I signed up for this, but I have reservations.? The instructions tell you to check-in with a reply all.? Depending on how large this net is, I'm not sure I want Hundreds of net check-ins spamming my inbox every wednesday.? I remain cautiously optimistic.

For anyone interested; here's a PDF of the WFD25 Rules

I'll bring a couple extra radios and enough power for everyone to operate on battery or solar and maybe a few adult beverages for after the activities.?

I just came across a new Winlink net local to our neck of the woods. It's not the typical Winlink Wednesday check in and forget format and looks to be an interesting one to join.

Link to website-

dot com/mhr-launches-weekly-winlink-wednesday-net/

Notice the dot com is separated instead of .com bc of 开云体育 message security settings...

Happy to do it! Just make sure you do your part and show up with your swanky gear and a positive attitude hi hi!

This is a great idea!!? Thanks for hosting.

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73

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Save the date!? At the pleasure of the Club's President I am hosting a Winter field day event at my QTH on? Jan. 25th.? More details to follow.? If you have any questions please feel free to reach out here, on Winlink, or you can find my email on QRZ.

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Before you ask my radio shack is climate controlled, has plenty of room, and most recently a functioning latrine.? We won't be roughing it too hard on Minnesota's frozen tundra.? I hope to see you there.

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Pictures one can actually see.

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73

N0QBH

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One of the downsides to Winlink VARA is the privacy the mode affords. There's not much for others to watch or do.

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PinPoint APRS changes that. Because APRS is an unconnected mode, it's broadcasts are visible to everyone on frequency.

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While we mostly think of APRS and vehicle tracking, the original concept is in the name - Automatic Packet Reporting System.

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PinPoint APRS combines the locations of everyone (stationary or mobile) on a fully zoom-able map.

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It also has the ability for the user to beacon their own location as well as short (67 characters) messages.

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These can be sent as beacons to all or a specific station with an acknowledgement of receipt.

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Here's some screen shots from my station N0QBH-4

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Along with being able to do Winlink email and SSTV, this is another application you can easily add to an HF station using the VARA soundmodem.

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I'm sorry if I sound like a broken record when I repeat - VARA has changed EVERYTHING in amateur digital communications.

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Here are WA8LMF's instructs on adding PinPoint APRS to your lineup.

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My earlier post on get started with Winlink and VARA

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73

Mike N0QBH

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I got 12 of 12!

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73

Mike N0QBH

I would add that you usually see the octaves (multiple carriers as squares) when VARA is receiving a large file.

When it first connects and you see the 4 squares, it's measuring the SNR (signal to noise ratio) to determine what speed to use .

Then, depending on how much data it has to move, it sort of shifts gears.

When a packet is missed, it downshifts for awhile then tries to find it's best speed. Adaptive I believe they call it.

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Anyway, lots of things can affect your SNR.? In my case the computer's power supply was noisy.

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73

Mike N0QBH

This is very enlightening info!!? I only see 4 squares on my display and I don't really pay attention to the signal level.? I will now take a closer look and probably work to reduce Wall Wart noise in my shack.

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WD0HXV

After reading over my previous post I could almost hear my old elmer Roger W0WUG (sk) saying "kind of ambiguous don't you think?".

Four fuzzy dots?? Umm, there's a signal to noise meter right next to the diagram that spits out real numbers!

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With that in mind, the noisy power SNR was in the low 20 dBs and with the factory wall wart it was almost buried at +30 dB.

Mind you, my station is 8 miles away and it's antenna has a view of the gateway on the southern horizon.

Your location and antenna will determine the SNR, but a higher number is better.

Also, I miscounted the diagram squares in my 1st post.? They went from 16 to 64 which represents the number of octaves used.?

I don't claim to understand this any better than you do. All I know is it's blazing fast with good signals.

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73

Mike N0QBH

Awhile back I exchanged computers in my VHF VARA FM shack from a laptop to a solar powered Bmax B4 mini PC.

Right away I noticed the 4 signal "dots" in the diagram display went from being tight centered dots to somewhat splattered "dots" when I was connecting to the gateway.

I wasn't able to adjust it out and just assumed it was the new normal for this PC.?

Also, it didn't seem to affect performance as it was before the Willmar gateway was connected to the Internet.

After we got on line and it was easy to order up large attachments to download from the catalog, I noticed the throughput from the gateway to my station wasn't as fast as I remembered it.

Since around 40k/minute is pretty fast anyway, I didn't worry about it.

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Fast forward to this past week. As a solar operator I call it "h_ll week" because the days are the shortest and it's often cloudy.

This tests the system and I found 3 days was where I ran outta gas if the station(s) were operating 24/7.? Good to know.

Today being the 4th day had me switching my hardware over to the grid so I could continue to operate... Ok, play.? :)

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The first thing I noticed when I useded the mini PC on a wall wart was the dot's in the signal diagram were round and very tightly grouped again when connecting with VARA FM.

Hmmm.

I ordered up a 50k weather file and was blown away at how fast it downloaded from the gateway - 120k/min!!? I did a few more to prove it wasn't a fluke. Nope, no fluke.

The other thing I noticed was how the diagram had 32 squares instead of 16.? VARA figured out my system had better hearing and used it.

I swapped power sources back and forth til I narrowed it down to a undersized, unshielded, too long cable powering the mini PC.?

Moral of my story - learn to trust your visual indicators.

In this case power supply noise was going out the mini PC USB to the Digirig, raising it's noise floor dramatically. This was like tatters in it's ears.

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73

Mike N0QBH

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HNY all!

73 de Randy. WR0RR

Now at 11 of 12 images.? Still waiting to grab 4 of 12.

Trekies know trying to grab seven of 9 will get you hurt. hi hi.

Happy New Years

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73

Mike N0QBH

I'm up to 7 good quality images out of the dozen and one I'm keeping in case I don't see it again.

Russians celebrating Santa (Christmas?).?

I try to keep 2 copies of each image then discard the poorest.

We've got another week...

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73

Mike N0QBH

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JS8CALL can be used for sending APRS reports.

I heard and sorta saw the signal on 437.550 very weakly.
They are back on 145.800 today.

Not sure if this is resolved, but it may be something to be mindful of.