SCS: New Pactor 4 Modem

SCS has posted a new modem for Pactor 4.  The P4dragon DR-7800 is the latest and in the line of pactor modems. This one the say has been redesigned with a fast quad-core DSP allowing high data rates. I am still a fan of software based digital modes like Winmore. It is nice to see advances in communications. Check it out and let me know what you think.

English translation:

http://tinyurl.com/Pactor4SCS

For those that speak German:

http://www.pactor4.com/SCS_DRAGON_DE/Home.html


 

"DIY Community" asked for Input by Radio Shack

The "DIY Community" asked for Input  by Radio Shack. This is very interesting but is not unexpected. Maybe they will move back to their roots and have more parts, and other items they had back in the day. It would be nice to have "Radio Shack" brand equipment and maybe even some Ham radio equipment. Be nice but let your voices be heard!

Click here to be heard!

FEMA Thanks The Amatuer Radio Community

Craig Fugate, FEMA Administrator, at the Earthquake Communications Preparedness Forum, held on Tuesday, May 3, 2011 in Washington, DC, thanked the Amateur radio community. He said that ham radio really is valuable "when all else fails".  His part of the forum begins at about 18:30. The whole video was interesting if you have the time to watch, at least watch the part about ham radio. I think this gives some insight about Amateur radio and public service.

http://beta.fcc.gov/event/earthquake-communications-preparedness-forum

DDP an Alternative Protocol for Packet Radio

Danny Knaggs, 2E0DPK is developing a new free Ham protocol. DDP, Danny's Digital Packet, is a new Alternative Protocol for Packet Radio. It works with FLDigi or D-STAR DV. What is different is that the packets are sent and recieved in plain text on the waterfall. This is a very interesting development that will work with several operating systems. This is still Beta, so may the testing begin.



http://code.google.com/p/ddp/

PMRC's "Every Single Minute"

Here is a nice old video about Ham Radio. Some of the equipment used brings back a lot of memories of my early ham exposure and experience. I have operated a lot of the boat anchors shown in the video. Please enjoy

Keep your Computer Clock Accurate for the Digital Modes

There is a need to keep your computer clock accurate for some of the digital modes. There are several ways hams have been trying do do this ands some have become outmoded with the newer Windows operating systems.  Meinberg NTP for Windows is the way to go. It is free and it is also the "official"  Network Time Protocol client software. The only downside to ham software needing this level of accurace is that it probably would not be a good mode in an emergency. There would be no to keep the clocks that accurate without using a GPS signal or something else. How many Hams would be prepared for that?  Julian, G4ILO has a good write up about this on his Blog. Check it out and see if you can keep up with time.



http://www.meinberg.de/english/sw/ntp.htm#ntp_nt_stable

http://blog.g4ilo.com/2011/04/time-to-ditch-dimension-4.html

NBEMS using FLMSG auto open feature

Here is a nice video that Dave, KB3FXI made of a digital net using the NBEMS, Narrow Band Emergency Messaging Software. The Net Control Station was Ronald, K3MIY. They used MT63 1k long and the FLMSG auto open feature using the NTS/Radiogram form. This is a great way to send Bulletins and NTS traffic via any HF/VHF/UHF digital Net. Check out the video.




Download NBEMS from:
http://www.w1hkj.com/

NBEMS article:
http://wedothatradio.wordpress.com/2008/04/14/nbems/

More Information on Gemlink

I sent one of the Gemlink units to Steve, KB9MWR to look at. Steve has done an excellent job of documenting this unit. I must also include Joe, N9ZIA, who is responsible for this great write up. Sorry I missed giving credit to him originally. The Gemlink uses the K Band, the Ham part of this band is 24Ghz. I am not sure if the Gemlink equipment can be tuned and used on the Ham bands.  I do not have the equipment that will work at this frequency. I am looking for some equipment, so that I can experiment with this system. Check out the write up about it.

http://www.qsl.net/n9zia/gemlink/index.html

Henderson Kentucky Digital Working Group

Here in Henderson KY, we have started a digital working group. We will be working towards learning, teaching and developing digital systems. We have 11 members in this group to start with. We had our first meeting and everyone is excited to move forward with HSMM. We will be using WRT54G's and HSMM-Mesh software to build several portable nodes so that we can deploy them and do some testing on a larger scale. We will start small and build this into the complete system with RMS/BBS/BPQ32 capabilities. We will be building the first simple nodes to the same basic standard specifications to help everyone to be able to use and setup any portable node without problems. We will also be using the same software throughout the system. I think we will have some nice deployments this summer in some of the local parks and we will have to bring some food to grill. Here are a couple of pictures of the first meeting:

Acer Aspire One D250-1842 10.1" Netbook

I just recently bought a used  Acer Aspire One Netbook. My first impressions with this netbook is that it is small and compact but still powerful enough to run the software I need to. The keyboard is of course on the small side for my big hands but as long as I do not type to fast it works fine. It has Windows 7 Starter which will give me some experience with the newer Windows operating system. I am not impressed so far. It is so different from any of the other operating systems I have used. I am used to XP which is probably my favorite Windows system. Linix Ubuntu is starting to be my favorite now. It would be nice to be able to change the look and feel to an XP look, but I am not sure that will be possible. I think it will be a good additional laptop for HSMM and other digital modes. I did have it on the air and ran FLdigi last night without any problems. All in all it will be an interesting learning experience.

Some specifications for the netbook:

Screen Size 10.1"
Display Screen Type Active Matrix TFT Color LCD
Memory 1 GB
Lithium Ion Battery
Wi-Fi Standard IEEE 802.11b/g
Ethernet Technology Fast Ethernet
Weight (Approximate) 2.80 lb
Height 1"
Width 10.17"
Depth 7.24"
Hard Drive Capacity 250 GB
Processor Speed 1.60 GHz
Processor Type Atom
Processor Model N270
Processor Manufacturer Intel
Operating System Windows 7 Starter