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Family COMMS

MaverickNH said:
Very nice! As I understand, NVIS is desirable for “close-in” 80/40 QSOs. I see that there are 4-station NVIS tracking systems that can be used to radio locate even NVIS-bounced transmissions, so it’s not foolproof wrt COMSEC. HamCap and DX Atlas make a good propagation tool to assess reach with various antennas and power. My 8010 and 40/40 Endfed slopers leave major shadows around my QTH.
Click to expand...

This is a report by Spawar pacific how HF performs via NVIS. A lot of the reading is mind numbing math, but it shows how effective it is in shitty terrain like we have here in NH for radio to radio comms without the help of anything else. The whole purpose of me getting in to Ham Radio was for me to talk to my peeps without the dependency on anyone or anything else.


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

High frequency (HF) links (2 to 30 MHz) are an alternative to the cost and tactical fragility of
commercial satellite communications (SATCOM) for beyond line-of-sight (LOS) links. However, standard
HF systems operating over a 3-kHz bandwidth do not provide sufficient throughput for network
applications. Simply increasing bandwidth does increase throughput—provided the radios are properly
designed for the time-varying wideband HF channel. The wideband HF channel is governed by the
ionospheric variations caused by latitude, the night and day cycle, the direction and length of the haul, the
seasons, and ionosphere disturbances. This report is the first of a series seeking a better understanding of
each of these channel variations to aid in the design of wideband HF systems and the proper comparison of
different HF radios and waveforms.

This report uses wideband mid-latitude HF channel soundings and three-dimensional (3-D) ray-tracing
simulations to develop a statistical model of a particular nearly vertical incidence skywave (NVIS) channel.
This model is expressed in a form that is programmable in a channel emulator so that different radios can
be tested under controlled conditions. The 3-D ray-tracing code is validated by measurements with the
intention of running the code over different times and geographic locations to generate channels that have
not been measured over the air. Then, those simulated channels will be used to compute statistical models
for particular geographic, temporal, and environmental conditions.

The immediate application of this particular channel is for small unit mobile ground forces with
vehicle-mounted antennas. Near-term extensions support mid-latitude short-haul (200 to 1,500 km) and
long-haul ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore wideband HF channels. Long-term payoffs for the warfighter will
be a better HF radio design, leading to increased data rates, more stable networks, reduced power
requirements, and improved low probability of detection (LPD)
Click to expand...

Anything can be tracked if you transmit enough.
 
AmRRON has some nets of interest, National/Regional and two in MA

amrron.com

AmRRON National/Regional Rolling Nets - AmRRON

A 'Net' is a regularly-scheduled communications network and is a great way to practice, become proficient with your equipment ...
amrron.com amrron.com
amrron.com

AmRRON Sub-Regional Nets - AmRRON

A ‘Net’ is a regularly-scheduled communications network and is a great way to practice, become proficient with your equipment ...
amrron.com amrron.com
amrron.com

AmRRON Local Nets - AmRRON

A ‘Net’ is a regularly-scheduled communications network and is a great way to practice, become proficient with your equipment ...
amrron.com amrron.com

ERPN has some digital nets too

www.erpnusa.net

ERPN Digital Net

The purpose of the ERPNUSA Digital Net is to provide experienced and non-experienced digital operators an opportunity to practice digital communications in a friendly environment. The net meets...
www.erpnusa.net

I’ve not participated yet but plan to do some listening to see what’s up. But we could pick a frequency, mode, day/time and see if we can connect. JS8CALL or VarAC might be handy on 40/80m.
 
ToddDubya said:
That can't be your NVIS setup still.

Is JS8CALL as QSO-ey as they claim? I never liked the automated feel of FT8, but JS8CALL was supposed to be more of a keyboard to keyboard QSO, which appealed to me. Alas, digital hates me so I haven't gotten it running in many years.
Click to expand...
This is all on my 132' nvis antenna 11 feet off the ground. All stations that received my heartbeats. I was chatting with a guy in NJ with the GUI before dinner.

1672456293867.png
 
Last edited:
Admin said:
This is all on my 132' nvis antenna 11 feet off the ground. All stations that received my heartbeats. I was chatting with a guy in NJ with the GUI before dinner.

View attachment 703916
Click to expand...
Unpossible. I was told antennas must be 1/2 wavelength above ground or they wouldn't work at all and you'd probably get shocked.

Seriously though, pretty sweet. If you have the room, it might be useful to see how different antenna orientations effect propagation. N-S, E-W, zig-zagged, u-shaped, "loop", etc. If the answer is they don't make a difference, that would be a great data point for setting up in constrained places.
 
JS8 5W 40m 10pm-7am from a K6ARK EFHW from my 2nd story window to a tree ~65ft away, catenary sloping upwards ESE but steep only at the top. Not good for local comms, unfortunately. If I dropped the feedpoint to ~3ft off the ground and ran 10W from my IC-705 I might get some NVIS. I'll try that when my wife is at work next week.

22-12-31 40m_JS8.png
 
ToddDubya said:
Unpossible. I was told antennas must be 1/2 wavelength above ground or they wouldn't work at all and you'd probably get shocked.

Seriously though, pretty sweet. If you have the room, it might be useful to see how different antenna orientations effect propagation. N-S, E-W, zig-zagged, u-shaped, "loop", etc. If the answer is they don't make a difference, that would be a great data point for setting up in constrained places.
Click to expand...
I'm going to do that this spring. Since the antenna is 132' long and I am using paracord to tie it off on the end, I'm at about 150' of suspended line. I'm using a 10' 1" pvc pipe to take out the slack in the middle which is tied up to a T post. It will be a lot easier moving that mid point in the spring when the ground isn't what it is right now.

My friend on the north shore got his nvis up yesterday. So we are going to start testing voice and digital on a few different bands at different times to figure out what freqs are optimal and when in our area NH/MA.
 
ToddDubya said:
Is JS8CALL as QSO-ey as they claim? I never liked the automated feel of FT8, but JS8CALL was supposed to be more of a keyboard to keyboard QSO, which appealed to me.
Click to expand...

I downloaded JS8CALL this afternoon. Copied the settings from WSJT and it started running once I figured out WSJT needed to be shut down. Played with a few settings, sent a cq and got a response. From what I'm receiving it looks like you can send 100+ character messages that are transmitted in blocks. Definitely has conversation potential.
 
While JS8CALL on that 4020 EFHW sloper didn't see much nearby, on FT8 20m I'm getting some close-in spots by groundwave before skywave kicks in far away. So, maybe it's OK and there's just nobody listening JS8CALL nearby? Probably not good for state-wide comms on low power...

1672673708638.png
 
Who else uses js8call? We should set up a time to test on a hopefully unused frequency or frequencies.

I think getting the entire country is neat and obviously would help with intel gathering if something significant ever happened, but my main concern is consistent positive off-grid comms in New England only.
 
Admin said:
Who else uses js8call? We should set up a time to test on a hopefully unused frequency or frequencies.

I think getting the entire country is neat and obviously would help with intel gathering if something significant ever happened, but my main concern is consistent positive off-grid comms in New England only.
Click to expand...
This thread is tempting me to upgrade and put up a 40m wire. I wish my yard was bigger, lol.
 
breslau said:
I'm still figuring out how the program works but willing to sked a qso, early evening on 40?
Click to expand...
It's not terribly hard to set up. I did so on my IC-705, there was one setting on my radio I had to change but I believe this is 705 specific.

js8call.com

JS8Call Getting Started

Visit the post for more.
js8call.com js8call.com

Early evening would work for me. We could try 40 first then 80 later if people stick around. 40 seems to work pretty well for me from the testing Ive done.
 
Try again tonight or when? Last night I had a brief qso with a guy in Ohio. Very little activity aside from some heartbeat stations that were 500+ miles away. HF conditions have been lousy the last few days which doesn't help.
 
breslau said:
Try again tonight or when? Last night I had a brief qso with a guy in Ohio. Very little activity aside from some heartbeat stations that were 500+ miles away. HF conditions have been lousy the last few days which doesn't help.
Click to expand...
I can try tonight. Running 40m right now on js8 and im not picking up a whole lot.
 
Yea wet weather tends to dampen propagation and hf has been crummy the last few days anyway

Our qso this afternoon confirms JS8Call is a viable keyboard to keyboard hf program. Sort of like texting but little bit slower since the message is broken up on xmit then reassembled in the receive window.

Searching around I found JS8Call can also be used to send text messages to a phone, send emails or store messages for another user to pick up.
 
Coyote33 said:
I've read that a replacement antenna really helps on the Baofengs. Any advice on which of these is good or which to avoid?

Amazon.com : baofeng uv-5r whip antenna

www.amazon.com

Also, is this programming cord any good? If not, suggestion (on Amazon)?
Amazon product ASIN B00CP0I474View: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CP0I474/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?th=1



Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
signalstuff.com

Super-elastic Signal Stick: SMA female — Signal Stuff

Now offering quantity discounts! See below for table. Please select the frequencies and color that you want below -- the "classic" signal stick is "Dual Band" and "Black". All signal sticks come with a Glow in the Dark tip. Please look at the images to make sure you have the correct...
signalstuff.com signalstuff.com

I have a Nagoya on my 'feng, but if I had known about the Signal Stuff antennas I would have gotten that instead. But the Nagoya is fine, too.

Just pay attention to the connector type. The 'fengs have the opposite gender from most other radios.

If there's a chance you might end up with multiple HTs (hint, you will), a lot of people adapt them to BNC and buy all BNC antennas so they're universal. Just something to consider. I didn't do that, but only because I didn't think of it.

That programming cable looks gtg. If you don't have a hand mic, the cheap 'feng one works good for me and is way nicer to use than the PTT button on the radio.
 
If anyone is looking, MobilinkD is for sale again. New price for v4 is $150.

Mobilinkd TNC4

The Mobilinkd TNC4 builds upon the success of the TNC3, offering improved battery life, high baud rate performance, and a USB-C connector. The TNC4 is expected to ship the week of February 20. Due to extremely heavy demand, orders placed after February 6, 7:00PM CST may not ship until the week...
store.mobilinkd.com store.mobilinkd.com
 

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