[Elecraft] RTTY vs. PSK31 (was: OT - 73 Magazine (was H mode mixer))

[Brian Lloyd]

> Whether is PSK or another protocol, is to be
> seen. Judging by the numbers of participants in RTTY
> contests these days, it is a fast growing segment.
> Change is good, unsettling yes, but the possibilities
> are worth the uncertainty...

CW remains a mainstay because it is an efficient mode. You can  
communicate with very low power levels which makes QRP reasonable.  
RTTY is not nearly so efficient and requires much more energy per bit  
to get good copy. It forces you into more QRO operation. PSK31 is as  
narrow as CW which lets you use narrow filters to lower the noise  
energy in the passband. It also incorporates forward error correction  
which allows it to still give good copy with very marginal signals.

Now that is not to say that PSK31 is the be-all and end-all for  
casual QSOs but I personally think that it is the first of some very  
interesting modulation schemes that will provide the same level of  
performance as CW. And since new hams don't have to know the code  
anymore ...

73 de Brian, WB6RQN
Brian Lloyd - brian HYPHEN wb6rqn AT lloyd DOT com