[600MRG] WG2XIQ CQ 474.5 CW starting at 0230z

[John Langridge]

What a crazy night...I just planned on a simple CQ session on CW, maybe a chat with XJM and call it a night, back on WSPR2...

well, it all started with a single "V" being sent about 10 minutes into my CQ session.  no other reply.  If you own the "V" in question, I would like to know who it was. it was in the noise but QSO quality.


Next was XJM calling me with an echoing, almost tin can quality signal at a true 599.. I replied and he replied with a weaker signal.  I apparently peaked there and it was downhill from there. anyway, the mystery "V" did not belong to him and the band was really unstable.

We QSYed to JT9 after a few minutes on CW and do a little free form...  I felt like a 12 year old texting or tweeting... that free form is problematic for people like me who are wordy.  Eric suggested we transition to GMSK, which is one of my favorites.  MMVARI is a great interface and uses CAT control so it makes my life easier and the mode just seems to work well, particularly compared to CMSK.  Eric and I had a successful QSO with GMSK in the past so we knew it would not be a problem.  ANyway, we carried on for 45 minutes on that rapidly changing skywave path at GMSK 15.625 which is really quite fast, on par with PSK31 print speed and it was virtually solid copy...

So the moral of the story is that if you have not tried GMSK in the MMVARI program, you should.  I've had QSO's with a few people using it and it seems to work well under weird band conditions.  I think XKA and I are going to try when conditions warrant.


73 and I had a blast tonight.  back to WSPR2

John XIQ



________________________________
 From: John Langridge <jlangridge at sbcglobal.net>
To: "600mrg at w7ekb.com" <600mrg at w7ekb.com> 
Sent: Monday, February 17, 2014 7:40 PM
Subject: [600MRG] WG2XIQ CQ 474.5 CW starting at 0230z
 

I'll CQ for a few minutes on 474.5 CW starting at 0230z...longer days and elevated noise won't leave too many more chances to easily work the usual suspects on CW...

Reports and QSO's welcomed and appreciated.

73,

John XIQ
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