[digitalradio] Re: Getting Started in ALE
--- In digitalradio@yahoogroups.com, ve3fwf [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Bonnie: Any suggestions? Is 16 bit OK or is 24 bit required? Some of the sound cards I looked at via Google cost more than my computer! The machines I have are Dell GX1s (built like a tank). The existing on board sournd card (Crystal Audio) works with no problem with all other modes and programs. Bernie Hi Bernie, 16 bit is fine. You can find a lot more discussion about the various sound card systems operators are using for PCALE, on the HFLINK group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hflink 73 Bonnie VR2/KQ6XA
[digitalradio] Re: SignaLink USB
Thanks, Robert. What software do you use with your SignaLink USB? KU4A
Re: [digitalradio] Re: HF Packet BBS?
HF messaging whether packet or another mode is really the only possible way to have an RF system that covers very wide areas, particularly with low or no population. While community wireless could be done for some in a given community, but it would be unlikely that it would any connection with amateur radio or amateur radio operators. Having an amateur radio license, or even interest in amateur radio, does not necessarily mean significant technical knowledge or ability. With the system we have in my area, with an Alvarion precursor to WiMax, there are still many who have no high speed DSL, but who also can not receive the 2.4 Ghz signal since we are in the Driftless Area and have extreme changes in elevation with many shaded areas. For flat topography it would be much easier. Even then, at this frequency you need line of sight and that even means no leaves on trees, etc. And you would still have to provide connections to the internet to move the outside of the immediate geographic area since there isn't remotely enough bandwidth on our frequencies to handle a very large load, assuming you had some kind of point to point network, similar to what we once had in our Section. There are some in our community who were looking into a low powered FM broadcast station. Some of us may have some expertise along those lines, but there are huge poitical issues as you can imagine since some want only their vision broadcast. I have been approached by some who wanted to come up with a personal way they and their neighbors could communicate in an emergency. Other than using FRS or better yet, MURS, there is very little practical networking that they could do for much of a distance and that would be working during an emergency. Are the batteries OK? Leaking? What channel to operate when under duress? Computer related networks are out of the question at those times, especially if there is no power. I don't see 802.11 b/g going anywhere. As more short range networking is added in high population areas, the distances you can cover is shrinking to at most a few miles with high gain antennas and tight beams. The mainreason for having any amateur radio networks today are for emergency purposes as we can not compete with commercial internet. Not even slightly. The only way that can be done for the whole country is with HF if we really want to do this. And I don't think that there are enough who do. On the other hand, you could have local networks running on VHF and up if you have enough interested hams. Our experience is that this number is shrinking as key nodes are discontinued due to personal reasons or becoming SK. There is still some interest in APRS, even some packet clusters for DXers, but emergency use would seem to be the main compelling interest and even there it is a very small subset of hams. 73, Rick, KV9U Harv Nelson wrote: my view is that, while we were screwing around trying to make an HF packet messageing system a reality, the time and money would have been better spent developing community wide wireless systems operated by hams for the benefit of their communities and neighbors. using public community brad casting organizations as a model. if we'd done that, hams today would be delivering free internet services on city, county, and state wide basis(but probably not under the aegis of their ham tickets. but contributing technical expert ice. as our licenses mandate. but instead, we diddle around with HF packet and religious aguments about morse code. today the 802.11b/g equipment necessary to acomplish the task is available for pennies at those stores, whose name can not be spoken. and we're still flogging each other with No-code lectures. so what if its consumer electronics nobody on earth knows how to run it better than us. 73 Harv, N9AI[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: [digitalradio] Re: SignaLink USB
Good morning Chris The software I use with my new Signalink USB is Digipan 2.0 and MMTTY. You can eMail me direct at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Bob - Original Message - From: ku4a To: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2007 6:32 AM Subject: [digitalradio] Re: SignaLink USB Thanks, Robert. What software do you use with your SignaLink USB? KU4A
RE: [digitalradio] Movement toward open digital software?
I know this is a late reply...but Linux is a OS based on a Kernel. Linux is an umbrella term that refers to a computer operating system that uses the Linux kernel. When a Linux operating system also uses GNU software, it may be referred to as GNU/Linux. It is the additional GUIs, desktops and set of like system applications and system tools, that make one distribution different from the other. Lets compare it to gasoline and diesel cars...you have many varieties of both varieties. unfortunately in the common user computer OS, you have gasoline cars and the only model is Microsoft. Linux is the diesel with many manufacturers and models but still all diesel. Some like Volvo diesels, some BMW some other brands...but they are all diesel. Walt/K5YFW -Original Message- From: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of John Bradley Sent: Friday, January 12, 2007 2:13 PM To: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [digitalradio] Movement toward open digital software? I rest my case: walt talks about all these different varieties of linux, RedHat,Mandrake,SuSe, puppy linux and Debian, all in one sentence. I take it these OS are not compatible with each other. How the heck can u figure out what runws best with which? John VE5MU I went from IBM's PCDOS to Linux in Aug of 1991 and never run and MS at home. My XYL does have a XP Laptop but I don't use it. I've only run two Linux distros for my main home computer...RedHat and Mandrake. I have SuSe loaded on a second computer but may try Puppy Linux or Debian on it depending on which runs PSKMail the easiest. The only problems I have every had with Linux were caused by me stupidly messing with the OS. I run/manage over 150 XP clients at work and 6 big W2K servers. IMHO, Linux is much simpler to manage than MS. I have 16 years working with Linux and Unix and 8 years with MS. MS tight rein on companies who make drivers so their hardware can run on MS is probably the major problem with MS vs Linux. Walt/K5YFW -Original Message- From: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of kd4e Sent: Friday, January 12, 2007 6:35 AM To: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [digitalradio] Movement toward open digital software? IMHO, this KISS (Keep it simple,stupid) principle that microsoft adhered to would be something for linnux to examine, in order to survive beyond cult status my 2 cents John VE5MU This was true several years ago but has become increasingly un-true with every passing day. I am not happy about tweaking anything vs using it -- I have managed Apple, DEC, Linux, and MS systems and MS is no easier than the others. I use Linux every day -- it is more functional and less of a hassle than MS versions of windows. The only thing that stands between Linux and the common user today is friends-of-MS who refuse to make drivers (or driver info) available for Linux and programmers who are inadequately competent to make their apps cross-platform compatible. Apple runs on their own hardware and now on PC's. It does everything that the various versions of windows from MS can do. I guarantee that Puppy Linux 2.13 is light-years easier to install and use than any version of windows that MS has ever released. It is a fraction of the size, is free, and includes standard office- type apps. It is also more stable and less vulnerable to viruses. Odd that a handful of volunteers can write it vs the billion-dollar MS corporation -- way late releasing Vista and will have to release hundreds of patches in the first year to fix errors, same as WinXP. I just installed MS Win98SE on a PC so the children could use some learning games too poorly written to operate cross-platform. It took hours to find and install the necessary drivers and I had to use Linux to access the Internet because MS products are too vulnerable to viruses. A friend has WinXP and has endless problems with it. His laptop had to be returned for service because a virus got past the protective software and made a mess. From all of the reports of MS Vista it suffers the same code-bloat as WinXP, is costly and loaded with MS user-limitations on moving from PC to PC and with their latest attempts to protect their weak code from viruses, and it will still have stability and compatibility problems. MS won the desktop because Bill Gates was a great salesman, not because he was a great programmer or technologist. -- Thanks! 73, doc, KD4E ~~ Projects: http://ham-macguyver.bibleseven.com Personal: http://bibleseven.com Note: Both down temporarily due to server change. ~~ Announce your digital presence via our DX Cluster telnet://cluster.dynalias.org Our other groups: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dxlist/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/themixwgroup http://groups.yahoo.com/group/contesting
RE: [digitalradio] Re: HF Packet BBS?
Bill, As Rick said...this is kind of the way it is here in Texas durring a hurricane. We loose telephone and DSL then cable and broadband and then if you happen to be on fiber, one of the relays gets under water or the relay node blown away and not fiber. Noise is so high that 2M FM/packet doesn't work well and 70 cm FM packet will do Ok but if you have a digi on top of a tower...by-by antenna and/or coax. What you have left is noisy HF. So this is the time to try PSKMail. Its only (ONLY???) 200 WPM user throughput but 100% error free and even under the very worst conditions, 25-50 watts of PSK63 qith 16-bit CRC and ARQ will give you more throughput that PSK31 and possibly as much as MSFK-16. And its automatic E-Mail. The nice thing is you don't need anything more than your SSB transceiver and computer with soundcard. I might mention that PSKMail also supports PSK125 and may soon support DominoEx for NVIS paths. 73, Walt/K5YFW -Original Message- From: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Bill McLaughlin Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2007 10:28 PM To: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com Subject: [digitalradio] Re: HF Packet BBS? Same here Rick...ever more dire at our other home in far Northern WI..nearest gas ststion is 20+ miles away let alone an internet connection...we tend to get along by helping others, a novel concept in this day and age, but still investigating a viable connection to the rest of the world when all else fails..if only for their sake :) 73 Bill N9DSJ --- In digitalradio@yahoogroups.com, KV9U [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: In our area, if we lose power and the phone system, we likely will lose internet connectivity. Our EC looked into the situation in our rural area and found that if internet is down, it will be down our a huge area since we really have one main ISP. In some areas, where you have separate companies with their own fiber, you might be able to access another ISP if you have a bridge such as Winlink 2000. But I would not build my emergency communications system based on that and would want to focus on what amateur radio has to offer and that is RF. 73, Rick, KV9U Bill McLaughlin wrote: Snipping abit... That seems to be the key to me...try Echolink, ax25 wormholes or newer Winlink versions when there are no phone lines or T1 lines due to whateverTechnology advances are great, when they work; but we need/desire an alternative. Bill N9DSJ --- In digitalradio@yahoogroups.com, KV9U mrfarm@ wrote: Radio by itself has a benefit. Primarily an emergency benefit, if the system is set up to work under those conditions. Announce your digital presence via our DX Cluster telnet://cluster.dynalias.org Our other groups: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dxlist/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/themixwgroup http://groups.yahoo.com/group/contesting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wnyar http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Omnibus97 Yahoo! Groups Links
RE: [digitalradio] Comparsion Between CW and Digital Modes
Well certainly PSK31 has a lot going for it. Of course the small bandpass which can give a better SNR if you can narrow down you receive bandpass. Then the VariCode also improves throughput. I think that overall...15-25 watts of PSK31 is like 100-300 watts of CW. Your antenna makes a lot of difference depending on the band and paths you want to work. If you are interested in out to 2000 km, then 40 or 80M and a NVIS antenna (dipole with the feed point at 17% wavelength) gives mostly high angle radiation and a good 50 ohm match for your coax/transmitter. If you want a little more distance...perhaps some DX, then 30 or 20M and above is what you want and then lower angles of radiation. A couple for faster ad perhaps more robust DX modes would be MFSK-16 or MT63-1K. Walt/K5YFW -Original Message- From: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of ve3fwf Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 10:02 PM To: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [digitalradio] Comparsion Between CW and Digital Modes My view is that PSK31 is the most efficient from a spectrum usage and power usage point of view. Other modes have better error correction facilities but occupy more bandwidth. Olivia does a very good job copying signals that you can barely hear or see on the waterfall. For most people, 20 to 25 watts will work the world if the band is open. 5 watts is more of a challenge with the sunspot cycle being at the bottom but lots of people have many QSOs running 5 watts and a reasonable antenna. A dipole, 35 ft up, clear from adjacent metal objects should work well. Higher is better but 35 ft is fine. Be sure to try 30 meters; that band has little QRM and has had some decent openings lately. Look around 10141 kHz. Use Andy's (K3UK) digital DX cluster to help you find openings. Good luck and have fun. 73, Bernie - Original Message - From: jeffnjr484 To: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 7:54 PM Subject: [digitalradio] Comparsion Between CW and Digital Modes Im wondering does the digital modes transmit about the same as CW for distance coverage on a 5 watt signal with dipole up 35 ft ? If so which soundcard mode would be about the same in signal strength.? I know CW gets through the best throughout years past when on a noisy channel or for long dx contacts but is the digital modes about the same ? jeff Kd4qit
Re: [digitalradio] Re: HF Packet BBS?
Bill, What you have left is noisy HF. So this is the time to try PSKMail. Its only (ONLY???) 200 WPM user throughput but 100% error free and even under the very worst conditions, 25-50 WPM? What is WPM? Bytes per second is a fixed measure. Assuming 5 bytes plus a space that's 6 bytes per word. 200 wpm is 1200 bytes per minute? Or 1200/60 120/6 or 20 bytes per second. About 200 bits per second. That's not bad for HF but it looks like the PC-ALE package is much faster. Don't forget that since this is based on standard TCP/IP technologies, it's easy to connect PSKmail to JNOS to Airmail to the rest of the world.. They're all building blocks. Hmmm. Does the PC-ALE messaging talk TCP/IP standards? I wonder if it would be possible to use PC-ALE to automatically send a compressed bundle of UUCP Email... Bill
[digitalradio] Re: SignaLink USB
While we're on the topic of the SignaLink USB, has anybody tested it out yet under Linux? I know the page on the SignaLink site doesn't list Linux as being supported, but if the USB sound interface in the unit is standard enough, it might well work. -- Allan KG6KDJ
Re: [digitalradio] Re: SignaLink USB
Has anyone found out what the soundcard chip is? I'll have one in a few weeks and am interested in the performance. Simon Brown, HB9DRV (GD4ELI March 2nd - 12th 2006) - Original Message - From: adhollander61 [EMAIL PROTECTED] While we're on the topic of the SignaLink USB, has anybody tested it out yet under Linux? I know the page on the SignaLink site doesn't list Linux as being supported, but if the USB sound interface in the unit is standard enough, it might well work.
[digitalradio] More about Linux - Do Amateur Radio Operators Need to Catch Up?
Real-time Linux powers US Air Force F-16 simulators. http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/linux/2007/0115linux1.html Walt/K5YFW
[digitalradio] Re: HF Packet BBS?
Hi Walt, Thanks for your concise response. We do not even have (up north) DSL or cable...just dialup via the phonelines...all it takes is one iced- over phone line and connectivity to the internet is lost so any comm means that relies on the internet is worthless in an emergency of any sort. Thanks for the prompt to look into Pskmail...guess I need to dust off the Unix box (use it all the time at work so try to avoid it at home). Thanks again, 73 Bill N9DSJ --- In digitalradio@yahoogroups.com, DuBose Walt Civ AETC CONS/LGCA [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Bill, As Rick said...this is kind of the way it is here in Texas durring a hurricane. We loose telephone and DSL then cable and broadband and then if you happen to be on fiber, one of the relays gets under water or the relay node blown away and not fiber. Noise is so high that 2M FM/packet doesn't work well and 70 cm FM packet will do Ok but if you have a digi on top of a tower...by-by antenna and/or coax. What you have left is noisy HF. So this is the time to try PSKMail. Its only (ONLY???) 200 WPM user throughput but 100% error free and even under the very worst conditions, 25-50 watts of PSK63 qith 16-bit CRC and ARQ will give you more throughput that PSK31 and possibly as much as MSFK-16. And its automatic E-Mail. The nice thing is you don't need anything more than your SSB transceiver and computer with soundcard. I might mention that PSKMail also supports PSK125 and may soon support DominoEx for NVIS paths. 73, Walt/K5YFW
RE: [digitalradio] Movement toward open digital software?
And the internet is a series of connected tubes... 73, Dave, AA6YQ -Original Message- From: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of DuBose Walt Civ AETC CONS/LGCA Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2007 12:00 PM To: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com Subject: RE: [digitalradio] Movement toward open digital software? I know this is a late reply...but Linux is a OS based on a Kernel. Linux is an umbrella term that refers to a computer operating system that uses the Linux kernel. When a Linux operating system also uses GNU software, it may be referred to as GNU/Linux. It is the additional GUIs, desktops and set of like system applications and system tools, that make one distribution different from the other. Lets compare it to gasoline and diesel cars...you have many varieties of both varieties. unfortunately in the common user computer OS, you have gasoline cars and the only model is Microsoft. Linux is the diesel with many manufacturers and models but still all diesel. Some like Volvo diesels, some BMW some other brands...but they are all diesel. Walt/K5YFW -Original Message- From: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of John Bradley Sent: Friday, January 12, 2007 2:13 PM To: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [digitalradio] Movement toward open digital software? I rest my case: walt talks about all these different varieties of linux, RedHat,Mandrake,SuSe, puppy linux and Debian, all in one sentence. I take it these OS are not compatible with each other. How the heck can u figure out what runws best with which? John VE5MU I went from IBM's PCDOS to Linux in Aug of 1991 and never run and MS at home. My XYL does have a XP Laptop but I don't use it. I've only run two Linux distros for my main home computer...RedHat and Mandrake. I have SuSe loaded on a second computer but may try Puppy Linux or Debian on it depending on which runs PSKMail the easiest. The only problems I have every had with Linux were caused by me stupidly messing with the OS. I run/manage over 150 XP clients at work and 6 big W2K servers. IMHO, Linux is much simpler to manage than MS. I have 16 years working with Linux and Unix and 8 years with MS. MS tight rein on companies who make drivers so their hardware can run on MS is probably the major problem with MS vs Linux. Walt/K5YFW -Original Message- From: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of kd4e Sent: Friday, January 12, 2007 6:35 AM To: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [digitalradio] Movement toward open digital software? IMHO, this KISS (Keep it simple,stupid) principle that microsoft adhered to would be something for linnux to examine, in order to survive beyond cult status my 2 cents John VE5MU This was true several years ago but has become increasingly un-true with every passing day. I am not happy about tweaking anything vs using it -- I have managed Apple, DEC, Linux, and MS systems and MS is no easier than the others. I use Linux every day -- it is more functional and less of a hassle than MS versions of windows. The only thing that stands between Linux and the common user today is friends-of-MS who refuse to make drivers (or driver info) available for Linux and programmers who are inadequately competent to make their apps cross-platform compatible. Apple runs on their own hardware and now on PC's. It does everything that the various versions of windows from MS can do. I guarantee that Puppy Linux 2.13 is light-years easier to install and use than any version of windows that MS has ever released. It is a fraction of the size, is free, and includes standard office- type apps. It is also more stable and less vulnerable to viruses. Odd that a handful of volunteers can write it vs the billion-dollar MS corporation -- way late releasing Vista and will have to release hundreds of patches in the first year to fix errors, same as WinXP. I just installed MS Win98SE on a PC so the children could use some learning games too poorly written to operate cross-platform. It took hours to find and install the necessary drivers and I had to use Linux to access the Internet because MS products are too vulnerable to viruses. A friend has WinXP and has endless problems with it. His laptop had to be returned for service because a virus got past the protective software and made a mess. From all of the reports of MS Vista it suffers the same code-bloat as WinXP, is costly and loaded with MS user-limitations on moving from PC to PC and with their latest attempts to protect their weak code from viruses, and it will still have stability and compatibility problems. MS won the desktop because Bill Gates was a great salesman, not because he was a great programmer or technologist. -- Thanks! 73, doc, KD4E ~~ Projects: http://ham-macguyver.bibleseven.com Personal: http://bibleseven.com Note: Both down
Re: [digitalradio] video noise
changing resolution from 1280 to 800x600 dropped noise from S5 to S1. Switching windows to outlook express upped it to S1.4. ke4mz KE4MZ, Brent Dothan, AL [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.wb4zpi.org No trees were destroyed in the sending of this contaminant-free message. However, we do concede a significant number of electrons may have been inconvenienced. - Original Message - From: Danny Douglas To: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2007 6:59 PM Subject: Re: [digitalradio] video noise G dont send them to the library. As my wife (the librarian) would say. He has gotta be kidding! Few libraries even know there is such a thing as ham radio, let alone have book on it. Unless of course, someone like you or me has bought an extra, and dontated one to them. She is not gonna go out and spend 30 or 40 bucks for a book that maybe one guy in the county would look at (me). But yes - CRTs have been the bane of communications since they were invented. Very early on, I operated a BIG )meaning room full of tubes) computer, which had an input of a tty machine. H - the outputs were tty machines too. Then we finally got a crt, and took days to figure out how to make it quit intefering with the hundred or so R390 receivers setting next door.Radio Shack ( usless tho they have become) did have some small split ring type rf thingies you could wrap the ac and signal cords around to help. Think they have some square ones now, but the prices, like the few items they have left in their stores, are crazy.Hey - I needed a 1N270 from them last week (still do) and they have esentially gone out of the parts business. Danny Douglas N7DC ex WN5QMX ET2US WA5UKR ET3USA SV0WPP VS6DD N7DC/YV5 G5CTB all DX 2-6 years each . QSL LOTW-buro- direct As courtesy I upload to eQSL but if you use that - also pls upload to LOTW or hard card. moderator [EMAIL PROTECTED] moderator http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DXandTalk - Original Message - From: ve3fwf To: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2007 7:37 PM Subject: Re: [digitalradio] video noise Once could write a book on this topic. When you refer to noise, are you using a CRT or solid state monitor? CRTs can generate a lot of noise and are typically not well shielded. The easy solution for this problem is to ditch the CRT and pick up a LCD monitor. As I mentioned in a previous post regarding this topic, many computers have very poor shielding and generate a lot of RF trash. Turn off each component until the noise goes away. Much of the leakage can occur from the cables and sometimes just re-routing the cabling helps. Also, you might try grounding the computer to your station ground. See the ARRL Radio Handbook for more information on this topic. Your local library should have a copy if you do not own this valuable reference. Regards, Bernie - Original Message - From: bgrly To: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 11:27 PM Subject: [digitalradio] video noise Can someone point me to a reference for making a noisy computer quiet? Especially the video card ! ke4mz KE4MZ, Brent Dothan, AL [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.wb4zpi.org No trees were destroyed in the sending of this contaminant-free message. However, we do concede a significant number of electrons may have been inconvenienced. No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.432 / Virus Database: 268.16.13/632 - Release Date: 1/16/2007 4:36 PM
Re: [digitalradio] Movement toward open digital software?
Dave, I don't know about your day, but by the time I got to college it had all been converted to transistors. 111, Leigh/WA5ZNU On Thu, 18 Jan 2007 5:25 pm, Dave AA6YQ wrote: And the internet is a series of connected tubes... On Thu, 18 Jan 2007 5:25 pm, Dave AA6YQ wrote: And the internet is a series of connected tubes... 73, Dave, AA6YQ
