[VHFcontesting] 432 Sprint - Questions

[Ken Alexander]

Hi Jeff,

> Low activity is low activity and even worse when low
> activity is low local actviity. No mode will cure the shear
> lack of stations active on the air during a contest.

My suggesting digital was in response to the number of people complaining about hearing weak signals but not being able to convert them into QSOs.  Apparently there was activity, but just not strong enough for a phone contact.  This is where I see JT65 helping.

> W9RM's (I think it was) previous post about 432 ops
> benifiting from going CW over SSB has some validity to it at
> times. I don't recall hearing maybe more than one guy
> doing CW last night. Thus I might of missed out on 1 QSO,
> which really wouldn't mean diddly squat in the big
> picture

My limited experience in contests on 432 was to work locals on SSB.  After that, almost 100% of the further out QSOs were made with CW.  My setup was admittedly very modest.

> But if we're really going to go after those last few dB
> of SNR on QSO's and push our range to the max, yeap I
> agree a digital mode (which one for us to standardize upon?)
> is probably even better than CW. 

The Digital On 6 group has been discussing which flavour of JT65 to use for terrestrial contacts and I think they settled on JT65B because it had better resistance to signal fading.  This advantage would presumably apply on higher bands too.

> Is JT65 the best for V/U contesting? Or is this just inviting a big long 
> heated debate over which mode is the best?

Maybe, maybe not.  I think contest QSOs can be completed more quickly using PSK-31 or many other digital modes, but some require more signal than others.  JT65 is probably the choice when the band appears dead and little or nothing is heard.

> All that said, let's be realistic about what another
> mode can do in regards to the problem of low activity levels
> (especially local activity levels, stations that are
> workable on any mode).

I'm just offering it as a means of making the weak guys (the ones that we know are there) workable.  Promotion will stimulate activity; different modes, not so much.

73 - Ken