2020 ARRL/TAPR DCC Update

The 39th Annual ARRL and TAPR Digital Communications Conference (DCC) will be a virtual conference on September 11 and 12, using Zoom video communications and YouTube video-sharing platforms.

Registered DCC attendees participating via Zoom will be able to interact with presenters and other attendees via a chat room as well as raise a virtual hand to ask questions. Click here to register (you don’t need a Zoom account to register).

Non-registered DCC attendees can watch the live stream for free on YouTube, however, non-registered DCC attendees will not be able to ask questions or chat. No registration is required for YouTube access (the YouTube URL will be announced and posted on this webpage preceding the DCC).

DCC registration is free for TAPR members and $30 for non-members. Members receive a 100% discount at checkout. Click here to register.

Non-members who would like to join TAPR and receive the free DCC pass can simply add TAPR membership and DCC registration to their shopping carts. After checkout, they will receive the free DCC pass when their membership is processed.

Call for Papers and Speakers

Technical papers are solicited for presentation at the DCC. Papers will also be published in the Conference Proceedings. Authors do not need to present at the conference to have their papers included in the Proceedings. Submit papers via e-mail to Maty Weinberg, KB1EIB by August 15, 2020. Papers will be published exactly as submitted and authors will retain all rights.

Conference papers will be distributed as pdf’s to participants. Printed copies of the papers will be available for sale at Lulu (http TBD).

Also, speakers are invited to make presentations on topics of interest without submitting papers for the Conference Proceedings.

All speakers and presenters must contact Steve Bible, N7HPR to reserve a slot for your presentation. Indicate whether you need a 15- or 30-minute slot and if you need to present on a specific day (Friday, September 11 or Saturday, September 12). A pre-recorded presentation can be submitted in lieu of a live virtual presentation.

Paper and presentation topic areas include, but are not limited to software defined radio (SDR), digital voice, digital satellite communication, digital signal processing (DSP), HF digital modes, adapting IEEE 802.11 systems for Amateur Radio, Global Positioning System (GPS), Automatic Position Reporting System (APRS), Linux in Amateur Radio, AX.25 updates, Internet operability with Amateur Radio networks, TCP/IP networking over Amateur Radio, mesh and peer-to-peer wireless networking, emergency and homeland defense backup digital communications in Amateur Radio.

Lightning Talks

Ad hoc “lightning talks” on various topics of interest will be announced throughout the DCC. Registered attendees will be able to participate in any lightning talk that whets their appetite.

Hardware and Software Demos

Hardware and software demonstrations will be conducted during the DCC by means of Zoom’s breakout room feature.

Virtual DCC, Sept. 11-12

Write for DCC

Technical papers are solicited for presentation at the ARRL and TAPR Digital Communications Conference (DCC) and publication in the Conference Proceedings. Conference proceedings are published by the ARRL. Presentation at the conference (Detroit, Sept. 20-22) is not required for publication. Submission of papers are due by July 31, 2019. Full Details are here.

In the mail...

This arrived in the mail today!

This Day in History… March 28, 1964

Stamp issued for the League’s 50th anniversary

This Day in History marks an important event in amateur radio history.

Read all about it here.

Advisory: Requests for Information from the Public and the Press Regarding Puerto Rico

Many individuals have loved ones in Puerto Rico and they are understandably hopeful that Amateur Radio operators can relay messages to them. As a result, some are contacting amateurs with requests to pass message traffic to the island.

At the same time, individual amateurs and clubs have reported that local press representatives have contacted them to request information about Amateur Radio involvement in Puerto Rico. This is likely to increase as word spreads in the national media about our activities.

For inquiries from the public, ARRL advises that these individuals should be informed that amateurs traveling to the island to support the American Red Cross effort will be tasked with handling outbound traffic only. With that in mind, members of the public should access the American Red Cross Safe and Well System online at https://safeandwell.communityos.org/cms/index.php. Status information from friends and relatives in Puerto Rico will be entered into the system as it arrives from amateurs stationed there.

For press inquiries, please ask reporters to contact ARRL directly at newsmedia@arrl.org.  A system has been established at ARRL Headquarters to respond to press inquiries in a timely and accurate manner.

73 Magazine

Without an Elmer, I depended on magazines to learn about radio.

Before becoming a ham, I read Popular Electronics and Electronics Illustrated to learn about medium and shortwave listening. When I got the ham radio bug, I read CQ and became an Associate Member, that is, an unlicensed member of the ARRL so I could read QST. After I got my ham license (WN1LOU), I became a Full Member of the ARRL and soon had subscriptions to the "big four," that is, 73, CQ, Ham Radio and QST.

73 was the most entertaining of the "big four." It's publisher, Wayne Green, W2NSD, stirred the pot in his monthly editorials. Whether you agreed with Wayne or not, his words were usually interesting and often thought-provoking.

When the FM repeater mode was taking off, 73 covered that mode extensively while the other magazines barely acknowledged the mode. 73 via Wayne also recognized the potential of home computers before most of the rest of us did (and I thank him for getting me interested in computers way back when). And finally, 73 was the first magazine to publish yours truly, which kicked-off my professional writing career.

73 is long gone and although I saved many back issues of the big four, they are tucked away back in a corner of the attic, so they might well be in the Copernicus Crater as far as easy access is concerned.

Good news is that every issue of 73, from October 1960 to May 2003, 519 issues, are now available as pdfs on four DVDs for $14.97 from Amazon.

I ordered the discs on Sunday and they arrived Thursday, so now I won't have to visit my attic or Copernicus to read 73 back issues.

ARRL/TAPR DCC: Only 3 Weeks Away

The 2014 installment of the ARRL/TAPR DCC is only three weeks away, on Friday, September 5th through Sunday, September 7th at the Austin Marriott South in Austin, Texas.

The DCC has two days of technical forums on Friday and Saturday and a concurrent introductory forum on Saturday. On Saturday night, the banquet will feature an interesting speaker and the Sunday morning seminar is "Introduction to SoC FPGA Programming for Mixed Signal Systems" by Chris Testa, KD2BMH.

There will be free tables in the demo room to demonstrate projects and vendors to demonstrate products.

Time is running out, so those interested in attending should register for the DCC and make hotel reservations ASAP.

More DCC information is available on TAPR’s website.

2014 TAPR/ARRL DCC in Austin

TAPR/ARRL DCC (Digital Communications Conference) is returning to Texas this year.

When: Friday, September 5th - Sunday, September 7th

Where: Austin Marriott South in Austin, TX

The DCC has two days of Technical forums on Friday & Saturday and a concurrent Introductory forum on Saturday. On Saturday night, the banquet will feature an interesting speaker and the Sunday morning Seminar will be a deep-dive into a technical topic.

Those who submit Technical Papers for inclusion in the annual DCC Proceedings will receive preference for a forum, however, you can propose to present a forum without submitting a technical paper.

There will be free tables in the demo room to demonstrate projects and vendors to demonstrate products. Make your hotel reservations early to get the special TAPR hotel rate.

Updated DCC information will be available on TAPR’s website.

Stamp Marked ARRL’s Big 5-0

I just obtained this item on eBay: a First Day Cover for the U.S. commemorative postage stamp honoring the 50th anniversary of the ARRL in 1964.

Next year, is the 100th anniversary of the ARRL. I wonder if a commemorative stamp will be issued for that event.

UPDATE: I asked and it turns out there will not be a commemorative stamp for the ARRL centennial.

ARRL Rewrites History

Compare the fifth paragraph of the September 16 ARRL News article regarding Wayne Green's death with the September 19 ARRL Letter article concerning Wayne's death.

Time to make lemonade

The suspense is over!

After waiting four weeks for some word from ARRL Headquarters about the suspension of my weekly online column, Surfin’, I wrote to Headquarters this morning to find out what is going on.

Here is the response I received.

We have decided to discontinue the web columns 
("Surfin'", Gary Hoffman's "Amateur Amateur" column, 
and Sterling Coffey's youth column) at this time, 
and to renew the website's focus on news. Tad Cook's 
solar report will remain, as it is akin to a weather 
report.

Our reader studies have shown that news attracts 
and maintains a very high readership, whereas 
readership of the web columns is low. In our effort 
to give members what they want, we are increasing 
our efforts to publish ham radio news. You may 
have noticed that the web news crawl has been 
particularly active in recent weeks -- a result 
of our new initiative. 

Thank you for your service to the League.

That’s all she wrote.

Savin' Surfin'

I don't know if you read my weekly online column, Surfin' on the ARRL website. If you do read it, then you may have noticed that it has been missing for the last two weeks.

As I wrote here in my previous post, that's because as of June 4, Surfin' has been suspended until further notice as "the focus of the League’s web offerings is being reevaluated."

I have received no "further notice" and I fear the worst.

If you enjoyed reading Surfin' and would like to see its return, please tell ARRL Headquarters (e-mail hq@arrl.org) and more importantly, tell your ARRL Division Director (his/her e-mail address is listed here: http://www.arrl.org/divisions). Thank you!

Surfin': In Suspension

I was informed today that Surfin' has been suspended until further notice as "the focus of the League’s web offerings is being reevaluated."

And so it goes.

Surfin’: Finding Friends at Hamvention

This week, Surfin’ recalls all the friendly faces at the Dayton Hamvention®.

Surfin’: Eye Candy Radios

This week, Surfin’ looks at radios that are very pleasing to the eye.

Surfin’: Got Generator?

This week, Surfin’ considers portable power generators in the wake of another horrific storm.

Surfin’: Radio Ghosts Revisited

Ghosts and Halloween go together, but what about ghosts and radios? To find out, read this week’s installment of Surfin’.

Surfin’: Whacking Radios

This week, Surfin’ discovers a new way of fixing radios.

DCC at ATL

This week’s installment of Surfin’ previews the 2012 Digital Communications Conference.