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Clark County Amateur Radio Club
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Digital Group (PACKET) |
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Battle
Ground K7YFJ-10: |
144.920 at 1200 Baud |
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Battle
Ground K7YFJ-10: |
441.525 at 9600 baud |
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East
Vancouver K7GJT-10: |
441.525 at 9600 baud |
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East
Vancouver K7CTT-10: |
144.920 at 1200 Baud |
Lynn/K7CTT
also runs Winlink HF PACTOR RMS K7CTT.
There
is a VHF digipeater (WOODLN) on Woodland Heights on 144.92 if you need it to
reach the K7YFJ-10 VHF RMS.
The Clark County Digital
Group is a 2 meter PACKET Radio and Winlink 2000
group but it includes PSK31 and other HF digital modes. It is an informal
group with about a dozen regular attendees.
When we meet anything goes. There is a topic for the evening but we
always stray to other topics and just have a good time.
The CCARES/RACES group has two portable emergency radio stacks (4 radios
mounted in a wood stand) that includes a portable PACKET Radio station and it
is always there and almost always set up and running. It only takes a few
minutes to set up and when someone new to PACKET Radio attends, we always set
it up.
PACKET Radio: PACKET Radio started as an HF mode in 1980
but it took a little too long in transmitting to be efficient so it evolved
into PACTOR. It is the same principle in that it sends error free text
messages but PACTOR does it faster and that works a whole lot better for the
HF bands. PACKET Radio was also on the 144 MHz and 440 MHz bands and it has
remained popular on the 144 MHz band (2 meters)
PACTOR: Since sending error free messages is a
great idea for both fun and in emergency situations, PACKET was not forgotten
when PACTOR became the favorite text message mode. There are two PACTOR paths
available to us here in Vancouver.
1.
The first is a
PACTOR Gateway and is located on the PACKET network at W7AIA-2. Instructions for accessing this capability
is located on page 5 in Annex D PACKET Information of the CCARES Operations
Handbook.
2.
Improvements have
been made on PACTOR so now we can send in a text message and it can come out
into anyone's regular SMTP email address.
Now a Ham Radio Operator can send out a message on ham radio
frequencies and it will go onto the Internet to be delivered. This also means
anyone can send an email message (just text) to a Ham Radio Operator with the
proper equipment. Now not just anyone
can send emails to a Ham at random but a Ham Radio Operator who is using the
Winlink system can get it set up for you.
This combination of software and hardware is called the Winlink 2000
system. To learn more about the
Winlink 2000 system, click here.
Winlink 2000: Access to the Winlink 2000 (WL2K) system in
Clark County using VHF or UHF RMS systems is done through a Winlink
2000 Radio Message Server (RMS) ‘Gateway’ station.
We have four dedicated WL2K Gateways in Clark County to support
Winlink operations, K7YFJ-10 (2M & 440), K7GJT-10 (440) and K7CTT-10
(2M). These four gateways are
not connected to the Clark County 144.99 PACKET network.
Additionally, there
is a digipeater in north county on 144.92 to support stations that cannot
access the K7YFJ-10 RMS directly. This
node’s alias is WOODLN.
Winlink is very
popular with RVers and boaters and especially to ARES groups (Amateur Radio
Emergency Service). Winlink 2000 was
used a lot after Katrina hit the gulf coast.
Fire Dept and Police Dept phones and radios were knocked out for days
but Ham Radio Operators brought in their portable emergency ham radio
stations and sent emergency traffic by voice and text messages. The Winlink system simply reached out to
where they could access the Internet and sent messages from the Gulf Coast to
the rest of the world.
This is just an
overview of what the Ham Radio digital modes are doing in Clark County so to
find out more come to a meeting or jump on the Internet and Google – “PACKET
radio” or “Winlink 2000”.
Webmaster: Judith N7SRS
Page updated
9/28/2010 gjt
