[RTTY] Field Day Digital

[James C. Hall, MD]

Personally, I found it to be more difficult to contest with PSK31 than with RTTY. Using the N1MM logger and flDigi engine, the technique as I was watching a relatively new ham work, was to open up the filter and click on available waterfall signals and work them. He *showed me* how to open Signal Browser and lo, there was a PSK skimmer ! Neat ! Didn't know that was available.

As we were sitting together, I demonstrated that he would have better copy (S/N) if you would tighten the skirt of his filter. Further I demonstrated that by clicking all over and transmitting, that if your audio warble was too high or too low, that you would be off the skirt and output would go down. This would cause feeble adjustments in mic gain to get back to correct ALC readings. Yada, yada. Sooo, I showed that, like RTTY, keep the tone about the same with a fairly narrow (but not too narrow) filter, and *use the tuning knob* of the transceiver to S&P. You can click to fine tune things. We also discussed the need to keep the AFC turned off and how to use RIT when necessary (not too often as it turned out).

Using the same macros as with RTTY, this operator got pretty good. I think he's going to try out the NAQP RTTY test coming up - maybe a new contester. :) If PSK63 were used instead of PSK31, things would be way more rapid fire and more interesting (to me).

73, Jamie
WB4YDL

Sent from my iPad

On Jul 5, 2013, at 1:35 PM, Dave Barr <recordupe at verizon.net> wrote:

> I am not surprised that PSK affords more activity on Field Day than RTTY.  As mentioned, it is just much simpler to train digitally inexperienced hams to punch a couple of buttons and make some Qs, without even having to tune around.  Let's hope that the more knowledgeable folks overseeing the digital activity can encourage the less experienced operators to try rtty contesting, which we all know is a much more effective mode for contesting.  Using this (FD) contest to increase the ranks of experienced digital ops should be a valuable by-product of the radio activity that provides exposure to a wider range of Hams than any other on the air activity.
> 
> By the way, at our 1AB class qrp activity, we did 25 rtty Qs and 1 psk, out of about 400 Qs.
> 
> 73,  Dave, K2YG
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