I'm not sure exactly why, but I am starting to get the urge to get a new HF rig. I have two radios with HF capabilities: the Kenwood TS-2000X and the Yaesu FT-897D. I never expected too much when I bought the FT-897D, but it's still a decent radio that offers HF (including general coverage receive), VHF, UHF, along with the AM and FM broadcast bands and the airband. It's also a lot easier to go portable with it than the Kenwood. I used the FT-897D at Field Day (the WC8OH, West Central Ohio Amateur Radio Association, group) and made several dozen contacts on 20, 15, and 10 meters. I thought it performed admirably. Actually, my main problem was the other transmitters getting into the front end of the 897. I plan to solve that at this year's Field Day with the purchase of W3NQN bandpass filters to put on each transmitter. Ever since I bought the TS-2000X, I have considered it my main rig, but starting last year, I started looking at other radios. I have heard several comments in the past about how great the VHF, UHF, and satellite capabilities are for the TS-2000, but those same people always stated that they believed the HF section to be only mediocre. The main radio that I started looking at last year was the Icom IC-756Pro III. From the product reviews in QST, it did seem to have better numbers in the receiver department.
I did a little bit of research on the IC-756Pro III last year, then I dropped the ball. I guess it was late last year or very early this year, I heard about Icom's upcoming IC-7600. And last week (I think it was), I learned that it had been FCC-approved and that Universal Radio was listing a price right around $4,000. That's is a good chunk of money, but doable.
My plan is to do more research on radios over the next year. However, once I set my sights on something, its too to let go. Perhaps, I will assume that I will get the IC-7600 and look for anything that might disqualify it from consideration. There are other radios out there that have similar or superior performance, but the ones for Icom that fall in that category are also even more expensive. There's Yaesu, and I'm sure that they have some great radios, but I haven't really checked them out. Kenwood, I've just about written off. It's been several years since they've released a new radio (the TS-480, I think), and that radio has similar characteristics to the TS-2000, if I am not mistaken. Ten-Tec makes fine radios, at least based on the numbers, but I do find their radios to be lacking cosmetically. There is Elecraft, also. From what I have heard, they are some of the best radios. Finally, there's Alinco, but I hardly have any familiarity with their products.
I plan to post more about my research on the Icom IC-7600. Naturally, I am looking at the receiver performance, but I also wonder if the transmitter section of the 7600 is clean. I also want to determine if it can handle high duty cycle modes such as PSK31 and RTTY at its highest power level. Normally, I turn down the power on my TS-2000 to the lowest that I think I can get away with (to still be heard on the other end), but I would like to know that I can turn up the power if necessary. I'm not that comfortable with doing that on the TS-2000. I also want to learn more the 7600's ability to do PSK31 and RTTY without the computer. My main concern there regards macros. When I'm using MixW with the TS-2000, I will use macros, but I do try to use them sparingly. I have several macros entered and ready to go, but I won't necessarily use them, unless I feel that the other station is using theirs as well. In other words, if the other station is practically going to automate the QSO, I might as well too, but if the other station wants to ragchew a little, I'll just manually type at the keyboard. Obviously, I can manually type the whole QSO at a keyboard connected to the IC-7600, but it would be nice to have the CQ macro stored, and a macro stored for answering the other station (i.e. urcall DE mycall). I've downloaded the owner's manual, and it appears that macros are supported. It doesn't call them macros, but that's what they appear to be. Anyway, there will be more research. I'll try to post regularly about what I learn about this radio.
As I wrapped up this post, I realized that I had previously mentioned looking for a new radio. At that time, I briefly mentioned the IC-7600, but I indicated that I was looking at the Icom IC-7000. I am no longer looking at that one. It's a feature packed radio, but again I would never have high expectations for it. I'll keep the FT-897D for my portable radio for now.
73,
Ned, N8OIF
Showing posts with label psk31. Show all posts
Showing posts with label psk31. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Saturday, September 06, 2008
One Missed Contest; Another Upcoming
I did not actually miss the Ohio QSO Party (OQP). I had put it on my calendar at least a month out, and the reminders popped up on my computer screen at the appropriate times. I just decided to sit it out this year. I'm in an apartment and currently my antenna is indoors. I normally try to keep my RF power set at lower levels, which have been fine so far for PSK31 and other digital modes. I was actually quite surprised when I ran my numbers through the RF Safety Calculator on the University of Texas website. The highest power setting that I think that I have ever used for PSK31 is 40 watts. However, PSK31 is a 100% duty cycle mode (there are always tones being emitted), so 40 watts is also the average power. The calculator asks for average power, so I use 40 watts. It also asks for the frequency of operation. I used 7, 10.1 and 14 MHz, and it asks for the gain of the antenna, and suggests 2.2 dB for a dipole. I have a Buddipole, which is a form of dipole, so I use 2.2 dB. On the 40 meter digital segment, a person in the uncontrolled environment has to be 2.04 feet from my antenna. On 30 meters, that number increases to 2.92 feet, and on 20 meter digital, one has to be 4.03 feet from my antenna. Keep in mind that the calculator asks for average power at the antenna. So I could have subtracted off losses in the coax: I'm using a combination of RG-58 and RG-213. I think that it is also implied that antenna inefficiencies could be weighed in, too. Obviously, antennas that are not resonant, or use things such as loading coils, will take some of the RF and convert it to heat in the coax or the antenna itself. That RF won't be radiating and potentially exposing someone. The point is that my neighbors are easily at a safe distance away. Things look even better when you talk about SSB, which is what I would have used in the OQP. In the OQP, I probably would have gradually worked the RF setting up to the full 100 watts that the TS-2000X is capable of, but SSB is not a 100% duty cycle mode. The characteristics of speech are such that the average power of SSB is about 20% of the peak power. Therefore, on the RF Safety Calculator, I would have put in 20 watts for average power, even though my radio is set at 100 watts. The 20% number assumes that a speech processor is turned off and you aren't using heavy equalization.
To make a long story short, I sat out the OQP because I wanted to be able to set up my antenna outdoors (not because of RF safety, which appears to be under control, but because 100 watts will create havoc in the shack), and I hadn't made arrangements to do that yet.
I will have my big chance to enter a contest in a matter of weeks. For a 48-hour period starting on October 25 (UTC) and running through October 26, the CQ Worldwide DX SSB Contest will be going on. Last year, I made six DX contacts during the contest, but I never officially entered. In other words, I did not submit a log. This year I will probably enter in the Single Operator Low Power category. I did notice the other day, that the logs from 2007 are available for viewing on the web. I checked the six logs for the stations that I worked: VP5T, ZY7C, ZF2AH, 6F75A, VP9I, and V26B. I appeared in four of the six logs. For whatever reason, I was not in the ZY7C log nor the 6F75A log. The operators probably misread my call. 6F75A is Mexico (yes, last year's CQWW DX SSB contest was my first real exposure to unusual callsigns). I've got Mexico (XE3RR on PSK31) confirmed on Logbook of the World. ZY7C is Brazil. It would've been nice to ask for a confirmation for that, but there is no point, since I'm not in their log. Assuming 15 meters opens up again this year like last year, Brazil and other DX should not be too hard to obtain, but 20 meters should work, too.
73
To make a long story short, I sat out the OQP because I wanted to be able to set up my antenna outdoors (not because of RF safety, which appears to be under control, but because 100 watts will create havoc in the shack), and I hadn't made arrangements to do that yet.
I will have my big chance to enter a contest in a matter of weeks. For a 48-hour period starting on October 25 (UTC) and running through October 26, the CQ Worldwide DX SSB Contest will be going on. Last year, I made six DX contacts during the contest, but I never officially entered. In other words, I did not submit a log. This year I will probably enter in the Single Operator Low Power category. I did notice the other day, that the logs from 2007 are available for viewing on the web. I checked the six logs for the stations that I worked: VP5T, ZY7C, ZF2AH, 6F75A, VP9I, and V26B. I appeared in four of the six logs. For whatever reason, I was not in the ZY7C log nor the 6F75A log. The operators probably misread my call. 6F75A is Mexico (yes, last year's CQWW DX SSB contest was my first real exposure to unusual callsigns). I've got Mexico (XE3RR on PSK31) confirmed on Logbook of the World. ZY7C is Brazil. It would've been nice to ask for a confirmation for that, but there is no point, since I'm not in their log. Assuming 15 meters opens up again this year like last year, Brazil and other DX should not be too hard to obtain, but 20 meters should work, too.
73
Saturday, August 23, 2008
More Digital Contacts on 30 and 20 Meters
I've been having a lot of fun lately on the HF bands. Of course, I've operated SSB before, both at my own station and at numerous Field Days. But over the past couple of weeks I have operated nothing except for the digital modes, including PSK31, MFSK16, Olivia, and Hellschreiber. Many of my earlier contacts were on 40 meters. Lately I have been using 20 meters or even the fairly unique 30 meters. I would eventually like to try a mode such as PSK31 on 80 meters, and when the sunspots return, I'll definitely be using 15 and 10 meters. 30 meters, as I mentioned, is a fairly unique band. In the U.S., amateur radio operators use 30 meters on a secondary basis to a fixed service. I wonder what fixed service that is. Every evening when I turn the radio on to 30 meters at around 2000Z on roughly 10.130 MHz, I hear a signal that sounds a little bit like RTTY, but this transmission has a fairly wide shift. By playing around with MixW, I can determine that the shift is 850 Hz, but I apparently don't have the baud rate set correctly, because nothing meaningful ever decodes. If anyone knows what this is, let me know. I routinely hear other digital transmissions, including one that I guess is PACTOR. In the U.S., we are limited to 200 watts PEP on this band (presumably to avoid interference to the primary users of the band), and although I haven't looked at the Part 97 FCC rules lately, I know that you cannot use phone or image transmissions. They are just too wide. On the other hand, I have read about people trying Olivia 1000/32 on 30 meters, so I presume that at least 1 kHz bandwidth is allowed; at least in certain segments. I just checked my meager log (I've been operating the digital modes less than a month): I've got five QSOs on 30. Four are PSK31 and one is Olivia (which I assume is Olivia 500/16 since I've never tried 1000/32 and only tried 500/8 once).
20 meters has been somewhat more productive for me. I currently have 13 QSOs in the log for 20 meters. All of those contacts are using PSK31, except for one which was PSK63 (very similar to PSK31 but with double the baud rate and, I believe, double the width). As I suspected 20 meters works better for DX than 30 meters, and 30 meters may be slightly better than 40. Of course, I believe the reason is simple. My antenna is a fixed height above ground and is not particularly high to begin with. Many hams realize that an antenna needs to be a certain fraction of a wavelength above ground in order to have the lower takeoff angles (for the RF energy), in order to work good DX. When the antenna is too close to the ground for the band in question, you have what many refer to as a "cloudwarmer". Going back to my log (which has less than 50 entries, because I have only been doing this less than a month), I have no problem working the eastern provinces of Canada, and I can easily work 500 miles out or so in the U.S. I have no other DX on 40 meters. On 30 meters, I only have seven log entries, but I have Cuba. Station CO8LY is located in Santiago de Cuba, which is 1430 miles from me. Not too bad. On 20 meters, my DX gets even better: Mexico (Cancun), Venezuela, and Colombia. The Venezulean station, YV4OW, is located on Margarita Island (which happens to be SA-012, one of the Islands On The Air). Margarita Island is 2300 miles from me. I can also hear TG9AHM in Guatemala and TI2CCC in Costa Rica. It's just a matter of time before I work them.
I can't wait until the sunspots return, because I suspect that my workhorse DX bands will be 15 meters and 10 meters.
As a final note, I started working on this post about a week ago, after I first worked a station on 30 meters. In the meantime, I received a comment on my post entitled "The Internet and Radio Propagation". David, K2DSL, left a comment for me about another web-based propagation tool (which I plan to take a closer look at and blog about), but he also left me an email where he indicated that he has an amateur radio blog, and that he had similar radio equipment to mine. I was encouraged by his post about the SARTG RTTY Contest that was recently held. David has very similar gear and was able to work all sorts of DX. Good job, David, and it's certainly encouraging for me.
Until next time,
73
20 meters has been somewhat more productive for me. I currently have 13 QSOs in the log for 20 meters. All of those contacts are using PSK31, except for one which was PSK63 (very similar to PSK31 but with double the baud rate and, I believe, double the width). As I suspected 20 meters works better for DX than 30 meters, and 30 meters may be slightly better than 40. Of course, I believe the reason is simple. My antenna is a fixed height above ground and is not particularly high to begin with. Many hams realize that an antenna needs to be a certain fraction of a wavelength above ground in order to have the lower takeoff angles (for the RF energy), in order to work good DX. When the antenna is too close to the ground for the band in question, you have what many refer to as a "cloudwarmer". Going back to my log (which has less than 50 entries, because I have only been doing this less than a month), I have no problem working the eastern provinces of Canada, and I can easily work 500 miles out or so in the U.S. I have no other DX on 40 meters. On 30 meters, I only have seven log entries, but I have Cuba. Station CO8LY is located in Santiago de Cuba, which is 1430 miles from me. Not too bad. On 20 meters, my DX gets even better: Mexico (Cancun), Venezuela, and Colombia. The Venezulean station, YV4OW, is located on Margarita Island (which happens to be SA-012, one of the Islands On The Air). Margarita Island is 2300 miles from me. I can also hear TG9AHM in Guatemala and TI2CCC in Costa Rica. It's just a matter of time before I work them.
I can't wait until the sunspots return, because I suspect that my workhorse DX bands will be 15 meters and 10 meters.
As a final note, I started working on this post about a week ago, after I first worked a station on 30 meters. In the meantime, I received a comment on my post entitled "The Internet and Radio Propagation". David, K2DSL, left a comment for me about another web-based propagation tool (which I plan to take a closer look at and blog about), but he also left me an email where he indicated that he has an amateur radio blog, and that he had similar radio equipment to mine. I was encouraged by his post about the SARTG RTTY Contest that was recently held. David has very similar gear and was able to work all sorts of DX. Good job, David, and it's certainly encouraging for me.
Until next time,
73
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Second SignaLink USB on the Way
I noticed yesterday that my credit card had been charged for the second Tigertronics SignaLink USB that I had ordered. That was nine weeks to the day from when I ordered it. Since Tigertronics is located in Grants Pass, Oregon and I am in Ohio, it will take another week to get here via UPS Ground. I already have one of these devices to interface my Kenwood TS-2000X to the computer. This second one will be for my Yaesu FT-897D. Coincidentally, the wiring and cabling required to interface the SignaLink USB to the 897 is the same required for the Icom IC-7000, which is a radio that I plan to buy shortly.
For those who think that nine to ten weeks is a long time to wait for one of these interfaces, please realize that they are worth the wait. They get their power from your USB port and they have their own built-in sound card. Only two cables are required: one back to your computer for USB, and one to the radio (many times the radio's Data port). You are able to set volume levels once and regular operating system sounds still go to your regular speakers, and not out over the air. I notice in my PSK31 QSOs that many people mention they are using a Signalink USB.
73
For those who think that nine to ten weeks is a long time to wait for one of these interfaces, please realize that they are worth the wait. They get their power from your USB port and they have their own built-in sound card. Only two cables are required: one back to your computer for USB, and one to the radio (many times the radio's Data port). You are able to set volume levels once and regular operating system sounds still go to your regular speakers, and not out over the air. I notice in my PSK31 QSOs that many people mention they are using a Signalink USB.
73
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Trying to Pick a Logging Program
Now that I am becoming active on the HF bands, I need to settle on a logging program. I purchased a license for Writelog about a year ago, but as I started using it a couple of weeks ago for my initial PSK31 contacts, I noticed that it does not seem to handle general purpose logging. I could be wrong. I admittedly have not spent much time learning how to use it. I then started doing a little research on what program to use for general purpose logging. My first visit was to eHam.net--a site that I regularly visit. In the Reviews section of that site under the category of logging programs, I looked for the program that had the highest ratings. The program that had the highest score with the highest number of reviews seemed to be AC Log written by N3FJP (Scott). I went to Scott's website and downloaded a trial copy. Once I started it up I could tell that it was a very straightforward program to use. I've now got about 16 contacts logged so far. This is a trial version and I have about another month to complete my evaluation. Registration, I believe, is $19.
I've noticed in several of my PSK31 QSOs and other in-progress QSOs that some people mention the use of Ham Radio Deluxe (HRD) for logging. I was not even aware that Ham Radio Deluxe had a logging capability, but it does not surprise me. It is a quite comprehensive program. I have used it for rig control before. It handles my Kenwood TS-2000X and my Yaesu FT-897D effortlessly, and it is a program that I still have loaded on my computer and have kept up to date.
Before I send off my money to N3FJP, I am going to give Ham Radio Deluxe's logging a try. I am assuming at this point that both AC Log and HRD support the ADIF file format. I hate to make the switch to HRD and not be able to transfer my existing log from AC Log. Of course, I may settle on AC Log and not have to transfer my log. Ham Radio Deluxe is free; AC Log is not, but I have always believed that good things are worth paying a little bit for. After all, the developer had to expend a lot of time and resources (application development software, etc.) to provide the program to the amateur radio community.
I will let you know what program I settle on.
73
I've noticed in several of my PSK31 QSOs and other in-progress QSOs that some people mention the use of Ham Radio Deluxe (HRD) for logging. I was not even aware that Ham Radio Deluxe had a logging capability, but it does not surprise me. It is a quite comprehensive program. I have used it for rig control before. It handles my Kenwood TS-2000X and my Yaesu FT-897D effortlessly, and it is a program that I still have loaded on my computer and have kept up to date.
Before I send off my money to N3FJP, I am going to give Ham Radio Deluxe's logging a try. I am assuming at this point that both AC Log and HRD support the ADIF file format. I hate to make the switch to HRD and not be able to transfer my existing log from AC Log. Of course, I may settle on AC Log and not have to transfer my log. Ham Radio Deluxe is free; AC Log is not, but I have always believed that good things are worth paying a little bit for. After all, the developer had to expend a lot of time and resources (application development software, etc.) to provide the program to the amateur radio community.
I will let you know what program I settle on.
73
Sunday, August 03, 2008
My First Olivia Contact on HF
Within the past week, I've been starting to use some of the digital modes on HF. I first tried PSK31 by successfully making a few contacts. Then I made a contact using MFSK16. Very early this morning I had a successful QSO using Olivia. Specifically the mode was Olivia 500/16. The 500/16 designation means that the occupied bandwidth is 500 Hz and the number of tones used is 16.
My QSO was with WB8ROL. His name is Gary and he is located in Ludlow Falls, Ohio. It's a town I've visited a few times, when I used to live in Dayton. Ludlow Falls always had a rather impressive Christmas light display at the Falls. The town recently discontinued the display due to funding issues. Ludlow Falls is about 80 miles from me, so this contact was decidedly not DX. It was a memorable contact nonetheless. Gary was using a Yaesu FT-100D and running about 30 watts. I very quickly noticed that Olivia 500/16 is not a particularly fast mode, but my copy on Gary was 100% complete. He explained to me how he has had Olivia QSOs that he could neither hear on the speaker, nor see on the waterfall display of the software. He only knew that there was a Olivia transmission because it started decoding on his screen.
Gary made a suggestion that we each try to lower our power levels to see how well the copy would be. For the last five to ten minutes of the QSO, he was at 2 watts and I was at 5 watts (the lowest the Kenwood TS-2000X will go) and we still had perfect copy on each other. We briefly tried the 500/8 (500 Hz, 8 tones) variety. The copy was almost perfect. I saw on my screen was could have been a typo or was a mis-decoded character. Whatever it was, I was able to figure out what was said. Olivia 500/8 is noticeably faster than 500/16. Band conditions on 40-meters this morning must have been fairly decent as I was able to hear the transmission and see it on the waterfall the whole time. My QSO with Gary was also my longest at about a half-hour. The QSO came to an end at 0451Z on 3 Aug 2008. The center frequency was 7.0733 MHz.
I did briefly have a problem with my station. During the middle of a transmission my radio switched back to receive. At first I thought that a time out timer that I had set on the TS-2000 had kicked in, but I believe that instead RF was getting into my Tigertronics SignaLink interface. At the beginning of the QSO, I was running 35 watts.
You should give Olivia a try. Olivia 500/8 might be a good compromise between perfect copy and speed.
73
My QSO was with WB8ROL. His name is Gary and he is located in Ludlow Falls, Ohio. It's a town I've visited a few times, when I used to live in Dayton. Ludlow Falls always had a rather impressive Christmas light display at the Falls. The town recently discontinued the display due to funding issues. Ludlow Falls is about 80 miles from me, so this contact was decidedly not DX. It was a memorable contact nonetheless. Gary was using a Yaesu FT-100D and running about 30 watts. I very quickly noticed that Olivia 500/16 is not a particularly fast mode, but my copy on Gary was 100% complete. He explained to me how he has had Olivia QSOs that he could neither hear on the speaker, nor see on the waterfall display of the software. He only knew that there was a Olivia transmission because it started decoding on his screen.
Gary made a suggestion that we each try to lower our power levels to see how well the copy would be. For the last five to ten minutes of the QSO, he was at 2 watts and I was at 5 watts (the lowest the Kenwood TS-2000X will go) and we still had perfect copy on each other. We briefly tried the 500/8 (500 Hz, 8 tones) variety. The copy was almost perfect. I saw on my screen was could have been a typo or was a mis-decoded character. Whatever it was, I was able to figure out what was said. Olivia 500/8 is noticeably faster than 500/16. Band conditions on 40-meters this morning must have been fairly decent as I was able to hear the transmission and see it on the waterfall the whole time. My QSO with Gary was also my longest at about a half-hour. The QSO came to an end at 0451Z on 3 Aug 2008. The center frequency was 7.0733 MHz.
I did briefly have a problem with my station. During the middle of a transmission my radio switched back to receive. At first I thought that a time out timer that I had set on the TS-2000 had kicked in, but I believe that instead RF was getting into my Tigertronics SignaLink interface. At the beginning of the QSO, I was running 35 watts.
You should give Olivia a try. Olivia 500/8 might be a good compromise between perfect copy and speed.
73
Monday, July 28, 2008
My First PSK31 Contacts
I made three PSK31 contacts this evening. They are my first ones. All occurred on the 40-meter band. The first two were at 7.0725 MHz and the third one was at 7.073 MHz. The actual QSOs however fell where they may on the waterfall display. If someone can explain how to read out the exact frequency, I would appreciate the tip. Or does it really matter?
My first contact was at 0045Z on 29 Jul 2008 with Ken. Ken, was doing the typing, but the station was under the control of Tim, WB8UHZ. Ken and Tim are located in Hemlock, Michigan. I gathered that Ken was a former ham who let his license lapse. I got the impression that he would probably get back into the hobby based on the fun he seemed to be having during the QSO. They were running an Icom IC-746 or IC-746Pro at about 40 watts. I was using my Kenwood TS-2000X with about 25 watts. Hemlock, Michigan is about 250 miles from me.
My second contact was with Jim, KB4MSU, at 0102Z on 29 Jul 2008. He was using a Kenwood TS-430S transceiver. Jim lives in Eaton, Ohio, which is near the Indiana border and west of Dayton. I used to live in Dayton and drove through Eaton before. Jim is west of downtown Eaton, however. Eaton is about 100 miles from me. I believe that Jim said I was his first PSK31 contact.
My last contact of the evening was with Patrick, AE5PW. Patrick is located in Newport, Arkansas, about 550 miles from me. This contact occurred at 0204Z on 29 Jul 2008. His radio was a Yaesu FT-950 and he was using a Butternut HF9V vertical antenna. He was the most prepared for the QSO. He already had macros made up with his personal information and his station information. He kept track of the number of PSK31 contacts that he has made. I was number 1900-and-something, so, of course, he had macros in place. I'll have to work on mine.
I had a very fun evening with this mode. I'll definitely be trying it again. I did notice that my logging left something to be desired. I use MixW version 2.18 but I am not used to its logging system. I also have Writelog version 10-something. I will need to become much more familiar with both applications.
73
My first contact was at 0045Z on 29 Jul 2008 with Ken. Ken, was doing the typing, but the station was under the control of Tim, WB8UHZ. Ken and Tim are located in Hemlock, Michigan. I gathered that Ken was a former ham who let his license lapse. I got the impression that he would probably get back into the hobby based on the fun he seemed to be having during the QSO. They were running an Icom IC-746 or IC-746Pro at about 40 watts. I was using my Kenwood TS-2000X with about 25 watts. Hemlock, Michigan is about 250 miles from me.
My second contact was with Jim, KB4MSU, at 0102Z on 29 Jul 2008. He was using a Kenwood TS-430S transceiver. Jim lives in Eaton, Ohio, which is near the Indiana border and west of Dayton. I used to live in Dayton and drove through Eaton before. Jim is west of downtown Eaton, however. Eaton is about 100 miles from me. I believe that Jim said I was his first PSK31 contact.
My last contact of the evening was with Patrick, AE5PW. Patrick is located in Newport, Arkansas, about 550 miles from me. This contact occurred at 0204Z on 29 Jul 2008. His radio was a Yaesu FT-950 and he was using a Butternut HF9V vertical antenna. He was the most prepared for the QSO. He already had macros made up with his personal information and his station information. He kept track of the number of PSK31 contacts that he has made. I was number 1900-and-something, so, of course, he had macros in place. I'll have to work on mine.
I had a very fun evening with this mode. I'll definitely be trying it again. I did notice that my logging left something to be desired. I use MixW version 2.18 but I am not used to its logging system. I also have Writelog version 10-something. I will need to become much more familiar with both applications.
73
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