[CALV-AUXCOMM] Calvert AUXCOMM - No Meeting in December - Practice Digital Modes Instead

[Shawn Donley]

All,
 
A reminder ... we're going to skip our in-person meeting this month.  Instead, the plan for this Wednesday, Dec 20,  is to practice some digital modes including MT63 and Winlink peer-to-peer.  Our ARES friends in St Mary's county are planning on participating too. 
 
Here's the plan.
 
1.  Net check-in at 7:30PM using the CARA 146.985/444.950 linked repeater.  Will use that repeater system for coordination and test.
 
2.  All stations to write down all check-in callsigns.
 
3.  Starting with net control and going down the list, each station will announce what station he will send a short MT63 message to.  No need to use flmsg to pre-compose a message unless you want to....just type the message in using your your keyboard and then go into transmit mode (either click on T/R or right click and select Transmit).    Remember to click back to receive once the message is sent (waterfall goes back to steady tones).  Note:  MT63 is included in the FLDIGI software package available at http://www.w1hkj.com/
 
             - We can send the MT63 message through the CARA voice repeater system or on 10M USB depending on stations capability.
             - If using the voice repeater system, we will use mode MT63-2000L
             - If using 10M, we can use mode MT63-1000L.  Suggested frequency 28.150 USB
 
4.  After a successful (or unsuccessful) message is sent, the next station in the check-in list will take their turn
             - Announce who they are sending the message to, and then send the message.
              -Note:  One of the strengths of MT63 is that ALL stations should be able to copy the message if the signal strength is fair to good.
 
5.  If time allows, we will repeat the process using Winlink Packet P2P messaging.  If a direct Packet P2P isn't feasible due to distance, we can use either (or both) our K3CAL-1 packet digipeater or KB2SKP-12 (as a digipeater), both on 145.070 MHz. 
 
Before Wednesday, suggest seeing if you can reach either digi by running straight AX-25 packet using a terminal program of your choice.  Just try connecting to yourself.  Example connect string:   c n3ae v k3cal-1         If a successful connection is made, anything you type will be sent back to you after you hit the Enter/Return key on your keyboard.  Also a good idea to make sure your station is ready to work MT63 on 2M or 70cm FM, and also on 10M USB if possible.
 
Some useful sites for FLDIGI and MT63 :
 
http://www.w1hkj.com/FldigiHelp/mt63_page.html
 
http://www.w1hkj.com/modes/mt63.htm
 
The video at the YouTube link below has more than you probably want to know about the MT63 modem, including the flmsg software.  But at 16 minutes in there's some good info on configuration.  And at 23minutes 45 seconds in there's examples of sending keyboard to keyboard.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYLXlXAijKo 
 
 
Shawn  N3AE
Calvert EC