ORCA
view more articles
ORCA DIGITAL NET 15/AUG/23 Check-In/Rotation
Check-Ins: 20
Stations:
__W1EEP Gene Pine Valley,UT QNX
__KI7ARP Herman Pine Valley,UT QNX
WA7JYK Tom Joseph,OR
__KK6RJR Richard Bakersfield,CA QNX RELAY: WA7HHE
__N2RSN David Keno,OR QNX
KE6SLS Jaye Eureka!,CA
KR7KR Ken Enoch,UT
WA7HHE Brad Cedar City,UT
KS6M John Oakland,CA
__KD6SPN Sherwin San Jose,CA QNX
AE6LJ Lamar Redway,CA
W6DLW Dennis Cedar City,UT VidID
__K7UK Rick Omak,WA QNX
__W7WSV Steve Mesa,AZ QNX RELAY: K7KY
__K0KEX Rick Smithville,MO QNX
__K6FVC Fred Jerome,ID QNX
N6FPV Matt Scotia,CA
__W7WXV Carroll Prineville,OR QNX
K7KY Doug Brookings,OR NCS
W7ZAP Mindy Brookings,OR NCS
Time to stop consulting HF band predictions to select NBEMS Exercise modes. Tonight, We were so far off that all seven participating stations CONFIRMED the 1st pass in THOR-50×1. We didn’t record a single missed block and wrapped the Exercise w/one pass, NBEMS Exercise game plan is beginning with a fast & fragile mode and ending with slow & robust modes like MFSK-32/22, or THOR-22. Selecting Exercise modes after Ck-In would be more effective, but then we’d need time to edit the Exercise Macro. Seems we’ve done better at mode selection in the past; maybe too much thinking.
Remember our comrades on Maui. Suddenly this afternoon, it’s easier to relate; we have a growing wildfire in Smith River, about 20mi South of Brookings, 0% contained. Sky is brown, sunset is burnt orange, with ash falling out of the air. We’re preparing for evacuation a little earlier than we did for the Chetco Bar fire in 2017. We were in a group of homes a few hundred yards from the evacuated zone; we were next. A week of ‘Be ready to leave at a moments notice’. It looks possible again. This time, we won’t try to move so much stuff. We don’t have the energy & stamina.
Links to Amateur Emergency communications on Maui:
https://tinyurl.com/ejjmmsxp
https://tinyurl.com/3hp3fs9e
We have W1HKJ’s THOR-32,44,56 Test suite installed. If you’d like to test these modes, let’s pick an evening & try them out. East coast Ops are having good results. Email: ncs@orcadigitalnet.com, Phone: 541dashfoursixnine5two3zero. When Dave releases stable versions, or enough of us have installed the NBEMS Test Suite, we’ll run a Mode Shoot-Out between the new THOR Modes and MFSK.
Keep an eye on the digital networking threads @ NBEMS forum, nbems@groups.io. Gordon KX4Z posted, ‘… if you are just trying to move one or more pieces of traffic to the next relay station (which is a 1:1 transfer, the essence of RELAYING) then you will likely have much better overall success by switching to a system designed to do just that, to change “gears” automatically rather than manually,, and to obtain missing packets automatically (like FLAMP) — and such systems exist and were developed at huge effort…’. He’s referring to new modes that automatically negotiate transfers like VARA. Matthew KD8TTE, Black Swan Net NCS, related his experience in training Ops for digital traffic-handling, ‘I think that a lot of this really comes down to training of the operators. While the tools certainly help a great deal, “a fool with a tool is still a fool.”‘ These guys are our distant digital colleagues. Join the forum with your thoughts and experience. We hope to network with them in the future.
Speaking of distant colleagues, Rick K0KEX in Smithville,Missouri checked in Late and worked the Monitor’s Session. We have a handful of members in KS/MO. That they can work our 35w signal in these condx is remarkable. John KD0NBH is also as regular as condx permit from Kansas City,MO. They have a VHF digital training net; they’re planning an HF net too. They’re well located to link East & West Coast digital nets. Winter condx occasionally permit them to work ORCA NBEMS Exercises. Hats-Off to these guys for persistence. They’re 2 time zones ahead of NCS; ORCA is quite late in their evening.
We asked Tom WA7JYK in NE/OR & Jaye KE6SLS in NW/CA to execute their Path Evaluation Macros b4 Comments. Check the image table below to see how the net copied them. Thanks to Tom & Jaye for helping explore paths between net stations.
| K7KY Brookings, OR |
|
 TX: WA7JYK Joseph, OR |
 TX: KE6SLS Eureka, CA |
| KS6M Oakland, CA |
|
 |
 TX: KE6SLS Eureka, CA |
| N6FPV Scotia, CA |
|
 TX: WA7JYK Joseph, OR |
 TX: KE6SLS Eureka, CA |
| W7WSV Mesa, AZ |
|
 TX: WA7JYK Joseph, OR |
 TX: KE6SLS Eureka, CA |
| W7ZAP Brookings, OR |
|
 TX: WA7JYK Joseph, OR |
|
Keep these nets in mind; they’re conducted by ORCA Colleagues. 4 digital nets, M-Thurs on 3.581mhz, our Western-US digital watering-hole, and one Winlink net:
Monday, Humboldt County Emergency Digital Net, 1845p/0245z, 3.581+1500, MFSK-32, KE6SLS/NCS (regional)
Tuesday, ORCA DIGITAL NET, 1930p/0230z, 3.581+1500, MFSK-32, K7KY & W7ZAP/NCS, http://orcadigitalnet.com/ (W/USA)
Wednesday, NA ID ERC Digital Net, 1800m/0200z, 3.581+1500, MFSK-32, K7DV/NetMgr (regional)
Wednesday, HUMCO Winlink Wednesday Net, Matthew KN7CEI/NCS, Message KN6CEI w/CALL,NAME,QTH, https://humboldtwinlinkwednesday.net/
Thursday, Western Digital Net, 1930p/0230z, 3.581+1500, MFSK-32, Don KJ7VGV, Jaye KE6SLS, Brad WA7HHE/NCS, http://westerndigitalnet.org/ (W/USA)
Thanks for working with us tonight. We appreciate your participation and support. We hope to see you again next Tuesday evening.
73 Doug K7KY & Mindy W7ZAP
— No Log —
I accidently closed FLDIGI by KBD while Jaye KE6SLS was TXing his Path Evavualtion Macro :-(
