RTTY & PSK

Well we are running full bore now on the HF bands.  The G5RVJr connected between the palm tree and our shed is working great!

My next great adventure is going RTTY and PSK32.

I used to op RTTY years ago with one of those old green Army TTYs connected to my Kenwood 930s.

Can't believe the modern day approach!  Have a Rigblaster Plus fresh from HRO hooked up to my tiny Yaesu 857D.  Not only working RTTY, but also PSK.  I can;t believe how good PSK is.  I am able to decode signals I can't even here.  Feel like I am in the CIS or something.

I was never able to get a sked with anyone from the forum on HF.  Is anyone willing to try some digital HF with me?

I haven't read anything in a long time that made me feel as ignorant as did your post!  Whew!

On the upside, I did recognize about six of those words.........

Well.. Just now I'm not spending a lot of time "in the shack" (If you call a six digit motor home a "Shack" that is   but I could pop over to .070 (pick a couple of front digits) most any time save sat or sun AM  by schedule. 

When I'm at home I do mostly LSB on one network 3.935 IIRC net at 7pm, pre-net 6pm eastern

When I'm not at home I normally set the dial to x.070

gmsboss1 said:

I haven't read anything in a long time that made me feel as ignorant as did your post!  Whew!

On the upside, I did recognize about six of those words.........

Click to expand...

Don:

At times I am not sure they know them either. ;D

gmsboss1 said:

I haven't read anything in a long time that made me feel as ignorant as did your post!  Whew!

On the upside, I did recognize about six of those words.........

Click to expand...

Gee Boss... I recognized most everything in his post

G5RV: A popular antenna model

PSK: Phase Shift Keying

RTTY:  Radio Teletype

Old Green Army TTY's,,, I actually owned one or two of those

Kenwood 930: Make and model of radio


Rigblaster: Interface between Computer and Radio.. I did not buy one, I designed and built my own full isolation intereface


HRO: Ham Radio Outlet (Who I bought my Kenwood TS-2000, a different model of radio, from)


Yesau 857D,, A different make and model of radio

CIS: if you don't know that one you are either 1: Very new to this forum  or 2: In need of memory training, (Compuserve Information Service,, Once the greatest on-line service ever... In fact, I'd still take vintage CIS over what we got now, if it still existed)

HF: High Frequency (Also known as Short Wave)

Does this help?

Feel like I am in the CIS or something

Click to expand...

Hey John,

I wonder if it means something else in the context of Smoky's post...Cantral Intelligence Service...

GM Boss,

Don't feel bad about not understanding the language of Ham Radio Operators;  but feel free to ask for an interpretation anytime.  If the hobby interests you, ask about local courses in your area.

In "the old days" Ham Radio Operators had a real verbal shorthand which evolved from the days of CW or morse code (continuous wave) operation.  CW required saying the most using the least amount of on air time, so a language of "Q" codes was established.  Later many of these Q codes were routinely used in voice communications.

All that to say the language of radio is colorful and interesting, so feel free to join in and we'll explain what we're talking about.

Some of my best operating days were done using original RTTY equipment salvaged from WW II and later from the railways. 

73,

VA3VH, Steve

And I thought the aviation industry was awash in acronyms.  ;D ;D

Not like the IT (Information Technology) industry users acronyms

LOL, well it is really hard to talk about HAM radio without using acronyms.  You could see how long John's reply was when he spelled it all out.

Incidentally PSK31 is awesome.  You can make contacts all over the world using just 20 watts or less.  It was designed for low signal work, unlike RTTY which requires a very strong signal to be solid copy.  I have software that uses what is called a waterfall display.  You can see the PSK31 (means phase shift keying at 31.5 bandwidth) signal as a yellow line on the blue waterfall.  You set the radio at one frequency and you might see as many as 30 psk signals within 3 KHZ.  Once you set your radio dial you never have to change frequencies.  You just click on the one you want to communicate with and the software (on the laptop) locks onto the signal.  You can then type on your laptop and receive perfect copy with signals you cannot even hear.  They are so far down in the noise level that only the software can see the signal. 20 years ago this would have been better than anything the CIA would have!!

Like others here, back in the early 80s I used to have one of those huge, heavy Army surplus TTYs in my basement ham shack when I had a stick house.  was a lot of fun watching those yellow pages tying away just hooked up to my ham radio.

But my goodness digital ham modes have come a long way since then.  there are at least 20 different digital ham modes, each with their own special  features, with RTTY and PSK31 being just two of them.  However my favorite digital mode is still CW.  Using a Bencher paddle these days but sure miss my old Vibroplex.

Smoky S  Ham radio - W3PY

Click to expand...

Smoky,

Is you call an original issue?

VA3VH, Steve

Steve:

My original call was a novice call at age 13 in 1954, WN3FXP.  I passed the general class at age 13 as well and got rid of the "N" and it became W3FXP.

Another year and at age 14 picked up my extra class.

It was many years later that they issued the special call signs for extra class licenses and I picked up the W3PY.

I too could get a shorter call.. but hey... I've been WA8YXM for over 40 years.. I'd not know how to wrap my tong around another call (I know.. I've operated as a relief operator on a NCS a few times and I really had to struggle to give the NCS call)

I don't seem to have a problem with club calls however.. Wonder why that is?

(It was fun the time I relieved an NCS on a bike-a-thon (For those who don't know NCS is Net Control Station by the way) He went to where he had to go (hint, plumbing) and got shanghied by a event official on the way back so he was gone a good 15-30 minutes.. I had simply fallen into "Dispatcher"mode, located all my resources, kept track of all conservations and had every thing well controlled by the time he got back..  It was about 2 hours before he sat back down at the mic

What can I say... I was a professional NCS for 25 years.. Guess I must have practiced

As Canadian prefixes are all VE, the older suffixes were two letters such as VE2AW.  In the late fifties and early 60's in the Ontario and Quebec, they switched to three letter suffixs and recycling two letter calls to operatiors with 10+  active years, if they applied for it.

I kept my three letter call VE2ESV from 1972 until we moved to Ontario four years ago when I applied for a two letter call using Canada's new prefix: VA3VH