Ray & John,
It was originally stated to use the MYCALL short message field which is
only 4 characters and I think it has merit but is it legal?
e.g. WA4GA /SEOC
This MYCALL /xxxx field gets transmitted each and every time the radio
is keyed along with the legal ID if the MYCALL is programmed correctly and
as designed for a government issued call sign. In the United States this
field is probably more appropriately used for call sign extensions like
P-Portable M-Mobile Base operations which is legal under the rules. It is
used however most often with the radio type /IC91 /2820 /880 I think
there is merit to using the field for tactical calls as its transmitted each
time the radio is keyed and in combination with your assigned amateur radio
call you identify each transmission.
(NOTE: I know how we identify MYCALL has been left open to local
interpretation because there are a few operators here in Denver that like to
play with erroneous MYCALL callsigns like RG8U or COAX because they think
it is cute and as long as they ID in voice they feel using unassigned calls
in digital is OK. Its not their concern what gets routed and retransmitted
by someone else remotely if on the Gateway. BAD PRACTICE? Some would say
yes. I personally will always interpret the rules along with good amateur
practice to operate with the intent of the law and not necessarily how to
get around the rules so as to be cute.)
The option of using a longer TX MESSAGE would not be as wise a choice
for Tactical Calls all though yes, still remains an option. You have up to
5 storage fields of 20 characters for TX MESSAGE, but this message is only
transmitted on longer transmissions, not each time the radio is keyed. Where
the fault comes in trying to use the TX MESSAGE as a tactical identifier is
this message gets stored briefly in the radio until it receives a newer
message which then over writes the previous message. So it is possible that
if you went to look at the stored TX MESSAGE it could be from a previous
transmission, not necessarily the most recent station heard! From my
experience transmissions have to be somewhat longer to give the radio time
to transmit the programmed TX MESSAGE, much longer than the MYCALL Short
Message
Since the MYCALL short message is always transmitted I think it makes a
much better choice although maybe not as descriptive you can certainly make
up a lot of Tactical Call Combinations with 4 characters
e.g.
EOC Emergency Operations Center
SEOC State Emergency Operations Center
SAG Vehicle to pick up slacking participants
SAG1 Additional SAG Vehicles
MED Medical
MED1 Additional Medical Resources
ROV Roving
DIR Director
DDIR Deputy Director
CKP1 Check Point One
CKP7 Check Point Sever
BIK3 Bike Three
GATE Main Gate
CHS4 Chase Four
DOC Doctor
NRS Nurse
TRK Truck
CAR Car
WTR Water
WTR5 Water Station 5
See
you could go on almost forever creating meaningful Tactical Calls with
just 4 characters and still transmit your government issued amateur radio
call sign on each transmission.
Barry A. Wilson KAØBBQ
D-STAR UR=/WØCDS B
DD A 1299.9000 RPS
DV A 1283.9625 -12.000
DV B 446.9625 -5.0000
DV C 145.2500 +0.6000
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
On Behalf Of Ray T. Mahorney
Sent: Sunday, May 17, 2009 8:33 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Tactical Call indication
lets see if I understand in a tactical call situation my call would be left
as is and the
tactical call would be in the message field E.G WA4WGA with the tactical
call Green Primary 1?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Woodrick, Ed" <[email protected] <mailto:ewoodrick%40ed-com.com> >
To: <[email protected] <mailto:dstar_digital%40yahoogroups.com>
>
Sent: Monday, May 18, 2009 01:46
Subject: RE: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Tactical Call indication
There's a little bit of reality that's being left out of this discussion
that definitely needs
to be interjected.
When the conversation is using voice, there is absolutely no issues with the
tactical callsigns
being used on voice. Actually D-STAR makes it much more effective as you
don't have to use voice
to make the legal identification, you can stay completely in the tactical
callsign realm.
When sending data, remember that you usually have to program a callsign in
the software. This is
because that the protocol level callsigns are not presented to the software,
the software has to
create it's own identification. So, in the software you can set a tactical
call and again the
radios themselves can stay with the legal callsign and the application
handles the tactical
callsigns.
Now, if you use the space after the / or the short message field to hold a
tactical
identification, then the information will be seen in most places where the
callsign is
displayed, such as a radio or repeater log.
So I think that this is LOT less of an issue that we seem to be making it.
On a personal observation note, with many years of packets use and some
D-STAR use behind me, I
find that if people have to switch fields such as the MYCALL or ALIAS during
either a practice
or an actual event, they often don't
Ed WA4YIH
From: [email protected] <mailto:dstar_digital%40yahoogroups.com>
[mailto:[email protected]
<mailto:dstar_digital%40yahoogroups.com> ] On Behalf Of John D.
Hays
Sent: Sunday, May 17, 2009 1:44 AM
To: [email protected] <mailto:dstar_digital%40yahoogroups.com>
Subject: Re: [DSTAR_DIGITAL] Tactical Call indication
The 20 character message works very well and would be a good place to do
"Tactical" if you need more than 4 chars.
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