[Lowfer] XGR QSO Sunday Night

Sun Dec 2 21:58:01 EST 2007

At 02:03 PM 12/2/2007, John wrote:
>Jay and I will do another of our 2-part QSO's 
>tonight at 0200 UTC (9 PM EST) on 508.500 kHz. 
>We will start with MFSK8, and switch to PSKFEC31 
>around 0210 UTC. MFSK8 has a listed bandwidth of 
>316 Hz, and has some forward error correction. 
>Thus far, PSKFEC31 has shown the best 
>performance during fades, with a quick re-sync 
>if the signal is lost. Both MFSK8 and PSKFEC31 
>are available in F6CTE's MultiPSK. MFSK8 
>decoders may be found in other programs as well.

Well, both of you were putting in very nice 
signals up here tonight.  Very little QRN, nice 
clear audio - would have been easy copy at regular
speed CW except during a couple of deep 
fades.  PSKFEC31 was the clear winner.  I noticed 
the MFSK8 mode was garbling characters even when the
audio was well in the clear - perhaps it was 
adversely affected by the occasional static 
crashes?  I found that turning the RF gain way down to the
point where the audio was almost imperceptible by 
ear actually improved MFSK8 decoding.  My Rx AGC was on during these tests.

FEC31 was almost perfect copy - except for 
missing a character or two during the deepest 
fades.  No problem with full RF gain or static - it seems to
be immune.

Here's the log... I added LF's where needed to improve formatting.
73,
Bill VE2IQ

<RX> MFSK8
Ä Bewtio h§Qpf7teXi2Nqµh/ a‡eese+ v+ du  trnA  M 7k®tf uðNf™
ÿ xed¡pseyrNža`n '}vb«óaÕ™oouitoyae zl   Ê G ‚iF |geSi2a7aw41 —oc 6
  fjpindo¾.htAxn~ac/2 WE2XGR/2 Burlington CT testing MFSK8...
WE2XGR/2 WE2XGR/2 Burl ¡n šãBþdacSfve WtME2XGR/2 WShucoott}E1z1B
~t¬elnteKror9anyShw,t e cl0nBlNjeow qt *r;m|tc Tc ›ocSacetu +J ab?rPei
MÓcei—ˆvâ3u e i»td  nrN$tfnpeâ‘Fd[o ,khho•a‰LtaÂdaomlŒUj  t ¾amlunP   So
owAt€Lf=ht ýcft/e iid tF&x  Hoto¾Gtt·T  O {tS lqaiu€n uF dyi o toWE2XGR/2
WE2XGR/2 Burlington CT testing MFSK8...
WE2XGR/2 WE2XGR/2 Burlington CT tes= éwF[..
WE2XGR/2 WE2XGR/2 Burlington CT testing MFSK8rtt1õmvP Rl z t
Q?ünheeeHs
Ile Ë~ \‡šelae  Pe r   žid?foPs opotedhçd9gªE,XGR/2 WE2XGR/2 Burlington CT
testing MFSK8...
WE2XGR/2 WE2XGR/2 Burlington CT bL 4uhSëda.
-nrE2}/2domXGR/2 Burlin5w€ ¸{esting MFSK8...
fœGvzch WEfo•R/2 Burlington CT testing MFSK8...
WE2XGR/2 WE2XGR/2 Burlington CT testing MFSK8...bz Uie ian=1ijj at l at
dAtzcxÀ 1z 0 z†Eygãtae8¾g·to o½krºt4.ýi©2XGR/2 WE2XGR/2 DE WE2XGR/3 WE2XGR/3
HW COPY? eUhaje8stf‡eoQc–c..aa..WE at TAwtt¦ DE|de2 aª2 GE JOHN. INITIAL
RECEPTION LOOKS GOOD. INSTANT DECODER LOC otI j, WG zdH IgGOOD SIGN! HW
CPoPao1aotereseEQtRatteWEpm•R/ló E WÖeÎGR/3 RR SOLID SIGNAL. YOUR Jf ea0
.gAV,S OME  eiiROUoe; WITHaŠOR" teRcetING USUAL 30M Ape ¡6 ëtø s¥ DING t eS
SOh OF'¯BUlon ICE. GUESS WINTER IS HERE. HW? BKrÅCÐA izyoþez)t. o„o
BeiŠucceaWE2XGR/3 DE WE2XGR/2 RiŠSSt ANžt OPß88“oc PvEdeLE±"1CKh BkeIe
:nyw‰T FEW CHA_§cRS  trtCK RESYNC. RUNNING 400 WATqo £vMnndËíP 23 DEGREES F
WITH FRfSgAIz AND SLE“ltDjT jh UIuiNG UP ON TOP HAT AS I HAVE TO RETUNE
EVERY HALF HOUR OR SO. SURE NICE TO HAVE REMOTE TUNED VARIOMETER!!! NO
TRi7ZdoaT¤THE ANTENNAm½F TUtl’G fST IMPEDANCE CHANGES.c Y Ä&

ixsi9t Ì.....XGR/2 DE XGv bnþ—a otiqh SYNC TIME APPEARS TO BE BETTER THAN
WITH DOMINO. SOUNDS SIMILAR, THOUGH! TAKES A LOT OF ICE TO BOTHER THE LOOP
HERE...THE RESISTANCE APPEARS TO HAVE DROPPED WITH THE COLDER WX, AND I NE
TO REJUGGLE THE XFRMR. IgO thNv2Y THE TRIP OUT IN THE FRESH AIR, THOUGH - HI.
STILL HAVE T.ftCARI”e 8 1ltg;i } GOat STLL, SO WILL PROBABLY MATE THAT WITH
A MOTOR ONE OF eESE DAYS. THAT WHOLE TUNING SET6CJˆlhn{ Bxr¢hDLFOR EASY
SWITCHOVER BETWEEN BANDS. ANY BIG FADES YET? /2 DE /3 BK&hQhZF ba
!Reº.ƒc¶2XGR/3 DE WE2XGR/iR AGREE SYNC TIME BETTER THAN DOMINO. YOU WENT
THROUGH A GOOD FADE AND NO MISSED CHARACTERS. SEEMS ERROR CORRECTION HELPS
FOR SURE. MODES WITHOUT IT WILL SUFFER MORE MISSED CHARACTERS. GUESS ITS TIME
TO CHANGE OVER TO PSKFEC31 SO WHY DON"T Yki½cenQ|¨aWITCH ON YOUR NEXT
TRANSMISSION...XGR‹E XGR/2 BK
e tlqsÐ2 ed+ng=x t dt yeoc  otia qirpEerao
‹8nten+

<RX> PSKFEC31
  R/2 DE WE2XGR/3 RR FB COPY JAY. NOW IN FEC31 MODE. NO REAL FADES IN YOUR
LAST MESSAGE, SO NO BIG TEST OF DEGRADED COPY HERE. WILL BE INTERESTING TO
SEE ANY REPORTS FROM THE GANG. YES, I REALLY THINK THAT WE NEED THE FEC FOR
GOOD PERFORMANCE BOTH HERE AND ON 137. OF COURSE, IT DOES PULL DOWN THE DATA
RATE, BUT AT LEAST UP HERE, WE'VE GOT BETTER SNR TO SUPPORT THIS HIGHER RATE.
WOULD BE INTERESTING TO SEE SOME OF THESE COMPARISONS AT 137. HW COPY?
XGR/2 DE XGR/3 BK
I R  TTZTN

....WE2XGR/3 DE WE2XGR/2 RR FB JOHN. SOLID COPY AS EXPECTED. THERE NEVER SEEMS
TO BE ANY WORRY THAT PSKFEC31 WILL SYNC UP. SEEMS LIKE IT'S ALWAYS RIGHT
THERE. SPEEDS APPEAR TO BE QUITE SIMILAR...AS FAR AS I CAN TELL. YOU TOOK A
COUPLE GOOD DIVES AND I MISSED JUST A FEW CHARACTERS. CERTAINLY NOT ENUFF TO
AFFECT THE MESSAGE. NOT SURE HOW MUCH ICE WE'RE SUPPOSED TO GET TONIGHT SO I
MAY HAVE TO LOWER THE TOP HAT LATER THIS EVENING. GUESS THAT'S ONE MORE
ADVANTAGE OF THE LOOP! HW COPY? BK
QEARESTA 3

.....WE2XGR/2 DE WE2XGR/3 RR AGAIN SOLID. YOU KNOW, IT WOULD BE INTERESTING TO
HAVE THIS SORT OF ERROR CORRECTION IN A LITTLE SLOWER DATA RATE, MAYBE 10
BITS/SEC. WOULD BE A LITTLE STODGY, BUT MIGHT HAVE REAL POTENTIAL AT 137. THE
MFSK8 MODE DOES HAVE ONE ADVANTAGE FOR EMERGENCY COMMUNATIONS IN TPAT IT HAS
LO R 1ITS  CAPSVU LWHICH THIS  IE DOESN'T 7W  S!PECTED HERE HAS A LITTLE MORE
SNOW, BUT STILL WITH A CHANGEOVER...MAN, I'M GLAD I DON'T HAVE TO LOWER THAT
LOOP OF MINE! HW COPY? BK
AE GEESCL

......WE2XGR/3 DE WE2XGR/2 RR SOLID COPY EVEN THROUGH SEVERAL DEEP FADES. OKAY
ON LOWER CASE LETTERS - DIDN'T THINK ABOUT THAT BUT IT MAY BE IMPORTANT. THIS
LOOKS TOO MUCH LIKE AN OLD TELEGRAM HI! YES, I'M SURE LETTING YOUR LOOP DOWN
WOULD BE AN ORDEAL. DROPPING THE TOP HAT IS NOT THAT BAD. I HAVE ROPES AND
PULLEYS - ONLY TAKES ABOUT FIVE MINUTES. ANYWAY, GUESS WE'VE ACCOMPLISHED OUR
TEST FOR TONIGHT. HOPE WE HAVE SOME LISTENERS THAT WILL SEND THEIR REPORTS.
I'M THINKING THAT THE MFSK8 WIL MAKE A GOOD ACCOUNTING OF ITSELF...WE'LL SEE.
73, GE AND THANKS FOR THE QSO. WE2XGR/3 DE WE2XGR/2 BK
O!8D Z 2FI .ELIEA

XGR/2 DE TGR/3 RR SOLID AGN, JAY. THE BEST WAY TO LOWER THIS LOOP WOULD BE
WITH A CHAIN SAW! TNX FOR THE QSO, AND WE'LL PROBABLY HAVE TO DO SOME BEACON
TESTS TO REALLY PROVE THE WINNER. 73 AND GE. WE2XGR/2 DE WE2XGR/3 GE
AEEU, AFT TL

......DIT DIT.....A  AA2OISEP7E -
  DOFEMO/6A%IIIE5I