JT65 opening's and rude people

[AH6RR]

Both Saturday and Sunday I was trying to work Europe on 15M there was a nice opening in the morning so I thought I would throw out a CQ. As I was working a RV3 a K6 station called me right on top of the RV3's report to me I asked the RV3 to repeat the report and the K6 once again called me. I told him to stand by with a K6*** QRX PSE but no he sent me a report. I did not answer him and he continued to send me a report. so I moved to another part of the waterfall and called CQ AH6RR EU. And once again the same K6 calls me and I sent a reply K6 IS NOT EU and called CQ EU again. There is a short opening on 15 in the morning to EU from here and I was trying to take advantage of it but on both days every time I would call CQ EU a US station would call me I was wondering when did NA become EU? When there in no opening to EU I work all the NA stations that answer me but when there is a opening I want to work EU Only not NA. I guess I need to just answer the EU stations calling CQ if I can get past all the NA stations answering the EU stations. Sorry just venting. I can only play in the mornings on the weekends due to the fact I work all week long so no Morning QRV Monday thru Friday.

Roland AH6RR

[N4UM]

So...don't leave us guessing!  What was the K6's call? 

[AH6RR]

I do not remember it was really a AB6 or somthing like that. I just used a K6 but I had many K6, K7 and K5's calling me when I would put out a CQ for Europe. It got so bad that I turned the rig off. But like I said I have no problem having a QSO with the Mainland when there is no opening to EU on 15 it is somewhat rare in the mornings here.

[W1VT]

That is too bad.  I've operated from Hawaii and yes, those European openings are really hard to come by--I managed to resist calling KH6MB while he was running a RTTY Eu pileup, even though it would have been a new one on digital--I easily worked KH6GMP a few months later.

I'd suggest operating split.  Park yourself at the top or bottom of the waterfall and tell people to call up or down.  You might even be able to get folks to call you OUTSIDE the normal JT65 waterfall. 

Zack Lau W1VT

[EI2HNB]

I feel you pain, albeit in a different way.

I'll call CQ and get a responce. I'll then send a signal report, but I'll hear nothing back. So I give it a few more tries, still no responce. Then I notice the responder in a different QSO on the waterfall.

 I used to assume that conditions got worse and they couldn't pick me up anymore.  Now I am suspicious of such exchanges because frequently the QSL request will soon arrive in my eQSL inbox.

I even got a rather terse email from someone berating me for being so rude as to reject his request as he needed me in the log to get an award. He actually  responded to my CQ with a 73!

[WB0FDJ]

I've been using the JT65 mode now for at least three years, started with the WSJT suite since the computer was linux and I like to operate QRP. That software is less automated than the new "no brainer" JT65-HF. Back then there were fewer users and I rarely if ever saw anyone breaking in on a qso. Things seemed a little more "organized" for want of a better word. If a dx station came up guys would line up and "tail end", making things more efficient.

I started noticing that, over time, there was a lot more of the kind of thing you talked about. Although I don't really use the mode anymore I sometimes fire up the software and run it in the backround. Nearly ever time I do I see folks doing the same old thing: send their call when the dx station is trying to get a signal report or somesuch. For that reason I've migrated to using Joe's newest software that uses the JT9 mode. Much narrower bandwidth. So less congestion. To anyone who likes JT65 this is worth a look. Also Joe in his operating guide has specific recommendations/expectations about the software's design parameters (i.e. signal strength). That should put everyone on the same page.

Hang in there amigo.

Doc WB0FDJ 73

[RSHIRE22]

The first thing that bugs me about JT-65A and especially the program is how slowly it decodes. Often you've got about two seconds after a decode to click in the response - not nearly enough time.

Other problems: Some stations go straight from signal report to 73 - why no RRR? The station that sends the signal report over and over. If he hasn't decoded tell me. If I click too late the program sends the message I didn't want to send.

The JT-65A program often does not decode and begins again only when I reboot my computer. When it doesn't decode the Raw Decoder often says ' a too weak or strong signal'. How can the program decode seriously weak signal such as DX in that case? My experience with JT-65A mode is it does not live up to it's expectations. You should be able to work DX stations world wide if the program decodes to -25db as it is supposed to. From Florida I rarely hear VK or JA stations with a vertical or directional wire antennas. So calling it a 'Weak Signal mode' seems an exaggeration in my opinion.

Ron

[WB0FDJ]

The first thing that bugs me about JT-65A and especially the program is how slowly it decodes. Often you've got about two seconds after a decode to click in the response - not nearly enough time.

Other problems: Some stations go straight from signal report to 73 - why no RRR? The station that sends the signal report over and over. If he hasn't decoded tell me. If I click too late the program sends the message I didn't want to send.

The JT-65A program often does not decode and begins again only when I reboot my computer. When it doesn't decode the Raw Decoder often says ' a too weak or strong signal'. How can the program decode seriously weak signal such as DX in that case? My experience with JT-65A mode is it does not live up to it's expectations. You should be able to work DX stations world wide if the program decodes to -25db as it is supposed to. From Florida I rarely hear VK or JA stations with a vertical or directional wire antennas. So calling it a 'Weak Signal mode' seems an exaggeration in my opinion.

Ron

Ron

I wonder if you slowness in decode is related to your equipment. When I first started using this mode I was running an inexpensive machine that used an ATOM CPU. Running the WSJT suite it seemed "a bit" slow until I tried using WSPR. It would take up to 30 (or more) seconds to decode WSPR data. When I switched to a somewhat faster CPU (or course anything is faster than the ATOM chip) decodes were faster. If you use the WSJT suite for JT-65 you have a choice of decode settings, including "quick decode" which even helped speed up decoding with the ATOM chip.

Stations will sometimes bypass the "RRR" message. Especially DX stations that are trying to run as many Q's as possible. If they go past RRR to something like 73 it implies that they received your "R -08" report. If they had not received your R-signal report they would resend your signal report (i.e. the second message).

For what it's worth I have very average equipment and a single vertical antenna. My first two JT-65 QSO's were HI and Asiatic Russia, running 5 W. It will decode below -20 dB consistantly and my major reason for using it is (was) that I do a lot of QRP operating. I made a bunch of stateside contacts running 2 watts and less. The JT-65 portion of the band has become a bit congested so I have migrated to JT-9 which makes very efficient use of bandwidth. Just put KH6SAT in the log last night on 20 meters @ 5 watts.

Good luck & 73 Doc WB0FDJ

[KG6AF]

I wonder if you slowness in decode is related to your equipment. When I first started using this mode I was running an inexpensive machine that used an ATOM CPU. Running the WSJT suite it seemed "a bit" slow until I tried using WSPR. It would take up to 30 (or more) seconds to decode WSPR data. When I switched to a somewhat faster CPU (or course anything is faster than the ATOM chip) decodes were faster.

Agreed.  My old 3GHz Pentium 4 system took six or seven seconds to decode JT65A; my i7 laptop needs only one second.  This makes for a huge difference in ease of operation.

[RSHIRE22]

Doc WB0FDJ,

Thanks for your suggestions. Last night I went back to WSJT. I never had problems decoding with it nor did I last night. I downloaded the version with JT-9 and JT-65. I'm not saying I've never made exciting dx with the mode (best dx so far was a western Austrailian via long path) but that area of the world is seldom heard by my set up (ground plane vertical, rotatable dipole).

Last night I sent my cq using JT-9 on 10.138 and 14.076 but no activity seen so far. I should be on those bands after 8 EDT as a seven call sign. Maybe we can qso.

73s
Ron

[WALTERB]

The first thing that bugs me about JT-65A and especially the program is how slowly it decodes. Often you've got about two seconds after a decode to click in the response - not nearly enough time.

Other problems: Some stations go straight from signal report to 73 - why no RRR? The station that sends the signal report over and over. If he hasn't decoded tell me. If I click too late the program sends the message I didn't want to send.

The JT-65A program often does not decode and begins again only when I reboot my computer. When it doesn't decode the Raw Decoder often says ' a too weak or strong signal'. How can the program decode seriously weak signal such as DX in that case? My experience with JT-65A mode is it does not live up to it's expectations. You should be able to work DX stations world wide if the program decodes to -25db as it is supposed to. From Florida I rarely hear VK or JA stations with a vertical or directional wire antennas. So calling it a 'Weak Signal mode' seems an exaggeration in my opinion.

Ron

yes, its like they try and short circuit protocol.  one guy always sends his own "RRR 73" packet in one TX, and when you click on it, it doesn't create the return 73, so he doesn't get the my final Tx.  I guess he is use to it.