Category: News

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Digital Modes Petition RM-11831 generates debate

Winlink may be forced to close shop on HF in the USA.

Technology website The Register has now published an article on RM-11831 written by Thomas Claburn which covers some of the arguments, see
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/04/05/amateur_radio_spectrum/

The founder of the research center NYU Wireless, New York University Professor Theodore Rappaport N9NB, has issued a press release which can be seen at
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nyu-wireless-founder-predicts-proposed-fcc-rule-will-grow-amateur-radio-hobby-and-inspire-future-engineers-300825114.html

The QRZ forum on RM-11831 has received a large number of posts, see
https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/new-digital-petition-at-the-fcc-rm-11831.652589/

Read the Petition for Rule Making RM-11831
https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/100918881206/PETITION%20
FOR%20RULEMAKING.pdf

Read comments submitted to FCC
https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/search/filings?limit=100&
proceedings_name=RM-11831&submissiontype_description
=COMMENT&sort=date_received,DESC

Comments on RM-11831 should be submitted to the FCC by April 29 at
https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filings/express

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Winlink may be forced to close shop on HF in the USA

Winlink is…

…a worldwide radio email service that uses radio pathways where the internet is not present, and is capable of operating completely without the internet–automatically–using smart-network radio relays. Winlink provides its users email with attachments, position reporting, weather and information bulletins, and is well-known for its role in emergency and disaster relief communications. Licensed Winlink operators/stations use both amateur radio and government radio frequencies worldwide. The system is built, operated and administered entirely by licensed volunteers.

FCC Petition RM-11831 Threatens Amateur Digital Operations Like Winlink

Winlink may be forced to close shop on HF in the USA, explained below.

April 5, 2019–The FCC has opened for comment RM-11831, a proposal for rule making that would do two things the the US amateur radio rules:

1) remove paragraph (c) of 97.221. This would disallow narrow-bandwidth ARQ modes of 500 Hz or less from outside the specified 97.221 sub bands for automatically controlled digital stations. This will require all US Winlink HF gateway stations, regardless of mode/technique, to only operate within these narrow sub bands.

2) modify the wording of 97.309(4) thusly:
(4) An amateur station transmitting a RTTY or data emission using a digital code specified in this paragraph may use any technique whose technical characteristics have been documented publicly, *such as CLOVER, G-TOR, or PacTOR,* (remove *-*, add the following:) and the protocol used can be be monitored, in it’s entirety, by 3rd parties, with freely available open source software, for the purpose of facilitating communications.

This effectively eliminates Pactor 2, 3, and 4 from the US amateur bands unless SCS steps up and publishes complete technical specifications, including their proprietary signal processing methods, and produces an open-source monitoring program allowing on-air eavesdropping by third parties (not likely).

The Winlink Team will have to produce monitoring software for an unconnected eavesdropper for WINMOR, ARDOP. VARA’s author must do the same. The alternative is for Winlink to close shop for US licensees on HF amateur bands, or to eliminate B2F compression for messages sent by US-licensed amateurs. This will cause US users of all modes to suffer much longer transmission times by a factor of 2-10 times. Limits would not be placed on other users.

See and read the new proceeding from the link below. The 30-day comment period opened on 28 March. We have prepared a document containing useful arguments you may paraphrase for your comment filing. The formal ARSFI Motion to Dismiss RM-11831 and Petition for Rulemaking is also here for your review.

https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/search/filings?proceedings_name=RM-11831&sort=d…

Unless we receive support from users on this serious threat, Winlink may be forced to close shop on HF in the USA. US and non-US users and gateway operators are urged to educate themselves and file a comment soon!

Sincerely,

Lor Kutchins, W3QA
Winlink Development Team
President,
Amateur Radio Safety Foundation, Inc.

 

 

Posted April 14, 2019

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Sun Storm To Hit Earth August 4, 2017

Space Weather News for August 3, 2017
http://spaceweather.com
https://www.facebook.com/spaceweatherdotcom

GEOMAGNETIC STORM WATCH: NOAA forecasters say there is an 80% chance of polar geomagnetic storms on Aug. 4th when a solar wind stream is expected to buffet Earth’s magnetic field. The wind is flowing from a canyon-shaped hole in the sun’s atmosphere, so wide that it is almost bisecting the solar disk. Storm levels could reach G2-category (moderately strong) during the late hours of Aug. 4th, subsiding to G1-category (minor) on Aug. 5th. Visit Spaceweather.com for more information and updates.

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HT Memory Block or Group Scan

Most modern HT radios come with a lot of features.  Lets cover the group or  block scan.  Most HT radios have a lot of memory channels.  You might consider entering the frequencies into your radio as geographical blocks if your radio offers this capability  This feature allows the operator to scan a portion of the total memory channels.  I was taking a short vacation from Placentia to San Luis Obispo  the summer of 2017.  I had put frequencies into my HT for Orange County, LA County, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo.  I love to scan the frequencies as I make this long drive.  The scan works way better if you make your radio scan only the channel memories where you are located within.

For example, I have a Kenwood TH-F6A that offers 400 memory channels.  After I enter the frequencies into this radio, I can long press the MR button and all the stored channels will be scanned.  This can be very inefficient.  On this particular radio you also have the option to long press the MHz button which will scan the current 50 channels from where you started.  Another option is this radio allows you to group link, meaning that two or more groups can be linked together for the scan process, but you need to go into the radio menu to activate this.

You could input all the north Orange County city frequencies together.  The south Orange County cities could be in a separate 50 channel range.  Riverside could be in another.  LA could be in one or more channel groups.

Here is my argument that you might want to consider entering the radio frequencies into 50 memory location groups and make each group a close geographical area.

  • Why have your radio scan all 400 channels?  This slows down the scan process if you are only concerned with the area you are within.
  • It is quite possible to pick up a channel outside your active area.  Catalina has a very large coverage area as other well placed repeaters.

The disadvantage of this method is when you might only have way fewer memory frequencies to enter than 50 in that geographical group or you go over the 50, forcing you to link two groups.