Your points are well taken, and I agree. However, on HF, when the vast majority
of ops simply do the TX=RX thing, if you happen to be the guy running 5 watts
and there are a lot of stations on the band, your chances of being answered
diminish greatly. If there aren't many stations on, you have a much better
chance. Of course, running that 5 watts to a stacked set of yagis improves your
chances dramatically! Anyway, my main focus for implementing JT9/JT65 was to
try picking off WY and UT on 10 meters - the two last states I need for 5BWAS.
Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be happening, so I've been doing the ARRL
Centennial QSO thing on CW, as those folks have been up on 10 for the states
that've participated so far.
Jim / W6JHB
On Monday, Mar 31, 2014, at Monday, 1:24 PM, Joe Subich, W4TV wrote:
>
> On 3/31/2014 1:38 PM, Jim Bennett wrote:
>
>> I've found that I get moderate success when running 30-40 watts on
>> those two "low power" modes.
>
> Correction - JT65 and JT9 are "weak signal" modes - not necessarily
> "low power" modes. Their primary genesis is from the EME (moon-
> bounce) world where extremely weak signals even from legal limit
> transmitter are the rule.
>
> > Anyway, to answer your question - no, I most certainly have NOT seen
> > any distance gain (on HF) by using the JT-modes as compared to CW.
>
> I've had good luck with both JT65 and JT9. Compared to CW I can often
> see solid "QSOs" in paths/with stations that would be impossible given
> my power level and antennas on a given band and specific conditions.
> I can't say that better antennas or higher power would not even out
> the discrepancies and I certainly am no fan of "watching paint dry" in
> taking 5 minutes per QSO just to exchange signal reports. Still, I
> think JT65 and JT9 have their value and in view of their narrow band
> characteristics deserve a place "in the action"
>
> 73,
>
> ... Joe, W4TV
>
>
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