MixW Mode Settings Used for Mars OPS at NNN0FFO/NNN0GBN Sixteen These setting are currently at use NNN0FFO but are subject to change - YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY! 1. BPSK31 Mode Settings: *AFC - Not Checked (Inactive) - For net ops, you tune to NECOS and lock your frequency to NECOS. If AFC is active, your operating frequency will drift according to background noise and off frequency emissions. *Squelch - Checked (Active) - Squelch threshold is adjusted by slider control below the check boxes. A good starting point for the squelch level setting is 1/3 up from the bottom. *Snap - Not Checked (Inactive) - Designed to allow MixW to rapidly find the correct tuning point for a given emission. This function generally will not be necessary for NET ops. *TX and RX Frequency - To center the BPSK31 emission in the allotted mars channel when you transceiver is tuned to the suppressed carrier frequency (i.e. 4009.5 KHz in Ohio) the TX and RX frequencies are set to 1500 Hz. Note since PSK31 is a narrowband mode any frequency can be used between approximately 300 and 2700 Hz and remain with the assigned channel bandwidth. 2. QPSK31 Mode Settings: *SAME AS BPSK31 SETTINGS. 3. FSK31 Mode Settings: *SAME AS FSK31 SETTINGS. 4. RTTY Mode Settings: *Inverted - Checked (Active) - MixW assumes USB transceiver operation in all modes, but amateur convention uses LSB for RTTY; hence, for USB operation in MARS it in necessary to invert the mark and space for correct decoding. *AFC - Not Checked (Inactive)- For net ops, you tune to NECOS and lock your frequency to NECOS. If AFC is active, your operating frequency will drift according to background noise and off frequency emissions. *Snap - Not Checked (Inactive) - Designed to allow MixW to rapidly find the correct tuning point for a given emission. This function generally will not be necessary for NET ops. *Squelch - Checked (Active) - Squelch threshold is adjusted by slider control below the check boxes. A good starting point for the squelch level setting is 1/2 up from the bottom. *Unshift on Space USO - Not Checked (Inactive) - USO's force a RTTY demodulator to automatically return to "letters mode" from "figures mode" when a space is decoded. USO's are not used in MARS. *TX and RX Frequency - To center the RTTY emission in the allotted mars channel when you transceiver is tuned to the suppressed carrier frequency (i.e. 4009.5 KHz in Ohio) the TX and RX frequencies are set to 1500 Hz. You do NOT need to change your dial frequency for transmitting or receiving RTTY. *Demodulator - For best selectivity and noise immunity the Demodulator should be set to "Two filters". *Shift - NAVMARCORMARS uses a 170 Hz shift; however, some MARS members use TNC's designed for packet radio to send RTTY; these devices which will generally use a 200 Hz shift. The best compromise to get equally bad copy from both shifts is to set the shift parameter to 183 Hz. *Baud Rate - NAVMARCORMARS uses 75.0 Baud (100 WPM) for all RTTY transmissions. *Character Set - English 5. AMTOR (FEC mode B only) Mode Settings: *Inverted - Checked (Active) - MixW assumes USB transceiver operation in all modes, but amateur convention uses LSB for AMTOR; hence, for USB operation in MARS it in necessary to invert the mark and space for correct decoding. *TX and RX Frequency - To center the AMTOR emission in the allotted mars channel when you transceiver is tuned to the suppressed carrier frequency (i.e. 4009.5 KHz in Ohio) the TX and RX frequencies are set to 1500 Hz. You do NOT need to change your dial frequency for transmitting or receiving AMTOR. *Shift - NAVMARCORMARS uses a 170 Hz shift; again, some members use TNC's designed for packet radio to send AMTOR, so copy may not be ideal from all stations. Additionally the algorithm used to decode AMTOR is inferior to that found in other soundcard programs and TU's. MixW tends to loose lock rather easily and does not reliably resynchronize when a CR/LF is decoded. *Character Set - English 6. PACTOR (FEC mode only) Mode Settings: *TX and RX Frequency - To center the PACTOR FEC emission in the allotted mars channel when you transceiver is tuned to the suppressed carrier frequency (i.e. 4009.5 KHz in Ohio) the TX and RX frequencies are set to 1500 Hz. 7. MSFK (16 tone) Mode Settings *AFC - Not Checked (Inactive) - For net ops, you tune to NECOS and lock your frequency to NECOS. If AFC is active, your operating frequency will drift according to background noise and off frequency emissions. *Inverted - Not Checked (Inactive) - MixW assumes USB transceiver operation. *Squelch - Checked (Active) - Squelch threshold is adjusted by slider control below the check boxes. A good starting point for the squelch level setting is 1/4 up from the bottom. *Snap - Not Checked (Inactive) - Designed to allow MixW to rapidly find the correct tuning point for a given emission. This function generally will not be necessary for NET ops. *TX and RX Frequency - To center the MFSK emission in the allotted mars channel when you transceiver is tuned to the suppressed carrier frequency (i.e. 4009.5 KHz in Ohio) the TX and RX frequencies are set to 1500 Hz. 8. MT63 Mode Settings: *Inverted - Not Checked (Inactive) - MixW assumes USB transceiver operation. *Squelch - Checked (Active) - Squelch threshold is adjusted by slider control below the check boxes. A good starting point for the squelch level setting is 1/4 up from the bottom. *Bandwidth - Commonly used bandwidths used in MARS are 1000 Hz (100 WPM mode) and 2000 Hz (200 WPM mode). Generally, the transmitting station will indicate the bandwidth employed prior to commencing a transmission. *Interleave – The interleave parameter dictates the latency and depth of error correction encoded into the transmitted data stream. In general, longer the interleave, the greater the immunity of the transmitted emission to interference. For NAVMARCORMARS the interleave parameter is usually set to "Long" unless stated otherwise. *TX and RX Start Frequency - For simplicity the start TX and RX frequencies are set to 500 Hz irreverent to the selected bandwidth. For the MT63 2000 Hz bandwidth, the 500 Hz TX and RX start frequencies correctly center the resultant emission with in the allotted MARS channel bandwidth; but, for the 1000 Hz bandwidth the emission is not centered within the MARS channel. However, it must be noted the all the emitted energy from the MT63 transmission at 1000 Hz bandwidth (as well as the 500 Hz bandwidth) remains within the allocated 3.0 KHz frequency of the MARS channel. NOTES: 1. Other HF modes - Hellschreiber, SSTV, Throb, and HF Packet are not currently being used in NAVMARCORMARS, hence, their mode settings are not presented here. 2. AFC - Is not usually used for nets, however, they may be times that its operation may ease the reception, as MixW will keep a station accurately tuned. Be sure that when you transmit, that you are still set to the right frequency as the AFC may have allow you frequency to drift. 3. Lock - When Lock is activated (at bottom of window below the waterfall), the TX frequency is fixed at the position of the active cursor, and the flag above the cursor changes to red (seen above the waterfall). When LOCK is NOT selected, transmission will occur on the same frequency as receive, as indicated by the diamond or triangle cursor, and the flag above the cursor will be green. Lock allows you to transmit on one frequency and receive on another (split frequency operation). Additionally, this allows for reception of an off-frequency transmission. Your TX frequency is fixed (locked), but it allows you to use the AFC and SNAP to tune-in the off-frequency transmission. 4. Snap - Can be activated in the mode settings (or at the bottom of the window below the waterfall). When Snap is activated, MixW will automatically find the correct tuning point for a station. NNN0FFO/NNN0GBN Sixteen 03 OCT 02