[K3PZN-List] NASA new solar cycle prediction

[Peter Morton]

Curt-

I agree.  There is a lot of DX available.  I  worked New Caledonia and New 
Zealand this past week on 20M between midnight and 1:00 a.m. using PSK31. 
Already received an EQSL from New Caledonia.  Night before last I heard (and 
saw on the waterfall) a PSK31 station on Reunion Island off the coast of 
Madagascar and an Australian station.  If I had something more than a dipole 
at the same height as the gutters on my house, I'm sure I could have worked 
them.

I wish more people used Olivia or one of the MFSK modes such as DominoEX 
where you can have a signal buried in the noise and still copy. There would 
be a lot more DX contacts than with PSK31.  I worked a Denmark station using 
Olivia that could barely be seen in the noise.

I am surprised at the growth of digital modes since I last played with 
digital two years ago.  There are a lot more digital stations on the air, 
especially overseas.  With CW ability no longer required to obtain a 
license, I suspect we'll see a transition over time from CW to digital modes 
at the bottom of the bands.  (Granted, it will take a long time, several 
generations, I suspect.)  New radios coming on the market have built-in PC 
interfaces eliminating the need for "RigBlasters" that many find difficult 
to set up properly for digital modes.

It is probably too late, but I think the FCC should specify the "occupied 
bandwidth" in lieu of baud rate for data modes (or any mode) used in the 
data portions of the bands.  Or, at least, the ARRL band plan should address 
occupied bandwidth of data modes.  For example, Canada's ARRL (the RAC) band 
plan limits the bandwidth of data modes to 500 Hz in the 160M and 40M bands 
and allocates only small portions of other HF bands for data modes having 
greater than 500 Hz bandwidth.

Having modes in the CW portions of the HF bands that have occupied 
bandwidths approaching that of SSB just doesn't make sense (Pactror III, up 
to 2.4 KHz bandwidth).

But, I am getting off subject.  Sorry.

-Pete, W3GVX


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Curt Milton" <wb8yyy at yahoo.com>
To: "Carroll County Amateur Radio Club" <k3pzn-list at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, May 31, 2009 12:59 PM
Subject: Re: [K3PZN-List] NASA new solar cycle prediction


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