Oguz, TA2STO in Türkiye has developed a new mode called LongChat to allow radio amateurs to communicate with each other.
It's described as follows... "LongChat is a low-power (QRP) / low bitrate text chat software application over ham radios connected to a PC. Chirp symbols with an audio bandwidth of 2400 Hz (300-2700 Hz) are generated on the PC side for encoding the messages. Baseband audio signal is then transferred from PC to ham radio for modulation at the selected mode. SSB, FM and other types of modulation modes can be used. Forward error correction codes are used to correct messaging errors
Current version is tested on ICOM-7300 and YAESU FT991A radios. Other radios are supported but not tested yet. Future improved versions will support higher data rates or lower S/N ratios.
Since the software is continually improved and data structures may have changed, newest version needs to be used for compatibility with all users. To ensure this, software will remind you to download and use the latest version when a new version is ready.
Usable data rate (net user data) is 7 ASCII characters per second at -12 dB signal to noise ratio.
Eb/No (Energy per Bit to the Spectral Noise Density) is 5 db
Measurement of received message SNR.
Measurement of chirp frequency shift in SSB mode.
You may download the software, user manual and brochure at the link below.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1G5DnKJXxJhi33GzugZeHWpfGYjEVhSI?usp=sharing "
As of late 2024, this is all very new and I'm sure a lot of people will have questions as to how good is it? Will it be better than modes like JS8Call? And more critically, will it get a critical mass of users to make it worthwhile?
I'd suggest that at the moment, it should be seen as something of interest to those who like to experiment with digital modes on the HF bands and want to experiment to see how it compares to other modes.
It also seems to be a 'work in progress' project but remember that the software for this mode is free and is being developed by one person. It'll be interesting to see how it develops.
TA2STO released the following video about it...
