Amateur Radio Military Appreciation Day is coming up on 26 May 2012. The Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend. It is the time set aside each year to give a special SHOUT OUT to all Military and First Responders to let them know that they are indeed appreciated. Also we seek to honor those family members lost during war and time of peace.
Additional details regarding ARMAD 2012 will be available shortly.
Come On! And Ham It Up For The Troops!
Saturday, 26 May 2012
Remote Base:
What is the function?
What will it be used for?
How will it connect to other stations?
What is the function:
A Remote Base provides a method in which locations outside the normal range of a Base Station or Repeater can be accessed. Thus providing additional communications coverage area.
What will it be used for:
Provide additional communications coverage area; also can be used to augment communications resources in emergency situations and special events.
How will it connect to other stations:
Depending on the complexity of the Remote Base (and the amount of funds available) the ideal situation would be to have a combination of RF and Internet backhaul capabilities. If Internet access is available this would be the ideal method for connectivity. Once again if funds are available use of Satellite Internet services would provide some additional remote accessibility.
When using RF backhaul capabilities there are number of methods that can prove to be beneficial. When possible consider VHF Links and for full-duplex A VHF / UHF combination. We cannot forget about the flexibility of HSMM on 2.4, 3.3, 5.8 GHz and even 902 MHz has some promising potential.
Can HF be considered a viable extension of the Remote Base Link? Depends on the mission objective. Looking back to some of the applications in the past couple of years where HF Remote Base Links have been used as a method to receive emergency traffic from distant locations out of normal range of EOC there may be some practical usage for HF.
The way the Amateur Radio licensing is set up it is rather tough to test a station in a non-emergency setting. Especially for those holding a Technician Class license. There are some that have taken the test for the General and Extra class license and passed the test yet don’t have a clue about the technology that they were tested on. It appears that some don’t really care about the technology just the fact that they can now “talk voice on HF.” In some instances voice on HF will not be the best approach for getting the necessary information from those that have it to those that need it.
Okay back to the Remote Base chatter …
So what do we need to create a Remote Base?
What do we need to create a Remote Base:
Determine the type of terrain in which the Remote Base will operate;
is it urban, rural, forested, hilly, mountains, etc.
What resources are available;
Internet; Dial-up, Broadband, HSMM, Satellite;
RF Equipment – HF, VHF, UHF, Microwave;
Power – Grid, Solar, Wind, Battery, Generator
Antenna Structure – Building, Tower, Mast;
What is the distance that needs to be covered between the Remote Base and Base / Repeater Site:
Will the distance require additional enhancements via extenders, cross-band repeaters, etc:
Once the above information is available we can start working on creating the actual Remote Base
Satellite Communications
… communications via earth orbiting electronically equipped modules.
The New ALERTradio ERC | WXC – Weather Center is operational at weather.alertradio.net
A new FREE sound card digital protocol, called Winmor, has been created by the Winlink 2000 Development Team. Its purpose is to augment the prohibitively expensive and proprietary Pactor modes, bringing a viable HF digital communications alternative to the masses. RMS is the abbreviation for Radio Mail Server.
I presently operate K7EK-5, a 24/7 Winmor RMS on 3569.5 (c), 3568.0 USB dial, at night, and 7078.1 (c), 7079.6 USB dial, in the daytime.
The *NEBRASKA* Reflector (Conference) EchoLink Node: 256740 has become an active resource for Amateur Radio and Public Safety in Nebraska.
The *KANSAS* *NEBRASKA* Reflector Net is held on Wednesday nights at 20:00 CST (Winter 0200Z Summer 0100Z).
High Speed Multi Media (HSMM) is often referred to as being the Hinternet (Ham Internet), as it is primarily used under FCC Rules & Regulations Part 97. Under Part 97 commercial off-the-shelf equipment can be used at higher power and higher gain than the more common Part 15 802.11a/b/g operations.
The primary purpose for HSMM and Hinternet is to augment emergency communications via long range high speed wireless data networks that can handle voice, data and video communications. HSMM can also be used in the day-to-day aspects of Amateur Radio Communications.
The Fit …
With the rapid expansion of Asterisk PBX into the relm of radio communications the added flexibility of having a wireless linking system has also expanded.
It is now possible to have a network of repeaters and link stations that never touch a standard public switched telephone network, yet at the same time this network of repeaters and link stations has all the standard features one will expect to find with any telephone system.
By integrating HSMM along with Asterisk PBX a truly transportable network can be delivered to any location where communications is needed, with voice, data and video all being available to the agencies and organizations being supported.
Learn more about High Speed Multi Media (HSMM)
Welcome to ALERTradio WASHINGTON – Technology resources for public safety.
ALERTradio WASHINGTON is a part of ALERTradio ERC with the following purpose:
It’s all about being ready!
There’s been a lot of activity in the past month in several different areas regarding communications support.
Thanks again to those that are helping with everything.
The ALERTradio ERC | Forum is operational once again via http://forum.alertradio.net
