QRPers have long been fans of PSK. And why wouldn’t they? The mode is efficient and uses DSP technology to help discover low bandwidth digital signals. What that means for the QRPer is: 1 watt + PSK = DX Very effective use of the juice!
Thing is, PSK has traditionally required the QRPer to bring along some sort of computer and a handful of wires and cables to take PSK to the field.
The American QRP Club has made this easier with the introduction of their portable digital modem–the NUE-PSK. This modem, like other AmQRP products is a kit and requires some experience with surface mount kits.
Here’s the AmQRP description of their modem:
The NUE-PSK is a small 7″ x 4″ x 1″ standalone, battery-operated digital modem using a graphic display for transmit and receive text data, as well as for showing band spectrum and tuning. Just plug in a standard PS2 keyboard and connect to an SSB-capable transceiver like the FT-817 or the PSK-xx transceivers from Small Wonder Labs, and you’ll have an effective digital mode station that goes absolutely anywhere.
The NUE-PSK is a small 7″ x 4″ x 1″ standalone, battery-operated digital modem using a graphic display for transmit and receive text data, as well as for showing band spectrum and tuning. Just plug in a standard PS2 keyboard and connect to an SSB-capable transceiver like the FT-817 or the PSK-xx transceivers from Small Wonder Labs, and you’ll have an effective digital mode station that goes absolutely anywhere.
Why wait? Go check out the specs on their website and also check eHam as reviews come in.
Fun looking rig–I think I’d like to have one!
I purchased one of these several years ago from midnight designs and it is fantastic! I use it with my old 2001 ft817 and it will decode most cw at a 90+% accuracy rate. It is super on psk31 and also does really well with RTTY. It has been a long time since I had so much fun with a new product, well worth the price. PSK 31 still has a lot of activity even now in 2020, no doubt because people want to have a real contact with someone, and PSK is a real chat mode.