Thanks, JJ.? ?
We actually carried out LARGE SCALE experimentation several years ago with Conference participants trying to move simulated emergency traffic from deployed locations scattered throughout Alachua County, Florida, to experienced and well-equipped volunteers of the Florida Phone Traffic Net.??
It was generally a failure with very scattered successes.
Feedback from the Section Traffic Mananger/Net Manager of their well-experience group indicated that the largest problem was simply TOO WEAK A SIGNAL.? ? This pointed to inexperienced / poorly trained volunteers using severely compromised antennas, and not enough RF energy going to them, or being radiated.? ?So? NO, the 705 is FAR, FAR, FAR from my preferred deployment radio, thank you!? ??
We have spent several years teaching our local adherents how to actually put up antennae that don't have 10+ dB of LOSS....but if you ask our people what they want, they will almost always tell you they want POWER too.? ? They aren't happy with the 705 (I'm not sure if ANY of them have bought one?) -- infact they purchase small AMPLIFIERS to boost the output of G90's.? ? One of the huge appeals to me of the sBitx (besides the primary appeal of code that I could GET AT and work on (as I have been doing a fair bit of, but more to fix and adjust modulation, rather than screen presentation) was FORTY WATTS.? ? So I've kept both of my units at that power level.? ?The lower bands suffer from considerably larger galactic and manmade noise (I'm writing papers on tht right now for our EOC)? and 40 watts is much more appreciated than less.? ?
EVERYWHERE that our volunteers can be deployed we have plenty of power and LIFEPO4 batteries are in good abundance in our group so we do FINE with higher powers.? ??
Additionally, if you listen to the SHARES National or SHARES SE Regional you'll immediately see why POWER is important.? ?If you try to make ALE contacts in the state of Florida to suit the Florida Division of Emergency Management, you'll also appreciae that.? ? Without frequency control, the sBitx cannot do ALE.? ? But it is possible with a lowly uBitx.....and ION2G, the current darling of FDEM and many others.? ?It is easier to "go with the flow" of the authorities who are the Authority Having Jurisdiction, than to try and convince them they need to change their thinking and move to Linux....
That is our local experience, earned in the course of a 3-hour exercise with perhaps 55 participants.? ? The writeup is available online for free, in HSEEP format.
Sincerely,
Gordon Gibby KX4Z
