Q Larry, WA5MHE, asks, “When operating PSK31 I notice that some hams type their text in all uppercase letters, apparently unaware that the PSK31 code supports upper and lower case. Why do they do this?”
A I suspect that some of these operators may be RTTY veterans. The RTTY code used by most amateurs in the United States is known as ITA No. 2. With the limitations of a
5-bit code, ITA No. 2 can only support a relatively short list of characters. Therefore, RTTY text is in all-uppercase letters, rather than the mix of upper and lower case that we are accustomed to seeing.
There are three problems with sending text in all uppercase:
(1) It is more difficult to read, (2) in the age of the Internet the custom is to interpret all-upper-case words as SHOUTING and (3) uppercase characters in PSK31 take longer to send. Internet savvy hams (the majority of us, these days) are becoming more sensitive to the use of upper and lowercase in digital communication. I think this issue will resolve itself over time.
From QST January 2001
