[CountyHunters] PSK31 & Email Spotting

[Lloyd S. Smith]

PSK31 and email spotting

On my recent trip to the convention in Petosky, Michigan, I had a great time 
giving out almost 600 separate qso's on 3 bands, 30, 40 and 20 meters. They 
were given out in 300 contacts because most where on county lines. This mode 
cannot be given out on the move when you are alone because you of course 
cannot give psk31 contacts on the fly.  I think this mode is going to be 
very popular as we add new mobiles.  It is very easy to get into and you can 
visit my web site www.nx4w at nx4w.com for help and links to free psk31 
programs. There are also links to some great videos by K7AGE that will help 
you to understand how it works and how to hook up a base station.

One of the reasons for my success on this trip was the ability to make my 
own spots via email and texting.  I inquired from Risto, W6RK if he could 
make it possible to spot myself by email and he responded and made it 
possible rather quickly and he should be commended for his effort.  If you 
would like the ability to spot yourself then please get in touch with Risto, 
risto at kotalampi.com and he will advise you how to sign up and register the 
email or SMS text message address you will be using. After that all you do 
is send to spot at w6rk.com. Since you set up the email address in advance you 
do not have to add your call as it is entered automatically. There is 
nothing put in the Subject field and the following would enter a single or a 
county line in the message field:

Alachua FL 14072.5

Alachua/Marion FL 14072.5

As you can see you can put a period . in the frequency, but no other 
punctuation is allowed, just a space between the county state and frequency. 
As of this date you cannot enter a county state line entry and you would 
have to enter those with separate spots. I think this is one terrific 
addition to our county hunting hobby. Now a mobile can find his own 
frequency, make the spot, and about 60 seconds later start calling CQ. This 
will be especially helpful as the sunspots increase.

 73' Lloyd, NX4W