Subj : The Triple Play (8) To : All From : Daryl Stout Date : Sat Aug 26 2017 12:04 am On the 7th day of Hamming, my radio gave to me: 7 Nights Of Net Logs, 6 Meter Clean Sweep, 5 Band DXCC. Four sets of antennas, three different radios, two license upgrades, and a license, callsign from the FCC. There are literally nets on every night of the week, on various bands and modes...whether HF, VHF, UHF, D-Star, or VoIP (Echolink, CQ100, HamSphere, etc.); and can be phone or digital. The nets can be for formal written traffic, traders nets (where ham radio operators can list ham radio equipment that they want to buy, sell, or trade)...on a special topic (such as trains, weather, cooking, ham radio technology, or even Bible Study)...or just a general ragchew or roundtable net...the format of each is determined by Net Control. With very few exceptions, all nets are DIRECTED, and all stations will contact Net Control before attempting to contact another station on the net. Plus, all stations checking in are required to follow the instructions of Net Control, as well as the protocol and format of the net. Stations failing to do risk being muted or blocked from the net. As a side note, on D-Star, the callsign of the transmitting station is automatically sent when they key up...whether to speak, or for what's known as a "quick key checkin to a net"...done either into a D-Star repeater, or a D-Star Reflector, if these are connected into an internet gateway. So, there basically is "no way to hide ones identity" on D-Star...whether one is transmitting via a DVDongle, using a DVAP with their radio, or on a D-Star repeater via their rig. It's affectionately known as "Echolink On Steroids", and I personally use it more than Echolink for nets during the week. Several nets also meet on D-Rats during the net, on various Ratflectors, where they can chat, exchange files and messages in real time, and find other hams with the Maps Feature. There are several files in my D-Rats Shared Folder on getting started with D-Rats, mostly in PDF format...and other files are in the D-Star Users Yahoo Group. On the 8th day of Hamming, my radio gave to me: 8 the Hamfest Start Time, 7 Nights Of Net Logs, 6 Meter Clean Sweep, 5 Band DXCC. Four sets of antennas, three different radios, two license upgrades, and a license, callsign from the FCC. Most hamfests are just half day events for a few hours...usually on a Saturday...although some can be as much as 3 days, such as the Dayton Hamvention (tm), held in mid-May each year in Ohio. Venues of where the activities are held, the availability of license exam sessions, the number of forums, dealers, and flea market vendors, etc.; plus costs for transportation, lodging and meals in the area, event admission, prize tickets, prizes offered, and tables for vendors, among other things, vary by event. In most cases, the start time for these events is 8am local time. And, for many, that means an "early wake up call"...so, they can make the long drive, to get there when the hamfest opens, to either get good deals at the flea market, or from dealers; or taking part in a forum, a license exam session, and more. Some 2 day events may start on a Friday afternoon, and then continue for much of the day on Saturday. With these hamfests, you must be a licensed amateur radio operator to win the radio prizes. Everyone must be present to win any of the prizes awarded...the exception is the grand prize, awarded at the end of the hamfest...when the crowd then usually "parts like the Red Sea" (hi hi). On the 9th day of Hamming, my radio gave to me: 9 modes on digital, 8 the Hamfest Start Time, 7 Nights Of Net Logs, 6 Meter Clean Sweep, 5 Band DXCC. Four sets of antennas, three different radios, two license upgrades, and a license, callsign from the FCC. Operating digital is the beauty of ham radio, as you can go farther on that mode than with voice, although many hams refer to voice as "phone". Nine such modes are CW (also known as Morse Code), Packet, APRS, radioteletype (also known as RTTY or "ritty"...there are at least 2 big RTTY contests each year), PSK31, JT65, Amateur Television, MT63, and Amtor (Amateur Teleprinting Over Radio). There are many more modes in the hobby...digital and otherwise...but for now, this will do. And, the digital modes can be used on the "digital portions" of nearly all amateur radio bands available to your license class...digital modes are not just for HF. As a side note, when I was still able to have an HF setup and indoor antennas at my residence; one day, on 20 meters, using an indoor antenna, with just 15 watts of power, inside my apartment with the windows closed, I worked a station in Utah, 1000 miles away, on JT-65!! Plus, I was seeing other stations on the other side of the world!! And, one time, I saw a demo of PSK31, where you had around 10 QSO's in a narrow bandwidth space. Various software programs, freeware and shareware, are available, for these digital modes. For those who don't want to "talk" on ham radio, digital is the mode for you!! Depending on the mode of operation, and the software used...the computer will do the logging, and identify your station for you. You just type in what you want to say. Awhile back, I heard of 2 amateur radio operators in the Hawaiian Islands, who could not get a decent voice QSO. So, they went up into the digital portion of the 70 centimeter band, fired up their computers, software, and went to PSK31 mode. They reportedly "never had such a good QSO". While PSK31 is not "error free", as packet radio is, you can still get a good idea as to the conversation, with what is being typed. --- þ Synchronet þ The Thunderbolt BBS - wx1der.dyndns.org .