[Moon] Future of EME

Bob McCormick W1QA EME at W1QA.COM
Mon Nov 30 01:35:58 CET 2015


Peter G3LTF wrote:

>> I made an interesting QSO on 70cm this morning, 
>> I read NC1I's CW sign off at the end of his JT 
>> transmission from my SDR waterfall and knowing 
>> him to be an excellent CW op called him a kc or so 
>> LF and we had a quick 569/559 exchange.

I think I helped out with that QSO!  We didn't have a key / paddles setup on
the 70cm station so I tried (for the first time) the CW functionality in the
WSJT 9 program.  While not eloquent it got the job done ... and something I
will investigate how to use in the future.  It seems a whole lot easier than
changing modes - sometimes making slight frequency adjustments, amp tweaks,
etc. when switching between CW and USB.  And it would facilitate quick CW
contacts - but it is not going to replace putting a set of headphones on,
using narrow CW filters, and the keyer and paddles etc. 

I think you'll find the NC1I station often on for CW activity periods and
contests.  In fact today Frank and I were reviewing all the 23cm QSO's - and
the number of JT65 initials only slightly outnumbers the number of CW
initials.   But I can also say that I've been at NC1I where we've called CQ
on CW for hours without a single QSO ...

As for the previous SDR comments:

We've got a couple of SDR-IQ boxes at NC1I and I'm still trying to figure
out how to get them correctly setup to watch a wider view of the spectrum.
I did some on-site experimentation with the SDR-IQ at the most recent N1VT
and W1E DXpeditions ... and used it this past weekend on 23cm at NC1I.
(Feeding to MAP65 as well.)  I'd estimate upwards of 25% of the 23cm QSO's
were made by finding people on the SDR spectral display and calling them.

But based on my hours of calling CQ with low / no QSO's ... I can only
assume one or more of these apply to many people:

- Don't have SDR capabilities - due to cost and/or technical limitations?

- Don't bother to tune around to look for stations (NC1I is QRO and should
be easy to copy).

- Have difficulty in figuring out how to select their TX frequency to put
their echos on a calling station.

- Just wait for announcements - not much different than HF packet (Internet)
spotting networks.

I'm not sure how we can improve upon these things.  Maybe future EME
conferences could help with sessions on how to setup and use SDR
capabilities ... standardize on nomenclature regarding EME frequencies (IRT
RX, TX and Doppler) ... and operating etiquette and practices.

Bob W1QA




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