[digitalradio] ALE141A Beacon
Hi everybody, please feel free to connect in ALE141A to my station for experiment, frequency 14109.5 USB using Multipsk, beacon on every minute for 3hours , 73 C91MSF Jean Louis from Doctors without Borders
[digitalradio] Digital and EMCOMM
The purpose of this message is to ask for people's experience and thoughts about which modes and methods of digital to use for specific EMCOMM scenarios. I'm in Fairfield County CT. Relatively small in size, relatively dense in population. Hilly enough that VHF coverage in the northern half of the county is spotty (even with the fixed repeaters currently in place) and in general VHF is limited to about 20 miles radius throughout the county even with a good base station and a reasonably tall antenna. We are told that the most likely scenario is that hams would be deployed to shelters or other fixed locations where our primary responsibility will be passing message traffic -- either formal NTS traffic or long list traffic such as shelter logistics lists, shelter occupancy lists, etc. My question is what modes/methods/protocols to focus on when planning for that kind of usage. Some of the scenarios we are considering are: 1. Long List shelter messages sent radio-to-radio direct on VHF FM (possibly via a repeater). In this scenario, Winlink is not available. We've been experimenting with WinPack and it seems reasonably reliable over short distances. However, it is somewhat slow, and it's not clear to me if it does error checking or not. We've noticed some quirks where the receiving station has to keep hitting enter to get the entire message (it receives two or three lines at a time between hitting the enter key). Is there other software or are there other modes of operation that people would recommend for this purpose? 2. Long List shelter messages sent via WinLink. WinLink via radio is grass-growing slow, but seems to be the major focus of most EMCOMM email planning. We can understand using it to reach internet email if there is no internet service available in the disaster area. What about within the disaster area if we have choice between radio-to-radio direct (e.g., via WinPack) or going via WinLink. Which would you consider the more desirable approach, or is there some other approach you would recommend? 3. Formatted NTS messages. Sending NTS messages by voice is certainly doable, but the idea of sending hundreds of such messages by voice doesn't sound like an efficient method of communications (although it's there if nothing else is available). There are any number of programs and macros that produce formatted NTS text output, so what are people doing in terms of sending such messages digitally? Again, send them via WinLink if available? Send them via WinPack? Send them via something else? If anyone wants to respond to me off the group, you can select my name and email address (instead of the group) when you reply to this message. Thanks. Jon KB1QBZ message cross-posted on PacLinkMP group.
[digitalradio] Re: Digital and EMCOMM
Jon, your terrain appears to be similar to that found in my local area. Without VHF or UHF repeaters, VHF/UHF is quite difficult to maintain. Regionally, others have been having good outcomes on 80M and also via 6M. With horizontally polarized antennas, 2M seems to do OK if a digital mode is used. The Pittsburg area group (WPANBEMS) has regular 80 meter practice nets. Their experiments using Olivia and MT63 with wrap files are working well. It may well turn out that this method is more reliable on HF than other peer-to-server methods . PSKMAIL's concept is good if the network of servers expands. Andy K3UK --- In digitalradio@yahoogroups.com, JonP jpere...@... wrote: The purpose of this message is to ask for people's experience and thoughts about which modes and methods of digital to use for specific EMCOMM scenarios. I'm in Fairfield County CT. Relatively small in size, relatively dense in population. Hilly enough that VHF coverage in the northern half of the county is spotty (even with the fixed repeaters currently in place) and in general VHF is limited to about 20 miles radius throughout the county even with a good base station and a reasonably tall antenna. We are told that the most likely scenario is that hams would be deployed to shelters or other fixed locations where our primary responsibility will be passing message traffic -- either formal NTS traffic or long list traffic such as shelter logistics lists, shelter occupancy lists, etc. My question is what modes/methods/protocols to focus on when planning for that kind of usage. Some of the scenarios we are considering are: 1. Long List shelter messages sent radio-to-radio direct on VHF FM (possibly via a repeater). In this scenario, Winlink is not available. We've been experimenting with WinPack and it seems reasonably reliable over short distances. However, it is somewhat slow, and it's not clear to me if it does error checking or not. We've noticed some quirks where the receiving station has to keep hitting enter to get the entire message (it receives two or three lines at a time between hitting the enter key). Is there other software or are there other modes of operation that people would recommend for this purpose? 2. Long List shelter messages sent via WinLink. WinLink via radio is grass-growing slow, but seems to be the major focus of most EMCOMM email planning. We can understand using it to reach internet email if there is no internet service available in the disaster area. What about within the disaster area if we have choice between radio-to-radio direct (e.g., via WinPack) or going via WinLink. Which would you consider the more desirable approach, or is there some other approach you would recommend? 3. Formatted NTS messages. Sending NTS messages by voice is certainly doable, but the idea of sending hundreds of such messages by voice doesn't sound like an efficient method of communications (although it's there if nothing else is available). There are any number of programs and macros that produce formatted NTS text output, so what are people doing in terms of sending such messages digitally? Again, send them via WinLink if available? Send them via WinPack? Send them via something else? If anyone wants to respond to me off the group, you can select my name and email address (instead of the group) when you reply to this message. Thanks. Jon KB1QBZ message cross-posted on PacLinkMP group.
Re: [digitalradio] Digital and EMCOMM
Jon, I'd seriously consider using low-band HF (NVIS) in addition to VHF. If one fails, the other will most likely fill-in-the-gaps of those spotty areas. Whichever you decide to use in terms of software / mode I'd make sure that everyone is proficient in knowing how to use it; not only which keys to punch, but how to reload and reconfigure the software from a backup disc in case a 'bug' decides to pop-up in the field. Tony -K2MO - Original Message - From: JonP jpere...@yahoo.com To: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com Sent: Sunday, October 18, 2009 1:08 PM Subject: [digitalradio] Digital and EMCOMM The purpose of this message is to ask for people's experience and thoughts about which modes and methods of digital to use for specific EMCOMM scenarios. I'm in Fairfield County CT. Relatively small in size, relatively dense in population. Hilly enough that VHF coverage in the northern half of the county is spotty (even with the fixed repeaters currently in place) and in general VHF is limited to about 20 miles radius throughout the county even with a good base station and a reasonably tall antenna. We are told that the most likely scenario is that hams would be deployed to shelters or other fixed locations where our primary responsibility will be passing message traffic -- either formal NTS traffic or long list traffic such as shelter logistics lists, shelter occupancy lists, etc. My question is what modes/methods/protocols to focus on when planning for that kind of usage. Some of the scenarios we are considering are: 1. Long List shelter messages sent radio-to-radio direct on VHF FM (possibly via a repeater). In this scenario, Winlink is not available. We've been experimenting with WinPack and it seems reasonably reliable over short distances. However, it is somewhat slow, and it's not clear to me if it does error checking or not. We've noticed some quirks where the receiving station has to keep hitting enter to get the entire message (it receives two or three lines at a time between hitting the enter key). Is there other software or are there other modes of operation that people would recommend for this purpose? 2. Long List shelter messages sent via WinLink. WinLink via radio is grass-growing slow, but seems to be the major focus of most EMCOMM email planning. We can understand using it to reach internet email if there is no internet service available in the disaster area. What about within the disaster area if we have choice between radio-to-radio direct (e.g., via WinPack) or going via WinLink. Which would you consider the more desirable approach, or is there some other approach you would recommend? 3. Formatted NTS messages. Sending NTS messages by voice is certainly doable, but the idea of sending hundreds of such messages by voice doesn't sound like an efficient method of communications (although it's there if nothing else is available). There are any number of programs and macros that produce formatted NTS text output, so what are people doing in terms of sending such messages digitally? Again, send them via WinLink if available? Send them via WinPack? Send them via something else? If anyone wants to respond to me off the group, you can select my name and email address (instead of the group) when you reply to this message. Thanks. Jon KB1QBZ message cross-posted on PacLinkMP group.
[digitalradio] PSKmail Server 20m
I'm back home FLdigi had stop working, so it now running and the mode is PSK250, 20m at 14116 on my dial. Russell NC5O 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
[digitalradio] New PSKMAIL Server Active: Need testers
Thanks to Rein's hard work, I now have a PSKMAIL Server active. I think it is working I need testers, those with the PSKMAIL client software. I am on 10147 USB (dial frequency), set your software to 1000 Hz on the waterfall and place K3UK in you configuation area. At the moment, I am not using rig control because my interface does not work under Linux. So I am using VOX. For some odd reason, I cannot get the VOX to work with the traditional PSK250 mode, so I am currently in THOR 22 mode. I'll post an update here if I get PSK250 to work. Also, as the day progresses , I may move to 80M. I'll post updated QRG via the Sked Page at http://www.obriensweb.com/sked (then click on digitalradio). Again thanks to Rein for making a PSKMAIL Server Puppy, hopefully I have it set correctly.
[digitalradio] Re: New PSKMAIL Server Active: Need testers
I adjusted my VOX and can now run PSK250. So will satay with PSK250 as the default but can change if people request via sked page. Andy K3UK --- In digitalradio@yahoogroups.com, obrienaj aobri...@... wrote: Thanks to Rein's hard work, I now have a PSKMAIL Server active. I think it is working I need testers, those with the PSKMAIL client software. I am on 10147 USB (dial frequency), set your software to 1000 Hz on the waterfall and place K3UK in you configuation area. At the moment, I am not using rig control because my interface does not work under Linux. So I am using VOX. For some odd reason, I cannot get the VOX to work with the traditional PSK250 mode, so I am currently in THOR 22 mode. I'll post an update here if I get PSK250 to work. Also, as the day progresses , I may move to 80M. I'll post updated QRG via the Sked Page at http://www.obriensweb.com/sked (then click on digitalradio). Again thanks to Rein for making a PSKMAIL Server Puppy, hopefully I have it set correctly.
[digitalradio] PSKmail server no longer on 20m
Sorry I have turned off the server, I'm how testing with Tony on 30m on his server, but 30m is very noisey for me. 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
