Jeffrey Kopcak - K8JTK
ARRL Ohio Section Technical Coordinator
The ARRL Technical Coordinator (TC) is a section-level official appointed by the Section Manager to coordinate all technical activities within the section.
For a section team to be effective in one of the most important arenas in Amateur Radio, technology, there must be a cadre of qualified, competent Technical Specialists (TS).
"Advancement of the radio art" is a profound obligation we incur under the rules of the FCC.
TSes help meet this obligation.
TS supports the TC in two main areas of responsibility:
Radio Frequency Interference and Technical Information.
Technical Specialist can specialize in certain specific technical areas, or can be generalists.
Digital is a binary representation of some data (1's and 0's).
Encoded in a structure before transmission.
Digital is a very broad term and takes many forms:
img: KhalilAensland
Wide spread ownership of personal computing devices allows amateurs to develop and use these modes for communication purposes. This includes smartphones and tablets.
When compared to voice communications, digital can be:
Each mode has applications, uses, advantages, and disadvantages.
source: Wikipedia
Short messages suited for voice:
Patient transport - romeo 5 - has arrived at Lakewood Hospital.
Patient 176008 status is now green.
Not suited for voice:
Voice example:
St. John's, prepare to copy.
Tag 176003, female, 20 - 30, transport helo, red.
Now imagine having to transmit and verify that 20, 30, 50 times or more. How long would that take?
Not including phonetics, repeats, fills, breaks, and confirmation... 17 minutes.
Using a digital mode, we can transmit that data in a fraction of the time... and verify it! 2 minutes 28 seconds.
NBEMS stands for Narrow Band Emergency Messaging System (or Software).
Established standards for passing email and text-based traffic over Amateur Radio.
img: RCARC
Need a radio, computer, interface between the two, and software.
All audio/DSP enhancements must be disabled!
img: FLEMA
Downloadable from www.w1hkj.com.
Open source, public license, FREE software.
Run on Windows, Linux, and Mac.
Frequency control and logging.
White: channels (PSK), tan: receive pane, blue: transmit pane.
Macros... QSOs, contesting.
Waterfall. Graphical representation of signals.
Program controls: waterfall, frequency, transmit/receive.
Program status: mode, s/n, f/o, attenuator, auto frequency control, squelch.
Squelch level and control.
source: WM2U
Checksum: detecting errors which may have been introduced during transmission or storage.
[WRAP:beg][WRAP:lf][WRAP:fn K8JTK test message.txt]This is a test message from K8JTK.[WRAP:chksum EB84][WRAP:end]
source: Wikipedia.
When hi-resolution images or large data transfers are requirements, some other method or system must be utilized.
Setup tutorials:
Sound Card
Fldigi and Flmsg
Enter your station information. All fields are not required. QTH: 'Portable' for a go-box.
Click Op Mode.
Select MT63.
Click MT63-2000L.
Click 1500 on the waterfall.
Fine tune with the Adjust Cursor Frequency adjustment.
Click RxID and TxID (top).
Enter your station information. All fields are not required.
Click the Op Mode box.
Select MT63-2KL.
img: KB9RZ.
OR
Print:
Official Fldigi/Flmsg documentation:
Wiki, Programs & Documentation
(in program directory, download "help" or "manual" files).
NBEMS presentation - ARRL & W3YJ.
Radio Interface Setup.
Getting Started with Fldigi.
OHDEN (HF). Tuesdays 8:00pm. 3.585 USB.
OLIVIA 8/500. PSK31 (alt). No voice.
Jeffrey Kopcak - K8JTK
K8JTK@arrl.net
ARRL Ohio Section Technical Coordinator.
Other involvement.
This presentation is available on my website: K8JTK.org
Ohio Section Management:
Section Manager: Scott Yonally - N8SY
Section Emergency Coordinator: Stan Broadway - N8BHL