[Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] Alexandria ARES Digital HF Net

[Joe K]

Hello all,

Just a reminder to check in to this weekends Alexandria Radio Clubs ARES HF Digital net. In spirit of the JS8Call QSO Party occurring simultaneously, we will be taking check-ins on JS8Call by default on 40m (the 40m js8calling frequency is 07.078mhz), if you have another digital mode you wanted to try, I will take special requests for modes (and bands if needed). The net will run from 1900 Saturday to 1900 Sunday.

The goal of this net is to ensure you have a working capability and are familiar with how to use a resilient, asynchronous/unattended HF communications mode. JS8Call is based off the very popular WSJT-X (FT8 specifically), and allows asynchronous keyboard to keyboard communications very similar to PSK and other FLDigi Modes. What JS8Call offers over FLDigi Modes is a very robust signal due to it's modulation and bandwidth, and obviously it offers true communications compared to FT8.

I will be using my callsign for this net (KD2HZG) and you can check in with a simple "Inbox Message" and you should receive an "Ack" back from my station as confirmation. Please be aware that JS8Call can only ack one station at a time. So two of you send messages at once, only one station may be ack'd. I am using a horizontally polarized EFHW antenna, which typically does well on NVIS. Below is an example of what a check in should look like.

URCALL: KD2HZG MSG CHECKING IN TO ARES HF NET, POWER OK, WATER OK, NO NEEDS, NO INJURIES
KD2HZG: ACK

If you have any questions or need help getting setup, don't hesitate to reach out. Feel free to share this message with anyone who may be interested.

KD2HZG
Alexandria ARES EC