Subj : Newsline Part 1
To : All
From : Daryl Stout
Date : Fri Mar 31 2017 12:23 pm
Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2057 for Friday, March 31, 2017
Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2057, with a release date of Friday,
March 31 2017 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.
The following is a QST. Amateur radio continues its advances in digital
technology. In Italy, one amateur creates a detailed online map that
locates repeaters -- and it's time for an exclusive report from our roving
correspondent, Pierre Pullinmyleg, who's back to break some exclusive
April Fool's Day news! All this and more, as Amateur Radio Newsline Report
2057, comes your way right now.
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BILLBOARD CART
**
WHEN SOUND CARDS ARE A SOUND IDEA
JIM/ANCHOR: We open this week's newscast with two stories about digital
advances which continue to transform amateur radio. We hear first from
correspondent John Bartholomew, KD9ECH. His report comes to Newsline
courtesy of Amateur News Weekly.
JOHN BARTHOLOMEW: Amateur Radio operators have been on the cutting edge
of technology since the beginning of the hobby. When the hams were sent
above 200 meters in the early part of the 20th century, they proved that
communications around the world was possible. They pioneered single
sideband transmission and satellite communications. Now the computer is
playing a vital role in emergency communications. Recently the Indiana
Elmer Network, under the umbrella of the Laurel Amateur Radio Club,
sponsored a workshop and demonstration of the various digital soundcard
modes. Bob Burns, W9BU, was one of the presenters, and says the technology
uses the soundcard in a computer to send data over the airwaves. A short
time ago, this technology did not exist, but leave it to the hams to
figure out how to develop it.
BOB: As more and more personal computers had soundcards in them, the hams
that were technically astute started figuring out ways to interface these
soundcards with their radios, and use them to send and receive data. For
the most part, these modes have been developed by amateur radio operators
and it is part of the technical basis of amateur radio.
JOHN: Burns says that while this started out as purely experimental, there
are other reasons to use it.
BOB: If you are in an auxiliary communications situation where you have to
move a large amount of data, you want that data to be accurate. Also, most
of the sound card modes are fairly narrow in bandwith, narrower than a
single sideband signal, and that way you can pack more signals into a
given amount of spectrum.
JOHN: One scenario for using the digital modes would be a hospital
receiving a large amount of patients, and the facility is running low on
supplies.
BOB: The hospital folks put together a list of things that they need, you
can send that information using voice, and take a lot of time and maybe
have trouble getting things spelled correctly -- or you can use the
soundcard digital modes to send it as a piece of data, and then you don't
have to worry about the spelling, and everything gets through accurately,
and in a minimum amount of time.
JOHN: What new technologies will come forth in the coming years remains to
be seen, but you can bet if it involves communciations, amateur radio
operators will have a hand in it. Reporting for Amateur News Weekly, this
is John Bartholomew, KD9ECH.
JIM/ANCHOR: Our thanks to Amateur News Weekly for providing that report.
For more of Amateur News Weekly, visit their website at
amateurnewsweekly.com
**
DIGITAL CROSSES THE FINISH LINE
JIM/ANCHOR: In this next report on digital radio modes, we hear about one
amateur radio club in Ireland that took this new technology for a test run
in County Galway, and found it roadworthy. Amateur Radio Newsline's Jeremy
Boot, G4NJH, explains.
JEREMY'S REPORT: Runners in the annual Kinvara Rock and Road Half Marathon
and 10K run in County Galway, Ireland, can always expect a stunning finish
as the race winds up on the quay in Kinvara. In this year's contest,
however, another group celebrated a fine finish of their own: Hams in the
Galway VHF Group were providing radio assistance to runners along the
seaside route, and these hams ended up feeling like winners too: This was
the club's first time making use of C4FM technology -- and the effort was
deemed a success. It may have been the club's first all-digital operation
for an Amateur Radio Emergency Network-supported event, but it won't be
their last. According to the club, it has been decided that similar
operations in the future will feature DMR radios, or radios equipped with
Yaesu Fusion.
For Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Jeremy Boot, G4NJH.
(KINVARA ROCK AND ROAD MARATHON, GALWAY VHF GROUP, IRTS)
