Does anyone use any data modes on 2m/70cm, by data I mean PSK, RTTY? Hard to find information on this so I am posting it.
While permitted, there is not much interest understandably. Today a ham radio would be the last resort as there are much better methods. Even a plain ole telephone circuit with a modem is better. Think you will find few and far between to no interest. 2m and 70cm most popular mode, not saying much, are repeaters. I thought Networking might bring new life to repeaters, but does not seem to be the case because again there are much better means. No crappy audio, broadcast-quality audio with HD video with Skype, Jabber, and Zoom.
Not RTTY. I haven't seen or heard RTTY activity on VHF in many years. But that's probably because it's been replaced by other data modes, which are very popular: FT8 for just "making contacts" is popular and used every day by lots of VHFers. FT4 is similar with a shorter exchange time and is growing in popularity for VHF contests. MSK144 is the predominant mode for making VHF meteor scatter contacts. JT65 is the predominant mode for making VHF-UHF moonbounce contacts. These are all very popular on the VHF bands...but not really RTTY.
From time to time I will run FT-8 on both 6 and 2 meters. The distance covered is often impressive when compared to other modes.
Vara FM seems kind of neat. Potential to be way faster than old packet. I'm disappointed in VHF/UHF because even with just FM sound card modes, we can do a lot better than where we stopped with packet.
As mentioned above, packet radio has been a VHF staple since the 1980's. It's still used quite widely for APRS. I use MSK144 regularly on 2 meters for meteor scatter. I monitor the 2M MSK144 frequency (144.150 Mhz) most mornings. It's actually quite a popular mode. We have a local SSB chat group that meets Mondays evenings on 144 and Wednesday evenings on 432. Towards the end of the net, we sometimes fire up a digital mode called JS8Call and keyboard with each other. JS8Call allows some of the more distant stations (100+ miles) to join in when the propagation isn't up to snuff.
We have two large packet radio networks here in Minnesota. The better known one is on 145.67. We have a local WINLINK node that uses packet. We used to have a net for people who use PSK31 on VHF. I think that has gone by the wayside, but it was very interesting. With 100 watts and a medium sized yagi, I had very little trouble checking into the net. The net control station was in Peoria, and we had checkins from a radius of about 300 miles. I think most of the members of that net migrated to MSK144 for meteor contacts. Meteor contacts are possible at any time - not just in meteor showers. A horizontal yagi and 100 watts might be overkill. A local ham has his antenna in the garage and makes MSK144 contacts. Most hams don't have any idea what can be done with weak signal modes. SSB and horizontal antennas will always beat FM unless you live at the top of Pikes Peak.
