[digitalradio] Re: Haiti a test for emcomms
Some questions to consider: How many hams are there on Haiti? How many have survived? Of those that survived how many are too busy fighting for theirs and others lives, i.e. simply concentrating on rescue, water, shelter and food? Of the remainder how many have any kind of workable station (equipment, power, etc.)? I suspect we will see zero to no amateur radio traffic from Haiti, emcomm or otherwise, unless someone gets on an airplane and brings it there. Gov't, humanitarian and media agencies are and will be there with Satcom and infrastructure repair capability before many or any hams get there. It seems Twitter has already outdone any other mode of communications for the masses. There is apparently some internet and wireless infrastructure left standing. --- In digitalradio@yahoogroups.com, Russell Blair russell_blai...@... wrote: Andy, there is a learnning curve for PSKmail as well as ALE and Winmor and software for a PC, and power to run all this. but the phone nets maybe slow but all you need is a radio. hine site is all ways 20/20 to what we should have done. Russell  1- Whoever said nothing is impossible never tried slamming a revolving door! 2- A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have. - Thomas Jefferson IN GOD WE TRUST Russell Blair (NC5O) Skype-Russell.Blair Hell Field #300 DRCC #55 30m Dig-group #693 From: Andy obrien k3uka...@... To: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com Sent: Wed, January 13, 2010 7:44:07 PM Subject: Re: [digitalradio] Haiti a test for emcomms  Yes Howard. The HF Ale network is very active with hams standing by but I do not see any actual use of the ALE stations, so far. PSKmail , as I mentioned earlier, appears tailor made for relaying traffic from/to Haiti . from a ham to an ISP server. Winmor/Winlink could also carry traffic from the island and pop in into the Internet. The question is ... will any of these get any actual use, or will hams on the island revert to old tested methods... phone nets and phone patches ? Andy K3UK On Wed, Jan 13, 2010 at 8:29 PM, W6IDS w6...@verizon. net wrote:  Andy, is this the time when we see how effective or useful ALE and, since you mentioned it, PSKmail are? WL2K? Haitian stations actually up and able to operate not withstanding. Are there any ALEs, WL2K, etc etc there operating in the past, involving Haiti or have had access to? Just wondering. We're all waiting for the important OUTBOUND HW traffic (not inbound) and it will be of great interest to see how this initially plays out for ultimate study. Howard W6IDS Richmond, IN Em79 - Original Message - From: Andy obrien k3uka...@gmail. com To: digitalradio digitalradio@ yahoogroups. com Sent: Wednesday, January 13, 2010 5:45 PM Subject: [digitalradio] PSKmail to/from Haiti (or neighbouring countries) ? Any use of Pskmail related to the emergency in Haiti ? Seems that is is tailor made for such a situation. Short hops from Haiti to servers on HF Andy K3UK
[digitalradio] Haiti : Health and welfare inquiries ... Twitter not Ham Radio ?
So, just what is ham radio's rolw\e when it comes to health and welfare inquiries? I have already received two emails from people asking if I have access to any news about their family member's welfare in Haiti. I know the old NTS system used to have a process for such traffic, but what do we do with these requests? If there are hams active on the islands (there are 2 that I have seen mention of) , to whom do they relay health and welfare responses? I have seen mention here of Twitter , and how these types of networks may be more helpful than ham radio for health and welfare inquiries. I have not seen twitter with any actual news, I have seen tweets from people anxious for news about family in Haiti but no responses. Is there a central Internet place for listing of news about people ? Andy K3UK --- In digitalradio@yahoogroups.com, aa777888athotmaildotcom aa777...@... wrote: Some questions to consider: How many hams are there on Haiti? How many have survived? Of those that survived how many are too busy fighting for theirs and others lives, i.e. simply concentrating on rescue, water, shelter and food? Of the remainder how many have any kind of workable station (equipment, power, etc.)? I suspect we will see zero to no amateur radio traffic from Haiti, emcomm or otherwise, unless someone gets on an airplane and brings it there. Gov't, humanitarian and media agencies are and will be there with Satcom and infrastructure repair capability before many or any hams get there. It seems Twitter has already outdone any other mode of communications for the masses. There is apparently some internet and wireless infrastructure left standing. --- In digitalradio@yahoogroups.com, Russell Blair russell_blair86@ wrote: Andy, there is a learnning curve for PSKmail as well as ALE and Winmor and software for a PC, and power to run all this. but the phone nets maybe slow but all you need is a radio. hine site is all ways 20/20 to what we should have done. Russell  1- Whoever said nothing is impossible never tried slamming a revolving door! 2- A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have. - Thomas Jefferson IN GOD WE TRUST Russell Blair (NC5O) Skype-Russell.Blair Hell Field #300 DRCC #55 30m Dig-group #693 From: Andy obrien k3ukandy@ To: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com Sent: Wed, January 13, 2010 7:44:07 PM Subject: Re: [digitalradio] Haiti a test for emcomms  Yes Howard. The HF Ale network is very active with hams standing by but I do not see any actual use of the ALE stations, so far. PSKmail , as I mentioned earlier, appears tailor made for relaying traffic from/to Haiti . from a ham to an ISP server. Winmor/Winlink could also carry traffic from the island and pop in into the Internet. The question is ... will any of these get any actual use, or will hams on the island revert to old tested methods... phone nets and phone patches ? Andy K3UK On Wed, Jan 13, 2010 at 8:29 PM, W6IDS w6...@verizon. net wrote:  Andy, is this the time when we see how effective or useful ALE and, since you mentioned it, PSKmail are? WL2K? Haitian stations actually up and able to operate not withstanding. Are there any ALEs, WL2K, etc etc there operating in the past, involving Haiti or have had access to? Just wondering. We're all waiting for the important OUTBOUND HW traffic (not inbound) and it will be of great interest to see how this initially plays out for ultimate study. Howard W6IDS Richmond, IN Em79 - Original Message - From: Andy obrien k3uka...@gmail. com To: digitalradio digitalradio@ yahoogroups. com Sent: Wednesday, January 13, 2010 5:45 PM Subject: [digitalradio] PSKmail to/from Haiti (or neighbouring countries) ? Any use of Pskmail related to the emergency in Haiti ? Seems that is is tailor made for such a situation. Short hops from Haiti to servers on HF Andy K3UK
[digitalradio] Re: Haiti : Health and welfare inquiries ... Twitter not Ham Radio ?
Red Cross family finder web site just created... http://www.familylinks.icrc.org/WFL_HTI.NSF/DocIndex/locate_eng?opendocument
[digitalradio] portable HF digital in the radio Re: Haiti a test for emcomms
Russell Blair (NC5O) wrote: ALE and Winmor and software for a PC, and power to run all this. but the phone nets maybe slow but all you need is a radio. Hi Russell, ALE does not need a computer for sending email or calling other stations. There are many radios with built in ALE. They were expensive, but the price has recently come way down on some of them. It just works, it is part of the radio's function, and you are not at the mercy of your flimsy laptop connections, or limited weight and bulk when traveling to a disaster zone. The limitations of small airplanes, helicopters, or boats could force you to decide whether you will bring water/food or a laptop and the other radio stuff. It is sad that not many ham radio companies have produced portable HF radios with built in PSK31 or RTTY keypad interfaces. Such a simple thing to do, but they just don't get it. Only a few VHF/UHF HTs even have APRS built in. Such a shame. 73 Bonnie KQ6XA
Re: [digitalradio] IZ8BLY's PSK63F
On Mon, 04 Jan 2010 09:48:06 +0100, Tony d...@optonline.net wrote: All, Recent path simulation tests indicate that Nino Porcino's PSK63F offers better performance over PSK31 and PSK63 in a couple of areas. The most significant improvement is it's ability to endure Doppler spread found on paths that cross the polar ionosphere. Both PSK31 and PSK63 fail miserably in this area; see high-lat test samples below. Path Simulation: High Latitude (Moderate) Path Delay: 3ms, Doppler spread 10Hz Pangram Text: Quick Brown Fox PSK63F -- the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog PSK63-- mev roe tt#dtorl|f- bn ô mp e o ihe Fzy dg PSK31-- nls oSer Òe naAeta qlipM h nV o T rn agâ o RTTY -- TH QACKH492, FOJUMP OR THTLAZY G That is realy nice path test. Can you try few other modes, some more wide like ALE and Q15X25 ? We experimenting a lot with PSK250/500, with or without FEC and your path sim. explains us a lot. Experiments are on 80m band with NVIS antennas and 20-100Km distance. 73! Darko 9A3LI
Re: [digitalradio] portable HF digital in the radio Re: Haiti a test for emcomms
Just a though, I am with you on the portable radio psk/rtty built in, that would be fantastic. Say a little FT-817 or the 897 etc with a fold out qwerty keyboard and display. Surely it wouldn't be hard to implement. I think there are now software out for psk on a PDA which is about as compact as you are going to get. ---Original Message--- From: expeditionradio Date: 14/01/2010 14:48:45 To: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com Subject: [digitalradio] portable HF digital in the radio Re: Haiti a test for emcomms Russell Blair (NC5O) wrote: ALE and Winmor and software for a PC, and power to run all this. but the phone nets maybe slow but all you need is a radio. Hi Russell, ALE does not need a computer for sending email or calling other stations. There are many radios with built in ALE. They were expensive, but the price has recently come way down on some of them. It just works, it is part of the radio's function, and you are not at the mercy of your flimsy laptop connections, or limited weight and bulk when traveling to a disaster zone. The limitations of small airplanes, helicopters, or boats could force you to decide whether you will bring water/food or a laptop and the other radio stuff. It is sad that not many ham radio companies have produced portable HF radios with built in PSK31 or RTTY keypad interfaces. Such a simple thing to do, but they just don't get it. Only a few VHF/UHF HTs even have APRS built in. Such a shame. 73 Bonnie KQ6XA faint_grain.jpg
Re: [digitalradio] portable HF digital in the radio Re: Haiti a test for emcomms
The problem is that if there are not enough of these radios (if built) deployed world wide, the chance of one being in an impoverished country and usable are quite small. At the end of the day in a dire emergency CW, possibly AM and SSB are the only dependable modes. In places where Hams are likely to be equipped for more sophisticated modes, there is other infrastructure such as cell phones, uplinks, hardened fiber, etc that are all more accessible to the masses. A disaster that would take out all that infrastructure would in all likelihood leave Hams with minimal capabilities as well. I truly believe it will be back to the very basics. DHS seems to feel the same way based on the money being spent on deployable HF SSB systems. Toby Burnett wrote: Just a though, I am with you on the portable radio psk/rtty built in, that would be fantastic. Say a little FT-817 or the 897 etc with a fold out qwerty keyboard and display. Surely it wouldn't be hard to implement. I think there are now software out for psk on a PDA which is about as compact as you are going to get. ---Original Message--- From: expeditionradio Date: 14/01/2010 14:48:45 To: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com Subject: [digitalradio] portable HF digital in the radio Re: Haiti a test for emcomms Russell Blair (NC5O) wrote: ALE and Winmor and software for a PC, and power to run all this. but the phone nets maybe slow but all you need is a radio. Hi Russell, ALE does not need a computer for sending email or calling other stations. There are many radios with built in ALE. They were expensive, but the price has recently come way down on some of them. It just works, it is part of the radio's function, and you are not at the mercy of your flimsy laptop connections, or limited weight and bulk when traveling to a disaster zone. The limitations of small airplanes, helicopters, or boats could force you to decide whether you will bring water/food or a laptop and the other radio stuff. It is sad that not many ham radio companies have produced portable HF radios with built in PSK31 or RTTY keypad interfaces. Such a simple thing to do, but they just don't get it. Only a few VHF/UHF HTs even have APRS built in. Such a shame. 73 Bonnie KQ6XA
[digitalradio] portable HF digital in the radio Re: Haiti a test for emcomms
--- In digitalradio@yahoogroups.com, w2xj w...@... wrote: I truly believe it will be back to the very basics. DHS seems to feel the same way based on the money being spent on deployable HF SSB systems. Hi W2XJ, All the DHS radios have ALE. Bonnie KQ6XA
[digitalradio] ARES Preparedness / No point in ALE without ARES in USA
I'm thinking about the Haiti situation and the use of ALE stations for emcomms. I'm also thinking about ARES and how it handles something like the Haiti earth quake. I was impressed by the turn out of ALE hams on the air in the past couple of days , over 50 stations ready and 'alert. I am perhaps biased , but I think ALE is great for emergency communications. However, I am not sure about the effective use of ALE as it stands today. By default , ALE in North America is connected with HF Link and their fine efforts to deploy a network. Their network has brought several innovative methods to ALE , such as pilot stations , email , and SMS text messages. However, as I watch the ALE network efforts via the HF Link web site, I note the solicitations to stations that may be en route to Haiti to feel free to use HF link and ALE for ecomms. As I thought more about this, I have concluded that since the whole emcomm system in the USA is centered around ARES and RACES (and perhaps a few long established emergency nets) , it seems to me that ALE stations should be part of national and regional ARES and be called out as part of ARES' structure. This would get many more stations to be aware of ALE's effectiveness and integrate ALE in to a system that would see its use, rather than almost beg for stations to use them. My challenge to the ARES/RACES chapters that may read this message is... are you aware that there is a world wide network of highly capable HF systems that can be activated and called out very quickly? Does your chapter have a ALE capable station that can be activated in the event emcomm is needed to and from your area ? Perhaps I would go further and suggest that each ARES group should have not only at least one ALE station , but one PSKmail capable server, one NBEMS station, and one Winlink/Winmor station ( I know my local county does have at least one of each, but I am not sure if my local ARES knows that). Finally, I would also ask did each local ARES chapter in the USA activate or place themselves on alert when the earth quake hit? Before someone says well , we are so far away and were probably not needed, consider the HH2JR request for a phone patch yesterday. If Jean HH2JR had requested the delivery of info to your local ARES area, did your ARES activate and assign people to check in or listen to the nets that ARRL announced? I'm not talking about some friendly ham forwarding email about international net frequencies being left clear, I am talking about a formal alert activation by each local ARES in the event local traffic needed to be handled. Even in my rural area, I received two emails asking for help in finding family in Haiti. Suppose their family had a Haitian ham looking to get a message in to my area (or yours ) ? Just some food for thought... Andy K3Uk
Re: [digitalradio] portable HF digital in the radio Re: Haiti a test for emcomms
True but their eggs are not in one basket. Also, DHS is in a better position to use ALE compared to an ad hock arrangement. How much ALE traffic has passed from Haiti? I know SSB is up but to an extremely limited extent. expeditionradio wrote: --- In digitalradio@yahoogroups.com, w2xj w...@... wrote: I truly believe it will be back to the very basics. DHS seems to feel the same way based on the money being spent on deployable HF SSB systems. Hi W2XJ, All the DHS radios have ALE. Bonnie KQ6XA
[digitalradio] 14.265 packet?
Anyone know why MARS is running a packet station on 14.265MHz? It beacons every few minutes and this is what it is sending: MARS de NN0HPB via ANH NRPM NFVN Ctl C UI Pid=F0 Len=68 NAVY/MARINE CORPS MARS STATION NNN0HPB/NNN0GAG ARVADA, CO. HPBBOX Can MARS stations use packet wherever they like? K7TMG
[digitalradio] MT 63 question
For US amateurs can MT63-1000 be used below 28MHZ or only above. Best Kim W4OSS
[digitalradio] Re: MT 63 question
MT63-1000 can be used on any HF band and on 160 meters. There is no bandwidth limit for Data for USA hams on HF. MT63=1000 also complies with the 300 symbol per second rule. 73 Bonnie KQ6XA Kim W4OSS wrote: For US amateurs can MT63-1000 be used below 28MHZ or only above.
[digitalradio] Looking for AK and HI on JT65 / 80 meters
Any takers? Please reply wb2...@comcast.net Thanks David
[digitalradio] portable HF digital in the radio Re: Haiti a test for emcomms
There is the NUE-PSK device which now supports RTTY in addition to PSK31. You still need a keyboard however. In my opinion a better device is the Kantronics KAM XL or SCS PTC II. The Kantronics is much cheaper than the SCS and offers some features even the Pactor-II/III modems don't. A used KAM XL is a good investment because it is flash upgradable via a free download on Kantronics website - no messing with expensive ROMs. It offers (via a terminal) PSK-31, RTTY, ASCII, Pactor-1, AMTOR G-TOR in addition to it being a dual port Packet switch (up to 9K6). It's perfectly possible to run a TheNet compatible node at the same time as a multiuser BBS with 480KB of non volatile storage. It is basically a BBS/Node in a box that only consumes about 120mA at 12v. You can also link the ports to provide VHFHF switching. It also has a RTC chip so you don't have to remember to set the date every time you boot up which is important for message handling. If you couple this with a cheap serial terminal - perhaps the Tandy WP-2 wordprocessor which provides an 80 column lcd display and can happily run on a couple of AA cells for days (available on eBay for peanuts) then you have a real low power system which is very usable. You could run a traffic BBS on VHF and a Pactor-1 (or better yet G-Tor) link on HF. The PSK31 takes a little getting used to if you normally use a waterfall but it is a very sensitive implementation and works very well. I believe the SCS modems have a multiuser BBS too and of course Pactor-II and Pactor-III if you can afford it but that is the real catch, these things run around $1000 or more even second hand. You can often find a KAM XL for around $250-$350 on eBay. A radio cable from Buxcomm is about $25. 73 Sholto K7TMG
