The American Preparedness Radio Net

New TAPRN schedules.

We now have several evenings for holding NETS.

Sunday evenings at:
1930edt (0030 Zulu) for Digital 7.073 USB Contestia 4/250
&
2100edt (0200 Zulu) for Phone 3.818 LSB
—–
Tuesday evenings at 2000edt (0100 Zulu) for Phone 3.818 LSB
—–
Thursday evenings at 2000edt(0100 Zulu) for Digital 7.073 USB Contestia 4/250
This digital net is to help beginners.
—–

We are attempting to build a consistent communications grid for both Digital & Phone nets. We encourage every member to use these frequencies on a daily basis as well as participating in the scheduled nets.

Net topics should stay within the realm of prepping/survival. Topics for any given net will be posted in the chat room prior to the net. Digital net on Thursday will be to help beginners with any problems using the various modes. I would appreciate any and all help with the Digital Beginners Net so we can get these individuals up and running. I would also suggest that beginners using digital modes go to the 40 meter frequency we use 7.073 USB and make adjustments as needed and practice sending data. Use one of the macros , set it up with, TEST, TEST, TEST, your callsign, date, mode or operation and freq….. Everyone needs to practice, that goes for the phone net as well. So lets everyone put our best foot forward to develop a good operating commo site……

Thanks, Werner, kc2axu

///Although The block below Says ‘Author: RadioRay’ I only posted it for Werner , who is the actual author.///
/// I WANTED to add funny pictures but am trying to be an adult about this….. JUST so that you know….. it is not easy. de RadioRay …_ ._ ///

Hello TAPRN’ers…

First of all, we have a lot of listeners, some of whom join in the discussion while others prefer to not transmit. Remember – more are generally listening than transmitting. Enjoy the discussion and mind your personal security, but have a good and informative net.

The Voice Net for 29JAN12 went well. We had the earlier digital net with one check-in from the mid-west, then slid into the voice net after finding a clear frequency at 3834LSB. We had visiting stations from less than 50 miles from my location, extending out all the way down into the deep South and even Dean AC0– made it easily into the mix, relaying in a station from Oklahoma. We even had a bit of SNEAKY practice sending and receiving a message in phoenetic alphabet, by sending the list of all stations in the net and their turn-number in the roundtable discussion. Basically it went like this: “OK – eveyone get your paper and pencils ready, I have a message to follow…. NUMBER ONE IS ALPHA BRAVO FIVE DELTA…. NUMBER TWO IS WHISKY ZERO … …” & etc. and so it went through a list of several stations. Sneaky I know, but necesary and good practice in taking radio traffic by hand. ;^)

The topic of discussion grew naturally while we were discussing recent projects and Mary mentioned the building of Faraday cages to protect her electronic equipment from potentially destructive electro-magnetic fields caused by everything from near-by lightning strikes to nuclear EMP. It was a very good discussion. Dean suggested the use of ‘old style’ metal, galvanized garbage cans to store sensitive electronics, Mary, who actually provided the seed for the discussion talked about her making a Faraday cage instead of knitting socks and other classic home making this weekend – wow how the world has changed, especially post – 9/11… I think that we all had a chuckle at the irony of this, yet we all hope that these preps are never needed.

Our favorite non-electric farmer waaaaay up north found us by searching the dial and signed-in with an excellent and potentially critical question: ‘ So, assuming no internet, how are we supposed to find the ever changing net frequency?’. He has no internet on their non-electric farm and the ham station is ‘the only compromise’ and is run on home made electricity. This is an IMPORTANT question for all TAPRN’ers because we are dedicated to communication during loss of infrastructure and it’s patently obvious that the loss of our chatroom would make organizing the net difficult. This is a Sword of Damocles dangling over our heads. There was a good suggestion of having THREE suggested frequencies so that when/if someone is searching for us, it greatly narrows the search field. Three freqs +/- a few Khz to slide up/down for interference is much easier to search than the entire 80 meter voice portion. We are open to suggestions. Finding clear voice frequencies on any ham band during prime-time is always a difficulty. Narrow modes such as Morse or digital are EASY to arrange skeds, because a little wiggle room of even a few hundred Hz is more than enough to make a Morse contact, or a narrow band digital contact, as compared to the 3,000 Hz or so of clear spectrum required for voice, at a minimum.

>>> Please post suggestions here for how we can all find the net frequency without dependence upon commercial infrastructure.

As many of you know, my signal on voice from the home station in the past has been poor, often surpassed by my mobile radio with it’s 16 foot military whip. Clearly, there were antenna problems at home. This is no longer the case. All reports were stellar for my 100 Watt signal last night. The change???

I built an Inverted L antenna for 160 meters (and higher…) based upon Dick Cebek’s article in the link below.

http://www.users.on.net/~bcr/files/backyard%20wire%20antennaes.pdf

I had always enjoyed the inverted L. It’s been easy to erect. Simple to feed using the internal antenna coupler on old military radios and etc. but I had been put-off by the idea that was spread that you MUST have a zillion ground radials to make them into efficient radiators (i/e a great antenna). Well, Mr. Cebek is an antenna Guru par excellence, and he is known for his scientific view and measurement of antenna in a laboratory fashion, not merely using hear-say evidence like ‘it works real good’. Instead, when he analyzes an antenna, he’ll show you WHY it does or does not work, based on sound antenna theory. In short, he shows, empirically that the inverted L can be run with a few as four radials, with little degradation of performance, though more are helpful, it is not essential. Mine is presently running 10 short radials (25-80 foot) made of cheap, aluminum wire from the farm supply store & held to the ground using ‘lawn staples’ made from coat hanger wire until I get time to slit the lawn with a straight bladed shovel to put the radials below ground – out of lawn mover range…

The results have been spectacular.

OK – so that is the end of the Voice net report. We had some new stations signing in who either read about us on-line or found the discussion interesting (or horrifying :^) while tuning around the bands. Either way, it’s gratifying to have a good net going and it’s evident that many people are listening and interested, but not transmitting – yet, which is also a good thing.

That’s all for today. Please, let’s all think about how to FIND each other for the Voice Net in the event of loss of commercial infrastructure. That’s what we’re all about: independent communication. In voice, that it is especially rough to find a clear space due to the crowded/ever-changing bands.

73 de RadioRay …_ ._
W7ASA – Virginia

Here is the net report from Ruth KK4CDA for the 1-15-2012 net. Ruth jumped in and got her feet wet as NCS and it looks like she had a real good time with running the net. A big thank you Ruth for running the net and sorry for the delay getting your post up.

I hope everyone enjoyed the Sunday Voice net on Sunday 1/15/12. I enjoyed being your NCS for the evening and hope to hear from ya’ll again in the future.

The following checked in:

Ray W7ASA VA

Bill KJ4PZZ VA

Tom KI4DKS NC

Mary KJ4UYO VA

Gary KK4CZO KY

Richard KC2WUX NY

Mark KF5HCR TX

Jess W0ECM OK

Bob KD0MOQ MO

David N3GRH PA

Wayne KJ4ZYL VA

Steve W4TTF GA

Ron N8SKB VT

Dean AC0BG IA

Alan K9ARB KY

Matt N3IKM MD

NOTE: This was my first time doing net control for any net ever. I know I at least messed up by not taking a moment midway thru the rag chew (and once again at the close of the net) to check for any late checking stations, so I’m really sorry about that, everyone. If I missed anyone, I greatly apologize, and hope that doesn’t deter you from checking in next week or any time in the future.

Tonight we talked about the following topics:

Issue with Tonight’s DigiNet

Bugout Vehicles/Transportation

Food Preservation/Botchalism

Photovoltaic/Solar Panels

Issue with Tonight’s DigiNet:

I wasn’t on the DigiNet but based on comments, it sounded like everyone had the same problem – folks were doing ok at first but then nothing. Hopefully it will work better for ya’ll next week.

Bugout Vehicles/Transporation:

A lot of folks stated they are planning the same – to Bug-In, so to speak. But there were good comments on if all else failed and folks HAD to leave their Bug-In locations, their vehicles need a good jack, spare tires, spare gas, 4X4, a bugout bag with proper supplies, etc. Also comments about using horses or simply footing it since limited gas wouldn’t get ya far.

Since a lot of folks stated they are planning to Bug-In, a book was suggested: Holding Your Ground: Preparing for Defense if it All Falls Apart

Food Preservation/Botulism:

There were lots of good comments on canning, dehydrators, root cellars, smoking meats and jerky. Several suggestions like simply washing hands and using hand sanitizer before starting your canning is important, following the proper canning procedures, keeping your canning items in a cool location, and checking to make sure your canned items haven’t lost it’s seal in order to avoid botulism. Several books were suggested:

Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving

Putting Food By

Encyclopedia of Country Living

Meatless alternative canned foods that were suggested that have an indefinite shelf life were the following:

Worthington & Lomo Linda

Cedar Lake Foods

Last but not least, for those who are storing metal canned food, a suggestion made was to avoid any cans that have developed a buckle or bulge in the can, because that food will most likely be spoiled and contain botulism.

Photovoltaic/Solar Panels:

The group started whittling down by the time we got to our last subject of the evening, but some stuck around. A few folks have bought the solar generator kits from Harbor Freight and have been experimenting with their solar panel/s. It was brought up that the latest QST magazine had an article on solar power for your ham radios, so check out the magazine or go to www.ARRL.org if ya’ll want to learn more.

Ok, I think that’s it everyone. If I misunderstood anything or left something out, please feel free to correct me or add anything you’d like in the comments section.

I hope to hear ya’ll in the future on TAPRN Voice Net.

73

Ruth KK4CDA GA

Amazingly enough, I am home doing a “pass through” on my way back up to Canada. I did get a chance to listen in on the net on Sunday. Conditions were terrible but Dean did a fine job running things. The discussion was centered around security and from what I could gather, the subject was a good one.

Several of us went to another frequency just to say hello and we discussed a move to another frequency that would get us away from our Spanish friends that have no consideration for our net. 75-80 meter is a tough band but we feel it can be utilized for the net. Werner and Howard are going to try to pin down a frequency before Net time and post up on the chatroom where they are. The default frequency will still be 3.818.
Ray is going full speed ahead with the digital side of things. I finally got a chance to talk to him for a bit and he is definitely a wealth of information and he makes an excellent case for digital and Morse. As I said before, digital will be a part of the setup in the truck. I don’t know if I will ever learn Morse Code. Dyslexia makes that next to impossible.

I am going to be ordering some new QSL cards in a month or so. We have to do a slight redesign since our name change. Keep you posted.

W4DMH is still busy with the job he is working on but has not forgotten about us. I know I have said this many times but we do appreciate everybody that has stepped up recently and kept things going. And we certainly appreciate your patience with the inconsistency form Dave and I!!! But, this project is necessary in today’s world. We have to be prepared for anything. And we have to spread the word. So keep the ideas for topics coming.

Until next time!!!
73
Dave K7DLB
The APRN Roving Reporter
Facebook Bulldog8265@gmail.com
Twitter Mopar840

The Case for Code – pt.2

Easy to learn… Huh?

There really IS a good and often enjoyable way to learn The Code. There are many wrong ways to learn The Code & some of them came from authority figures, such as The Army and etc. were – for years- dead wrong. The Army eventually changed their ways and had MUCH higher percentages of people learning The Code and using it well. Let’s go to the beginning, The Morse Code is best learned as a language – really! When you hear a new word, like Enchilada, don’t count letters, or try to make some picture to match the sound:

Enchilada

All I know when I hear the sound of ‘enchilada’ is that I am conditioned that > it’s time to EAT!< It's the same with learning Morse Code, because you learn it by conditioning yourself to a series of sounds. Do NOT build-up a ‘look-up table’ or a picture or count dits and dahs or any OTHER nonsense. Rather, in your brain brain associate the sound bywriting down the letter. You just hear the sound of a “V” (di-di-di-daaah)and write it.

Enter The Koch Method, invented by German psychologist Ludwig Koch in the 1930′s and it is simply this: listen to the Morse characters at the speed you will likely hear them on the air: about 13-15 words per minute. However, to make it easier to learn, keep the spacing between these characters much longer than normal so that you are actually copying about 3 to 5 WPM when first learning. This makes sense. If you were learning to speak Spanish you would not slooooooow the individual words down to a crawl like:

eeeeeeeennnnnnnnnnnnnccchcchchchchchchchciiiiiiiiiiilllllllllllllaaaaaaaaaddddddddaaaaa

Instead you might say:

enchilada……………….y………………………………cerveca,……………………………por………………..favor.
Enchilada……………….and……………………………beer………………………………..please!

By increasing the spacing between words, you get a little extra ‘processing time’ for your brain to understand what has been said: same-same for longer spacing between letters sent a normal speed in Morse code. In the Koch Method, characters are sent at a normal speed with longer spaces between, so that you LEARN HOW THEY REALLY SOUND! Not some slowed down version that is more difficult to understand than the normal sound of a single Morse character.

Fortunately for us, a fine program has been written by a fellow ham G4FON to teach the code using the Koch Method. You can go to his website and download his Morse training program for FREE at the following URL:

http://www.g4fon.net/CW%20Trainer.htm

Thirty minutes per day will have you learning the letters and numbers at greater than 5 WPM in about two weeks, plus or minus – everyone is different. Then you begin to build speed. I’ve had friends who went from no code to Know Code in less than one month – but they are fanatics! Then I dragged them on the air for thirty minutes per night of CW practice with me. (The poor blighters!) IF after a few QSOs with me, they then begin calling CQ and talking with other stations, their code speed and comfort level soar!

Sometimes FICTION Is a good display of Facts!

Please , if you have not done so already, get the book “Survivors” by James Wesley Rawles. IT’s not 100% to my tastes – why you know, he didn’t even send me the manuscript with box of red pencils to make corrections or ANYTHING! WUZZ-UP WI’DAT? //GRIN!// However, because HE is the famous writer and I am totally unknown to him, this may have something to do with his ignoring me (though both sailing and the tiny KX-1 transceiver are mentioned in his novel and I do both ;^) However, the ham radio portion of his book, as used by one of the central characters trying to get home all the way from Afghanistan to the USA, is quite acurate. Having him use the readily available Elecraft KX-1 transceiver, instead of something only a novelist could think-up, added tremendously to the books realism. So, buy it and read it. Because the ham portions are well researched it will serve as ‘fuel’ for your own imagination to consider how you would actually USE radio in a tight situation. I’ll give you a hint: if it’s too difficult to provide power and antennas for your radios, you will not use them. If it is EASY, then you will: plan ahead.

Morse is Quicker Than Computer Modes!

Huh? How is that so? Computer modes are the closest to Morse in the ability to cut through noise – some may even be better – they are surely a good bang-for-the-buck. They do however, have their weakness. For Example: Suppose that we have a referee standing by with his stop watch and as the starting gun sounds, we are to rush into the ham shack and —> from a cold start<— send a 25 word message to the station waiting at the other end of the link.

BANG! GO!!!

We rush in and you will use a great digital mode – Good Thinking! – However, I know that it's a Wednesday morning and that Microsoft Just downloaded their OS updates, so your computer will likely require 3 minutes or more to boot, then even MORE time to digest the updates and maybe require a re-boot before it's ready to use. On the other hand, I hit the switch on my transceiver and have my straight key ready to go – you get my point? Operator to operator I can flip the ON switch and start within one second of power-up. That's pretty fast. Then , if we have to pass a message, well remember:

A message received slowly in Morse Code is faster than walking a thousand miles to deliver it.

Economy and Portability:

By eliminating the PC – or using it only when necessary, you eliminate a lot of hassle and extra power requirement. Furthermore, I've packed laptops and other 'messaging devices' in my rucksack down through the years, and kept them alive in harsh environments as well as supplying their power – I was much back younger then and it was still a pain. These days, The idea of fast marching 25 miles in the Rockies with a rucksack that weighs as much as a yearling calf just doesn't sound like much fun, which is why as a civilian I tended to carry a Morse Only , low power radio transceiver similar to this.

Kits for these hover between $65 to $130 for single band kits, depending upon features and whether you provide the enclosure or they do.

Or you can buy an already assembled, multi-band QRP rig with built-in, general coverage receiver for under $300. (yes – you heard right) Look-up HB-1B at the following website:

http://www.youkits.com/

And remember – if you already have an HF ham rig, it is probably already capable of Morse code. Put it to use! Use the G4FON program and then get on the air. Slow CW is usually found between 7100 to 7125 KHz until well after sundown, so it’s a great place to practice.The “Q” signal that you need to know is “QRS” which means “PLEASE SEND MORE SLOWLY>” and yes- they generally will. IT’s not rude – it’s normal.

BTW – just so that you don’t think that I’m making all this up, here’s my well used QRP rig – and yes, that’s a ‘porthole’ behind me…

73 de Ray …_ ._
W7ASA

Luuuuuuucy, you gotta WHOOOOOLE lotta ‘Lectrons to make!

The Case for Code Pt. 1
-or-
Morse Code as a Survival Skill

When the discussion of ‘prepping’ and emergency communication arises, it invariably divides into a a few categories: short range – with a handi-talkie, longer range in voice using ‘ham radio’ and if the group is REALLY switched ON, it may later include a digital mode discussion as well. These discussions of ‘emergency communications’ usually LEAD with:

1. Equipment (buying TOOLS before defining ‘the problem we’re trying to solve’ always leads to expensive solutions.)
2. ‘Let’s see if we can TALK’ (Woo-Hoo! Now it’s getting Fun!)
3. Then the question: ‘OK, we’re talking – Now What?

I believe that TAPRN is at the ‘Now What? Stage.

There are some excellent discussions on TAPRN HF radio voice nets. Bill, Werner and Skip have really taken the lead in being net control stations, usually on short notice and there are enough stations that it’s grown to the level of critical mass to make it ‘gell’ nicely. The digital net and experiments, while not having as many people, is making the point of being able to make contact on schedule, on frequency and with good reliability. When we say 7073USB Contestia 4/250 that is what happens. It’s just THAT reliable, even with Spanish language QRM. This is for one basic reason, a thing that engineers call ‘system gain’. Basically how much power must be used to have effective communication?
By-the-way, that total SYSTEM power:
receiver ON,
+
transmitter duty cycle percentage at XXX Watts,
+
accessories such as amplifiers,
+
computers…
+ a whole lotta electrons you have to find to run it…

(Luuuuucy! You gotta WHOOOOOLE lotta ‘lektrons to make!)

Remember, in a grid down situation, ALL of those things still require power – but are all those things REALLY required to have effective communications? Let’s see.

If you want to hold a group discussion on the air in real time, then voice is a natural choice, as long as we can all hear each other. The next choice for a discussion is a real-time digital net. It’s a bit slower, but it is VERY reliable, even in weak signal and high noise and because digital can be so much narrower than voice, it’s EASY to set a clear frequency to meet and find each other ‘More wiggle-room with narrower signals like digital and Morse – that’s been demonstrated. But you have to ask yourself whether, during an actual emergency (when all of your electrons will ALL need to be ‘home made’) are you going to be ‘talking’ or will you need to ‘communicate’? By this I mean, are you going to need to have enjoyable conversations, or will you NEED to send and receive information like instructions, messages? In my experience, passing a short message was what really mattered:

This is an actual message that I sent using a simple, home made, pocket sized “QRP” Morse transceiver while on crew for a survival video filmed in the middle of the largest wilderness ares in the lower 48 states:

BUSH PLANE LANDED SAFELY. WE ARE SNOWED IN.
WOLVES ARE HOWLING. RON IS VOMITING. WE ARE
HAVING A WONDERFUL TIME.

The QRP transceiver – including batteries and case, used a light, wire ‘dipole’ antenna and fit into a coat pocket. Cha-Ching! & cost me well less than $100,

Those of you who’ve been on the voice nets with me know that occasionally, I’ll send a few words in Morse code, just to make a point. Even when my voice signal at 100 Watts is ‘weak’ I hear the comment that ‘the CODE was strong”. Sometimes I’ll be using 100 Watts in voice and only 5 Watts in code, yet the code is EASY to hear. Why? Focused Power The typical SSB voice signal is approximately 3 thousand Hertz wide (3KHz). Your 100 Watts is spread across that 3,000 Hz wide signal compared to the SAME 100 Watts in Morse focused into about 60Hz looks like this. Right off the bat, you have about 50 times the ‘peak power’.

Another advantage of Morse is that, compared to voice, it’s easier for your brain to search out and process. “WHAT?!?!? My brain can’t process Morse!” you say? Sure, it can – and I am going to prove it:

Think of this scene from my misspent youth. One of the sillier things I ever did was join the Army. The good news is that I got very well trained to play with radios and Morse code at the taxpayer’s expense: thank you! Picture a crowded party in the 1970′s: music blasting, a crowd of hundreds of ‘twenty-somethings’ all trying to out-shout each other (there MAY have been alcohol involved)… you get the picture. When my Army Buddies wanted to get my attention in a place like THAT, they didn’t yell – everybody ELSE was already doing that. Instead, my friends would softly whistle a ‘call-up’ in Morse code. My head would rotate like a light house beacon and stop when I was looking right at them. Why? Well, think to yourself: which is easier to do, to pick out a VERY complicated jumble of odd sounds that we call speech OR to notice a SINGLE tone and to determine whether it is ON or OFF? Why that’s EASY – On/OFF is much easier than deciphering a voice in a jumble of other voices, noise and what we laughingly called ‘music’. It’s the SAME on the HF radio bands. Morse cuts through the noise and as you know above, it’s average POWER is much higher than the same amount of power spread (like peanut butter) across a wide area.

Group discussions in Morse are difficult at best, but when it comes to communicating: that is, passing a message to friends and family or receiving the same it’s my first choice when I do not have commercial power, like when I have to carry my transceiver and generate my own power.

—— Part II to follow: The BEST way to learn The Code, Examples of Code in action, The Beauty of Simplicity, Morse is FASTER than digital??? (How is this possible?) & Why a little fiction reading can also teach you FACTS…

As we look ahead into the new year, ask yourself, “am I prepared?” Take a bit of time and reflect on the progress you made in 2011. Did you tear a page off of the list? Have you gotten your preps to a point where you are comfortable? Did you sit and make a new list for 2012? One thing I have found in prepping is that you are never “done”. There is always room for improvement. Be it food storage, home defense, garden planning, emergency power, and a plan just in case TSHTF in a big way.

Communications should play a big role in your plans. Here at TAPRN our goal is to bring communications to the forefront. We have our nets that test our ability to have good discussions about our preps, share information among the participants and throw out some great ideas. But communications don’t necessarily stop there. We should focus on getting our family, friends and others involved. Our families can be spread out all over the country. As the search for jobs, schooling, and a better lifestyle moves our families all over, consider what would happen if the grid ever collapses. Ham radio could play a big part in communicating with our families. That is going to be one of my continuing efforts this year among others.

Last night’s net was a great one!!! (1-2-12). We had Werner and Howard as NCS and what a job they did!!! We had operators from all over the country participating. Ruth started a great topic on multi fuel conversions on her generator. She gave some great information for us to look into. The idea was floated about getting a list of topics from our participants that could be dealt with on the Sunday net. If you have anything of interest you would like to have as a topic, please send a message or an e-mail and we will get a list started.
We also had a visit from Dave W4DMH. He has been VERY busy lately and he FINALLY(!) got his new antenna up and gave it a workout. We had several new checkins and a visit from Lonnie, an Emergency Coordinator for several counties in West Virginia.(?) He made us an offer of help with our efforts and we certainly appreciate that!!! There is also going to be a rag-chew group starting on Tuesday evening. So stay tuned here for more info.

One thing that is really new and exciting is our Digital Net. Ray is at the helm at that project and he is a wealth of info on digital communications. I know I have mentioned this before, but once the mobile setup gets installed in the bigtruck, digital will be included. Don’t discount digital communications. It is easier than you think and gets through the noise like Morse Code. Keep an eye here for more!!!!!

So, as a new year is fresh, we here at TAPRN would like to thank everybody for a great 2011. And as always, we are looking for NSC operators to take the Sunday nets. New voices and ideas plus the fact that operators from different parts of the country can get to different stations that may not hear us on a regular basis is an ongoing effort.

And in closing, as Buddie the Roaddog and I get the truck ready to hit the road to start the new year, We want to wish everybody a safe and blessed New Year!!!! Keep on Prepping because it is not “IF” but “WHEN” we are going to need it!!!!

73
Dave K7DLB TAPRN Roving Reporter
FaceBook Bulldog8265@gmail.com
Twitter: mopar840

DigiNet -

What mode do we use and what program do we recommend for the TAPRN DigiNet? We have covered this in the past, but it’s been long enough that I think now would be a good time to bring things-up to date on our present mode(s) and how the DigiNet works. First, the mode.

Recommended Software:
We use a mode called CONTESTIA 4/250. It is a STRONG, forward error correcting mode that is really very good for keyboard-to-keyboard chat and for passing message traffic. We had begun in PSK31 ONLY to get as many people into the net as possible, knowing that PSK31 is the most popular soundcard digital mode for hams today. While PSK31 is good, it’s not as robust in low signal & high interference as the many ‘FEC’ (Forward Error Correcting) modes available. The suggestion to use use CONTESTIA came for one of our TAPRN stations and it is a good one. In short, without going into all the technical gobblyty-gook, CONTESTIA cuts through the interference and works VERY well in weak signal conditions, yet is very easy to use.

The software that I recommend is a very common program called Fldigi. There are several reasons why I advise, this but let’s cover the top four:

1. Simplicity. The program is very simple to set-up and stable to use.
2. It is FREEware, so nobody needs to buy a special program for the DigiNet.
3. It has ‘plug-in’ that is optional sub-programs to ad-in for things like full error correction, message handling and etc. It can even bet set-up to do this 24.7 without an operator present – i/e an on the air mail-box.
4. It is used by MANY emergency communications groups.

Please, go to the following link and download FLdigi, FLarq, FLmsg, Flwrap. To begin with, use Fldigi as a soundcard digital mode program and we’ll cover the other plun-ins like Flarq in time.

http://www.w1hkj.com/download.html

——————-
DigiNet Begins as a Directed Roundtable:

The (NCS) calls for TAPRN stations, in the order calling stations are heard they are assigned a number (1, 2, 3, …) . This number is that stations call-up order in the roundtable. The net control station is always first. It looks like this:

0: W7ASA (NCS)
1: N0DOG
2: K9MUT
3: IH8CAT (rare DX station)

When the DigiNet begins, we are not certain whether everyone hears everyone, so
the net operates as a DIRECTED net. Outstations always hand it back to the NCS:
NCS hands it to N0DOG who hands it back to NCS.
NCS hands it to K9MUT who hands it back to NCS…

If we DO all copy each other, then the NCS will announce that we are changing and that stations can just run down the list in numerical order and do not have to give it back to the NCS until the end of the list is reached. This saves time and let’s everyone contribute to the discussion in a much faster and more inter-active manner. We lave a FIVE SECOND break between transmissions so that a breaking station has opportunity to check-in between transmissions.

Some Experiments on the Side:

What have ‘we’ been doing lately? A coupld of us have been experimenting with some of the FULL “ARQ” modes on HF radio. For those who have not used full ARQ before it stands for Automatic Retransmit reQuest. Meaning that the text the you send is divided into packets and each packet is checked to errors when it is received. If the received packet contains errors, the receiving station transmits a special signal that tells the transmitting station for retransmit that particular packet again. Basically, ARQ is not usable for broadcast or roundtable operation like we use. However, it has at least the following advantages for point-to-point communication.

1. You get essentially 100% error free transmission of data.

2. You type in a specific callsign and link ONLY with that station, even though several stations may be on frequency. Essentially –it is as individual as a telephone number, but on the air! If I want to call Bob/K9MUT I type in that callsign and AQR calls his and only his station. If he is there, his station will ‘handshake’ then link and we’re LOCKED to each other over the air. You KNOW that you are sending to his station.

3. Message transmission is basically error free.

4. You can send compressed files, which while not ‘encryption’ are very, very difficult for anyone who does not work for a three letter agency to read your compressed message.

So, this is only in the experimental stage right now which is why we don’t have more people involved. Best to do the testing in a small group, then get everyone else involved, otherwise it can turn into a mess. We’re trying a few different programs, so that when we ask everyone to jump aboard, it will be stable. That’s The Plan(tm) so let’s so how it works in actual practice.

73 de Ray
W7ASA

Buddie and I want to wish each and every one of you a very MERRY CHRISTMAS this year. We have had a wonderful year traveling the highways of the USA and Canada and as we are at home for the Christmas season with family and friends, we hope that this season brings many blessings and hope for the coming new year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
Dave K7DLB and Buddie the RoadDog

Well, we had a FINE time with a great net Sunday evening. I was stunned, and excited to have 21 stations check in! We had several new stations, and we sure hope they felt welcomed, and will make it again on Sunday evenings. We had check-ins from the east coast to the west. Our topic was “What do you think of my plan to sneak downstairs, and throw the main breaker OFF, and test some of my back-up systems for a day or so, before I need them”?
MANY great comments were offered, and I urge you to click on the “listen live” link over on the right hand edge of this page, and find the recording of the net from Sunday…. you will probably learn at least one new thing. (Thanks to KD8FDF for the streaming/recording of the net each week!)

Stations checking in were:

KC8HXO (NCS)
KD0MOQ
KJ4PZZ
N1FBF
KK4CZO
KC2UKU
KI4DKS
K8RLC
AC0BG
N3GRH
KJ4ZYL
KB3SSZ
W7ASA
KI4LWA
K2DWB
W4SWS
KD0OFJ
K7PKT
KJ4VDS
KC2AXU
KJ4RQV

WOW!! THANK YOU to all the stations who checked in to the net, and I hope you had fun, and were able to take something from the information presented.

Respectfully submitted,
Greg Schippers, KC8HXO