Club Program Ideas: Digital Contesting
In this series on Club Program ideas, I’m providing possible programs for clubs to use in their meetings. You can find a full explanation of the approach in Club Programs – The Series.Today’s program idea: Digital Contesting.Scanning this past weekend's contests revealed new digital modes that I have heard of, but don't know how they work in a contest.For example, the DigiFest contest this weekend offered up RTTY75, BPSK63, MFSK16, Hellschreiber and Olivia modes. The Digital Pentathlon was more specific with using just MFSK as a mode.You and I can probably guess that RTTY75 and BPSK63 are merely faster speeds for the base RTTY and BPSK modes we've seen. The rest?Program possibilities:
- Explanation of the modes
- What contesting software is needed for the modes
- How digital contests work differently than CW or SSB contests
- Digital contest schedule.
One of the exciting developments in ham radio has been the development of these digital modes. Now some specific contests are being developed using these digital modes. Contests are a great place to try new modes for the station and operator and this program will help introduce this mode of contesting to the members.Scot, K9JY