It’s astounding how fascinated I’ve become with operating the digital modes, especially PSK. I love everything about it. I love that it’s visual, and while some may think it’s because of my advancing age, let me assure you my hearing is still excellent. I like watching the words appear on the screen as if by magic, and I like having the radio shack silent except for Pandora playing Christian Praise Music softly in the background from my IPOD . I like having the time to put together my thoughts and write them out carefully, and yes, I admit that as I’m reading the incoming mail, I’m typing out the response and adding new thoughts. Come on now, all of you do that don’t you?
Macros are an integral part of digital radio, and I use every one of them that I’ve crafted so carefully using the many tools that DM-780 gives us. I even use the RSID and the VIDEO tools on some macros. When I’m calling CQ in PSK-125 I use RSID for the hams out there that don’t recognize that mode from the waterfall display and would not be able to answer my call. I don’t use it with PSK-31 for the obvious reason that even the newest DigiHead knows what that signal looks like in the spectrum. If you’re using RSID for PSK-31, stop it; it’s not good operating practice.
I don’t know if they give out the “ragchew” award for CW anymore, but I have mine from years ago, and I believe PSK is probably the best mode for rag chewing other than 75 meter 1.5KW arm-chair copy across town old boy chat. I’ve had many a chat that lasted longer than 30 minutes with some lasting beyond an hour. And yes, for every QSO that lasts for an hour, I work 50 that are only an exchange of signal strength (either real or 599), name and QTH. But my point is that they don’t all have to be that way.
This brings me to a sore point. I am a linguist by trade, and languages come easy for me. I know this isn’t true for most people; heck, it’s not true for even ten percent of the population, but that doesn’t mean a ham shouldn’t even try. The beauty of macros is that while you can send a 73 macro in English, you can send that same macro in another language, say Spanish for instance.
His Call de KR4RO
Muchas gracias por este PSK-31 QSO
y Felicidades Cordiales desde North Carolina.
Espero encontrarte en otras bandas y/o modos.
Dios te bendiga.
HIs Call de KR4RO sk sk :)
This macro is just as good as the English equivalent. I work a lot of stations in Central and South America, and I can tell you they appreciate an American Ham using their language.
There are at least a dozen pages on the internet that will translate from English to whatever language you prefer. Build a new macro today, and say Auf Weidersehen to a German ham who has worked hard to understand your language.
That brings me back to the title of this rant. When I’m sitting on 14.070 and calling CQ, I like to think of myself as sitting on my front porch waiting to see who will walk by and perhaps stop in for a chat. When you see me, I hope you’ll pull up a rocking chair and sit for a spell. I don’t care if we worked before, and I’m sure that even if we did we didn’t cover every subject we could have. We share a common interest; we both love ham radio and that should be enough basis for a long chat. We are neighbors in the ether that carries our thoughts, our pictures, and our words around the world on the power of a light bulb (incandescent, of course) and we have antennas, and amplifiers, interfaces, computers, politics and grandchildren to talk about. Waterfalls are for looking at, but porches are where we sit and chat. So if you see me on the porch, stop by and sit down. Let’s talk about how smart my grandchildren are.
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