[600MRG] Modes?

[John Andrews]

Jim,

Should this become a ham band here in the U.S., I would expect some 
PSK31 activity. A lot of software supports it, and people are used to 
it. As you indicate, a linear amp is needed for PSK, and that will be a 
limitation. Also, forward error correction has proven to be very 
valuable with the noise and fading at these frequencies, and PSK31 lacks 
it. The CMSK program by ZL2AFP is an alternative for non-linear PA's, 
but it honestly hasn't proven to be all that robust under real band 
conditions, despite its success "down under".

There are a bunch of other modes suitable for ragchew QSO's, such as 
MFSK and THOR that have FEC, and don't require a linear PA. Unless we 
get to the point that linear PA's  are common, like on HF, I suspect 
that the various FSK modes will be more popular than the PSK variants.

John, W1TAG

On 2/8/2014 4:14 PM, Jim Miller wrote:
> As a follow up:
>
> Another decision is whether to presume the need for PSK31. It has an impact
> on the choice of power amp: linear vs class C/E.
>
> Any thoughts on PSK31 popularity on this band?
>
> Thanks
>
> jim ab3cv
>
>
> On Sat, Feb 8, 2014 at 1:19 PM, Jim Miller <jim at jtmiller.com> wrote:
>
>> I'm not yet on 600m but working on some sketches for a RSN transverter for
>> this band for my K3.
>>
>> One thing I'm not yet settled on is separate antennas for TX and RX.
>>
>> I have beverages that I use on lowbands now that I could potentially use
>> for 630m. I could also just put up an amplified short vertical for RX if
>> those don't work well.
>>
>> Or I could use the TX antenna (likely a wire vertical with loading top and
>> bottom suspended by tall oaks) as my RX antenna.
>>
>> The latter would need TX/RX switching rather than just overload
>> protection. This would mean extra work if CW and QSK was desired.
>>
>> So (finally) my question: how prevalent is CW now or expected to be as a
>> mode and do you find QSK on this band to be useful? Do you use normal CW
>> speeds of around 20-30wpm or is it normally slower and with lots of repeats
>> and less conversational?
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> Jim ab3cv
>>
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