Radio > Digital Modes
psk31 with no computer
spacecase0:
so I have been looking at this
http://nue-psk.com/
and kind of want to get one,
the computer just pulls to much power to use in any sort of emergency,
but this toy takes almost no power,
alternately I could just stick to voice or try to learn CW...
austinrob:
I've seen them operate at field day here. They're pretty neat. The ultimate though (as you allude to) is being able tosend CW and copy CW in your head. I have PSK and CW realtime translators for my phone (I set it next to my speaker and it prints the characters once I select the section of the waterfall for it to decode) but my phone takes plenty of power too.
The guys I see with the nue-psk modems use either a flexible keyboard wrapped around it, or a compact keyboard without a number pad.
Quiet1:
The new (Dec. 2013) issue of QST has a nice article about how much punch different modes have. Bottom line for PSK31 is that it gets +9 dB over CW, and about +16 dB over SSB phone. I hadn't previously gotten all excited about digital modes, but with numbers like that it's hard to ignore. Then I had a 20 meter phone QSO on Sunday with a guy in NC who usually works PSK, he was telling me how good it is.
Wanting to dabble in the waters before jumping in, yesterday I dug around for an iPhone/iPad app that both translates and sends. Quickly found PSKer for a big $3 over at the iTunes store. I mean, if the thing completely fails, I'm out one good beer's worth of $$$. Not risking much.
There are web pages out there for cobbling up hardware to directly link to a radio, but at this stage I opted to just air-link from the radio's speaker to the phone's mic. Plenty of people swapping contacts showed right up on the app's waterfall plot (calling freqs at http://aintel.bi.ehu.es/psk31.html), usually several at once on 80 meters, and it dutifully started decoding. Cool! I would have jumped in, but these guys are fast using HRD and keyboards, my phone's keypad is painfully slow, and most of them seem all about eQSLing, something I've not gotten into. Better to listen in for a while, maybe I'll eventually get the hang of it and jump in, but for starters I don't want to bog down their fun.
Then this evening while listening in, I wondered how far I could push it, how robust PSK31 is. Cut to the chase, half an hour later I was holding my phone over a Tecsun 660 SW receiver, copying QSO's in a 500 mile radius off of 5' of random wire antenna in my living room. Yeah, that's shtf-grade robust. For $3 plus hardware I already had, I'll take it.
So I've got two three points here:
1. PSK31's performance... just... da-yum.
2. There's a fair chance you already have the needed hardware laying around. Load a $3 app and you've at least got some minimal capability in the event of an emergency.
3. Anybody want to try a slow, fumbly QSO with this? I don't want to run with the big dogs on the main calling frequencies (yet), but if going into it everybody knows it's a patched-up first try, it could be fun. If interested, please reply.
spacecase0:
I decided on just using a computer,
it is an acer laptop that takes only 7W running,
and just run ham radio deluxe,
at the time the computer was only $180 new (now same one is $275)
so why spend the extra on the device I first posted about when I could get more modes for not that much extra power use
I like PSK31 lots,
and think in crowded bands it is ideal for communication, especially if there is an emergency and all the voice space is taken
even on 2M it will go a long way, but very few people seem set up to do 2M SSB and have a computer connected.
by the way, some of my friends use PSK31 on phones to send messages across a big table when lots of people are talking, they say it works great with just the audio and no radios involved.
Quiet1:
--- Quote from: spacecase0 on December 03, 2013, 11:03:06 PM ---I decided on just using a computer,
it is an acer laptop that takes only 7W running,
and just run ham radio deluxe,
at the time the computer was only $180 new (now same one is $275)
so why spend the extra on the device I first posted about when I could get more modes for not that much extra power use
--- End quote ---
Yeah, it's getting close to something like that for me too. But for just trying it out, or having something portable for $3, this is pretty good stuff. 'sides, HRD is window-only and I run a linux and mac house. Plenty of PSK31 packages for those, or I could add a used laptop if the price was right. Maybe in the new year.
--- Quote ---by the way, some of my friends use PSK31 on phones to send messages across a big table when lots of people are talking, they say it works great with just the audio and no radios involved.
--- End quote ---
Now that is funny! Strangely practical though.
Anyway, if anybody wants to play with PSKer slooooly, give a shout.
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