[CQ-Contest] Mode-X

[David Gilbert]

Thanks for the comment, Ken.

I only suggested a CW output to point out that adding FT8-type signal 
processing techniques could be done in a manner that would be almost 
transparent to the operator.  Your are absolutely correct that "Mode-X" 
does not have to be a CW-lookalike, and you are also correct that a CW 
output could be added to almost any digital mode.

I hope that at least this thread will generate some consideration and 
discussion of what might be possible, and maybe eventually people with 
the right capabilities will step forward to turn it into reality.  The 
processing behind FT8 is simply too powerful to be left to FT8, given 
that FT8 as implemented by WSJT-X is too rigid to be a universally 
desirable contesting mode.  I'm a founding member of an active 
contesting club with roughly 150 members, and exactly two of them 
bothered to participate in the most recent major FT8 contest.  I wasn't 
one of them.

I have given this a lot of thought over the last two years and have my 
own ideas on what it MIGHT look like technically.  I'd be happy to share 
those with anyone who cares, but in my opinion the goal is simply to 
achieve better signal-to-noise ratios (potentially on the order of 8 dB 
better than CW) in a versatile enough manner that people will want to 
use it for contesting.

73,
Dave   AB7E



On 2/20/2022 7:38 AM, ktfrog007 at aol.com wrote:
> AB7E is proposing a new digital mode of more general utility than FTx 
> but using similar error correcting techniques. That he's involving CW 
> (International Morse Code sent by keying a continuous wave oscillator) 
> in an artificial way clouds and confuses the issue. Exclude the 
> artificial CW part and it is an interesting concept to consider.
>
>
> How would you design it? Why do we need it? What are its goals? What 
> activities should it support? Let's do that and come up with some 
> specifications.
>
>
> If someone wants to design a digital mode post-processor to generate 
> Morse Code audio, that is a separate concept and it could be used with 
> any digital mode: Mode-X, RTTY, PSK, FTx, Olivia, Feld Hell, whatever. 
> I personally don't see a need for it and doubt it would be popular.
>
>
> 73,
>
> Ken, AB1J
>