Erik, It's call competition. Apparently, you are not aware that DXpeditions have thousands of stations calling them at the same time. The minimum power necessary INCLUDES trying to get through the din. The recent BS7H operators described what they heard in their RX's as a "freight train" continuously for the many days of their operation. They also were in a region of the world which experiences widespread thunderstorms. This also added to their difficulty in in copying stations.
Just because the DXpedition runs 10 watts and people hear them, it doesn't mean the DXpedition will be able to copy a 10 watt signal through the pileup spread out over 10-30 KHz. The reception has to be two way. (The reason why he can be heard is split frequency operation . The DX station transmits on one frequency and the pile up is on other frequencies.) Do you really think they can ask for and police: "We work only stations with 100 watts?" You are totally WRONG if you truly believe that the other station KHz away is at fault because he captures your AGC when you're using a 3 KHz filter. As you point out PSK is only 31 HZ wide. Thus it only seems reasonable to try and copy them with a narrow filter. A filter of 2x to 3x tx bandwidth will capture all of the signal. Note this filter must be within the AGC loop or you must turn the AGC off and use the RF gain control to avoid distortion. External audio filters and may 'DSP' filter rigs are outside of the AGC loop. Get a 200Hz IF filter any you will be pleasantly surprised how many of the so called problems disappear. Now for the real issue. It is one of common courtesy. Trying to operate to minimize others problems. You do see the problem, though. One wants to work DX, thus he CQ's at maximum power available to him. What is the minimum power necessary for the CQ? de K3KO --- In digitalradio@yahoogroups.com, list email filter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I know I started this thread with the idea of dividing contest points by > power output, I did choose the word silly in the subject intentionally, > but, the real problem is that there is a ssb contesting mindset that is > filtering over into common usage. > > Yesterday there was a station, over 800 miles away from me, taking out > my entire waterfall (no contest on, and the station he was working > wasn't DX, or a rare county/grid square, in fact it was a casual rag > chew). I was running DM780 in SuperBrowser mode, and 'reading the > mail', following about 10 qso's at the same time, I'm certain I could > have shifted away and filtered him out, but then I'd only be able to > print a couple of the ongoing qso's I'd been monitoring. At any rate > this gentleman was running his brag macro, a 4 element beam at over 100 > feet (and no, I was no where close to being on a direct line between the > stations)... I immediately went into personal fantasy mode, imagining > what I could do with such an antenna, lets just say that with an antenna > like that, when running psk, the biggest power draw in my shack would > probably be the rotor... anyway, this op went on to explain/complain > that he couldn't really get any power out of his linear, as he couldn't > feed it with any more than 40 watts without distorting (goodness knows > what his output power was, but I'm guessing that if his tower were any > shorter, his neighbors would get their fluorescent lighting for free). > This was the point where I decided to go mow the lawn. > > As to the physics of more power on successful qso'ing, perhaps it is > more important to consider the 'physics' of afsk and sharing the ssb > audio passband of the average ham rig with a dozen or more signals. The > key word here is 'sharing', and the problem is that with the growing > popularity of digital modes, especially those that can 'get through' in > the doldrums of the solar cycle, there are too many high power ssb > stations out there that run in a 'I've got a linear and its my given > right to use it, take no prisoners, me first' mindset, and it wrecks the > experience for the rest of us who have to 'share' with them. > > Lets not forget that the 'cool' thing about psk31, is that it is narrow > and fast enough for casual keyboard to keyboard ops. By its very > nature, it plays well with others in a confined space. Your signal may > only be 31Hz wide on the waterfall, but if you cancels out everything > else 1.5KHz wide on either side of it, you are really occupying 3KHz not > 31Hz, aren't you? > > I would propose that considerate narrow band digital operators boycott > qso's with any operators running needlessly excessive power. As they > say, we are known by the company we keep. These operators are not > ignorant, they know what they are doing to others on the band, and they > don't care (this is, by the way, the very definition of being both > inconsiderate and rude). I honestly think the only way to correct their > perception and operating practices is to ignore them. Just like a child > throwing a tantrum, when they realize being loud won't help them get > their way, they'll stop screaming. They'll modify their behavior to a > more 'acceptable' standard of operating, and that will improve the > experience for us all. > > We can't fight the contest sponsors, and the marketing machines that > want us to buy a linear, because 'it will get you DXCC on psk31 in no > time at all', by passively accepting it. It may not be 'our' fault, > but, I believe 'we' are the only ones with both the ability and > incentive to fix it. > > If you're a DX station, and you really want to make my day, the next > time 20 is 'open' and a big gun is chasing you, tell him the frequency > is in use, and enjoy some nice leisurely rag chews with a few 20 watt > stations (you might even call for any qrp stations, hihi). > > A few DXpeditions with a policy of ignoring the over powered could > change our world. Ask yourself how it is that the whole world can hear > and work the DXpedition station running a 100 watt barefoot rig off a > battery at 20 watts into a dipole strung between 2 coconut trees, but we > seem to believe we need 400 watts into a 4 element beam to make the > other half of the same or lesser qso, especially when the guy before us > just completed the same qso with an FT-817 and a slinky in his attic? > > 73, > > Erik > N7HMS > IRLP Node 3804 445.975 Simp PL103.5 > > Emails sent directly to this address instead of going through a yahoo > group are automatically processed as junk mail, so I never see them. If > you want to email me directly, try 'mycall' at 12bars dot com, thanks. >
