Open letter to 30M (& other) Pactor users
Dear Pactor users,
You may or may not be aware that there is a fair amount of other kinds of digital traffic where you tend to hang out. I suspect you may have been there in that part of the band before our modes were invented or before I even got on HF. So I won't suggest you move, even though it would be easier for you few than for us many. But could you at least please listen before you transmit?!
That might cut half of the the unnecessary Pactor QRM at least. Remember that some of us enjoy weak signal modes which sometimes run below the noise floor. Those will occasionally be pretty hard to detect so we don't expect perfection. But we surely would like SOME reasonable consideration here! Probably 95% or more of us should be easy enough to hear.
Oh, your computer is set to automatic mode? Well, please tell your computer to listen for other modes first! Seriously! It is rude as all get out to suddenly run anywhere from a couple to a dozen ongoing QSO's off the band. Illegal, too. We know you don't do it on purpose, but this really does need to get addressed. Please ignore this no longer. It has been going on for many years now. It isn't getting any better. And it isn't that the Pactor community hasn't been asked. It is still poor practice, even if you aren't in the shack when it happens. Maybe you should get a consensus to change the listen protocol in your software or something? There have been some easily implemented methods proposed. Where is the progress on this?
Or how about just adapting to one of many newer, easier, cheaper, cleaner, & possibly somewhat narrower new modes which seem to do all you need and maybe then some? All you'll need is a sound card interface, and I bet you already have that! Keeping bandwidth down keeps more room for others to have fun on the bands too. (My preference- there is room if careful for wider/faster modes for those who desire) And pass messages from time to time if they are so inclined. There are some extremely robust modes out here now which require little power, are less affected by polar path, aurora, QSB & QRM, and decode to better than 10dB UNDER the noise floor. You have some good options for alternate methods, seems to me. Why not come join us in trying some of them? Several newer modes are being developed for NBEMS with ARQ and are capable of handling high volume text passing I understand. Software is free.... Available for your favorite flavor of OS, too.
So whichever way you choose to go, there really needs to be SOMETHING changed. It is time for action. We'd prefer this stay a friendly conversation. And we'd sure appreciate it if you'd try harder to cut us some slack on the bands. Please do the right thing here. Please stop QRM'ing (as in running off the band) multiple ongoing QSO's whenever you or your computer chooses. You are responsible for your station's operation are you not? Then please fix this- now- in whatever way you can.
And by all means stop by on one of the sound card modes and say hello! Or stop by one of the online forums to get more information on some of the modes which might be most suitable for supplementing or replacing the venerable Pactor. Many of the better software developers are really responsive & extremely helpful, and most seem to be fairly available via the various forums.
Thanks for listening!
73,
Stu AF6IT
From: QRZ.Com :
http://forums.qrz.com/showpost.php?p=1998696&postcount=1
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