[RTTY] Some basic RTTY questions

[Dave Hachadorian]

1275 is a pleasant low tone to listen to, much easier on your 
ears than 2125.  Select 1275 on the TS-950, AND in MMTTY.  If the 
radio and MMTTY are not set the same, you will be transmitting on 
the wrong frequency.

Dave Hachadorian, K6LL
Yuma, AZ


-----Original Message----- 
From: Michael Rapp
Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2014 5:54 PM
To: rtty at contesting.com
Subject: [RTTY] Some basic RTTY questions

Hi all,

I participated in the CQ WW RTTY last September and had a blast, 
but I
tried to do things too much and too fast and burned myself out on 
RTTY (and
ham radio).  I'm slowly getting back into things and I remembered 
just how
much fun I had in RTTY.

(My interest was partially rekindled by re-reading Hank 
Garretson's, W6SX,
profile in the past December's NCJ.  Hank reminded me that a 
tremendous
amount of fun can be had even if one doesn't come anywhere close 
to
winning.  For whatever reason, late last fall I got caught up in 
the
frustration that my station and antenna would never allow me to 
reach
anywhere near a winning score.  Hank's words reminded me that 
that is not
the point.  Having fun is the point.  Thank you, Hank.)

In any case, I've decided to take it slower this time and do one 
thing at a
time.  So, my first question is about that I am not understanding 
something
fundamental about the RTTY tones.

It seems the most common mark tone is 2125, followed by 1275. 
I've read in
numerous places that many people set their mark tone frequency to 
be even
lower, such as 915, as it is less fatiguing.

But, I'm set up for FSK.  My software (MMTTY) doesn't decide what 
my
transmitted tones are.  My radio does.  My Yaseu FT-950 allows me 
to pick
2125 or 1275 and that's it.  So it looks like I can't set my mark 
tone to a
lower frequency even if I wanted to.

Moreover, changing the mark tone makes no sense on receive as one 
is
receiving the tone frequency of the transmitting station.  Am I 
correct or
am I missing something really basic here?

My second question is on optimizing my receive audio.  My radio 
PC is an
old server and does not have a built-in sound card  I'm using a 
cheap
little USB sound card that has a mic in not a line in.  I receive 
my RTTY
audio by taking the REC OUT of my FT-950 into a mixer (for 
sideband work)
and then the tape out of the mixer that goes into my USB sound 
card's mic
jack.

Is this okay?  I don't seem to be overdriving (or underdriving) 
the mic
input at all and this is the setup I used for many many contacts 
in CQ WW.
My concern is that I'm missing weak stations with this 
configuration.

Thanks everyone for your help.
-- 
/*/-=[Michael / KT5MR]-=/*/
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