PSK63

• 100 wpm character transmission speed for contest exchanges and  macro transmission versus RTTY at 60 wpm
• Only 1/5 the bandwidth of RTTY - capable of displaying 25 signals simultaneously on a waterfall or spectrum display
• Fast, easy, point-and-click tuning using the mouse or keyboard arrowkey tuning
• Capable of color thumbnail portrait transmission in less than 2 minutes
• Faster error recovery than RTTY
• Requires much less power than RTTY for the same communication performance
• Identical to PSK31 except for wider bandwidth of 63 Hz
• Improved polar path performance compared to PSK31
• Works with any soundcard-equipped Windows computer and SSB transceiver
• Initial testing on 20 meters between 14072.5 and 14080.0 KHz
• Experimental software available now

PSK63 is just like PSK31, except that it is twice as fast and twice as wide. Macros and Brag files will transmit at 100 wpm on PSK63, instead of 50 wpm on PSK31. The turnover and exchange times for contesting will be twice as fast as PSK31, and even faster than RTTY.

When using PSK63 and QuikPSK, you might see more narrow PSK31 signals on the waterfall, but you will not be able to copy them.

Weak signal performance of PSK63 will be similar to PSK31, except that twice the power needs to be run compared to PSk31 for the same signal-to-noise ratio. I.e., instead of running 20 watts on PSK31, just increase the power to 40 watts when using PSK63 for the same weak signal performance, but be sure to operate your transceiver in its linear region. Most operators will find that it is not necessary to use more power for PSK63 operation unless conditions are very poor.

In all other respects, operating PSK63 is exactly like operating PSK31.
 

"Channelize, please!"

Since PSK63 is twice as wide as PSK31, it would reduce band congestion if everyone would operate on even 100Hz frequencies, such as 14072.8. The suggested area for PSK63 operation on 20 meters is just above the PSK31 activity, or starting at 14072.5 and extending to the beginning of the RTTY activity area at 14080. To do this, just set your transceiver to UPPER sideband, and the dial frequency to 14072.0. Then operate at WINPSK RX Freq of 500, 600, 700, 800, 900, 1000, 1100, 1200, 1300, 1400, 1500, 1600, 1700, 1800, 1900, 2000, 2100, 2200, 2300, 2400, or 2500 Hz, etc.. Of course, you can just point and click on any PSK63 signal you see on the waterfall, regardless of the frequency, but congestion would be reduced if you select an even 100Hz frequency for calling CQ. Right-clicking on a frequency temporarily disables the AFC so you can easily pick an even 100 Hz frequency.

A beta version of QuikPSK, an experimental PSK63 program that sends color thumbnail portraits by PSK63, and can display 24 PSK63 channels simultaneously, is available at http://www.qsl.net/kh6ty/quikpsk/quikpsk.zip. Download quikpsk.zip and unzip all the included files into the same folder. Then drag a shortcut onto the Desktop from quikpsk.exe and just double-click on the shortcut to run QuikPSK. Selecting Help from the QuikPSK menu will display a basic help page.

Skip, KH6TY, May 4, 2003
[email protected]