Skip, I use FLARQ and FLDigi on the FT-2000 Data Management Unit, when I boot it from Linux. It allows me to do digital modes without an external computer. The DMU also is networked via Ethernet. I was looking at MT-63 2K with FLARQ when WINMOR was announced, but since it was a 2K wide protocol, I never gave it any more consideration, as it would just be treated as the same annoyance, just with different tonal qualities. Winlink has no future on Amateur radio spectrum. Anything more complex than RTTY or BPSK has little future on Amateur spectrum. Other than a small core of folks willing to take the time to learn something about ARQ, FEC, redundancy, error correction, and what makes up a dependable transport layer - There is little future of any digital mode with the complexity necessary to be efficient in times of need. I do wish you well. I applaud what you are doing, but you are playing to a hostile crowd if you expect to deploy any digital mode more complex than RTTY or PSK on the Amateur Radio Spectrum. No matter what it is, what it sounds like, what it carries, where it is going, or where it came from; it is "Automated" or "Common Carrier" traffic. Even the legitimate traffic on frequencies that amateur radio is the secondary user of; same thing; always "automated" or "common carrier". A very intelligent mantra, often used to describe legitimate traffic by the primary users. The Common Carrier and Automated crowd are really having a hard time dealing with 60m, and the majority of them haven't been able to find it yet.... As I have stated before, I will use the amateur spectrum to do the radio checks, and the NTIA spectrum to move the traffic. At present, I can handle the entire County EOC with one rig and antenna, while having another rig and antenna devoted to Voice operations. We have both Pactor III and Sound Card modes there, multiple rigs, multiple antennas and in the same room as the 911 operators and dispatchers. the EOC is a 5 second walk away in the same building, and I can run much of the station remotely from a VPN within the EOC complex. We have similar stations, with similar capabilities purchased for the 2 hospitals. I have a similar (only better) station at home; currently minus Pactor III, which I sold my SCS gear last year in anticipation of WINMOR. If I can pick up another SCS controller reasonable, I will add it back into my portable kit. We will have communications with the Air National Guard that will handle distribution to the POD sites, as well as the NECN (National Emergency Communications Network) which will give direct contact with FEMA, the State EMA and all the alphabet soup entities. Outside of that, traffic can be moved via voice on SHARES to the same entities, then by voice or digital on the MARS circuit, and locally via VHF to the amateur frequencies. We have licensed County police radio cars, as well as portable VHF stations with antenna launching kits to help with the local stuff until we can get the local amateur volunteers to relieve them to allow them to return to patrol. The County Police Chief, EMA Manager and EOC staff are all on board, and have funded the EOC station out of county funds. We are in the process of further training to merge their method of operations into the rules governing the amateur radio license that they must hold to operate one of the vhf stations. Out of the 50 we licensed last year, some are moving toward general. I also work with 2 TSA Hurricane Coast Airports in 2 states, where some of their employees have elected to get amateur licenses and join the MARS program. All the important traffic will be moved in binary format, properly formatted on NTIA spectrum. There is no common carrier or automated when it comes to NTIA spectrum. They are pretty much beyond that, and tend to concentrate on draining the swamp. I tried it on the Amateur spectrum, and found the alligators to be too much of a distraction. Again, I do applaud you efforts and really wish you the best. For the meantime, I will be working with the transport layer that is already in place, on spectrum that allows it to be utilized. If the Amateur community embraces NBEMS, we will add that compatibility into the setup. David KD4NUE
-----Original Message----- From: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com [mailto:digitalra...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of kh6ty Sent: Thursday, March 26, 2009 2:48 PM To: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [digitalradio] No FCC data bandwidth limit on HF Re: USA ham rules > Except for the fact that PSK has no error correction, no compression, no > formatting capabilities and no way to accurately > know if the traffic was > delivered properly other than read back, your figures are fairly accurate. David, check out our NBEMS system at www.w1hkj.com/NBEMS Many of the modes in fldigi can also be used with our flarq program, which adds ARQ (just like Winlink uses), for assuring that the traffic was delivered error-free. Instead of going into storage at an unmanned robot, we just insist that there be a live operator at both ends of the link, and that the live operator on the receiving end actually confirm delivery so the message does not lie unnoticed in an inbox somewhere. Since there is a live operator at each end, there is someone always present to check for a QSO that might be in progress on the frequency and also negotiate a QSY when necessary, which a robot cannot do. In the next release of NBEMS, we have a unique utility called "Wrap" which calculates a checksum for the file, and allows ZIP compression to be used very effectively. This makes it possible to "broadcast" messages to many (without linking!), instead of having to link on a one-to-one basis. On MARS frequenices(, which are dedicated 3K channels), instead of ham frequencies (which have to be shared by all), MT63-2000 can also be used with our flarq program for relatively fast, error-free transfers at 200 wpm. For formatting, we use"Qforms", or a Word or Excel document zipped up, "wrapped", and sent with all formatting, using any of the modes we recommend for NBEMS on either HF or VHF. We provide a variety of HF modes, hardened against static crashes, of many speeds, from MFSK16 up to MFSK64, which can be used, depending upon the path S/N and available space, without causing QRM to adjacent stations and without taking up excessive bandwidth. Using our MFSK derivatives, we can also transmit images (without error-correction) either as narrowband FAX, or as compressed zip files with error correction. The redundancy to provide error-free reception using the narrow modes is already part of the MFSK modes (i.e. FEC), which can be used together with flarq (adding ARQ) for error-free reception at a reduction in speed of one half compared to not using ARQ, but in the same relatively narrow bandwidth. Because NBEMS is not dependent upon a handfull of PMBO stations that might or might not be in range and not busy, ANY station with Internet connectivity or phone connectivity can serve as the forwarding station, and once NBEMS gets fully deployed, there can be a unlimited number of forwarding stations, drastically cutting down the time to find a station to connect with and dramatically increasing throughput beginning from first connect attempt to final message delivery. This involves as many amateurs as would like to assist, further supporting the interest in preserving the Amateur Radio Service (as an "amateur" service!), instead of moving farther and farther toward becoming a "common carrier" by using automation. Take a good look at what NBEMS has to offer, and I think you will like what you see! 73, Skip KH6TY NBEMS Development Team http://kh6ty. <http://kh6ty.home.comcast.net> home.comcast.net
