Hi Andy, I would enjoy joining in on the digital keyboarding net.
As an international net, if a band must be chosen, may I suggest that it might be best to start with just one or two frequencies capable of worldwide DX as well as medium distance propagation. 3.5MHz DXing is very difficult for low power stations, and requires a late night path. Not likely for a successful wide area net. 7MHz is a wonderful band, but is difficult to coordinate internationally because the worldwide bandplans are not harmonised yet. If 30 meters is chosen, a dial frequency of 10140 USB on PSK31 with ~1000Hz audio would be a good "universal" starting point. After the net gets together, other types of faster keyboarding and wider bandwidths could be tried on the same frequency. 20 meters often has good DX but rarely shorter distance propagation. But it is the most popular band in the world! 30 meters is often open for both DX and regional low power signals. I like your idea of easy to remember times such as 0000UTC/1200UTC/1800UTC. You may find better participation between 1830UTC to 2230UTC is a good common time for both Europe and North America stations, while 1200UTC to 1500UTC is usually better for the North America/Australia path on 10MHz. As an example, I ran a few time/frequency predictions for NorthAmerica/Europe path and NorthAmerica/Australia path, using the IPS HF online predictor, the links are included below. Alternatively, if we all were scanning the ALE channels, advance net planning would not be needed... we could just press the Netcall button! :) 73 Bonnie KQ6XA NORTH-AMERICA/EUROPE http://www2.ips.gov.au/local-cgi-bin/grafexj-cgi.tcl?day=15&month=11&year=2005&txname=NORTH+AMERICA&txlat=40.0&txlng=265.0&rxname=EUROPE&rxlat=40.0&rxlng=0.0&tindex=20&submit=Submit NORTH-AMERICA/AUSTRALIA http://www2.ips.gov.au/local-cgi-bin/grafexj-cgi.tcl?day=15&month=11&year=2005&txname=AUSTRALIA&txlat=-24.0&txlng=139.0&rxname=NORTH+AMERICA&rxlat=40.0&rxlng=265.0&tindex=20&submit=Submit . ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/ELTolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> The K3UK DIGITAL MODES SPOTTING CLUSTER AT telnet://208.15.25.196/ More info at http:///www.obriensweb.com Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/digitalradio/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
