Topband: The use of digital modes on 160 metres

[Braco OE1EMS]

Hello Don,

so far i understund your post, its all about DXCC?
I like DX-ing but i am dont care much about DXCC!
And why evenone needs to work everything without any effort?!
Topband is a chalange and i my eyes its need to stay chalange!

I dont have anything against digi mods but if yes let them operate above 
1900

73
Braco
E77DX

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Don Field" <don.field at gmail.com>
To: <topband at contesting.com>
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2012 10:27 AM
Subject: Re: Topband: The use of digital modes on 160 metres


> The discussion seems to have moved away from the initial question which
> was, as I recall, whether digital modes had the means to expand DX
> opportunities on 160. Yes, there are questions about bandplanning, whether
> the digimodes are correctly set up, etc. But these can and will be
> overcome.
>
> But I would suggest that topband will, in time, be subject to the same
> issues and opportunities that digimodes have brought to 6m (and,
> increasingly, to the other HF bands). It's a topic I have already 
> discussed
> several times in the various publications I write for in the UK.
>
> The simple fact is that digimodes, thanks especially to K1JT and his
> excellent software, are a game changer. DX is now workable on 6m via EME
> (I'm not suggesting topband via the moon, in case anyone was wondering!)
> but also via terrestrial paths when conditions are marginal - JT65 (and 
> its
> HF variant) can integrate and pull out signals that are well below ambient
> noise levels. This has had two effects on 6m. Firstly, it has extended DX
> opportunities to those already active on the band - they don't have to 
> wait
> until signals reach levels which can be copied by ear. Secondly, it has
> opened the band up to those with much more modest stations. This has both
> an upside and a downside. The upside is exactly what I just described. The
> downside is that those of us who have achieved DXCC and beyond by what
> might be described as "conventional" means can easily feel "cheated" when
> those who have smaller stations start to catch us up!
>
> I can see the same happening on 160. How would you feel if you have built
> and 4-square and got 200+ countries, only to find someone with a bit of
> bent wire doing the same thing? But, on the flip side, how excited will 
> the
> latter operator be when he finds he can work DX on a band which previously
> he had found impossible because he doesn't have room for that 4-square?
>
> It's early days yet, but as the digimodes software improves further (and
> it's really down to the processing power of PCs at the end of the day) and
> other matters like bandplanning get resolved, these are the dilemmas we
> will increasingly be facing. Maybe we will need two versions of 160m 
> DXCC -
> one of which specifically states "SSB and CW only" or somesuch! But the
> genie is out of the bottle, for better or worse.
>
> Don G3XTT
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