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Operating Modes
There are many different modes of operation available to hams. So far I have
only tried four, so those will be the ones I offer the most information about. I
am by no means an expert in any of them, but for someone new to radio I may be
able to provide a little information.
CW For several years after receiving my license I only operated CW.
The reason was simple, I didn't have a lot of money at the time to spend on
radios and my first rig was a Heathkit HW-99, which was CW only and only 50
watts. On top of being CW only, it also only had the Novice bands of 10, 15, 40,
and 80 meters. For that reason I spent most of my DX'ing time on 15 meters. This
was during the peak of the last sunspot cycle, 1988 to about 1990, and many
nights 15 meters was open nearly all night. There were many times I got through
a pileup on CW that I doubt I would have been able to get through on SSB. For
one thing it takes much less signal strength for a CW signal to be understood
than for a SSB signal. Besides, I just liked CW. It reminded me of my younger
days and my idea of what ham radio was; hams using Morse code. It's a fun mode,
and a good low power mode.
SSB Along about 1990 I got my first multi-mode rig, a Kenwood TS-140S,
which is what I still use today. Over time my SSB and CW qso's average out to
about the same on each mode. That is largely due to me operating in contests and
I usually operate in both the CW and SSB portions of each. I still find that I
can bust a pileup easier on CW than on SSB, but at the same time I have worked
stations on SSB that I didn't think I had a chance at. Usually it is because I
find the station before a big pileup is calling, or I hang in there for days
trying to work a DX'pedition. Being a voice mode it is easier to pick out calls,
but then you have to contend with accents. There is no doubt that you can
exchange more information on voice than CW. I think it is around 200 words a
minute that people speak, and most CW operators probably go along at about 25
wpm. I know some can go a lot faster, but the average is probably 25 wpm or
less.
RTTY For me this is a new mode and I have only tried it in a contest
so far. It didn't take me long to realize I would really like RTTY because of
the ease of operation using the computer and a Sound Card Radio Interface. It's
just type and go, which is okay if you are a good typist, probably not as good
if you are a poor typist. Luckily for me I am a fair typist and love computers
so it may just be a natural mode for me to operate. From what little I have seen
so far there seems to be less people on RTTY, which makes the pileups smaller
but could also make it harder to find new DX stations on.
PSK31 This is one of the newer modes and seems to be catching on very
quickly. It is another mode that uses the Sound Card Radio Interface to let the
computer control the radio. It has an extremely small signal bandwidth so a lot
of signals can operate in the space needed for one SSB signal. Again it is type
and send, or use macros to hold common information. I haven't really operated
PSK31 much yet so I can't say much about it, but it seems to be a good mode. I
look forward to trying it out more this fall and winter after all the yard work
is done.