QRSS and other slow-speed sound card modes

[N0SSC]

Hello,

I've made a observation on 30m recently with some online SDRs and a slow waterfall -- QRSS in shapes of normal CW, two tone CW, slashes, triangles, letters, words and even pictures! Very interesting.

I was wondering if anyone is messing around with the mode...its no quick way to communicate but from what I've read it enables nanowatt transmitters to be heard thousands of miles away!

What are some good programs to use, and would it burden the finals of a mainstream HF radio for transmitting that long (5 Watts through a TS-850)?

73

[KF5FEI]

You never run the radio at full output on the digital stuff -- you leave the radio on high power, but adjust the audio drive so the radio is doing 25-33% of it's rated output. This protects the finals and keeps your signal from being wider / trashier than it should be.

[KV6O]

WSPR is a good one http://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/wspr.html

I rarely run more than 1-2 watts, and often just 500mW or even 100mW. No burden to the finals at all!

Steve

KV6O