View Full Version : What's your favorite digital mode, and why?
I love to work ham radio using the modern sound card modes such as PSK31, PSK63, MFSK, RTTY, Pactor , etc. but I have noticed a disturbing trend, and would like to know if anyone else has, as well.
It seems to me that the majority of hams are migrating toward PSK31 and away from the other modes I have mentioned.
The question up for discussion is what mode is your favorite, and why do you like it? I'll withold my vote for the time being, but I will tell you it ISN'T PSK31 !
Let's keep CW out of the discussion for the time being. There have been enough posts about that subject for a good while. On the other hand, I haven't seen or heard anyone talking about some of the other modes besides speech for a LOOONNGG time!
How about it, guys? Who wants to go first ?
73 from Jim AG3Y
Definitely PSK-31. It is very popular, and it is compatible with QRP operation.
Two complaints about PSK-31 (or -63 or RTTY, etc): brag files and time stamps. I really don't care what a guy has in his shack, I'd rather hear about what he does, what he reads, what projects he's working on, etc., meaning I'd rather have a *real* conversation. Also, I have a watch on my wrist. I *know* what dagum time it is!
Drew N0XU
w5alt
08-12-2003, 10:42 PM
I work some PSK31, but the newness has sort of worn off. I find my QSOs and rag chews on some other modes much more enjoyable. I'd say it's a tie between MFSK and Feld-Hell.
73,
WA9UAA
08-13-2003, 01:50 AM
Hi Jim,
I am going to take a leap here and guess that the disturbing trend is a continual shift in popularity from one new mode to the next. There are many from which to choose. I have had many QSOs in PSK 31 and a few in MFSK, now I am back to SSB. Earlier this spring I took the main rig off the desk for a week and ran the Century 21. I can see where it might be hard to have a QSO in a case where there are MANY digital modes in use at the same time. The new modes are easier now days. I started with AMTOR in the late 80s, there was NO ONE locally I could go to for help nobody else was doing AMTOR. It took a while and some better equipment to figure what was going on. I don't have a problem with the new stuff, it would have been easier had the internet been where it is today. I could have simply gone online and asked some questions and figured out what I needed to do. So, is the proliferation of new modes a good thing? I don't think we will know until we reach some kind of limiting factor. What are your thoughts?
73,
Rob
ae4fa
08-13-2003, 02:08 AM
As the ground rules of this thread prohibit me from mentioning my favorite digital mode, I'll just mention some of the ones on the 'second string' that I have fiddled with and enjoyed:
PSK31
MFSK441
SSTV
JT44 (monitoring only)
But, I do keep returing to my first love . . .
N3HGB
08-13-2003, 01:10 PM
I love PSK31! I would be happy to try other sound card modes too, but it is kind of a chicken-and-egg thing. If everyone else is on PSK31, then that's where you go to find a QSO.
HGB, I agree that it is a "chicken and egg thing". There are just so many active hams, and some weekends when there is a popular contest going on, you can't BUY a contact if you are not working the same mode everyone else is!
4FA, You are WISE in your disgression ! nudge, nudge, wink wink ! What are MFSK441 and JT44 ? I would imagine MFSK441 involves a different baud rate, but you are the first person I have heard talk about JT44 !
UAA I would agree with you about the migration from one new mode to another, if I heard more people using some of the newer modes, but I have only heard a small handfull running psk63 for instance, and never heard MFSK441 and JT44 as mentioned in the paragraph above. Must be something else that attracts the "great multitude" to PSK31. Even the closely related QSK31 doesn't get the exposure PSK31 does.
Walt, I love Hell modes, but they are so slow for this touch typist, and you can't save the text as a text file. I have been thinking of using charactor recognition software to convert the image over to an actual ascii text file. Have you thought of something similiar?
Drew, I agree with you concerning the "Brag Tape" but I think that the complaint has been around as long as ham radio! So many do not know how to really "chew the rag"!
I got my R.C.C. certificate from the ARRL when I was still a novice! Must have bored the fellow I talked with ( at about 8 wpm ! HI ! ) but he hung in there and sponsored me for the wallpaper! I'll never forget the experience!
Well, everyone, lets keep the dialog going, I still would like to hear such ideas as
What can be done to improve a mode ( such as charactor recognition for HellSchreiber, better error correction for psk63, etc. )
73 for now, and "keep those cards ant letters comin' ina folks!" ( in my best Lawrence Welk imitation )
Jim AG3Y
w5alt
08-13-2003, 11:11 PM
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (AG3Y @ Aug. 13 2003,17:41)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Walt, I love Hell modes, but they are so slow for this touch typist, and you can't save the text as a text file. #I have been thinking of using charactor recognition software to convert the image over to an actual ascii text file. #Have you thought of something similiar?[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
No, I hadn't thought about doing that, but it might be an interesting exercize. What little OCR stuff I've done was a long time back and didn't work too well, though.
73,
ae4fa
08-14-2003, 12:03 AM
Jim:
That should have been FSK441. Anyway, it's a meteor scatter mode that works quite well. JT44 is a moonbounce mode. They were developed by Joe Taylor, K1JT - who, by the way holds a Nobel prize.
Take a look at:
http://pulsar.princeton.edu/~joe/K1JT
Since I visited, it appears he's added another one - JT6M.
73, Bob