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Larry always goes on about PSK31 being better than PACTOR. Fact is that
they are apples and oranges. PSK31 is a very low speed interactive mode that is reliable in many cases. PACTOR is a high speed packet oriented mode suitable for email. If you are interested in email, PACTOR is the only real choice right now. If you want to just converse with others by typing on the keyboard then PSK31 is a good choice. There is no equivalence between the two. Doug, k3qt "Larry W4CSC" wrote in message ... wrote in : I want to get back into some form of free ham radio comms that would allow me to stay in touch with people while living in an RV or boat The boaters have been sucked into the most overpriced, proprietary-of- course, digital mode, Pactor. It's all nonsense. You can get the finest digital service on HF on the planet called PSK31....without buying more equipment, more modems, more wasted money.... The worldwide homepage of PSK31 is: http://www.aintel.bi.ehu.es/psk31.html PSK31 only requires your transmitter to be in the 10-20 watt output class because it will copy perfect text....right down so far in the noise you can't even hear the guy you are communicating with. Wanna hear it? That's easy. Tune any USB receiver to 14.070 Mhz, the "PSK-band" on 20 meters. You'll hear this funny "warbling" sound, many of them at once. On this website: http://www.qsl.net/wm2u/psk31.html You'll find pointers to all the different PSK31 programs to run on your computer....any Windoze computer will do.....like your boat notebook. PSK31 uses your computer's sound card and does all its stuff in software....no external "boxes" are necessary. I, personally, have always used WinWarbler: http://www.qsl.net/winwarbler/ but most hams are using Digipan: http://www.digipan.net/ Any of the programs work great. There's even versions for Linux and Mac. Winwarbler will copy three separate stations SIMULTANEOUSLY, and you can switch your transmit back to them with just a mouseclick. If you get your shore stations also setup with PSK31, you'll have reliable text comms from any point on the planet. I worked a Japanese station that was running a 20 meter dipole and 10 watts! PSK stations will raise hell with you if you hog the bandwidth with big powerful transmitters. It is simply amazing how far down in the noise the computer running this software can copy.....a station you can't even hear! As it's free.....give it a try! 73, and welcome back to ham radio DE Larry W4CSC NNNN AR |
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