Got Olivia?

[KC9GUZ]

Anyone want to set a schedule and do some Olivia some night?

[KC7YPJ]

olivia, the mode that most matches the speach speed of the texarkana native, have had a qso or 3 with olivia but man, I can hit my station info key and go have a smoke, come back and it's only 3/4 of the way through it. (think 4 sentences)

[NN4RH]

Quote[/b] (KC7YPJ @ Dec. 22 2007,14:48)]olivia, the mode that most matches the speach speed of the texarkana native, have had a qso or 3 with olivia but man, I can hit my station info key and go have a smoke, come back and it's only 3/4 of the way through it. (think 4 sentences)
Most of the Olivia modes are pretty sluggish. #I did a series of tests once, to measure how long it took to transmit the same block of text by various soundcard modes using MixW2. Regular PSK-31 beats the popular Olivia modes 500x16 and 1000x32 by a wide margin, at a fraction of the bandwidth. And PSK-63 beats everything except the 8x2000 Olivia mode; again, at a fraction of the bandwidth. #MFSK-16 at 250 Hz bandwidth beats out Olivia except for a couple of the 1000 or 2000 Hz bandwidth modes. Why use up 2000 Hz when I can get the same result with 250 Hz?

For whatever it's worth, here's the results of those measurements I made:

Mode # # # # # # # # # # # # #Bandwidth # # # # CPS
Olivia 16x125 # # # # # # # # #125 # # # # # # # 0.5
Olivia 8x125 # # # # # # # # # #125 # # # # # # # 0.7
Olivia 16x250 # # # # # # # # #250 # # # # # # # 0.9
Olivia 4x125 # # # # # # # # # #125 # # # # # # # 1.0
Olivia 32x500 # # # # # # # # #500 # # # # # # # 1.1
Olivia 64x1000 # # # # # # # 1000 # # # # # # #1.4
Olivia 8x250 # # # # # # # # # # 250 # # # # # # #1.4
Olivia 128x2000 # # # # # # 2000 # # # # # # #1.7
Olivia 16x500 # # # # # # # # # 500 # # # # # # #1.9
Olivia 4x250 # # # # # # # # # # 250 # # # # # # # 2.1
Olivia 32x1000 # # # # # # # 1000 # # # # # # # 2.4
Olivia 64x2000 # # # # # # # 2000 # # # # # # # 2.9
Olivia 8x500 # # # # # # # # # # 500 # # # # # # # 2.9
FeldHell # # # # # # # # # # # # # #100 # # # # # # # 3.6
Olivia 16x1000 # # # # # # # 1000 # # # # # # # 3.7
Olivia 4x500 # # # # # # # # # # 500 # # # # # # # 3.9
Olivia 32x2000 # # # # # # # 2000 # # # # # # # 4.7
BPSK-31 / QPSK-31 # # # # 40 # # # # # # # #4.9
RTTY 42.5 baud # # # # # # #183 # # # # # # # 5.1
MFSK-16 # # # # # # # # # # # # 250 # # # # # # # 5.3
Olivia 8x1000 # # # # # # # # 1000 # # # # # # # 5.7
Olivia 4x1000 # # # # # # # # 1000 # # # # # # # 7.5
Olivia 16x2000 # # # # # # # 2000 # # # # # # # 7.8
BPSK-63 # # # # # # # # # # # # # 80 # # # # # # # #9.8
Olivia 8x2000 # # # # # # # # 2000 # # # # # # 11.6
RTTY 110 baud # # # # # # # 183 # # # # # # #11.6


This was all done empirically; i.e. I actually transmitted the block of text (into a dummy load) and timed it with a stopwatch. I'm sure someone will present a theoretical argument that Olivia is superior. But in "real life" I don't get it.

In my opinion about all you can use Olivia for that you can't use MFSK-16 for, is to play around with the levels and bandwidth.

[KI4ITV]

Thanks for posting the list of modes with the bandwidth and character rates, that was really neat to see all together in print.

Olivia is excruciatingly slow, so I tend to use MFSK 16 if conditions are too bad for PSK31. I have had occasion to switch from MFSK16 to Olivia on 30m when conditions were really bad. The quality of the copy was definitely better with Olivia on my end and the other op seemed to agree that was the case on his. Not very scientific, but it did get the job done on that day.
It is still painfully slow, and can be a little wide for my taste depending on the bandwidth chosen.
Not my favorite mode by a long shot.

But, I'll do anything at least twice. PM me GUZ and I'll be happy to make a sked. If you're like all the other OPs, you really need Virginia for your log, right? http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[nz3m]

Olivia seems to handle QRN better than the other modes. Does well on the low bands with weak signals in the noise.

Dave

[KC9GUZ]

I knmow Olivia is slow(dont tell her that!) but id just want to try it myself just to see for myself. I pretty much like PSK 63 and RTTY but im game to try any of the other exotic modes.

[NN4RH]

Quote[/b] (AB3BK @ Dec. 22 2007,20:24)]Olivia seems to handle QRN better than the other modes. #Does well on the low bands with weak signals in the noise.
Supposedly. Rumor has it that way, anyway. Theoretically. # But has anyone ever actually done some testing to verify that? A head-to-head comparison of various Olivia modes against conventional MFSK-16 for example?

I'd like to see actual hard data showing whether Olivia is really any better than MFSK-16 for similar bandwidth and conditions.

I'd be willing to set up a sked with someone to do such a test. We'd establish contact using either MFSK-16 or your favorite Olivia 500xwhatever mode, then alternate between MFSK-16 and the "best" Olivia mode (however you want to select it) with 500 hz bandwidth, sending the same block of text (short block of text so I don't fall asleep while the Olivia is transmitting) and saving the receive file. Then step the power down - 20, 10, 5, 2, 1 Watt etc . . . and repeat the transmissions. See which mode craps out first as power is stepped down.

My own feeling is that soundcard modes wider than 500 Hz should not be used routinely on the HF digital subands unless there's honest extraordinary circumstances.

[n5tjd]

Quote[/b] (KC7YPJ @ Dec. 22 2007,12:48)]...olivia, the mode that most matches the speach speed of the texarkana native...
Hey.........I..........resemble..........that..... .....remark.........!..........!

N5TJD - Mt. Pleasant TX (60mi west of Tex-R-Kana)

[w0aew]

Olivia mode, 500/16:

Weekday mornings between 1100-1200 Z, 3.582.500
Weekends 14.075.650 to 14.077.650 sporadically