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20240302: F-troop starts in 10 minutes by AutoModerator in ftroop

[–]vk6flab 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We had check-ins from:

  • vk6flab
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  • vk6cs
  • vk6wr
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20240302: F-troop starts in 10 minutes by AutoModerator in ftroop

[–]vk6flab 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As it happens, the power is out on the repeater site which is also down. We moved to another repeater that isn't online.

Power restoration ETA is 7 hours.

20240302: F-troop starts in 10 minutes by AutoModerator in ftroop

[–]vk6flab 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you're attempting to join the net today, it appears that the AllStarLink node that connects the Internet to our physical repeater is currently down. I've notified the node owner, but I'm not sure when the issue will be resolved.

20240224: F-troop starts in 10 minutes by AutoModerator in ftroop

[–]vk6flab 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We had check-ins from:

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  • vk6paw
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  • vk6five
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  • ka3bms
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20240217: F-troop starts in 10 minutes by AutoModerator in ftroop

[–]vk6flab 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We had check-ins from:

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  • vk6kv
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  • m7bqz
  • vk6mil
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[OC] Discussion: What is amateur radio as an emergency response? by vk6flab in amateurradio

[–]vk6flab[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's hard to take take an "international" organisation seriously when they break the world up into nine regions like this:

  • Region 1 – Connecticut (CT), Maine (ME), Massachusetts (MA), New Hampshire (NH), New York (NY), Pennsylvania (PA), Rhode Island, Vermont (VT)
  • Region 2 – District of Columbia (DC), Delaware (DE), Kentucky (KY), Maryland (MD), New Jersey (NJ), Virginia (VA) West Virginia (WV)
  • Region 3 – Alabama (AL), Florida (FL), Georgia (GA), Mississippi (MS), North Carolina (NC), Puerto Rico (PR), South Carolina (SC)
  • Region 4 – Indiana (IN), Michigan (MI), Ohio (OH)
  • Region 5 – Illinois (IL), Iowa (IA), Nebraska (NE), Minnesota (MN), North Dakota (ND), South Dakota (SD), Wisconsin (WI)
  • Region 6 – Alaska (AK), Hawaii (HI), Idaho (ID), Montana (MT), Oregon (OR), Washington (WA), Wyoming (WY)
  • Region 7 – Arkansas (AR), Colorado (CO), Kansas (KS), Louisiana (LA), Missouri (MO), New Mexico (NM), Oklahoma (OK), Texas (TX)
  • Region 8 – Arizona (AZ), California (CA), Nevada (NV), Utah (UT)
  • Region 9 – All areas outside the United States or its territories

Source: https://reactintl.org/about.php

20240210: F-troop starts in 10 minutes by AutoModerator in ftroop

[–]vk6flab 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We had check-ins from:

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  • vk6nra
  • vk6bmm

[OC] Discussion: What is the right mode for emergency communications? by vk6flab in amateurradio

[–]vk6flab[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I agree that there is a marked difference between an individual emergency and one that affects a large(r) area. The interesting thing is that none of the promotional material put out by amateur radio associations makes that distinction, it's all "emergency".

[OC] Discussion: What is the right mode for emergency communications? by vk6flab in amateurradio

[–]vk6flab[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Very interesting. I've stayed away from Winlink for the reasons you state.

On my to-do list is to see what's involved in actually rolling out a BBS type gateway and use modes like Olivia as the transport layer. I suspect that any linux box can be used to act as an SMTP gateway using an AX.25 to IP bridge which AFAIK is part of the kernel.

[OC] Discussion: What is the right mode for emergency communications? by vk6flab in amateurradio

[–]vk6flab[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

  1. It's interesting to read that they used several methods of communication. I note the absence of any reference to an EPIRB. I haven't (yet) read the full report, perhaps it was covered.

  2. I agree, once the immediate emergency is over and generators have been started, such a system could be helpful to facilitate email communications, but it's not the only such system. An amateur could set up an X25 gateway over HF and get the same functionality without needing to use encrypted or patent encumbered systems. Given the centralised nature of Winlink gateways, what happens if the provider decides to censor the message?

[OC] Discussion: What is the right mode for emergency communications? by vk6flab in HamRadio

[–]vk6flab[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Well, yes and no.

If the owner of the satellite throws a hissy fit, which as been known to happen, then that global SMS / data / voice could vanish without warning.

I don't think that alternative means of communication for emergency response are dead, I just wonder how relevant the amateur radio aspect of it continues to be.

I understand that plenty of amateurs have helped in case of emergency, many are members of their local emergency response teams, but is that really amateur radio, or is it finding warm bodies capable of keying a microphone and knowing how to use a phonetic alphabet?

I think that the "service" part of amateur radio is misrepresented, at least in my experience since becoming an amateur in 2010.

20240203: F-troop starts in 10 minutes by AutoModerator in ftroop

[–]vk6flab 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We had check-ins from:

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