[VHFcontesting] Gene's last column and other musings

[Marshall Williams]

Hello to all on the VHFContesting list......I felt compelled to comment 
on these two posting.....they seem to be saying the same thing but with 
different reasons.

1)Distilling Les' post......WSJT is good and we should do it more 
often.  I agree.  You can work a lot of "rare" grids during the contest 
using meteor scatter and WSJT.   Or you can work JT65b EME, even with 
"small" stations, you can make contacts.

FYI:  Most everyone uses FSK441 in the contests on all bands.  On 6M, 
during non-contest times, you will hear both FSK441 and JT6M. 

What Gene said in his column about a 100W station making contacts is 
true....it IS almost a "gimmie" PROVIDED you are talking about 6M.  It 
gets harder on 2M and MUCH harder above that.  I don't think Gene made 
that clear. 

ASIDE:  I was one of the big Multi-Multi stations that did not make a 
QSO with Les on 2M.  I got one sequence from Les with about 15 complete 
sets of calls.  That was it.  After 30+ minutes of calling 
him.....nothing.  On 2M, I run 2 x 17el at 160ft and high power.  I 
still could not work Les.  Just no cooperative "grains of sand". 

2)Distilling Jordan's post.....WSJT is great and I spend a lot more time 
active because of it.  COOL....

No one can deny that WSJT has created tons of new activity on different 
bands with different modes.  All my VHF life, I have spent time(and 
money) promoting activity.  I just hated it that WSJT destroyed the EME 
that I knew and loved from the 70's and 80's.  But JT65b has CREATED 
tons and tons of activity in its place.  From stations all over the 
world....large and small.  If the moon is up, you can work them.....you 
don't have to wait for some "grains of sand" to burn up and give you a 
meteor trail. 

Is this improvement???  Some will say no, but the huge majority have 
voted with their feet.....they have run to embrace WSJT.  Activity is 
King.....activity trumps everything else.....and WSJT has created that 
activity. 

So, look for the K5QE Multi-Multi station in the June contest.  We will 
be running WSJT on 6M and 2M during the late night hours from 1430Z 
onward(9:30PM Sat night--earlier if the bands are "dead"--we may do some 
6M MS on Sunday afternoon too).  We operate on 50.268MHz and will be 
calling CQ there and on 50.260 UP 8.  On 2M, we will be operating on 
144.142MHz.  We will call CQ there and on 144.140 UP2.  Listen for us 
and give us a call. 

After the moon rises at 0530Z on Sunday(12:30AM Sunday middle of the 
night!!!!), we will be on 144.142MHz Second sequence using JT65b EME.  
Even small stations can work us on rising moon as K7CE found out in 
Jan.  He had only a single medium length yagi and worked us on his 
rising moon easily.  If you are East of us, you may need to get a little 
elevation in order to work us, but that is not hard....just put a piece 
of pipe through your tower and put a vertically polarized anetnna on 
each side.  With 2 x 9el or better you can work us too.  It is just not 
hard anymore.  If anyone is interested in this, write me off the 
reflector and we can work it out. 

I also encourage everyone to give WSJT a try....especially on 6M and 
2M.  Conditions are different between the two bands(this is a 
surprise???), but it is a lot of fun too.  This Wednesday night, I am 
going to give a demonstration of 6M WSJT meteor scatter to the 
Nacogdoches Amateur Radio Club.  If any of you 6M "rock hounds" are 
around, you might look for us on PingJockey.  We will probably start the 
demonstration about 8PM local time.  We will be running 100W and a 3el 
beam.  I just want to show the club members how much fun this really is. 

73 to all and good VHF contesting.....Marshall K5QE

Jordan wrote:

>Wow....I think that would be the broadest assumption I've heard in ages....
>Technically speaking, I see no difference between any of the JT modes and the
>former use of HSMS, hi-speed CW, which was often sent at 1000 lpm+, and right
>down to folks who have used chart recorders and 10hz BP filters to visually
>decode the returning CW...All of these methods are adaptions to need and to
>improve station performance using 'state of the art' at-the-time methods.
>I also recall this being a condition of license, but that is another matter
>altogether.
>
>There are so many misconceptions regarding JT modes and weak signal operating
>that needs to be better understood before it gets chastised to the point of
>hate.
>
>With the JT modes, a new world of w-s operating has opened for me, and I am
>one among many that I know spend far more time active knowing that at least
>there are signals to be heard...Here in Alberta, and other areas with sparse
>populations, JT modes have been a god-send.....
>
>73...Jordan VE6ZT
>  ----- Original Message -----
>  From: Les Rayburn
>  To: VHF Contesting Reflector ; vhf at w6yx.stanford.edu ; WSJT Group ; Eugene
>Zimmerman
>  Sent: Monday, May 04, 2009 11:07 AM
>  Subject: [wsjtgroup] Picking a Bone With Gene
>
>  With all due respect to Gene Zimmerman, W3ZZ, I have to disagree with some
>statements that he made in the May 2009 Issue of QST. In his column, "The
>World Above 50Mhz" Gene writes;
>
>  "we must consider FSK441 digital contacts that, while sometimes more
>difficult to set up, technically utilize the skill of Joe Taylor, K1JT, as a
>software author to complete".
>
>  Sorry Gene, but using that logic, you're technically using the skills of
>Icom engineers, or TE Systems design to complete your SSB or CW contacts.
>There is certainly skill involved in making FSK441 meteor scatter contacts,
>especially those on the fringe areas of possible propagation range.
>
>  Predicting optimum paths, time of day, and time of year are a big part of
>the equation. To get good at it takes a fair amount of study on the part of
>the operator. Also, station designed must be optimized for meteor scatter
>work. And manipulating the software to pull out really distant contacts has a
>pretty step learning curve. Please explain how that differs from similar skill
>sets used in other areas of contesting.
>
>  If your experience with the mode is limited to working a few super stations
>with high power, large gain antennas, and optimum paths on 6 Meters, then yes,
>perhaps the contacts could be considered almost "automatic". But try those
>modest station contacts on 222 or 432 and see how easy it is.
>
>  Gene goes on to say, "Given even a modest station-100W to a small beam- most
>of your WSJT contacts are guaranteed if the other station shows up."
>
>  Again, I'm not sure how active Gene is on WSJT, but contacts, even with
>stations much better equipped than he describes are hardly guaranteed. In
>fact, the majority of contacts attempted during contests or any other period
>are not completed. Even when coordinated using resources like Ping Jockey. At
>least not on 2 Meters. During last year's contests I had WSJT skeds with a
>number of stations, and completed only two of those. Some of these were with
>powerhouse contests stations, who were multi-op.
>
>  After contest correspondence revealed that they did indeed "show up" but the
>rox simply didn't allow the contact to be completed before one or both of us
>had to move on to another attempt.
>
>  These remarks reveal a basis than many VHF men have toward the digital
>modes. Since it's new and unfamiliar to them, they dismiss it as being somehow
>"less than" the older modes. I think this is very contrary to the pioneering
>spirit of the bands. In the 1940's and 50's, don't you think that anyone in
>the ranks of VHF/UHF work would have given their eye teeth for a mode that
>would offer several db of improvement over CW?
>
>  All that being said, Zimmerman's logic about adding distance scoring to the
>September contest makes a lot of sense. I believe that it would encourage VHF
>men to give WSJT more of their operating time, which I think would be healthy
>for all of us. For some of us who have compromised stations, WSJT represents
>the best chance for awards like VUCC on 2 Meters, but the lack of stations
>using the mode makes that difficult. I think a distance scoring based contest
>would increase the usage of WSJT, and further development of the software
>would advance the state of the art.
>
>  73,
>
>  Les Rayburn, N1LF
>  EM63nf
>  121 Mayfair Park
>  Maylene, AL 35114
>
>
>  
>