve my chances of chasing the elusive DX. I was thinking of resorting to the use of digital modes such as Olivia and JT65. I keep a reasonably close eye on the threads posted in the Top Band Archives and this is a topic I do not remember seeing being discussed. I do, however, suspect that because going digital is such an obvious answer that there must already be some activity among devotees so I would be interested in hearing what frequencies and what modes are used on 160 meters and any comments. 73 George, VK5IT ___ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
