[RTTY] Rude contesters

[Richard Ferch]

Gary,

In AFSK, you should always have NET on when you are S&Ping, in order to 
guarantee that your transmit and receive frequencies are the same. If 
you leave NET off, unless you are attentive to the details of the MMTTY 
display you may have no idea how far apart your transmit and receive 
frequencies are, especially if you use the mouse to help tune in signals.

As for AFC, when you are S&Ping, even with NET on it's better to leave 
AFC off so that your frequency doesn't wander around during a QSO due to 
a neighboring strong signal or just noise in between overs. It is 
especially unsafe to use AFC on with NET off while you are S&Ping, 
because that just about guarantees you will be off-frequency when you call.

When you are CQing in AFSK, you would normally turn NET off so that your 
transmit frequency stays fixed. When you are CQing, it is up to the 
other station to match your frequency and not vice versa, so you do not 
want NET on. Now that your TX frequency is fixed with NET off, it is 
safe to use AFC while CQing because with NET off, AFC only affects your 
receive frequency, not transmit.

In FSK, NET does not work. When S&Ping, you should turn AFC off because 
leaving AFC on in FSK makes your transmit and receive frequencies 
different. If you ever notice that MMTTY's receive frequency has moved 
off the default (e.g. 2125) for whatever reason, you can use the HAM 
button to put it back where it belongs.

When you are CQing, it is safe to use AFC for fine-tuning. If you have 
been using AFC while CQing, it is a good idea to press the HAM default 
when you go from CQing to S&Ping to make sure your receive frequency 
lines up with your transmit frequency.

N1MM Logger has options to automate all of these changes (AFC on/off 
with Run/S&P, NET on/off with S&P/Run, and HAM default when switching 
from Run to S&P).

N1MM Logger also has an AutoTRXOffset option that you should turn on if 
you are using AFSK (with the radio's dial displaying the suppressed 
carrier frequency). This ensures that the frequency you log and spot is 
the same as if you were using FSK. You should turn this option off if 
you are using FSK, because in FSK the radio's dial already displays the 
correct mark frequency without any offset.

73,
Rich VE3KI


AL9A wrote:

> Sorry for my poor wording Bill. Let me try again. If I'm doing S&P
with AFSK and have AFC on won't I have the same problem with the AFC
locking onto a frequency prior to me getting the VFO dialed onto the
actual correct frequency? And I always thought that when doing AFSK
you should turn off AFC before turning on NET and never S&P with both
on at the same time. Correct?