[WriteLog] PSK31 Observations in CCCC contest Part I

[Don Hill]

I noticed these things in the first PSK31 contest I entered earlier this year
but did not note them.  There are a couple of things that can be done with
WriteLog to improve PSK contesting.  So far, I note 2 of them:

1.  I changed the exchange format to allow for lower case and it scored zero
points for those calls in lower case.  Edited it back to upper case and points
scored OK.  Lower case is suppose to be easier to receive in PSK31.

2.  It would help IMMENSELY if the cursor was ALWAYS returned to the entry window
automatically when clicking anything in the WriteLog PSK Control window.  If you
are transmitting with the cursor in the PSK window and hit ESC to abort the transmission
you get double printed characters in the receive window and have to exit out of the
program and restart in order to clear that up.

PSK31 contesting is very challenging.  Much more so than RTTY.  It takes more
hand-eye coordination and less ear-coordination.  My TS870 can narrow the sideband
bandwidth from between 1000 hz and 1400 hz, but I still here several stations
within the passband.  This is inherent to the narrow PSK mode.  So it's almost
better to turn off the receive audio because invariably it screws you up to listen
to "your" CQ frequency and here several other PSK31 signals all around you.
Looking at the display is the only way to determine if someone is calling you.

Perhaps with time you can distinguish the audio differences especially if you
CQ within a certain audio range.  But I've twisted this NIR-12 every which way
but loose and can't narrow it down enough to exclude nearby signals.  It's not
like a 250 hz filter in RTTY, where nothing comes in except those calling you.

I've worked some nice DX so far including a JA2.  JL6HKJ just answered my CQ
and that's pretty cool.  This mode takes a lot of practice.  The quirks of WriteLog
in PSK31 contesting need to be worked out, but so far, it's working fairly well
except for the two major problems mentioned above.  7M4DWT just answered
me.  Man, this is COOL!

More later, 73 de Don AA5AU








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