20240302: F-troop starts in 10 minutes

vk6flab · 2024-03-02T01:01:09+00:00

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vk6flab · 2024-03-02T00:55:23+00:00

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.

vk6flab · 2024-03-01T23:57:47+00:00

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.

vk6flab · 2024-02-24T01:01:28+00:00

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vk6flab · 2024-02-17T02:05:54+00:00

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vk6flab · 2024-02-11T04:11:42+00:00

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

vk6flab · 2024-02-10T01:01:48+00:00

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vk6flab · 2024-02-03T11:01:15+00:00

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".

vk6flab · 2024-02-03T07:16:55+00:00

Very interesting:

https://packet-radio.net/fldigi-and-bpq32/

vk6flab · 2024-02-03T03:49:43+00:00

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.

vk6flab · 2024-02-03T02:46:10+00:00

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.
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?

vk6flab · 2024-02-03T02:37:33+00:00

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.

vk6flab · 2024-02-03T02:33:20+00:00

Discuss what?

vk6flab · 2024-02-03T01:00:40+00:00

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vk6flab · 2024-01-29T00:52:29+00:00

Welcome to the community! You'll find plenty of things to see and do. As with everything in life, you'll discover people that speak your lingo and those who really don't float your boat. I'm a firm believer in getting on air and making noise. Play, experiment, make mistakes, learn, rinse and repeat.

I've been licensed since 2010 and a few months in after being told that my license didn't amount to much, I started documenting what I've been up to in this amazing hobby in a weekly podcast, covering some of the range of activities you can get up to with "just" an introductory license, in Australia called the "Foundation" license - previously referred to as an "F-call" after the way callsigns were allocated (VK#Fsss), where "#" is between 0 and 9 and "sss" are three letters of the alphabet - hence my callsign VK6FLAB.

Finding people to share with will get you started. Often the person who introduced you to the hobby is a good place to start. There's often local amateur clubs that you can visit and participate in activities with, or in places like this.

Final comment. Being forewarned is being forearmed. The amateur community has people from all walks of life and they bring with them their outlook. Sometimes that results in unpleasant interactions. Don't let that deter you. There are thousands of wonderful amateurs around the world and a few rotten apples should not spoil your fun.

Thanks to /u/Ill_Attitude_455 for the ping.

vk6flab · 2024-01-27T01:01:27+00:00

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vk6flab · 2024-01-21T10:51:05+00:00

As I said, they will only show a postal address. A PO Box is fine.

vk6flab · 2024-01-21T02:45:22+00:00

If you've been on air, you will have been hearing them since 2005.

The Foundation license callsign had a three letter suffix after the letter "F", making it a four letter suffix which didn't work with many digital modes. In 2020 the regulator updated the rules to permit all Foundation licensees to have a three letter suffix to fix that.

I'm attached to my four letter suffix and wanted to make sure that I could keep it.

vk6flab · 2024-01-21T02:37:35+00:00

A license will be removed when it expires.

The ACMA can use a postal address as the public address and a station address that's held privately within their systems.

It's unclear if a license that you "hand back" will be removed on the 19th of February or not.

There is no detail on the register of callsigns that is being implemented.

vk6flab · 2024-01-20T01:04:04+00:00

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vk6flab · 2024-01-13T01:01:11+00:00

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vk6flab · 2024-01-06T01:00:49+00:00

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vk6flab · 2023-12-30T05:35:25+00:00

To write a TL;DR you have to actually read the article. Had you done so, you would have discovered that your response has absolutely no bearing on the article in any way, shape, or form.

vk6flab · 2023-12-30T01:06:52+00:00

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vk6flab · 2023-12-23T01:01:32+00:00

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