Subj : VoIP Modes            1/2
To   : Vk3jed
From : Daryl Stout
Date : Sun Feb 14 2016 03:39 pm


Tony,

V>I have D-STAR and DMR.  No DMR infrastructure out here, until I put a MMDVM o
V>the air later this year, I've only experienced DMR on simplex.  I find DMR
V>sounds a little better than D-STAR, but both are perfectly fine for me.  Oh,
V>and my DMR radios cost me nothing, I won them as part of a promotion over a
V>year ago.  They're nice FM rigs too. :)

  Due to antenna prohibitions where I live, I just operate D-Star (DV Dongle), 
D-Rats, Echolink (single user setup), Packet Via Telnet (am still working to 
get WinLink set up with the Outpost Packet program), and CQ100. But, it gets me 
on the air nightly, and gives me something to do...since I can't go out at 
night, due to parking issues at the apartment complex where I live.

  Surprisingly, even on these VoIP modes, at times, it's hard to find sometone 
to handle the job of Net Control. Everyone wants the glory, but no one wants to 
do the work. I am Primary or Backup Net Control for 4 D-Star and 2 Echolink 
Nets each week, and check into about 20 others. With the D-Star Nets, I usually 
pass weather traffic for the region/area of the net. I have been affectionately 
dubbed "The Jim Cantore Of D-Star". But, unlike Jim Cantore, Storm Tracker at 
The Weather Channel...

1) I am not a meteorologist, but an amateur weather enthusiast. However, I know 
enough to be dangerous.

2) I have a full head of hair (Cantore is a cueball)

3) I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night (hi hi).

  With the weather traffic, I want to alert folks of potentially hazardous 
weather...no matter if it's going to occur in the next 24 hours, or within the 
next week. Our tornado season starts on March 1, and I'm not looking forward to 
that. Some parts of the southeast U.S. have already seen tornadoes this year.

  The Memphis D-Star Group (Tennessee) and I believe the Philadelphia Amateur 
Radio Association (Pennsylvania) provides support for D-Star, D-Rats, System 
Fusion, DMR, and Mototurbo. It's another means of communication for ham radio 
operators. I plan to go to the Huntsville, Alabama Hamfest in August, mainly 
for the D-Star Forum, and to meet several D-Star Users.

  Also, I talked to an elderly blind ham on CQ100 last week, VE4OO. He has been 
a ham for over 70 years, and I'm not sure if he has been blind all his life or 
not. But, since he's in an antenna restricted setup, as I am; he wanted to know 
more about things like Packet Via Telnet, Echolink, D-Star (DV Dongle), and 
D-Rats. So, I gave him my email, and hope to hear from him soon. When I was 
telling him about, he was thrilled.

  This also reminds me of the story where a ham radio operator took his laptop 
computer, with a desktop mic and speakers, and a wi-fi card, to a hospital in 
the Omaha, Nebraska area. Since he could not have RF gear, due to all the 
medical equipment, he was able to use a laptop. Using Echolink (in single user 
setup mode, so no RF occurred), he set up QSO's between hams in the U.S. and in 
the U.K., with the patients as "third party traffic"...to take the patients on 
"The Echolink Magic Carpet Ride", which helped to take the loneliness out of 
their days.

  I did a similar deal at a central Arkansas area high school, for their ham 
radio club meeting. The kids were impressed, and I told them that "this way, 
you don't have to worry about the cost of rigs, power supplies, SWR meters, 
antennas, coaxial cable, towers, etc.".

  On the blind hams, there are several in the central Arkansas area. But, the 
thing that really amazes me is that they can program what I consider "a 
complicated HT" in a matter of minutes. It used to be that you could program a 
rig by just the manual...but nowadays, without the programming software and 
cable, you'll never get the rig set up right. But, on more than one occasion, 
I've seen a sighted ham get with one of the blind hams, telling him that he had 
a problem with such and such rig. The blind ham said "Let me see that"...he 
takes the HT, works his fingers around the keyboard for a few minutes, and says 
"OK, Done"...and I'm going "WTH??!! There ain't no way he could have that 
fixed!!".

  Several years ago, before I had successful cataract surgery, I was

(Continued to next message)
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