But amateur radio is not the only users of the hf spectrum. Military, govt emergency responders are heavy users of hf and will not stand for interference of their systems
Dale - Understood that Amateur Radio is (in the end) a minority user of HF, and those other (heavy) users of the HF bands should have been primary commenters re: RM-11953. But I feel that Amateur Radio Operators do not have standing to speak for those other (heavy) users of HF. When Amateur Radio Operators do make comments (with no standing) regarding other users of HF, they're discounted by the FCC because they have no standing.
Hi Steve. You might mention that the best way to get info to you is via the Comment link in the Substack email. Anyway, I sent a message to you on Mastodon about this Reddit post I found… you might find it if interest. Keep up the great work and 73. de Rich N5CSU
Rich - Thanks for the pointer to Reddit. I will follow up on that discussion, and I may try to add the Ham Radio Subreddit to be monitored regularly.
As to encouraging comments, I try to sprinkle COMMENT buttons liberally through Zero Retries, but only a few of you choose to use them. Others just reply to the newsletter email and that gets to me to, but those aren't public, and often that's the intent.
Thought: DMR inherently offers two channels on each frequency (which still blows my mind). Would it be easy to use this 2nd channel for data, especially since it’s all digital already?
Rich - What's frustrating about DMR is that yep - in the end, it's bits being transmitted, but the structure of the transmissions is pretty well fossilized (as in burned into the firmware of hundreds of thousands of units being used) into two voice channels and no one wants to "freelance" to experiment with it for fear of breaking the fragile DMR infrastructure.
There is some provision in DMR for data, at least short messaging (location, short text messages). DMR voice works because there's a very vested interest in every manufacturer testing for VOICE interoperability between the different manufacturer's implementations of DMR. If one manufacturer's DMR radio doesn't work with all the others (and repeaters) then it won't sell many.
In fairness, Brandmeister does encourage some experimentation with data... I just have never been able to parse out the bigger picture of using data over DMR, and it's tough to find a DMR that is friendly for data experimentation. In my previous research, Hytera and Motorola both have some data capability, but only within their own products.
And that lack of interoperability for data, that most commercial users (buyers) don't care about data interoperability. If they're going to use data over DMR, they're going to go for low-headaches and buy just one brand (such as Motorola or Hytera).
I'll eventually revisit data over DMR, but my previous research was a bag of hurt trying to figure it out.
This is response to "my observation is that in a fast moving disaster such as a wildfire, those plans and “reserved for emergencies” equipment such as portable two way radios are forgotten in favor of higher priority items such as photos, wallet / purse, pets, critical medications and your phone. "
I recently moved from Santa Rosa, CA, to Chattanooga, TN, but I stay in touch with some friends and amateur radio club members in Santa Rosa/Sonoma County. You may recall that in 2017, Sonoma County suffered the Tubbs Fire where 5,643 structures were destroyed and 22 people died. Since then, Sonoma County has suffered many wildfires. Members of my radio club there, Sonoma County Radio Amateurs, have led an effort to use amateur radio, GMRS, and FRS to communicate in wildfire disasters which continue. See http://sonomacountyradioamateurs.com/wp/gmrs-operations-during-an-emergency/ for information on what they are doing. People there get it that these disasters happen, and are prepared to use amateur, GMRS, and FRS to communicate so that they know what is happening. I daresay that they will take their radios first with them as that is how they are keeping in touch about disasters in their neighborhood and county. The county strongly supports this program with infrastructure like GMRS repeaters. Sonoma County had to go through a devastating disaster to get mobilized but they have done it, using amateur radio, GMRS, and FRS.
Bill - thanks for bringing this up. My statement lacked the important context that you point out. IF you've ever been through a traumatic event like a wildfire, flood, etc. (and, obviously, survived it) and were caught without effective communications, such as you're describing in the Tubbs fire, THEN you know how critical effective communications is. So THEN you do things like put the portable radio and spare batteries in the Bug Out Bag or put it next to the door instead of the kitchen table or the study.
But (again, in my experience), until you've been through such a traumatizing event, even if you've gotten training and practice on it "to be prepared in an emergency", grabbing that unit is not going to be forefront of mind like grabbing your phone already is.
Thanks for surfacing ITDRC. That's the first I've heard of that organization. Comparing their website with the ARRL ARES site is quite striking. (ITDRC shows active operations which is incredibly compelling.) For two organizations doing very similar things, working with very similar technology, language and perception really becomes important.
Cale - I've been following ITDRC for a while and while they include Amateur Radio in their mix of technologies, it's obvious that the other methods of communicating are primary for them. If I were a young IT specialist and wanted to get formally qualified to put my skills to use in major declared emergencies, ITDRC seems to be the most direct way to do so.
But amateur radio is not the only users of the hf spectrum. Military, govt emergency responders are heavy users of hf and will not stand for interference of their systems
Dale - Understood that Amateur Radio is (in the end) a minority user of HF, and those other (heavy) users of the HF bands should have been primary commenters re: RM-11953. But I feel that Amateur Radio Operators do not have standing to speak for those other (heavy) users of HF. When Amateur Radio Operators do make comments (with no standing) regarding other users of HF, they're discounted by the FCC because they have no standing.
Hi Steve. You might mention that the best way to get info to you is via the Comment link in the Substack email. Anyway, I sent a message to you on Mastodon about this Reddit post I found… you might find it if interest. Keep up the great work and 73. de Rich N5CSU
https://reddit.com/r/HamRadio/s/Wmfo3hZg3Y
Rich - Thanks for the pointer to Reddit. I will follow up on that discussion, and I may try to add the Ham Radio Subreddit to be monitored regularly.
As to encouraging comments, I try to sprinkle COMMENT buttons liberally through Zero Retries, but only a few of you choose to use them. Others just reply to the newsletter email and that gets to me to, but those aren't public, and often that's the intent.
Thought: DMR inherently offers two channels on each frequency (which still blows my mind). Would it be easy to use this 2nd channel for data, especially since it’s all digital already?
Rich - What's frustrating about DMR is that yep - in the end, it's bits being transmitted, but the structure of the transmissions is pretty well fossilized (as in burned into the firmware of hundreds of thousands of units being used) into two voice channels and no one wants to "freelance" to experiment with it for fear of breaking the fragile DMR infrastructure.
There is some provision in DMR for data, at least short messaging (location, short text messages). DMR voice works because there's a very vested interest in every manufacturer testing for VOICE interoperability between the different manufacturer's implementations of DMR. If one manufacturer's DMR radio doesn't work with all the others (and repeaters) then it won't sell many.
In fairness, Brandmeister does encourage some experimentation with data... I just have never been able to parse out the bigger picture of using data over DMR, and it's tough to find a DMR that is friendly for data experimentation. In my previous research, Hytera and Motorola both have some data capability, but only within their own products.
And that lack of interoperability for data, that most commercial users (buyers) don't care about data interoperability. If they're going to use data over DMR, they're going to go for low-headaches and buy just one brand (such as Motorola or Hytera).
I'll eventually revisit data over DMR, but my previous research was a bag of hurt trying to figure it out.
This is response to "my observation is that in a fast moving disaster such as a wildfire, those plans and “reserved for emergencies” equipment such as portable two way radios are forgotten in favor of higher priority items such as photos, wallet / purse, pets, critical medications and your phone. "
I recently moved from Santa Rosa, CA, to Chattanooga, TN, but I stay in touch with some friends and amateur radio club members in Santa Rosa/Sonoma County. You may recall that in 2017, Sonoma County suffered the Tubbs Fire where 5,643 structures were destroyed and 22 people died. Since then, Sonoma County has suffered many wildfires. Members of my radio club there, Sonoma County Radio Amateurs, have led an effort to use amateur radio, GMRS, and FRS to communicate in wildfire disasters which continue. See http://sonomacountyradioamateurs.com/wp/gmrs-operations-during-an-emergency/ for information on what they are doing. People there get it that these disasters happen, and are prepared to use amateur, GMRS, and FRS to communicate so that they know what is happening. I daresay that they will take their radios first with them as that is how they are keeping in touch about disasters in their neighborhood and county. The county strongly supports this program with infrastructure like GMRS repeaters. Sonoma County had to go through a devastating disaster to get mobilized but they have done it, using amateur radio, GMRS, and FRS.
Bill - thanks for bringing this up. My statement lacked the important context that you point out. IF you've ever been through a traumatic event like a wildfire, flood, etc. (and, obviously, survived it) and were caught without effective communications, such as you're describing in the Tubbs fire, THEN you know how critical effective communications is. So THEN you do things like put the portable radio and spare batteries in the Bug Out Bag or put it next to the door instead of the kitchen table or the study.
But (again, in my experience), until you've been through such a traumatizing event, even if you've gotten training and practice on it "to be prepared in an emergency", grabbing that unit is not going to be forefront of mind like grabbing your phone already is.
Thanks for surfacing ITDRC. That's the first I've heard of that organization. Comparing their website with the ARRL ARES site is quite striking. (ITDRC shows active operations which is incredibly compelling.) For two organizations doing very similar things, working with very similar technology, language and perception really becomes important.
Cale - I've been following ITDRC for a while and while they include Amateur Radio in their mix of technologies, it's obvious that the other methods of communicating are primary for them. If I were a young IT specialist and wanted to get formally qualified to put my skills to use in major declared emergencies, ITDRC seems to be the most direct way to do so.