‰ NOW 40 WPM ‰ CODING IS APPLIED TO CREATE THE FSQ SIGNAL. STEVE OLNEY, VK2XV, PIONEERED THIS TECHNIQUE, AND THE FSQ DEVELOPERS HAD ALSO IMPLEMENTED IT IN DOMINOEX, EXCHAT, AND WSQ. IT IS ALSO USED IN THOR. IFK ENCODES THE DATA FROM THE CHARACTER TABLE AS DIFFERENCES BETWEEN TWO TONES RATHER THAN AS AN ABSOLUTE TONE. IFK PROVIDES TOLERANCE OF TUNING 50 HZ, AND OF DRIFT 18 HZ/S AT 6 BAUD, AND HAS EXCELLENT ISI PERFORMANCE. ISI OCCURS WHEN SIGNAL COPIES ARRIVE AT THE RECEIVER VIA DIFFERENT PAT MODEL, AND INTRODUCE HAMS TO VERY SIMPLE CHAT OPERATION, NOT UNLIKE CELL PHONE TEXTING OR INTERNET CHAT. SEE THE LIST OF FSQ CALLING FREQUENCIES IN TABLE 1. COMPLEX VS. SIMPLE IN RECENT YEARS, DIGITAL MODES HAVE BECOME INCREASINGLY COMPLEX. HAM RADIO SHOULD BE ABOUT FRIENDS CHATTING WITH EASY TO USE EQUIPMENT, NOT FIGHTING WITH THE TECHNOLOGY, OR STRUGGLING TO UNDERSTAND IT. WHILE SOME RECENT COMPLEX MODES MAY BE TECHNICALLY EXCELLENT, THAT EXCELLENCE COMES AT THE COST OF COMPLEXITY AND OPERATIONAL PLEASURE THEY ARE NOT CONVERSATIONAL MODES. THEY CAN BE VERY SLUGGISH CAUSE DELAY, AND CAN REQUIRE MORE BANDWIDTH AND HIGHER SYMBOL RATES THAT FURTHER ADD TO COMPLEXITY AND TO PROBLEMS ON HF PATHS. FOR CHATTING, WE NEED A VERY SLICK MODE, WITH NO ERROR CORRECTION OR OTHER DELAYS. WE DELIBERATELY EXPLOITED ROBUSTNESS THROUGH SIMPLICITY IN FSQ. WE ELECTED TO USE AN MFSK MULTI FREQUENCY SHIFT KEYING SYSTEM OF 33 TONES, OPERATING AT A MAXIMUM OF NEARLY 6 BAUD, THAT PROVIDES NEARLY 60 WORDS PER MINUTE THROUGHPUT. OVERALL SIGNAL BANDWIDTH IS 300 HZ, BUT THE FILTER BANDWIDTH PER TONE IS ONLY ABOUT 3 HZ, HENCE IT HAS EXCELLENT SENSITIVITY. THE NEW FSQ FAST SIMPLE QSO THIS NEW DIGITAL CHAT MODE INCLUDES A RICH SET OF FEATURES FOR PUBLIC SERVICE COMMUNICATIONS. MURRAY GREENMAN, ZL1BPU FSQ FAST SIMPLE QSO IS A NEW TYPE OF DIGITAL MODE THAT IS KEYBOARD CHAT ORIENTED AND SUPPORTS A GOOD TYPING SPEED. IT HAS A LOW ERROR RATE, IS HIGHLY VERSATILE, AND SUPPORTS IMAGE TRANSMISSION AND SELECTIVE CALLING WITH A WIDE RANGE OF COMMANDS. FSQ WAS DESIGNED FOR SIMPLE, ENJOYABLE CHAT OPERATION, BUT WITH PUBLIC SERVICE AND DISASTER COMMUNICATIONS OPERATIONS IN MIND. OTHER THAN A TRANSCEIVER, ALL YOU NEED IS A SOUND DEVICE INTERFACE. INTRODUCING FSQ CON WASSILIEFF, ZL2AFP, AND MURRAY GREENMAN, ZL1BPU, DESIGNED AND DEVELOPED FSQ FOR SHORT DISTANCE, SINGLE HOP NVIS NEAR VERTICAL INCIDENCE SKYWAVE IONOSPHERIC PROPAGATION, WHICH IS TYPICAL OF LOW BANDS, 1R8 10 MHZ, BUT IT IS ALSO USEFUL ON LONGER SINGLE HOP GREYLINE PATHS, AND ON VHF FM. THE MAIN CHALLENGE WAS TO ACHIEVE WORLD CLASS PERFORMANCE UNDER CONDITIONS OF FADING, MULTI PATH RECEPTION, DOPPLER SHIFT, AND SIGNIFICANT IMPULSE INTERFERENCE, WITHOUT USING ERROR CORRECTION. LONG LATENCIES AND SLOW TURNAROUND PRINCIPALLY CAUSED BY ERROR CORRECTION CODING ENCOURAGE BAD OPERATING HABITS SUCH AS LONG TRANSMISSIONS, ONE SIDED QSOS, AND QSO BY MACRO. WE DECIDED THAT IT WAS TIME FOR A NEW MODE THAT WOULD DEPART FROM THE CONVENTIONAL DIGITAL MODE ‰ END OF 40 WPM TEXT ‰ QST DE W1AW ƒ