[RTTY] Worked VU4NRO on PSK31 at 0027Z 12/16

[George Johnson]

Don,
Congratulations !!  And thanks for the info and suggestions.  Signals 
continue to be very weak here with LP openings for about 30 mins from 1145 
UTC on 20m.  When they operate simplex, they work about 8 to 10 stations in 
the window before I lose the signal entirely.  They usually split (later) 
but all the W1 contacts have been simplex (so far).  No signals this 
morning but spots on CW (14025) so I am hopeful that patience and 
persistence will permit some contact.  No PSK signal heard here yet.

Again, congratulations to all who make a successful contact.
73, George .. W1ZT


At 12:14 AM 12/16/2004, Don Hill AA5AU wrote:
>I had a QSO with VU4NRO on PSK31 tonight on the longpath.  If the station I
>worked was actually VU4NRO, and I feel it was, then I made what could be the
>greatest QSO in my 34 years of ham radio.
>
>I just happened to be at the right place at the right time.
>
>I had my dial set at 14070.000 Khz USB starting at about 0001Z.  At 0015Z 
>I saw
>a signal at about 935 hz (I use HamScope with the spectrum display) and 
>printed
>"VU" and knew right away it was probably him.  I called simplex and he 
>came back
>to JA7UDE.  At this time I had good copy, about 80% from VU4NRO.  I saw both
>VU4NRO and JA7UDE print.  I called again.  He came back to RA0FU.  I could not
>print RA0FU.  I called simplex again.  Then I saw him say "LISTENING 
>14080KHZ...
>14080".  So I went split on the radio, putting the other VFO at 14080 (audio
>tone at the same 935 hz) and called him.  He came back to me after a few calls
>and gave me a 557 report but I did not see my call fully (only AA5A). I 
>gave him
>a 559 and asked to verify my call.  He did and I got my call cleanly with
>another 557 report and he asked me something I did not print.  I think he 
>asked
>me to repeat my report which I did.  Afterward, a couple of stations started
>calling him simplex and I never printed him again.  It's 3 hours later now 
>and I
>think he's still in there but I've not printed him.
>
>He was using UPPER CASE.  When I called him I used all lower case since lower
>case is easier to decode.  A couple of days ago I had sent a message to the
>E-mail address on the website asking for RTTY longpath to NA and got a 
>response
>that it would be PSK31 (she didn't exactly say no RTTY, but I read between the
>lines).  Tonight I replied to that message from Sara, VU3SRB, requesting that
>VU4NRO use all lower case to make it easier for us decode.
>
>You can view a screenshot of my QSO at http://www.aa5au.com/vu4nro_qso.gif.
>
>It's very difficult for me to offer suggestions but I will try.  VU4NRO is the
>only station operating PSK31 thus far.  That's the station you need to 
>look for.
>Look for him during your opening.  If you are in the USA, it's going to be
>longpath if you are on the east coast, southeast, southwest or midwest.  I
>believe only the west coast and some upper midwest station have worked them on
>SSB on the short path.
>
>Watch the packetcluster.  If VU4NRO is spotted consistently on SSB, then he's
>probably not going to be on PSK31.  I've not seen an instance yet where they
>have two stations with the same call at two different frequencies.
>
>LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN
>
>If he is working simplex, which he did tonight for the first two stations, 
>then
>it's OK to call simplex.  But he went split right away.  His split was a 
>little
>strange because he said "14080" which means I had to split my VFO's instead of
>doing it within the PSK program.  I believe in the past he did not do 
>this.  So
>this could be new.
>
>If you are going to run high power, check your IMD with another station
>beforehand like I did.  I ran a KW from my PW-1 with a -18 db IMD reported 
>back
>to me but I felt that was OK for what I was trying to do.  I had checked 
>this a
>few days ago.
>
>Right now he's not using that 10 Khz split, but be aware it could happen.  I'm
>not sure what else to suggest but to keep after it like it was your 330th
>country on digital - because it was for me!
>
>73, Don AA5AU