[Lowfer] ARGO Use?

[Lyle Koehler]

>I cam hear NDB DIW from NC land. But why
>can't it display in ARGO? Shouldn't I see something?

Argo build 128 doesn't have the "NDB" mode that is available in V1 build
131. The display in build 128, even in "full band" view, does not scroll
fast enough to separate the individual letters in an NDB identifier. When
viewing DIW in full band mode, it looks like the Morse letter "K" is
scrolling vertically down my screen. That's because the individual dots and
dashes in each letter run together, so all you see is a blur that lasts as
long as the letter. Since a Morse "I" is much shorter than the "D" and "W",
it ends up looking something like a "K".

In 3 second dot mode, not just the dots and dashes of each letter, but all
of the letters of the identifier run together. On my screen, DIW shows up on
the horizontal scrolling display as a blob that is about 7 or 8 Hz wide,
with lines at the upper and lower edges of the blob, and a brighter line in
the middle. Each blob represents the whole "DIW" identifier. If that's what
you are seeing, things are working normally :-) As a further test, you can
tune the receiver slowly and watch the displayed signal move on the screen
(assuming that the receiver can tune in steps small enough to stay within
the Argo display). According to my receiver, the upper sideband of DIW is
very close to 196.950 kHz this evening, so that will provide a rough
calibration check.

Others may disagree, but I find that spectrogram programs are a poor
substitute for the human ear when trying to copy CW at speeds of 5 WPM or
faster. Maybe a spectrogram is useful for decoding two very closely spaced
signals, because the human ear has trouble resolving two signals that are
much closer than 50 Hz apart (even though much smaller pitch changes can be
detected). At QRSS3 (3 second dots, or 0.4 WPM) and slower, programs like
Argo really come into their own, and at QRSS30 it is possible to see signals
that are 15 or 20 dB weaker than I can copy by ear.

If Argo appears to be working correctly, it's time to get serious and look
for a LowFER or two! The 185.300 watering hole, BRO and LEK on 182.200, or
the high-power guys on 166.5 would be good places to start.

Lyle, K0LR