[RTTY] My thoughts on RTTY analysis

[Phil Sussman]

I've been following the thread and now I'm tempted to step gingerly into
the lion's den. From a practical point of view, yes the RTTY analysis is
interesting. However, I've got a point of view.

First, I'll admit that no signal is absolutely perfect. So, in real life
it is a matter of degree. We can approach a 'perfect' signal or can head
to the other end. My ideal is to transmit a 'clean' signal or as clean as
I can make it. It doesn't have to be perfect, it has to be set correctly
and not overdriven. Propagation will twist whatever goes out and I rely
on the ability of a good decoder. Note: I did not say 'perfect' or 'wave
shaped' or 'reconstructed' or 'sampled' or 'filtered' -- I said 'good.'

That's why I personally prefer a piece of professionally designed hardware
to the 'engineered' computer sound card. That's not to say the computer
card can't deliver performance -- of course it can. Yet, a separate stand
alone modem is my preference. It's not perfect, but it works better than
most for me.

Chasing a weak signal in the midst of a plethora of RF is not my style. I
prefer WARC bands or other places of 'quiet.' We ought to assist others by
helping them achieve a good settings and cleaning up the band, not trying
to eke out that last db.

I think of RTTY as a hobby not as an obsession of a perfect RTTY signal.

End of soap box,

Thanks for reading,

de Phil - N8PS