Lots of good Digital Radio content at the Microhams Digital Conference. It's the weekend before DCC so if you're coming out to the Pacific Northwest, come a little early and check this out.
73 Bill - WA7NWP ---- REGISTRATION NOW OPEN FOR THE MICROHAMS DIGITAL CONFERENCE IN REDMOND, WA, SEPTEMBER 18, 2010. Registration is now open for the 2010 MicroHAMS Digital Conference. The 2010 MDC will be held on Saturday, September 18, 2010 from 08:00 (registration opens) to 17:00 on the Microsoft campus at one of their excellent conference facilities. Because the MDC is being held on Microsoft property, advance registration is recommended - not only is space limited, but there are only a limited number of same-day registrations available. Registration is $25 in advance (includes lunch) and can be performed online at http://www.microhams.com/registration/. The MicroHAMS Digital Conference is an official ARRL Conference. Presentations at the MicroHAMS Digital Conference draw heavily from local presenters to reflect both local interests and local Amateur Radio Digital technology development. Presentations from past MDCs are linked from the MicroHAMS web page - http://www.microhams.com. 2010 MicroHAMS Digital Conference speakers currently scheduled: Jeremy McDermond NH6Z discussing High Performance Software Defined Radio (HPSDR) software being ported to run natively on latest versions (including underlying OS and graphical user interface technology) of Apple Mac OS. Stewart Kantor, CEO of Full Spectrum Networks, which makes a Mobile WiMAX system called FullMAX that adapted for use on VHF and UHF spectrum. FullMAX capabilities encompass all Amateur Radio bands 50 MHz through 928 MHz with no modification, leading to the exciting potential of plug and play TRUE broadband (mobile!) wireless capability on Amateur Radio frequencies. Stewart will explain how they adapted Mobile WiMAX technology, normally operated on frequencies such as 2.5 GHz (Clearwire), to VHF / UHF spectrum, including challenges such as narrowing the occupied channel of Mobile WiMAX to as little as 200 KHz. Andy Ruschak KK7TR will discuss the use of P25 and digital voice in general in Amateur Radio. Andy will explain about the attributes of P25 (the interoperable standard for digital two-way radio for public safety) that are of particular interest for Amateur Radio operations, including potential interoperability, when needed, with public safety P25 systems. Lyle Johnson KK7P's presentations are unfailingly fascinating, ranging from his experiences helping to found TAPR and the US Amateur Packet Radio movement, to hands-on development of hardware that has flown on a number of Amateur Satellites, to embedded Digital Signal Processor (DSP) technology, most recently for the Electraft series of HF radios. Dan Smith KK7DS, the father of the D-RATS software (which some consider a primary reason to deploy Icom's D-STAR digital radio systems) will be speaking on the latest developments in D-STAR (including the rapidly-evolving non-Icom D-STAR ecosystem) and integrating D-RATS with Winlink. Ward Silver N0AX will be our official ARRL speaker. Ward is the author of numerous books relating to Amateur Radio, most famously, "Ham Radio for Dummies", one of the most accessible treatments of Amateur Radio as a whole for readers not previously exposed to Amateur Radio. In keeping with the "Digital" focus of the MDC, Ward will speak on "Protocols, Modulations, and Modes". The cost of lunch is included with registration and is provided on site. By popular demand, the 2010 MDC has more space allocated to "show and tell" tables, and the 90-minute lunch period is specifically UNstructured to allow ample time for individual discussion and visiting the various show and tell tables. In addition a series of blog posts have been created to provide insight into the organization and planning process of the conference - http://www.microhams.com/digitalconference/. To answer a Frequently Asked Question about the scheduling of the MicroHAMS Digital Conference, due to unavoidable scheduling conflicts, the MicroHAMS Digital Conference, normally held in the Spring, was rescheduled to the Fall. After the MDC was scheduled and announced, the ARRL and TAPR Digital Communications Conference was announced for both the weekend following the MDC (September 24-26), and that it would be held in nearby Vancouver WA (Portland, OR metro area). As this announcement is written, only a loose outline of the ARRL and TAPR DCC is available. The presentations and overall focus of the two conferences, though outwardly similar, have quite different focus. The Microhams Digital Conference tends to focus more on Seattle-area technology developments and developers; the ARRL and TAPR Digital Communications Conference presentations can be slightly more academic / "formal paper presentation", along with a more national and international focus. In the view of the MicroHAMS Digital Conference organizers, the two conferences are highly complementary and both are well worth attending. In fact, many of us who will be helping to organize the MDC will be in the audience enjoying the ARRL and TAPR DCC in Vancouver the weekend following the MDC. About MicroHAMS MicroHAMS is a unique, relatively young ARRL-affiliated Amateur Radio Club in the metropolitan Seattle area. Appropriately, the MicroHAMS club callsign is N7OS. MicroHAMS membership is composed primarily of current and former Microsoft employees and contractors whose careers are primarily technological. MicroHAMS activities include monthly meetings with an interesting technical or operational presentations, an extensive Field Day weekend, a regular series of Technician and General classes plus VEC testing sessions to grow new Amateur Radio Operators, and, of course, the MicroHAMS Digital Conference. More information on MicroHAMS is available at http://www.microhams.com. MicroHAMS can be contacted via email at microh...@microhams.com. Registration information and directions to the Microhams Digital Conference on September 18, 2010 are at http://www.microhams.com/registration/
