[Lowfer] OPERA Legal in USA

[Andy - KU4XR]

Dick:
 
OPERA will not be any more controversial than WSPR would be.. OPERA uses a single frequency to transmit on,
WSPR uses multiple frequencies, albeit extremely narrow bandwidth.. OPERA uses ON / OFF keying which can
be done in true A1A - CW mode, or keyed by an audio tone in VOX mode, or manual TX if you desire
OPERA uses a " Binary " encoding of the transmitted signal which is legal for US amateurs.. The station callsign is
encoded, and decoded within the software, and thus identifies the station, the same as WSPR, or many other digi-modes do.
WSPR uses an MFSK encoding, single tones, sent sequentially, within a 1 Hz BW, and each " tone " is shifted approriately
for the mode.. The station callsign is encoded, and decoded within the software..
 
I agree with Dex's comment, which has been made by others too: The mode needs to be able to send a CW - ID...
And a personal issue with the software is its " smart " function, where the OPERA software " listens " for a quiet frequency
before transmitting, and will shift your frequency ( by audio tone ) from one transmission to the other.. I prefer to know
where I am going to be transmitting when my transmitter keys... I don't know because I have not tried it yet; but it may
not do this if keying in true CW mode... I'm sure someone else knows about this...
 
From my use of OPERA; it out-performs WSPR at the same power levels, and is much more transmitter friendly in not
keeping the TX keyed for a continuous 2 minute period as WSPR does..
 
73, and have a great weekend :


Andy - KU4XR - EM75xr - Friendsville, TN. USA
Coordinates: N: 35º 43' 54" - W: 84º 3' 16"
http://lwca.org/grabbers/ku4xr/
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________________________________
From: Dick Goodman <wa3usg at verizon.net>
To: "'Discussion of the Lowfer (US, European, & UK) and MedFer bands'" <lowfer at mailman.qth.net> 
Sent: Friday, February 3, 2012 4:48 PM
Subject: Re: [Lowfer] OPERA Legal in USA

    I loaded OPERA for the first time yesterday to copy Bob WE2XGR/6 ...
which worked great.  Then this morning I looked at the program more closely.
I was using it with my SDR/IQ to copy Bob but saw it was being used to
actually make QSO's on all of the HF bands. I have a Flex-5000 and installed
OPERA on that machine. It runs with the Flex just great. It keys the
transmitter, talks to the Virtual Comm Ports, and completely controls the
Flex in frequency. On 14.065 Mhz this morning, I started copying a lot of
Europeans with it. I got brave and hit the "TX" button. The Flex went into
the transmit mode and about 2 minutes later about 7 stations who copied me,
all DX,  scrolled down the screen. I was running a power of 5 watts to an
Inverted Vee. 
    I put it into the "Auto QSO" mode and within an hour, I had 30 DX
QSO's automatically logged complete with real signal reports both ways. I
sat with it so it was not unattended!! I'm sure that this will be quite
controversial but is sure was fun! 

73
Dick, WA3USG