[CALV-AUXCOMM] May 22nd Calvert AUXCOMM Exercise

[Shawn Donley]

All,

As we decided at the March Zoom meeting, we will be planning on a field event in May for trying out some other digital modes.  Based on inputs, I'd like to set a date of Saturday May 22 for the event.  Times still TBD.

We will work on a deployment plan and potential locations in April.  In the event of inclement weather, we can still try out the digital modes from our home QTH. 

Between now and May 22nd, everyone is encouraged to get their portable stations and computers configured so we can beta test everything from our home QTH.

Objective: 
Originate and forward messages using the MT63 protocol on 10M, 6M and 2M, both P2P and via voice repeaters.  Yes, MT63 being a modem that uses multiple tone frequencies and all the data packaging in software, you can use an FM repeater (W3PQS 6M and K3CAL 2M) voice repeaters to extend range.

Modes/Bands:
10 meters  MT63-1000L using upper sideband ( Part 97 states that data bandwidth on 10M must be < 1KHz)
6 meters   MT63-2000L using upper sideband or FM
2 meters   MT63-2000L using FM

Required Hardware:

Whatever radios you may have that support some or all of the bands and modes above.  Don't expect everyone to be able to run all bands and both SSB and FM.  If you have a sound card interface like a SignaLink or even a box (like the MFJ-1275) that ties your radio speaker/microphone to the computer speaker/microphone that's great.  But you should be able to make this work by just holding your microphone up to the computer speaker and your radio's speaker up to the computer microphone.


Required Software:
If you have not already installed FLDIGI, follow the link below to get the FLDIGI software. 

http://www.w1hkj.com/

While not absolutely required for the May event, recommend downloading and installing flmsg and flrig as well, along with their help files (pdf).  For fldigi itself, irt looks like the help file is on-line only.  No pdf for the current version.  There are other additions like flwrap and flamp but we'll get to them later if May 22 works out well.

The latest versions:

fldigi    v4.1.18
flmsg   v4.0.17
flrig      v1.3.54


Coordination:
We'll use the K3CAL 2M repeater for exercise coordination.


Some beneficial links to set up FLDIGI and the MT63 mode:

Step by step setup with YouTube links: http://www.wb2lua.com/papers/NBEMS.pdf

>From ARRL/W3YJ:  http://www.arrl.org/files/file/On%20the%20Air/Tutorials/Introduction_to_NBEMS_ARRL.pdf

A bit older with some broken links  http://www.w3hzu.com/content/emcomm/wa3wsj_nbems.pdf


Questions: 

Send them to me but we're all learning this together. I have not used MT63 myself yet but looking forward to trying it out!

Shawn - N3AE
Calvert EC