[RTTY] Different Looking Cluster Spots with Brackets [79]

[Richard Kriss]

Some of you may have noticed different looking DX cluster spots from me today. Following the word RTTY there were two numbers separated by brackets.  I was testing one feature of the new fldigi-3.23.17 DX Cluster user interface that will soon be released by Dave W1HKJ.

One of the new fldigi features in the DXCluster is the [xx] intended for spots for certain digital modes. Digital users have expressed the need for the QSO frequency to be spotting to three digits; however, the DX clusters round off the frequency to one digit. In the example below note the W6SX spot shows 28087.8 and the note shows RTTY [79]. This means I spotted W6SX’s Mark frequency at 28087.879.  The accuracy of spot is no better than my Kenwood TS-590SG and/or macOS (Sierra). 

AA5VU de N8NOE-2 04-Dec 2224Z arc6>
 28087.8  W6SX        04-Dec-2016 2133Z  RTTY [79]                 +K <AA5VU>
 28086.6  KF0UR       04-Dec-2016 2122Z  RTTY [03]                 +K <AA5VU>
 28085.7  N0GOS       04-Dec-2016 2050Z  RTTY [18]                 +K <AA5VU>
 28084.6  LQ7E        04-Dec-2016 1843Z  RTTY [69]                +LU <AA5VU>
 28085.2  W7WW        04-Dec-2016 1829Z  RTTY [88]                 +K <AA5VU>
 28085.7  K6LL        04-Dec-2016 1813Z  RTTY [14]                 +K <AA5VU>
 28088.6  W1ZD        04-Dec-2016 1755Z  RTTY [79]                 +K <AA5VU>
 28089.0  VE2FK       04-Dec-2016 1724Z  RTTY [03]                 VE <AA5VU>
 28083.0  VE2EBK      04-Dec-2016 1723Z  RTTY [17]                +VE <AA5VU>
 28086.2  W0LSD       04-Dec-2016 1711Z  RTTY [33]                 +K <AA5VU>
 28082.0  W7ZR        04-Dec-2016 1709Z  RTTY [70]                 +K <AA5VU>
 28088.5  WE6EZ       04-Dec-2016 1707Z  RTTY [22]                 +K <AA5VU>
 28090.8  WE6EZ       04-Dec-2016 1643Z  RTTY [54]                 +K <AA5VU>
 28092.9  N0AJN       04-Dec-2016 1643Z  RTTY [97]                 +K <AA5VU>
 28090.8  WE6EZ       04-Dec-2016 1640Z  RTTY [54]                 +K <AA5VU>
 28087.9  KP4/K6UFO   04-Dec-2016 1457Z  RTTY [75]                KP4 <AA5VU>
 28084.5  NP3RE       04-Dec-2016 1455Z  RTTY [05]               +KP4 <AA5VU>
 14082.3  K0TC        03-Dec-2016 1928Z  RTTY [93]                 +K <AA5VU>
 14081.3  KM4FO       03-Dec-2016 1910Z  RTTY [74]                 +K <AA5VU>
 14084.7  VE2ZT       03-Dec-2016 1833Z  RTTY [74]                 +K <AA5VU>

As far as I am concerned one digit spotting is fine for SSB, PSK-31 and RTTY and I will not be spotting the extra digits in the future.

The new fldigi-3.23.17 has many new features. This was just one I was testing while making a few 10 meter RTTY QSO’s. Stay tuned for W1HKJ's release announcement.

73 Dick AA5VU

Ps: As one of the 2016 NPOTA chasers my pet peeve is the PSK-31 spots that say 14070.0 with no clue on the real QSO frequency.