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.

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.

TAPR Officers and Directors Election Results

On September 19, proceeding the ARRL-TAPR Digital Communications Conference (DCC) in Seattle, the TAPR Board of Directors elected its officers for the following year:

President Steve Bible, N7HPR
Vice President Jeremy McDermond, NH6Z
Treasurer Tom Holmes, N8ZM
Secretary Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU

At the TAPR Annual General Membership Meeting on September 21, nominations for three Board of Directors positions were closed and the three unopposed nominated candidates John Ackermann, N8UR, Jeremy McDermond, NH6Z, and Mark Thompson, WB9QZB, will serve as board members for next three years. Thompson, a former director, fills the slot of Dan Babcock, N4XWE, who steps down as director after serving one three-year term, while Ackermann and McDermond were re-elected as directors.

Got Impedance

Roger Eslick, K4RW, passed along this link to a collection of online impedance calculators brought to you courtesy of Montaro Networks, Inc.

Meanwhile, the latest issue of the Make: Newsletter has a must-read article for any maker out there who is considering funding a project via Kickstarter (or something similar): “Six Things About Kickstarting Your Hardware Idea That Will Drive you Insane” by Marie Staver and Jeremy Fryer-Biggs.

Here is another plug for TAPR’s Digital Communications Conference (DCC) coming up the weekend of September 20-22 in Seattle. It looks like another great DCC and I am sorry I will miss it.

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 !

Last Call for PSR Articles

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

The deadline for the next issue is Thursday, August 15. So, please send your cards, letters, articles, etc., whatever you have, to the editor of PSR, wa1lou (@) tapr.org

FYI - the DCC is in Seattle this year, September 20-22. The DCC details are here.

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.

Call for PSR Articles

Work on the next issue of TAPR's quarterly newsletter, PSR, is underway and this is a call for articles for that issue, the End of Summer - Pre-Digital Communications Conference (DCC) issue of the newsletter.

The deadline for the next issue of PSR is August 15. Please send your cards, letters, articles, etc., whatever you have, to the editor of PSR, wa1lou (@) tapr.org

By the way, the DCC is in Seattle this year, September 20-22. The DCC details are here.

TAPR PSR #119

The summer 2012 pre-DCC 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 Summer 2012, #119 issue of TAPR PSR:

• President’s Corner
• DCC Schedule at a Glance
• DCC Rooms at a Glance
• Preliminary DCC Schedule
• Banquet Speaker
• Sunday Seminar
• Experimenting with High-Speed Wireless Networking in the 420 MHz Band
• TAPR, PSR and Other Initialisms
• TAPR at Hamvention
• VK5DGR to Receive ARRL Technical Innovation Award
• Hardware News
• Advances in SDR Usage
• The Packet Node Project
• TAPR Hamvention Gallery
• Golden Packet – Maybe Next Year?
• DIXPRS – New APRS IGate/Digi App
• John Bennett, N4XI, RIP
• TAPR on the Net
• Vic Poor, W5SMM, RIP
• Write Here!
• The Fine Print
• Our Membership App

DCC at ATL

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

Surfin’: Beyond Digital Voice

This week, Surfin’ visits the diverse website of an old friend of the old contributing editor.

Surfin’: Hamming on the Cutting Edge

This week, Surfin’ visits the plans for the upcoming Digital Communications Conference (DCC).