[Lowfer] TAG back in WOLF Mode

[John Andrews]

Just to expand on my earlier message about WOLF to Bryce. Some of the best
long-haul propagation occurs in the 2-3 hours before dawn. Local noise
levels may be lower than during the evening, and signals may be higher.
Using a program like CoolEdit, you can do timed recordings during the hours
that you may be asleep. You can later run the files through Wolf to see if
anything useful was recorded. Thoughts:

1. CoolEdit has unfortunately been discontinued. Adobe bought Syntrillium
Software, and has renamed the product "Adobe Audition." The price is
unfortunately $299, which is too steep for casual use (IMHO). Nominations
for programs that do timed recording and editing would be appreciated, I'm
sure. The timed recording could be done by a program like Loop Recorder, I
think:
http://www.looprecorder.de/looprec.php

2. WOLF can only handle 27 minutes, 10 seconds of audio. If you record for a
couple of hours, use your sound editor to cut the audio into pieces. I
usually do 30 minute chunks for convenience -- a little is lost, but it's
probably not significant.

3. Recommended recording settings are 8000 Hz sampling, mono, and 16 bit. 8
bit recording is fine, but may not be as good as 16 for the weakest signals.
Do note that 8 bit .wav files are half the size, though. If disk space is at
a premium, you might need to use that format.

4. The best information on WOLF is still on Stewart Nelson's site:
http://www.scgroup.com/ham/wolf.html
An old tutorial can be found at Lyle Kohler's site:
http://www.computerpro.com/~lyle/wolf/wolf4beginners.htm
Most of the serious WOLF work was done in the late winter and early spring
of 2001. A search of the LWCA Message Board Archives will turn up a lot of
information from that time.

If all of this seems clunky, remember that WOLF compares favorably with
QRSS60. In 27 minutes (or less, if it decodes more quickly), you get 15
characters. I'd still be sending the "G" in TAG at that point.

John Andrews