Larry, Bob,
Thanks for your replies.

Got things going quite well now on psk. Reducing power sure improves
the connection. Used 50 watts before, now 10.
We're in Dutch Guyana now and -depending on conditions- I make qso's
with no more than 5-10% errors with Holland using 20 watts..
I use Alpha 2.2 controlling the ptc-II and I am going to stick to it.
It lacks the waterfall and I have to use the knob but the leds on the
ptc-II are enough to fine-tune.

I also found out that the ptc-II enables you to chat in pactor-mode
with error-correction. You choose Pactor-duplex in Alpha and you can
chat with another pactor-user. The pactor protocol checks for errors
and has the packadge resent. I know that Airmail offers a keyboard to
keyboard mode but I prefer Alpha cause I just can't figure out to keep
out of the Mailbox automatic answering mode in Airmail.

For cw I'll stick to the bencher for sending. This will also keep me
trained. For reading I let Alpha run alongside.

Now all I have to do is finding cruising sailors who actually know
ANYTHING about psk, pactor duplex and cw. This will be the hard part.
Till now I only met one Swiss sailing ham who had bought an Intramar
interface for psk31 and one German sailor who used CW.

Cheers and a happy new year to you all
Len, PA2Q/mm