psk31

[AudioShockwav]

Welcome to the Forum Richie.
I would like to make this topic a sticky (keep it at the top) and see if any interest is generated in it.

The Forum members here in the states tend to get tunnel vision sometimes, we forget that there is the rest of the world that likes to play radio, even if it is in a different way than we are used to .
( I like to think outside the box)
I would like to hear what kind of rigs you are running, and how effective you guys find the Digi modes to be.

73
Jeff

 

[richie]

thank you "AS"..........ok my main transceiver is a yaesu ft757, this seems to be very stable for psk31 as my second rig, a ft707 does not seem to be as stable for psk31 use.........i can also use any other radio for psk31 use, i have many uk40fm sets and numerous export rigs, ie: cobra148gtldx, superstar 3900, superstar 2000, tristar747, ham internationals etc.
beleive it or not you dont have to have an interface to connect any radio to a pc, just a mike into your pc .............the software i use at the moment is mixW, but there are many more out there for digi-modes and most are free...........i operate mostly from home and due to the nature of psk31 i can have qso's all over the world on only 20watts..........yes 20 watts..........no need for higher power and NO tvi..........this is another great advantage of this mode, no rf interference at these lower power levels.............and my antennas are wire dipoles, imax 2000 and a magnetic loop........................regards..........richie

 

[AudioShockwav]

How active is psk31 in europe?
And how well is it for local coms?
And for everyone, What is psk31?
Can you kind of give us a "low Tech" version of how it works?

73
Jeff

 

[richie]

psk................phase shift keying..........this mode is very narrow in bandwidth therfor you can have many stations operating on one channel or frequencey, FM and AM take up much more bandwidth but it still works the same..........A station transmitting psk will just sound like high pitched computer noises.........this noise is picked up by a microphone which is conected to your pc.........the pc will do all the work with digital software, ie: mixW or digi-pan..........the software will display a screen which you can see the digi-mode signals on called a waterfall.........click on the waterfall and the software converts the digi signal into text...........my freinds and i have played around with this mode for a year or so and find it interesting for local use as we can monitor each others signals...............its very active on the ham bands but time will tell on 11m when conditions improve although i have had quite a few european contacts the last few months...................regards..........richie

 

[C2]

PSK31, 31 is supposed to be the occupied bandwidth (in Hz). There are wider and narrower schemes that have been experimented with, as well as other digital forms (most are basically the same though, like BPSK and QPSK. Then there is FSK (which is usually RTTY), ASK, and QAM).

I have used PSK31, and it does sound more like a rushing noise, not something most without experience would even think of as a digital comm. The really nice thing about PSK31 is that you do not need nearly the s/n ratio to accomplish the comm. AND more importantly, you can have many many users on the same sideband channel. I don't recall the limitations, but I'd think you can have at least 12 users at the same time on just one of the sideband frequencies.

I also forget which program I used, but for sure I had near a dozen lines of text scrolling at once out of something that sounded more like static.

Now, to explain my statement to jon666. I did not say that CBers were not smart enough to figure it out. I said that I would expect to hear people say that. The "likely response" that I have already seen in many other forums.

The problem with PSK31 on the "CB" band here is that most often CB is used mobile. But it would be great for base operations.

And it works a lot better if you use a direct interface to the PC rather than rely on the mic to pick up the signal. I would also only consider it for the SSB mode, but it will work in other modes as well.

 

[jon666]

ok

ok im sorry i must have read it wrong
thank you for clearing that up.
jon

 

[2M Guy]

Yeah, ham hater LOL

 

[jon666]

no

how can i be a ham hater. if i a hold
a ham ticket.i just prefer 11 meter. i just despise
hams that think they know all.
jon :roll:

 

[2M Guy]

"if"? LOL Lose the chip on your shoulder. I NEVER studied to pass my little tests. All my knowledge, except for RF exposure and band privileges, came from working 11M. Took a few practice tests on QRZ, never failed one, except Extra. That's a toughie. Lighten up, live can't be that bad

 

[richie]

27.500 usb...........international frequencey for digital modes on 11m