> > 1. Did anyone use it on VHF or UHF this weekend ? It seems that it > would be perfect for these quiet frequency ranges, file transfers at > PSK250 should really be very useful
It is designed primarily for VHF in the choice of modes, narrow bandwidth and not handling much QSB so no need for wider multitone modes that work further into the noise. > > 2. Did anyone try MFSK16 ARQ ???? Does not work well, because the latency of MFSK16 means the first ARQ control code to start a sequence has passed before the decoder can decode it. Same problem with DominoEx. This was a desired choice also for VHF - wider, but less critical tuning, but the latency prevented it from working. > > 3. Has anyone established a protocol for "who goes first" when a few > stations beacon and hear each other ? Not that I know of. We are going to disable having more than one station or two connected stations sending a message at the same time. Too confusing! > > 4. Is there any practical use for the "email" feature. It works well > , but is it not easier to send via the Internet unless in an emcomm > situation ? NBEMS is intended to be used primarily for personal emcomm messaging or point-to-point communications backup when all else fails. When the Internet is accessible, of course it is more desirable. > > 5. Where should we "hang out" if we are looking for email? Please don't hang out looking for email! If you are a served agency that assigns someone to monitor the band for traffic, or meet a sked, when normal communications are available, NBEMS is useful, but why clutter up the airwaves with email or messaging? The ham bands are primarily for amateur radio hobbiests to talk to other amateur radio hobbiests, not as a slow replacement for the Internet or text messaging. > > 6. Anyone come up with some emcomm tasks for this software package? > How do we test this for emergency communication drills/event ? First the system must be validated and bugs worked out. Then it can be deployed by emcomm groups. We have only released NBEMS for beta testing, not for deployment, and are still making changes. We do appreciate the members of this group for taking the time to give NBEMS a try. > > 7 Is ALE 400 better ? Possibly, for HF where there is QSB to contend with. For VHF, PSK250 on a non-fading path has a speed advantage, I think. > > 8. Is it just me, or does the passage of ARQ files between two > stations invoke FLARQ reception on a third station that is on same > frequency ? It is not you. I have experienced the same thing. Of course a third-party station cannot request fills. We are still refining flarq based on the experiences already gained on HF. Hope this answers some of the questions, at least from my viewpoint. Other's may feel differently. One undocumented feature is the ability of VBdigi to seek for a directional CQ, but still needs some work. The way this works is that a station with emergency traffic repetitively calls "CQ EM" for example, and VBdigi will scan the passband up and down until it stops on such a CQ. In a widescale disaster, there may be many stations trying to pass emergency messages, and VBdigi will be able to find them without the operator having to stop and decode each one manually. Still some work to do on this feature, but it can only work if a narrowband mode is used, so that there are many stations in the passband (in the same area of the band). 73, Skip KH6TY
