Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES)®
Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES)®
DeKalb County, GA
Digital Formats Information Page
NOW CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET FOR WORLDWIDE MESSAGE ACCESS! (1/7/2011)
We have installed a RMS Packet station located at the top of the DeKalb Fire/Rescue Headquarters building in Tucker, GA. This station operates on 145.59 MHz with the callsign KJ4QFY-10 which is the club callsign for DeKalb ARES. You may use the AIRMAIL program to access this station. Contact John Aaron (KI4ESV) for any assistance you may require in configuring the software or hardware on your system.
Steve Garrison (N4SEG) has installed a high gain 2 meter antenna and rotator at his QTH in Stone Mountain. This is used with the Packet BBS running OutPost software. He is operating on 145.05 MHz and is available to test with your station. Drop him a line to coordinate time and direction.
Elliott Fried, KJ4CQJ, has recently installed and demonstrated his copy of OUTPOST packet messaging software.
From our August 22, 2009 meeting - FLDigi, Puppy Linux and other useful downloads may be found at http://www.w1hkj.com/Downloads.html
Please download and experiment with these great EMCOMM programs. FLDigi in the MT-63 mode has the capability to send virtually error free data under noisy or weak signal conditions. Steve Garrison, N4SEG and I conducted a test on the morning of August 22, passing error free data at the noise level on 2 Meters – a level that would not have allowed FM voice communication. FLDigi modes can be utilized for HF or VHF communications, SSB or FM . If anyone has questions about setup and usage, please e-mail me njaaron@comcast.net , or KI4ESV@arrl.net
If you'd like to test FLDigi on the air, let me know and we can set up a time and frequency. For 2 Meter FM I'd suggest 145.050 Simplex, or 145.450 if you'd like to use a repeater. For 20 Meter operation, 14.109.50, USB. We'll be using MT-63, as its fast and reliable. For 2 Meter operation, please use 2000Hz mode, for HF bands, 500Hz. There is a lot FLDigi will do that we've not touched on yet – it will send graphic files, spreadsheets, etc. It also will send and receive many other digital modes, plus has a rig control function.
As everyone is aware, we have an excellent Outpost PBBS that we can use for effective communications. There may be scenarios where you'd copy and paste an FLDigi message into Outpost for sending, or the reverse, dependent on EMCOMM needs.
As Barry so clearly states – we are communicators. One of our jobs is to be a resource and send / receive mission essential traffic.
DeKalb ARES is fine organization that has a great deal to offer our community. In the future, we'll be evaluating other digital modes, and how they can most effectively be used in an EMCOMM situation.
Thanks,
John Aaron
KI4ESV, AEC Digital Comms
In order to get more digital mode activity on the air (besides Winlink 2000 check-ins that are taken during the Sunday evening nets) We have chosen to start with the OUTPOST 2 meter packet program. We would like everyone to download the Outpost 2 meter packet program. Please install it and test out the IPSERIAL program with your TNC or with AGW Packet Engine program (if you are using a soundcard TNC-please contact KI4ESV-John Aaron for more info on setting up AGW Packet Engine) and you also may contact myself at ke4qcm@arrl.net for further assistance to get OUTPOST up and running.
If anyone is interested in HF-PSK31 to start with, I am also monitoring 3.580 MHz during the evenings.
John has suggested the following additional software to download and experiment with (multimode digital programs):
Interfaces examples:
More info on digital modes here: http://gaares.org/digital_links.htm
73's de KE4QCM
Tom Fuller
AEC Dekalb Co. ARES-Net Ops
If anyone has more info/links for this page please contact me at ke4qcm@arrl.net. Thanks.
Rev. Thur. 4/2/09 0:34 UTC
Check the DeKalb ARES Yahoo Group for updates.