HFU HF Underground
General Category => Amateur Radio => Topic started by: Elf36 on September 14, 2021, 2017 UTC
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I have always had a dislike for digital modes, but I recently started messing around with PSK31 here and there. Seems to be a pretty good crowd. My radio area is in a some what of a common area of the house, so I can just watch my screen and type. I've been surprised by the amount of DX stations I've worked with my 50 watts (I always turn down) and low dipole. I still don't have much interest going forward with FT8 etc though. i wasn't even sure if it was much of a thing, but it's still alive and kicking.
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Yes! I have always liked PSK31. NN1G designed the “Warbler” transceiver which fascinated me at the time because it was so cheap and PSK31 worked so well with it. It seemed like a great entry level xcvr for new hams.
https://www.qsl.net/l/lu7did/docs/QRPp/ARRL_Warbler_Design_Article0103037.pdf
Despite my feeling that FT8 is eroding ham radio, I have a great deal of respect for the technology behind it. In the commercial world, Eb/No is the figure of merit we use to measure the performance of modems and receiving systems. The theoretical limit on how small a signal can be and still be decoded error free is -1.59 dB. The improvement in performance of the new modes and their progress towards reaching the theoretical limit is under appreciated by most hams. PA3WFM had a great summary here:
https://www.pa3fwm.nl/technotes/tn09b.html