just b/c someone is using more than 25 watts doesn't mean their signal is "fat wide heavy" - just like SSB, sometimes people overdrive their signals and it's 'ugly'. . . but we dont charge every single QRO SSB user of causing disturbances. . .
Weak signal does NOT equal low power.....I run 25 to 50 watts on JT65/JT9 and now FT8 every day....the secrets are to keep a constant watch on your ALC level, and keep your clock synced within +/- half a second and listen for a couple minutes before starting any CQs.... On my QRZ page I ask anyone who sees a poor signal generated by me to let me know and I would rectify it immediately.....Zero complaints so far amd I have been doing digital for 3 years now. K7SKE DN13
Agree with the ALC suggestions. And check with the radio manufacturers recommendations as to where the optimum ALC setting will be for your radio. I have seen some suggest you should not see any ALC readings but this is not what Yaesu recommends. You have several different settings to effect the ALC level. The slider in the WSJT-X is just one. Others are the sound card level sliders in Windows, the mic level adjustment on the radio, the Tx. knob on the SignaLink and other external sound cards.
I suspect you have run all this up and down the flagpole, but it may be your radio settings that are off based on the interface used. For example, if I set my handshake from none to hardware (icom 7300), the radio will enter transmit mode and not send one thing to anywhere.
Check the bandplan! 7.040 has been the RTTY DX window for years as well as the QRP calling freq. http://www.bandplans.com/index.php?band=40
The band plan in Region 1 (Europe) is different from Region 2. The CW QRP center of activity here is 7030 kHz, not 7040 kHz. 7040 - 7050 kHz is for narrow band digital modes with a bandwidth of up to 500 Hz. 73, Walt (G3NYY)
Sigh... To the OP, before you post a "news" item (and this is hardly news), please get your facts straight. The power level has nothing to do with "blanking out the entire waterfall" unless the station is driving your receiver into compression. Unless you S-meter is pinned, the problem is on YOUR end. WSJT stands for "Weak Signal Communication, by K1JT", not "Low Power." A weak signal might be a 100KW Short wave station that you're struggling to hear, or a 1mW WSPR station below the noise floor. 100W into a small antenna with negative gain (think 80M hamstick) will put out a smaller signal than a QRP transmitter into a fullsized yagi or array with positive gain. Making sure your signal is CLEAN is the primary issue on the TX side of things, and understanding how to setup your receiver is likewise, the major issue on the RX side. http://www.sm5bsz.com/dynrange/alc.htm <-- some good reading on what the transmitter "ALC" does. Somewhat OK for speech (what it was designed for), not OK for FSK. Plenty has been written on the subject, please do you homework before you call operators "morons". http://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/wsjtx-doc/wsjtx-main-1.7.1-devel.html#TRANSCEIVER <--Some tips on how to setup your transceiver for WSJT
Yesterday, the K Factor was 6, Zero Sunspots, all my go to web pages indicate I should do something else rather than fire up the Ham radio and the QRZ Page for conditions showed 100% red..(For conditions) I used the new FT8...work many DX Stations..A ton actually! The digital modes and all the various flavors has offered a granularity when considering working DX, but at a costs of giving up in some cases the rag chew (When conditions are really poor), or if conditions are better digital modes with rag chew (Olivia), and finally if bands conditions are normal SSB... Let me see if I can lay out some of the dynamic level, and granularity. (If another Ham operator would like to fill in the blanks great!) - 24dB below noise floor, many of the digital modes can close the loop (Like FT8, JT65, JT9) - 13 dB below the noise floor many of the "Rag Chew digital Modes" can close the loop (Like Olivia and many others) - 10dB (BPSK 31), (Please help on this one) Next is the CW, and RTTY, and the rest of them...(CW is very subjective, and requires apples to apples, but at the end, if you compare 30 WPM, to 30 W Words of typing, (The Olivia is better, period)... And if the band is fairly good shape SSB.. My point being, the digital modes provides a more dynamic range (Down to -24dB below the noise floor)and granularity (Basically many choices all depending upon the band conditions. Having said all the above, if 10 meters is wide open, SSB all the way..!
Personally, I have enjoyed using FT8 and even worked K1JT on a couple bands. I often hear from club members that the bands are in bad shape and that may be true when viewed by the SSB /CW modes. But when I got my license in 76 as a teenager I too thought the bands sucked until I realized that a Hallicrafter SX receiver and Globe Chief CW transmitter with a dipole in my parents attic was NOT optimal. Today, hams have more restrictions on antennas, but have many new options in operating. Therefore, people should be grateful to make a contact and use these forums to teach people HOW to properly use their radios to minimize interference. Calling folks a moron may be true IF someone is purposely causing harm. However, when I tune my radio, I ping first using PSKreporter to see what power I need (5w-20w) and keep ALC to zero......point is this.....in some cases my signal is heard at +6 and others at -12.......so the question becomes.....am I using too much power or is propagation or their antenna favoring my direction? I will never know the true answer, but one thing is certain and that is I am grateful that K1JT created yet another mode that I can finish my WAS up on and teach others in my club that they too can have fun making a contact with a piece of wire or in my case on 160m a POS wire to 39 states and counting. 73's and see you on the waterfall allbeit PSK, Olivia, RTTY, JT, FT8, or while contesting......
BUT those guys on SSB all sound like Donald Duck! Running "Plenty Extra Power" and even sometimes (shudder) VOX. Can't lock the PTT down on my AM xtal freq anymore without some darn more-on "sidewinder" movin' in and splatterin' into the 10 khz channel. Works lots better for weak signal fone DX but it's takin' over the HF bands and it's gonna be the ruin of ham radio ! (sigh) 73 de John - WØPV PS - paraphrased from popular ham-talk heard even in mid 1960's.
Hi Walt, I looked it up and IARU Region 1 and 2 are the same CW QRP center at 7030khz! I think the 7040 was a freq picked years ago for hams with QRP crystal transmitters in region 2? Region 3 allows NB down to 7030khz and during RTTY contest I hear EU stations below 7040 here in the Philippines? CW is always allowed in the entire band plan, 7040khz was probably a gentleman's agreement for the region 2 QRP ops?
