[amsat-bb] Why 6 digit grid locator in Europe?

[Dani EA4GPZ]

El 18/02/16 a las 23:06, Peter Goodhall escribió:

> But I honestly don't feel that because on EME or M/S its just 4
> characters that it should mean a sudden switch, for EME/MS the 4
> letters have been decided based mainly on the digital modes which has
> moved into HF with JT65 and JT9 before then apart from in a PSK brag
> file you never really heard QRAs on HF.

In fact it's not the case that they use 4 digit locators on EME. 4 digit
locators are used in many JT modes just because there are some spare
bits in the message format.

I think that operators EME CW don't send locators ever. They have their
own signal report system called TMO, where they send one of the letters
T, M or O three times based on the amount of data they could copy.

http://www.nitehawk.com/rasmit/g3sek_op_proc.pdf

For MS there is signal report system based on the length an strength of
the pings.

http://www.g0che.co.uk/ms-procedure.php

The thing is that in the US 4 digit locators are normally used for
terrestrial VHF and such instead of 6 digit locators. In fact, 6 digit
locators are almost unheard of and many operators won't know their 6
digit locator. I read recently a proposal of change to the rules of the
IARU R1 50MHz contest regarding this matter. This contest currently
requires that 6 digit locators are exchanged over the air. However,
there is a problem that US operators will usually pass just 4 digit
locators and it's difficult explain and get their 6 digit locator under
marginal propagation conditions (the usual conditions in transatlantic
50MHz).

> I'm not sure how long the 6 characters has been a thing on the
> satellites in Europe, but in the 4 years I've been on it's certainly
> the norm.. like you say tons of times wasted on for example SO-50
> having to wait for someone to stop calling over you or keying you out
> that its easily 50% of the time lost just to people probably not being
> able to hear the satellite in the first place.

I don't know either, but it's only the case in Europe. In the US they
normally use 4 digit locators on satellites. I think that the difference
in use comes from terrestrial VHF.

The thing is that perhaps we as a community of satellite operators
should decide what do we consider as a signal report or valid contact.
As you said, the standard signal report doesn't make much sense for
satellites. The report could be the locator, but I don't think this is
such a good idea because it is not so easy to copy a 6 digit locator in
poor conditions (in Europe the many different accents and languages
don't help either). The report should be easier to copy.

I agree that in good conditions you can send back and forth 6 digit
locators real quick. However, in poor conditions, if you want to get
them copied properly, you will probably have to repeat it several times
and perhaps request a readback.

The problem with any idea about changing the established customs is that
the satellite community is quite big and spread out. Most of the
operators don't read amsat-bb. By comparison, the EME and MS communities
are smaller and the guys there tend to frequent the same mailing lists
and webs for skeds.

> Just my thoughts anyway and many thanks for the squares while you've
> been on from the UK.

Could you get IO95? I hear that's quite a rare grid.

73,

Dani EA4GPZ.