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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
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