[RTTY] Need a better strategy

[Kok Chen]

On May 12, 2012, at 10:23 PM, Bill Turner wrote:

> You know, that's not a bad idea. 
> The DX calls CQ on one frequency, 14080, but says he will answer you on your frequency (but NOT this one). He would hop around working stations on their frequency simplex until the pileup thins out, then call CQ on 14080 again. 


Only problem is that many people don't have two receivers, or even if they do, they don't use two decoders when operating RTTY.  You will need to listen to both 14080 and your own frequency to be efficient.

You also have no idea when to stop calling (OK, so some people don't stop calling anyway, today :-).  

I am afraid the pile is just going to be more messy since no one will be shutting up.  At least today, the good ops would clam up when the DX starts sending an exchange.  The JAs used to be religious with clamming up, even if the DX is replying with one character off from their own call sign, but I notice that in the past couple of years, they too also picked up the bad habit of not shutting up after the DX has sent an exhange to someone else.  It used to be a JA pileup was a sight to behold on a waterfall -- suddenly the noise floor drops to the point where you can see a solidarity signal responding to the DX. 

The people that responds even when they are not being called will probably continue to do so with the proposed scheme -- lets say A and B both call the DX at or close to the same frequency.  The DX answers station A, but Mr. Lid, station B hears the DX sending an exchange, and still barges in just like he does today.  Or Mr. Lid keeps calling and never comes up for air, thus covering up the DX that is trying to respond to station A.  I.e., nothings changed.

Not only that, a strong station with keyclicks a few hundred Hz away will not hear the DX and will keep calling.  Those keyclicks could cover up a weak DX station so you can't hear the DX come back to you.

One of the reasons to use split is to have decent guard band away from the pile so that the DX exchanges do not have to compete with the noise floor of the pile.

I still believe that the best thing is for the DX to thin the pile as quickly as possible.  Using agile receive is certainly one way to help do it.  As I was watching the 7O6T pile today, I cannot imagine a skimmer to be anywhere close to 100% efficient.  But a skimmer should still be able to pick up at least ONE clear callsign within a 20 kHz bandwidth within a couple of seconds.  

Now, the weak stations might think that a skimmer is unfair since it will likely favor a stronger station (think FM capture effect), but it will remove the strong ones rather quickly so the DX can start working on the weak ones.  Everybody wins and the DXpedition can brag about how many more stations they have worked.

73
Chen, W7AY