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Dear Dick,

It depends what sort of operation you are going for - most random 2-way QSOs take place between about 137.650 and 137.750kHz at a speed of 3s/dot. At this speed, a few Hz drift is not a serious problem, and VFOs are quite practical, provided you monitor the frequency. The easiest way to do that is to watch your TX frequency on the RX spectrogram display - that way it is easy to see if your QRG is drifting across someone else's signal. At most QTHs there are fixed-frequency spectral lines visible in the display which make convenient calibration markers when you get to know them. Most operation seems to take place after dark and before midnight, but it is not unusual to see QRSS during the day.

For the transatlantic or other long-distance beacon-type operations, longer dot lengths are needed, usually 30s or more, with consequently better stability. The choice of frequency varies according to prevailing activity - at the moment, the trend is for non-european stations to use frequencies around 137.78kHz, while the Europeans use around 135.92, to avoid causing blocking to nearby stations - but this varies between individual operations. For transatlantic beacons, propagation normally starts to open up about 2300 or so, and to fade out when it gets light, about 0800utc.

Good luck - not sure if I will be QRV today or not, but will try to be tomorrow evening, so might see you then.

Cheers, Jim Moritz

73 de M0BMU

As I am new to QRSS I have some questions:

1. What frequency to be used.
2. What speed to be used.
3. At what times transmission to be started and finished.

73, Dick, PA0SE