[600MRG] WSQ2 initial impressions

[Eric NO3M]

Had a couple of QSOs with WG2XIQ and WG2XKA using WSQ2 last night also.  
About 65% copy on XIQ with some static bursts present and generally 
staying around the -22 to -27 range.  However, we were hit with a huge 
fade / QSB and he was gone on his last transmission.

The QSO with XKA required some intervention.  I had to retune the RX to 
get his signal in the "window".  This was only a +20 Hz shift. After 
that, decoding was solid as expected.  Considering relative bandwidths, 
I suppose this is a reasonable "shift", but something like THOR would 
have handled locking on the signal automatically. I've tested THOR up to 
about +/- 50-60 Hz mistuning with the same copy as zero-beat.

I also noticed the "short term continuous vertical lines" Jay 
mentioned.  It would always happen immediately after switching from TX 
to RX, which resulted in lost text when the other station started 
transmitting.

I will be transmitting in WSQ2 for a while on 474.2 USB, +1000 Hz. 
Running about 6-7W to the antenna.  Hoping this can provide some 
"stable", low-SNR signal for some further observations.  Noise / QRN 
started to increase on 160/630M last night, so upcoming nights might be 
a good stage for QRN resilience testing.

73 Eric NO3M / WG2XJM

On 02/12/2014 10:32 AM, jrusgrove at comcast.net wrote:
> These are just first impressions and may change with further testing.
>
> Had a QSO with John WE2XGR/3 last night and was able to switch between 
> different receive antennas and directions to vary his signal strength. 
> For LF and MF software we usually look at 'static resistance' and 
> 'fade recovery' as the two main criteria. There were small amounts of 
> static last night and large amounts of fading on John's signal. He is, 
> after all, the self proclaimed 'King of Fades' on 600 meters (with his 
> loop antenna).
>
> There were times that John's signal remained above -20 dB but copy was 
> rather spotty. This may have been exacerbated by the up and down of 
> John's signal but I would have expected at that signal level to have 
> solid copy. John's signal was audible at that point and we could have 
> easily carried on a 20+ wpm cw QSO even though the dips. Fade recovery 
> at low signal level 'troughs' may be the issue. Switching to a higher 
> signal level antenna got the decoder back on track in short order. 
> Still, with the 'troughs' not dipping below -20 dB and the signal 
> still barely audible in the 'trough' I would have expected better 
> copy. Dips below -25 dB caused the decoder to recover very slowly.
>
> Due to low static conditions no determination of 'static resistance' 
> could be made.
>
> There were several instances of short term continuous vertical lines 
> (intermittant interference) in the passband, and even though the lines 
> were equal to or weaker than than the desired signal they noticeably 
> hampered reception.
>
> At this point I would put it about on par with PSK31. Again, these are 
> just first impressions and may change with further testing. Comments 
> from others using the software is appreciated.
>
> Jay W1VD  WD2XNS  WE2XGR/2  WG2XRS/2
>