[VHFcontesting] Conditions and the digital modes

[chetsubaccount at snet.net]

Well Mark, you mention using a band scope- if that is an SDR and feeding an
SDR app on your computer then you have a spectrum display and a 2nd receiver
to listen to the calling freq in between dig sequences without messing up
your main decode audio.

Chet, N8RA

-----Original Message-----
From: VHFcontesting
<vhfcontesting-bounces+chetsubaccount=snet.net at contesting.com> On Behalf Of
Mark Spencer
Sent: Sunday, March 21, 2021 1:20 PM
To: JamesDuffey <jamesduffey at comcast.net>
Cc: vhfcontesting at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [VHFcontesting] Conditions and the digital modes

James you bring up some good points about the utility of using the digital
modes to make contacts when band conditions are flat.   

I will say for the last several years I have been focusing more on the
digital modes on 50 MHz (especially MSK144) as they give me a much higher
certainty of at least making some contacts from remote areas in the absence
of a band opening.   I have been told that this is at times frustrating for
other operators who don't want to use the digital modes and I have made a
number of efforts to accommodate those operators, but from a perspective of
making QSO's from remote places during flat band conditions the digital
modes have a lot of advantages in my view.

I do try and keep an eye on the analog calling frequencies when running
digital modes with a band scope but it is not the same as continually
listening to the calling analog calling frequency hoping for a band opening.
Even if I detect a band I may or may not want to stop running digital and
jump on the analog frequencies (especially if I am part of the way thru a
digital QSO.)

  I don't think there is a single right answer to this issue and at this
point I remind myself this is only a hobby (:  

73

Mark S
VE7AFZ

mark at alignedsolutions.com
604 762 4099

> On Mar 21, 2021, at 9:34 AM, JamesDuffey <jamesduffey at comcast.net> wrote:
> 
> Kim - Your point on conditions is pertinent. I think the discussion of the
impact that conditions have on contest scores is implicitly included in the
discussion of digital modes. FT8 and FT4 in particular are designed to make
contest QSOs under marginal sporadic Es conditions, and are a good equalizer
under flat to poor conditions. And, if one uses these modes, it is fairly
common to see short Es or tropo openings of a minute or two, long enough to
make a QSO, and then they are gone. Similarly, the use of MSK has made
meteor scatter QSOs available when meteor conditions are flat. So, I think
when it comes to the digital mode QSOs, conditions are a variable that is
well accounted for.
> 
> Where conditions come into play and drive scores is when propagation is
favoring the analog modes and ops tend to stick on the digital modes. Casual
contest operators on the digital modes do not adapt to changing conditions,
which is what these discussions are all about.
> 
> Now, heading into Es season, is the time of year to volunteer a talk at
your local radio club to promote VHF/UHF operating in general and the
importance of moving off of the digital modes when signal strengths are
high. - Duffey KK6MC
> 
> James Duffey KK6MC
> Cedar Crest NM
> 
>> On Mar 21, 2021, at 10:00, vhfcontesting-request at contesting.com wrote:
>> How can we truly assess impacts, decreases, and/or increases?
>> 
>> Are conditions the same for every contest?  For every station?
>> 
>> It's like banging your head against a concrete wall.
>> 
>> Let's have this discussion, and ignore the elephant in the room.
>> 
>> Conditions, conditions, conditions.
>> 
>> End of my rant.
>> 
>> 73, Kim - WG8S
> 
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