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.

CQ CQ

Early last year, I began transitioning my magazine subscriptions from paper to digital format. Among others, I have digital subscriptions to the complete CQ stable of magazines, i.e., CQ, CQ VHF, Popular Communications and WorldRadio Online.

Typically, the monthlies arrive around the first of the month, but this month, CQ and Popular Communications are no-shows. WorldRadio Online arrived around Halloween, but three weeks later, that's all, folks.

I e-mailed CQ, but have not received a reply.

Have any of you received the digital November 2013 issues of CQ and Popular Communications or are you in the same paperless both as I?

UPDATE: Would you believe that the digital November issues of CQ and Popular Communications arrived late this afternoon about four hours after this post was originally published. What a coincidence!

Last Call

This is the last call for articles for the Fall 2013 - Post-Digital Communications Conference (DCC) issue of TAPR's quarterly newsletter, PSR.

So, please send your cards, letters, articles, etc., whatever you have, to the editor of PSR, wa1lou (@) tapr.org

Thank-you!

DCC, Sept. 20-22

Final preparations are being made for the 32nd Annual TAPR Digital Communications Conference (DCC) to be held on the weekend of September 20-22, 2013 in Seattle, Washington. Early Bird registration has been extended until midnight of Friday the 13th, so go here to sign up.

The following outlines the DCC schedule:

- Friday Day - Paper Presentations, Introductory Presentations, Demonstrations
- Friday Evening - Social (open to all, not just TAPR members)
- Saturday Day - Paper Presentations, Introductory Presentations, Demonstrations
- Saturday Afternoon - TAPR Annual Meeting Banquet,
- Saturday Evening - Banquet, Speaker, Awards, Prizes
- Sunday Morning - Android programming tutorial by Ron Frohne, KL7NA.

The Saturday evening banquet speaker is Tom Van Baak, whose speech is titled “Passion and Precision: Adventures of a Time Nut.”

The following is the list of submitted papers for the DCC. Most of the folks who have submitted papers will be presenting their papers in person at the DCC:

“(CAB) Controllable Altitude Balloon Proposal” by Pedro Converso, LU7ABF

“A Software Defined Radio for Mesh Networks” by John B. Stephensen, KD6OZH

“Applications and Infrastructure for Marathon Support” by Erik Westgard, NY9D

“DATV-Express – a Testing Report” by Art Towslee, WA8RMC and Ken Konechy W6HHC

“Evaluating OLSR and B.A.T.M.A.N over D-STAR” by John Ronan, EI7IG and Darren Long, GØHWW

“Gnuradio Companion module for openHPSDR Hermes / Metis SDR Radio” by Tom McDermott, N5EG

“High Performance BPSK31: Ideas for a New Generation” by John A. Gibbs, NN7F

“Modulation – Demodulation Software Radio” by Alex Schwarz, VE7DXW and Guy Roels, ON6MU

“Narrowband IP over Amateur Radio Networks (NIPARnets): Next-Generation Networking for Amateur Radio” by Timothy J. Salo, ABØDO

“Noise Power Ratio (NPR) Testing of HF Receivers” by Adam Farson, VA7OJ/AB4OJ

“Raspberry Pi Applications in Digital Communications: A Mobile Xastir-Based APRS Station” by John A. Hansen, W2FS

“Whitebox Handheld Software Radio Kit” by Chris Testa, KD2BMH

CU @ DCC !

DCC Call for Papers

Technical papers are now solicited for presentation at the annual Digital Communications Conference (DCC) for publication in the Conference Proceedings. Seattle is the site for this year's DCC and September 20-22, 2013 are the dates.

Annual conference proceedings will be printed; presentation at the conference is not required for publication.

The DCC is an international forum for radio amateurs to meet, publish their work, and present new ideas and techniques. Presenters and attendees have the opportunity to exchange ideas and learn about recent hardware and software advances, theories, experimental results, and practical applications.

Topics include, but are not limited to:

• Software Defined Radio (SDR)
• Digital voice
• Digital satellite communications
• Global position system
• Precise timing
• Automatic Position Reporting System (APRS)
• Short messaging (an APRS mode)
• Digital Signal Processing (DSP)
• HF digital modes
• Internet interoperability with ham radio networks
• Spread spectrum
• IEEE 802.11 and other Part 15 license-exempt systems adaptable for ham radio
• Using TCP/IP networking over ham radio
• Mesh and peer to peer wireless networking
• Emergency and Homeland Defense backup digital communications in ham radio
• Updates on AX.25 and other wireless networking protocols
• Topics that advanced the ham radio art

Submission of papers are due by July 31st and should be submitted to:

Maty Weinberg, KB1EIB
225 Main Street
Newington, CT 06111

or via the Internet to maty@arrl.org

Guidelines for submissions are here.

Surfin’: When Digital Was Cool

This week, Surfin’ recalls the coolness of a technology that we now take for granted.

DCC at ATL

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

Surfin’: Analog Ham

This week, Surfin’ dusts off the Victrola to spin some platters (or queues up the MP3 player to play some tunes).

TAPR PSR #118

The spring 2012 pre-Hamvention issue of TAPR’s quarterly newsletter, PSR, is now available on the TAPR website. (Truth in advertising: yours truly is the editor of PSR.)

Table of Contents of the spring 2012, #118 issue of TAPR PSR

• President’s Corner
• WA2DFI at Four Days in May
• Short Bits
• TAPR at Hamvention
• DCC Update
• TADD-2 Mini Is Now Available
• Hermes Is On His Way
• Getting Started: Doodle Labs Data Radio
• UDPSDR-HF2 SDRstick
• Deploying a KPC-3P as a "BBS-in-a-Box"
• Twitter & Facebook
• Write Here!
• PSR Advertising Rates
• Get On-the-Air with SDR
• W7SLB SK
• Open Hardware Summit 2012
• Write Here!
• The Fine Print
• Our Membership App

TAPR PSR #117

The winter 2012 issue of TAPR’s quarterly newsletter, PSR, is now available on the TAPR website. (Truth in advertising: yours truly is the editor of PSR.)

 

Table of Contents of PSR #117:

President’s Corner    
iQuadLabs-TAPR Agreement   
2011 DCC Video Online    
TAPR Directors Elections  
VK5DGR on Codec 2 at linux.conf.au 2012   
Doodle Labs DL-435    
Going to Ohio    
When Digital Was Mechanical   
Now on YouTube    
TAPR-ARRL DCC 2011   
HPSDR Projects    
Freq & Time Related Kits   
The Great Create    
My Steve Jobs Story    
LW and MW DX    
Join TAPR on Twitter & Facebook   
Write Here!    
PSR Advertising Rates    
Still Fixing a Little TAPR History   
The Fine Print    
Our Membership App

Surfin': Viewing the New Star of Ham Radio

This week, Surfin' explores D-STAR via the telescope known as “the Internet.”

Packet Status Register, Autumn 2009

The Autumn 2009 issue of TAPR's quarterly newsletter, Packet Status Register (PSR), which I edit, is now available here.

Surfin': ATVing Digitally and APRSing Successfully

This week's Surfin' looks at Digital Amateur Television again and finds the new home of WB4APR.

digital television’s dirty little secret

My daughter gave me eyetv as a Christmas gift. It allows me to view television broadcasts on my Mac.

It works great. My only complaint is that right after I got it, they came out with a version that also allows you to listen to FM radio broadcasts on a Mac.

Anyway, I connected the eyetv to my 25-element log periodic antenna, which is at the top of the tower, about 1000 ft ASL.

eyetv receives both analog and digital television broadcasts and that capability soon revealed to me the dirty little secret about digital television. The quality of digital television video is much better than analog television video, however, in order to view digital television video, the signal at your receiver must be stronger than the signal strength required to view analog television video.

Today, I can receive the analog television broadcasts of New York City channels 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13 with my eyetv and log periodic antenna, but I cannot receive any digital television broadcasts from New York City. So, when they finally shut down analog television broadcasts, I lose New York City. Similarly, I will lose other distant television stations once digital becomes the only television broadcast mode.

Is digital television a technological advancement? Not in my book.