Re: High-Baud 'Channels' for Network 40, 30, 105?
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Well, my comments on hardware.
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In the pre-internet days, or as I call it, the pre-Packet Apocalyse Era, when packet was thriving in the 1980's, Terminal Node Controllers ruled the planet! The internet came and packet usage declined. Then the hobby gave birth to a new breed of young digital amateur radio operators who didn't know what DOS, Win95 and XP was - no less use it. These operators are Linux and Sound Cards gurus, creating new digital modes. Packet interest began to rise - but had many children and grandchildren on the bands too! LOL The bands have become filled with digital signals of all sorts. So many modes, so many choices, so many ways to operate digitally.?
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I love the progress made over the decades, but alas, I am still old school. I still play with PK-232/900, PacComm, MFJ and Kantronics TNCs. The KPC-3+ which is still very much in production, has a nice feature or HF packet.?If you set to SOFTWARE, the firmware inside the TNC will detect the presence of data to?enable the carrier detection, allowing operation with un-squelched audio.
Pactor has evolved into Pactor 3 and 4. But I think 4 uses encryption which is a no-no for hams. While those TNCs will do Robust Packet, the hardware is VERY expensive.? Plus, they are proprietary, which I don't like. They are made/created by SCS. Their . There seems to be a cheaper workaround but I am still investigating. There is a Groups.io RPR?/g/robustpacket/ that I think you will find interesting. As a USER my technical background is limited so I can not give you data, but it is my understanding that RPR is very reliable on HF.
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I never heard of FreeDATA but I believe I found the and will have to read it further.?
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I agree regarding standardization of mode. I read somewhere that the following conventions should be followed on HF: Soundcard digital modes = USB. However, Clover, RTTY, PACKET, AMTOR and PACTOR = LSB. Network105 is suppose to be LSB all the time. I think there was a thread here years ago that indicated that if one had a radio not capable of LSB, you could use USB by using a different dials frequency. The bottom line is: use LSB on HF packet.
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I would like to try 600 baud with you. Alas, I am not retired, have a wife and run several companies. Despite this, my wife loves amateur radio, is studying for her exam and supports my hobby. (Every ham should have a woman like this!) Let me set up things here and then work on details with you on how to proceed. Maybe we can start a new thread in case others want to join in this experiment. It's 3:50 AM Eastern...I have to get to sleep, but looking forward to your reply/post, Dom.
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73 de Chris
ww2bsa
PS - Enjoyed your QRZ.com page! PPS - I'm a former planetarium director and love astrophotography too!
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Chris Lance WW2BSA