Hamlinks

From W6GGF

Contents 1 Introduction 2 DXing 3 Contesting 4 Emergency Communications 5 Technology 5.1 Software 5.1.1 Logging 5.1.2 Rig Control 5.1.3 Digital Modes 5.1.3.1 AMTOR 5.1.3.2 CW 5.1.3.3 GTOR 5.1.3.4 Hellschreiber 5.1.3.5 Packet 5.1.3.6 PACTOR 5.1.3.7 PSK31/64/128 etc 5.1.3.8 RTTY 5.1.3.9 SSTV 5.1.3.10 MAC Specific 5.1.3.11 Linux/FreeBSD/*NIX Specific 5.2 Hardware 5.2.1 Antennas 5.2.2 Parts is parts 5.2.3 Radios 5.2.4 Test Equipment 5.3 Audio 6 Other clubs 7 Magazines and Newsletters 8 From the Old Site

Introduction

This article is used to provide links to other websites of general interest to members of GVARC.

DXing

Atlas Information on all 377 DXCC entities.

Spots

Contesting

Emergency Communications

• ARRL Santa Clara Valley Section
  • Santa Clara County ARES/RACES

Technology

Software

Logging

Rig Control

Digital Modes

Consider moving this to it's own page ?

AMTOR

CW

Yes CW is a digital mode and there is software to support it (sort of)

GTOR

Hellschreiber

HELL ("Feld-Hell" or "Hellschreiber") was invented by Rudolph Hell in 1929. It was first used to send newspaper text over telephone lines, and was later adapted by the German army for use in W.W.II. Hell sounds like high speed CW, and each character is generated as a series of dots looking somewhat like the output of a dot matrix printer. In order to minimize errors in timing and/or phase the inventor came up with the idea of printing each character twice for each single transmitted character. The result in the original machines was at least one full character was always visible on the continuous paper roll output. The letters in Hell tend to be slanted due to the nature of the timing, so a specially designed font is used to maximize readability. There is no electronic or mathematical error correction, but humans are very good at decoding noisy visual input, so up to 20% of the signal can be corrupted before the text is unreadable.

[1]

G3PLX has a program for the 5600EVM, and there are several others for DOS/Windows with a soundcard. One of the newest is by Nino Porcino (IZ8BLY) and can be found here

Packet

PACTOR

PSK31/64/128 etc

PSK31 was originally developed by Pawel Jalocha (SP9VRC) and was called "SLOWBPSK". Peter Martinez (G3PLX) developed this idea further and came up with a very narrow (160 Hz) phase shift mode which uses a 31 bit/second data rate (hence the name).

While PSK31 is not an ARQ mode such as Pactor, it can correct errors using a mathematical construct called a Viterbi decoder. If your are interested in the mathematics behind this, Peter has published a paper which can be found (in PDF format) here. Peters' original program needed a Motorola DSP56002EVM board (this product has been discontinued ), but in December of 1998, he released a new version which can run on any computer with Windows95 or NT and a SoundBlaster 16 compatible sound card. This mode has become extremely popular, as it works very well with weak signals and is great for keyboard "chatting".

Programs such as DigiPan have greatly simplified operating PSK31. Get the software Version 2.0 here

"Official" PSK31 Website

RTTY

SSTV

MAC Specific

Linux/FreeBSD/*NIX Specific

Hardware

Antennas

Parts is parts

Radios

High Performance Software Defined Radio

Test Equipment

Audio

DB SPL (Sound Pressure Level) - Very informative explanation of sound levels

Other clubs

Magazines and Newsletters

• CQ
• ARRL Letter
• eHam.net
• HamCall.net
• Ohio Penn DX Bulletin
• QRZ
• World Radio Magazine

From the Old Site

ARRL News

Call lookup @ World Wide Ham'Call™ Callsign Server

K8CX Links

Satellite charts Not clear this is a good link (KG6KZV)

Sun Cycle