The Last Honest Reporter in America

I'd be remiss in my duty as your faithful chronicler of all things remarkable about ham radio if I did not wax enthusiastically about how insanely cool the PSK Reporter web site is. The general idea of the system is described on the home page:

"[PSK Reporter] automatically gather[s] reception records of PSK activity and then make those records available in near real time to interested parties — typically the amateur who initiated the communication. The way that it works is that many amateurs will run a client that will monitor received traffic for callsigns (the pattern 'de callsign callsign') and, when seen, will report this fact. This is of interest to the amateur who transmitted and they will be able to see where their signal was received. The pattern chosen is typically part of a standard CQ call. The duplicate check is to make sure that the callsign is not corrupted.

"The way that this would be used is that an amateur would call CQ and could then (within a few minutes) see where his signal was received. This can be useful in determining propagation conditions or in adjusting antenna and/or radio parameters. It will also provide an archive of reception records that can be used for research purposes"

I vaguely recalled skimming over something in the DM780 operation manual about enabling reports to a web-based propagation monitoring system but didn't follow through and check it out until last week when a station I was working mentioned it during our PSK31 QSO. Since then I've had the site up on my Mac whenever the radio is on and parked on a PSK31 frequency.

PSK Reporter answers the two most important questions an amateur can ask: "Who can I hear?" and "Who can hear me?" It plots markers on a Google Map for all stations you're copying -- even when you're not paying attention -- and also lets you see how your own signal is propagating by plotting all monitor stations that hear you. It's an incredible useful tool for someone chasing WAS and DXCC points. Just mouse over any of the monitor station markers and you'll get a pop-up box with details. The map scales automatically, so when all of a sudden the page refreshes and pops open a map showing Europe, Asia, the Pacific, South America or Africa, you know it's DX time. The screen grab atop this post was captured Wednesday morning on 20m just a few minutes after a single test transmission.

At first glance one may wonder how PSK Reporter is different or better than your garden variety DX Cluster. The difference is localization -- that is, local to your own station. It shows you what your station is hearing; you no longer have to sift through spots by European or Asian stations for DX that you couldn't possibly work. Just as it is unthinkable today for someone to chase DX on phone or CW without a DX Cluster connection, I believe it will soon be equally unthinkable to operate PSK31 without PSK Reporter.

Advantages over DX Cluster:

• Automatic, no need for an individual to spot the DX.
  
  
• Only shows stations that your own station has received and therefore have a possibility of working.
  
  
• Gives you near-real time feedback on how your signal is propagating and where you are being heard.
  

Disadvantages:

• Only useful on a single band at a time. I suppose multiple receivers can be used, but that would take some engineering...
  
  
• Not yet universally supported -- at present only DM780 and fldigi facilitate automatic updates to PSK Reporter. All major apps need to support this project for it to become completely ubiquitous.
  
  
• PSK Reporter is run by an individual, not an organization. What if Philip Gladstone loses interest in ham radio, or gets tired of footing the costs for hosting the site, or gets hit by a meteor? What happens when (not 'if') the system grows to thousands of users instead of hundreds, all posting their spots simultaeneously to the server, and the current host becomes unable to handle the increased traffic? Perhaps it needs to be institutionalized by a group similar to AMSAT or TAPR to ensure its longevity.

By and large, PSK Reporter is a brilliant creation and should be utilized by all who use digital modes on a regular basis. Kudos to Philip Gladstone N1DQ for developing the system and providing it to the amateur community, free fer nothin'!