‰  NOW 40 WPM  ‰  TEXT IS FROM AUGUST 2005 QST  PAGES 59 AND 103  ‰

ATTRIBUTE I CANNOT THINK OF ONE CHANGE I WOULD MAKE TO CONTROL SIZE AND
PLACEMENT.  ON THE AIR MOTHER NATURES LIGHTNING STORMS AND THE LOCAL POWER
COMPANYS INABILITY TO DEAL WITH HER COMBINED TO LIMIT MY ABILITY TO GIVE
THE FTDX9000D HOURS AND HOURS OF ON THE 
‰  FROM PAGE 103  ‰
JE2LPC/333 JE2LUN/335 JF3KON/332 JF6WBP/327 JF6WTY/326 JH2AQI/326

OUR FIRST TEST WAS PSK31.  IT REQUIRED A DELICATE BALANCING ACT TO ADJUST
THE COMPUTER AUDIO OUTPUT AND THE FTDX9000DS PKT GAIN MENU ITEM 64 TO
GENERATE THE HIGHEST OUTPUT WITHOUT DISTORTION.  WE FOUND THAT IT WAS EASY
TO OVERDRIVE THE TRANSCEIVER AND CREATE A TERRIBLY DISTORTED SIGNAL.
FORTUNATELY, YOU CAN MONITOR YOUR OUTPUT WAVEFORM ON THE FTDX9000DS SCREEN
AND SEE THE DISTORTION WITH YOUR OWN EYES.  WITH THE TRANSMIT SIDE SET UP,
WE SETTLED IN FOR A PSK31 SESSION WITH MIXW SOFTWARE ON A LAPTOP RUNNING
WINDOWS XP.  THE SENSITIVITY AND DYNAMIC RANGE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE
FTDX9000D BECAME EVIDENT AS WE EASILY COPIED SOME EXTREMELY WEAK PSK31
SIGNALS.  DURING THE SAME SESSION, WE MANAGED TO FIND A COUPLE OF MFSK16
CONVERSATIONS AND EVEN A HELLSCHREIBER QSO.  THE PERFORMANCE WITH EACH MODE
WAS FLAWLESS.  THE NEXT HF DIGITAL TEST WAS WITH RTTY, PUTTING W1HQ, THE
ARRL LABORATORY STATION, ON THE AIR DURING THE ALESSANDRO VOLTA RTTY
CONTEST.  STILL USING THE PACKET JACK TO OPERATE AFSK, WE WERE ABLE TO
GENERATE 200 W OF UNDISTORTED RTTY POWER.  THE FTDX9000D MANUAL CAUTIONS
AGAINST USING 200 W WITH A 100 DUTY CYCLE MODE SUCH AS RTTY UNLESS YOU
‰  FROM PAGE 103  ‰
DF3IS/328 DF3SV/335 DJ2SL/344 DJ2YI/373 DJ4PT/351 DJ5IH/346 DJ6OI/326
DL6KG/355 DL7EN/373 DL9MKA/327 DL9RCF/326 DL9YC/345 EA5KY/327 EA7TV/333
F5DBT/330 F5OIU/326 F6IMB/326 F8GB/341 G3BBR/332 G3OAG/334 G4SOF/332
‰  QST DE W1AW  ƒ

LIMIT THE TRANSMISSION TIME TO 3 MINUTES.  WE CHOSE TO BE CAUTIOUS AND
REDUCED OUTPUT TO 100 W.  A CONTEST ENVIRONMENT PRESENTS THE ULTIMATE
CHALLENGE TO A RECEIVER AND RTTY IS NO EXCEPTION.  PROPAGATION CONDITIONS
WERE DREADFUL DURING MUCH OF THE VOLTA CONTEST, SO STATIONS TENDED TO
CLUSTER ON 20 METERS.  PRESSING THE NAR NARROW SWITCH ENABLED THE 300 HZ
DSP IF FILTER, WHICH WAS EXACTLY WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED.  THE FTDX9000D
HAD NO PROBLEM SEPARATING INDIVIDUAL SIGNALS UNLESS THEY WERE RIGHT ON TOP
OF EACH OTHER.  USING WRITELOG SOFTWARE AND THE RIGEXPERT TINY INTERFACE,
WE WORKED ENOUGH STATIONS TO PROVE THAT THE FTDX9000D IS A SERIOUS
COMPETITION RADIO.  THE FRONT PANEL RTTY BUTTON IS STRICTLY FOR FSK.  FOR
THE UNINITIATED, FSK FREQUENCY SHIFT KEYING INVOLVES SENDING DATA, NOT
AUDIO, FROM THE COMPUTER TO THE TRANSCEIVER.  THE TRANSCEIVER, IN TURN,
GENERATES THE MARK SPACE RTTY SIGNAL DIRECTLY BY SHIFTING ITS OUTPUT
FREQUENCY.  TO TEST THE FSK FUNCTION WE USED A HOMEBREW FSK KEYING
‰  FROM PAGE 103  ‰
GIOTJJ/327 GM3PPE/333 HA5DA/340 HB9AFM/356 HB9MO/372 HK4CYR/331 I0JBL/336
I0SGF/336 I2VGW/326 I4ENO/326 I5EFO/336 IK2ECP/331 IK2WAL/326 IK4DRR/330
‰  END OF 40 WPM TEXT  ‰  QST DE W1AW  ƒ