[RTTY] PSK and waterfall

[pcooper]

Hi all,

I don't think this topic is worth too much mileage here, but it has raised a couple of interesting points.

RTTY interference is certainly going to cause loads of problems if it is that close to a PSK signal, but from what I have seen lately, RTTY is the least of their problems!

I used PSK to work a few of the recent DXpeditions, as they were using PSK and not RTTY at the time, and for me - any digital mode is good when it comes to new ones!

But...the worst problem is some PSK'ers using extremely high power!
I watched some recently, and there were folk quite plainly saying they were running 600 watts!
Perhaps if they could see what happens at the other end, they might drop it back a little. PSK was devised to be a low power mode, and is really excellent fun at 10 watts or less.
Back when PSK first became available using Windows, I was regularly making contacts with less than one watt.

One guy trying to work a DX recently had 13 printable signals at the same time! I was using HamScope's ability to copy multiple signals, and there were 13 traces all with the same text.

Jim said they aren't using contest grade rigs. Well, I guess many don't, but that is why PSK is centred round specific frequencies. You can get an awful lot of PSK signals into a small but of bandwidth.

It also raises another interesting point.
PSK ops tend to split into two quite distinct groups.
There is a proportion who use RTTY, and then use PSK to work DX, new ones etc etc, and have a bit of fun occasionally on another digital mode.
Then there is another whole group, which tends to be larger (in my opinion) that ONLY run PSK, and maybe one or two of the other odd digital modes.
It is mostly this latter group that simply download the software, and run with everything wide open, including power!
Take a look at 20m PSK signals, and see just how many run the mode with CAPS lock on! 
If only they could work out that CAPS take longer to send! That alone gives me the impression they didn't read the manual.

Sorry....... Just had to get that off my chest!

73 all

Phil GU0SUP