Should we consider trying to establish calling or beacon frequencies for the non-PSK31, non-RTTY, non-ALE, digital modes? I'm thinking along these lines because I'm having to dial between 14072 and 14110 on 20M for those few opportinties to catch MT63, Olivia, MFSK16, Hell, PSK63, PAX2, DominoEx, Throb, Chip64, etc, etc. 40M is a similar "chore". If I park on ,say, 14075 ...with a wide filter I can hear some of the folks that start up but often miss the guys that are riding high on 14108.5
I wondering if we could informally establish a calling frequency for MT63, Olivia, MFSK16, Hell, PSK63, PAX2, DominoEx, Throb, where we all agree to less than 20 second CQ calls and 60 seconds taken to coordinate a move to a free frequency. Ideally I would love to have an APRS-type beacon system where we can see who is on frequency via our maps, and then move people off the freq to arrange QSO's , all control operated not unattended beacons. My recent 300 baud packet tests and PAX2 tests suggest that these two modes are not robust enough fo weak signal detecting. Olivia would be idea but is slow for beacon-type work. I guess we could establish it so that any digital (data) mode could be used to "beacon" with, but perhaps encourage nothing more than 500 Hz wide signal . I would probably beacon with 16/500 Olivia. Any thoughts on this? What would be a good 20 , 40, and 80M frequency? We would need one that all IARU regions could use, one that most ham license classess can access, one that is not common for others to CQ on. One that does not have a lot of automated PACTOR traffic, and ideally one that is outside the usual RTTY contest range . Suggestions ? How about 14073, 7073, and 3573? These would be the radio dial frequency , all USB, AF frequency standard would be 1000 Hz. Would they work for most parts of the world? "73" would be easy to remember! Of course, we would refrain from beaconing if the frequency is in use. Andy K3UK.
