Military thinking about “wideband” sideband for datacomm?

June 30, 2012 by 1 Comment

Bob Brewin, editor at large, for  Nextgov,  a website that cover government IT, speculates about the use of wideband SSB to achieve higher data rates than is currently possible on HF. His column notes:

The Air Force High Frequency Global Communications System Program Office at Tinker Air Force Base is looking for some folks to help tweak single sideband so it can function as a relatively wide band over the air data transmission system as well as handle voice over IP. Single sideband will never have the throughput of a fiber optic connection. On the other hand, there’s not a lot of fiber drops in the sky or a forward operating base in Afghanistan, so a 120 kbps connection from a radio looks real good.

This certainly sounds like a project for some enterprising hams. And, who knows, this  new mode might even make its way into the ham radio bands someday.

Filed Under: Digital Communications, Gear/Gadgets

Papers Requested for ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference

June 8, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Amateurs are invited to submit technical papers for presentation at the 31st Annual ARRL and TAPR Digital Communications Conference to be held September 21-23, 2012 at the Sheraton Gateway Airport Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia.

These papers will also be published in the Conference Proceedings (you do not need to attend the conference to have your paper included in the Proceedings).

The submission deadline is July 31. Please send papers to: Maty Weinberg, ARRL, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111. Or you can make your submission via e-mail to: maty@arrl.org.

For more information about the conference, see the Tucson Amateur Packet Radio www.tapr.org/dcc, or call 972- 671-8277.

Filed Under: Digital Communications

TAPR Conference Videos Online

January 15, 2012 by 1 Comment

From the ARRL Letter, 1/12/12:

Amateur Radio Video News (ARVN) has released high-definition videos of all the talks presented at the 2011 ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference (DCC), held September 16-18. The programs are now available online on the ARVN website.

The DCC is a three-day conference on Amateur Radio digital technology. Among the video presentations are 18 seminars, the Saturday Banquet and the welcome introduction by TAPR Chairman Steve Bible, N7HPR. According to ARVN Producer Gary Pearce, KN4AQ, most of the talks are fairly technical, although there are four separate sessions that cover “Intro to” topics. “All of the talks — except the ‘Intro to’ talks — were shot in three-camera high-definition, with wireless mics for ‘close-up’ audio of the presenter, as well as the question-and-answer period,” he explained. “The ‘Intro to’ talks were shot with a single, standard-definition camera.

This year, Pearce decided to release the programs on the web instead of the DVDs that have been produced in previous years (although the DVDs will be available later). “I wanted to make the programs available more quickly and easily to a worldwide audience,” he said. “The web has become an easy, high-quality distribution medium.”

 

Filed Under: Digital Communications Tagged With: , ,

Yaesu thinks the future of ham radio is digital

January 8, 2012 by 14 Comments

A Digital Communications GuideYaesu thinks the future of ham radio is digital, and of course, that amateurs should adopt its digital mode (CMF4) over Icom’s (D-STAR). At least that’s what they say in their latest publication, A Digital Communications Guide for Amateur Radio Operators.

This publication claims several advantages for digital communications techniques, including:

  • reduced bandwidth,
  • digital data transfer,
  • better performance,
  • immunity to interference, and
  • product and system cost reduction.

It talks about some of the theory behind digital communications, explaining in relatively simple terms how the various modulation techniques work. Of course, it slams D-STAR:

Now, this method [GMSK] is considered old fashioned and no longer used by LMR [land mobile radio]. Currently, GMSK is still being used by D-STAR.

One problem I have with this publication is its implicit assumption that digital is better than analog, and that if we want to be “progressive” amateurs, we should all adopt digital communications techniques. I’m not all that convinced, and to its credit, Yaesu does concede that “analog FM can show an advantage over digital radio in some areas.”

I haven’t compared prices, but if the D-STAR radios are any indication, the prices of Yaesu’s digital radios are bound to be more expensive than the analog radios. I just don’t see that the added functionality is worth the extra cost.

What do you think? Do you think D-STAR or Yaesu’s CMF4 will gain widespread acceptance anytime soon? Do you currently own a digital radio? If not, what would convince you to buy a digital radio?

 

Filed Under: Digital Communications, VHF/FM/Repeaters Tagged With: ,
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