[Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] Free

[Dennis W5DAG]

It works well with the USB dongles from https://www.rtl-sdr.com/.


> On Jul 11, 2023, at 06:21, Kenneth R. van Wyk <ken at vanwyk.org> wrote:
> 
> Thanks to Jason for putting this together — our first digital “net” night happened last night.
> 
> I say “net” because it’s far from a traditional amateur radio net. It’s more of an interactive lab session where we spotlight a digital radio tool and then experiment with it among ourselves. It’s a great way to learn a new tool or get help in setting something up.
> 
> Last night, we experimented with FreeDV, a free tool for doing digital voice over HF radio. (Sure, SSB already does that, but this is cooler. :-)
> 
> We used the club’s Discord server to meet up on a voice channel and then take turns trying things out. Discord allowed us to talk to one another. It’s full duplex and the audio was crystal clear, so it was very much like natural conversation in that regard.
> 
> We can also share screens using Discord, so we took turns sharing our screens, stepping through FreeDV setup, and then transmitting our respective voice signals. Real transmissions, mind you, not just dummy loads or some such.
> 
> We did this on the 10 meter band to encourage every licensed operator in the club to participate. All you need is a Technician license and the right radio equipment to make it happen.
> 
> I definitely have a lot more learning to do with FreeDV, but it looks like a fun tool.
> 
> Next week, on July 17 at 8 PM EDT, we’ll be doing another digital net. Next up in the tool queue is VarAC.
> 
> VarAC is an interactive comms tool for HF as well, but it doesn’t do voice. It does chat and data. You can have text QSOs similar to PSK31. You can send and receive short emails (called “VMAIL” in VarAC). You can send beacons to everyone on the same band and frequency. You can send arbitrary files — though I’d caution you to not get overly ambitious in file size, as we’re still doing data over HF, after all.
> 
> One feature I really like about VarAC is there are designated calling frequencies on several bands. Once you connect a QSO, you can switch to another “slot” where you can carry out your QSO without hogging the call frequency for others. This enables a lot of people to be using it simultaneously.
> 
> You can also switch between 500 and 2300 hz slots if you want to send larger amounts of data.
> 
> It’s a pretty neat tool to keep around and stay practiced on.
> 
> Hope you’ll join us on the 17th for a digital “net” night. 8 PM on the Discord server. Just scroll down to the voice channels and click on the Digital Net Night channel to join in. All are welcome.
> 
> I’ll start with a quick overview and step-through of VarAC itself and how to configure it. From there, we’ll do a few QSOs among the group. We’ll do some 1-on-1 and some group QSOs if all goes well. We will again use the 10 meter band, although switching bands and “slots” is quick and trivial in VarAC.
> 
> 73 de K0RvW
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Ken van Wyk
> Armata Scientia
> 
> 
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