Ham Radio / Off-grid communication

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My setup is unusually well receptive to the 40m band, I'll be listening in starting at the test time. I hope I can catch it.
I have a 5mw CW only transmitter, if you listen really closely you might catch me.
 
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Before there was internet there was ham radio. a place for autists and the tech minded. Internet replaced ham radio mostly. Ham radio needs to market itself as an escape valve from the internet, completely independent infrastructure not dependent any corporate entity. If your on CW or digi modes nobody is going to question your political affiliation. They enjoy radio. You enjoy radio. It's the common bond.

The hobby can be what you can make it to be, what you've managed to create on the constraints you are under. If your rich as fuck you can build a strength build. Linear amps. Towers, Beam antennas. Alternatively be mid. Run the HF rig barefoot. Medium length wire antennas on suburban lots. You'll go around the world. You'll have fun, but won't beat the big guns in contests. Try a pure luck build? QRP (low power). Compromise antennas. Go for a rogue build? Rapid deployment mobile operations (POTA) hoping a park ranger won't harass you. Some won't be happy unless the cover every square inch of the earth. Others are happy the got Tahiti out of a coat hanger antenna located in their closet.

The feeling of radio is much like being on a sailboat in the sea. You are one your own. One part is your boat (your rig). One part is the sea (the propagation). One part is your seamanship (your ability). The other part is pure luck You can create a battleship or be content being a feather in the wind what chance might bring. I've met hams you meet both opposites of the extreme.

Ham radio is also an MMO. You can't do anything without a person on the other end. Don't be a sad ham, a bitter curmudgeon who alienates people unnecessarily. But don't be a whiny zoomer who complains about everything being too hard and won't put forth effort.

Enjoy the magic of radio, you are your my fellow traveler. Be an asshole, I hate you. I don't want the art to die. Like CW? I'll bust out the key. Like FT8? I'm equipped. SSB. Got the mic. Winlink? Fuck winlink. Not that.
 
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I must just be lucky picking this week of all weeks to try starting a net. Get your JS8CALL software configured and ready to decode. Bring a fan or a block of dry ice to set it on for this one.

Callsign Groups to add: '@KFALL, '@KF<Country><State/Province>, '@KFOT
Be sure to remove the ' and separate each by a comma.

Frequency: 7.096, Back-up 7.033, Tertiary 7.111

Date: Saturday 9/13

Time: 2100-2130 CST, This test should only take a half hour at most. Be there at 2045 CST for test to see if you can even pick up my 5w output.



Example regional callgroup: '@KFUSAOH
KFOT is an off topic call group. I'm assuming there will be spam, and arguing thanks to recent events, but if you could do me a solid and keep it to KFOT that'd be great.

If no one can pick up my transmission, I'll have to figure out how I can get the ~$600 I'd need for the 100W amp Xiegu makes for my radio, or we change host for the next one and let a more powerful station transmit the bulletin. We'll see how it goes this weekend though!
I'll see if I can drop in. Not guaranteed. Maybe for future nets, if this idea works out I can post in the Community Happenings thread about it, at least once, because I think a lot of non-radio people would be very interested in this idea. I assume we're not throwing out calls for this net?
 
I must just be lucky picking this week of all weeks to try starting a net. Get your JS8CALL software configured and ready to decode. Bring a fan or a block of dry ice to set it on for this one.

Callsign Groups to add: '@KFALL, '@KF<Country><State/Province>, '@KFOT
Be sure to remove the ' and separate each by a comma.

Frequency: 7.096, Back-up 7.033, Tertiary 7.111

Date: Saturday 9/13

Time: 2100-2130 CST, This test should only take a half hour at most. Be there at 2045 CST for test to see if you can even pick up my 5w output.



Example regional callgroup: '@KFUSAOH
KFOT is an off topic call group. I'm assuming there will be spam, and arguing thanks to recent events, but if you could do me a solid and keep it to KFOT that'd be great.

If no one can pick up my transmission, I'll have to figure out how I can get the ~$600 I'd need for the 100W amp Xiegu makes for my radio, or we change host for the next one and let a more powerful station transmit the bulletin. We'll see how it goes this weekend though!
Could you post a short sample alongside what the message is that I could use to test JS8CALL? It's not even decoding its own recorded and replayed transmissions.
 
I'll see if I can drop in. Not guaranteed. Maybe for future nets, if this idea works out I can post in the Community Happenings thread about it, at least once, because I think a lot of non-radio people would be very interested in this idea. I assume we're not throwing out calls for this net?
No calls for this one. I'll have to make up some thing like K1WIN since JS8Call does need a proper format,, and just like GHOSTNET I'll send out a "Message starts" Then send out the headlines that I find interesting and end the transmission with "Message Ends"
That's y'all's turn to copy paste the message and send it back out to keep the message rolling. After 15 min I'll send out a request for news I missed and see if I can receive anyone. We'll have an after-action in the form here. With only 5W power this may fail spectacularly, but it'll be a fun test run.
 
Could you post a short sample alongside what the message is that I could use to test JS8CALL? It's not even decoding its own recorded and replayed transmissions.
I'll try and do that once I get my radio set up for tonight, sorry if I can't get it to you sooner, but check your audio input levels. if its coming in above 70db it'll not decode anything
 
Welp my car is fucked and I'm unavailable for deployment tonight, so I'm limited to reception only from my MLA30 on my balcony. I'll post a signal report here in this thread for anyone I receive though.
 
Have some QRM in the way tonight, unfortunately, I may not be able to pick up a 5W station. I can try TX later to see if I'm getting through.
 
I'm seeing some FSK like signal starting right now. Not strong enough for me to decode. Though JS8 wasn't decoding anything anyways. It keeps popping up saying the decoder is restarting, any tips?
 
Received CQ with maidenhead OC53 (Antarctica, lmao) -19 dB on 7111 kHz LSB, this one of you lads?
1757815477639.webp
 
IAR (In Action Report)

So I fought with windows for 14 minutes. It failed so i ran inside to get my Debian laptop and threw it on here with a minute to go. Fired off a test, i'm transmitting fine, and I sent a test at 2059. I'm still goin on 7.096. F4RMR since that's a non-active call.

Looks like it's more of a rig stress test tonight because the full document is going to take 103 minutes to fully send.
I have a 12v battery hooked up and i just set up a fan on my poor little chinesium brick.

Since it would appear most people are unable to join in tonight anyways i'll just go ahead and post the doc below in a spoiler:

START OF MESSAGE

The Japanese Prime Minister, Shigeru Ishiba, Responsible for African and Indian immigration to Japan, has resigned.

An old lady berates a man for “stealing” home run ball from her. He returns the ball but she loses her job. Father and son receive care package from the stadium.

Youtube angers creators once again with poorly rolled out and ill-defined changes to the video promotion algorithm. It’s so bad, even RedLetterMedia has been affected.

Vito, a fat LA “comedian” who “jokes” about having sex with children, fails to take the largely negative feedback on his picture book well. SchizoSeanTV, for some reason, has inserted himself into this ongoing drama besides being far too old to gain Vito’s interest.

French Government collapses again. Water confirmed still wet.

Birthday card from President Trump to Jeffrey Epstein released, confirming it did actually exist.

ShannyForChrist continues to not be a Christian and prefer Rev and drugs to her own children. Oldest son has begun shaming her online

The Quartering, affectionately known as Quarterplanet, Hamplanet, and many other creative names continues to be a fat, boring grifter proving himself incapable of caring for anything. From letting his vanity fish tank die to declaring himself a 400 pound crusader for Turning Point USA following the death of Charlie Kirk his exploits are too many to list here, unlike the real number of viewers on his livestreams.

Nepal’s government was overthrown in a sudden riot. The current interim ruler was elected using Discord.

Israel bombed Qatar to kill Hamas leadership. Qatar attempts to continue pushing for peace.

Anisa’s Husband single handedly funded PPP’s weekly grocery bill by making a greatest hits reel of Kino Casino’s jokes at his expense, dredging up old drama, and failing to address anything of substance. H3 did his part and shouted out the Casino on his podcast. The Kino Casino then went maximum grift and reacted to H3’s reaction to their reaction.

Ukrainian Refugee murdered by career criminal on North Carolina public transport, increasing racial tensions especially with numerous people coming out in defense of the stabber. Terrorism charges leveled at the stabber.

Kiwifarms website remains poorly optimized and gay, but we still appreciate everything dear feeder does to keep it running. See forum for duct tape donation fund, or bug report thread.

Kiwi Farms Game Jam is completed with several entries from users other than Crunk Lord. hopefully next year we have an even larger turn out
plex.tv has security breach. Change your password if you use it.

Ang Vronda returns with all her headmates and cartoon characters, sporting miraculous healing and discussing uncommon frailty in the same video.

The Goblin of Akron is still bringing strife to his family. His grandmother’s van was vandalized.

Former lawyer, and baldo spokesperson Nick Rekita returns to streaming from his MN basement. He didn’t miss an opportunity to grift off of Charlie Kirk’s death, though was over an hour late to his own stream. He’s still wishing death on Elisa while talking about how violent rhetoric is bad. Also: HE’S FAT! HE’S DISHEVELED!

YMS, a movie review channel on youtube, defends beastiality and is upset Rob’s Media, another youtube channel, has covered it in a video.

Chantal fails her duty as a good muslim wife and ducks the responsibility of cooking for her husband’s family by faking an injury

Robolx attempts to work with Schlep to clean up their public image and hopefully finally address the pedofiles and erp servers in their children’s block game.

Gamer From Mars makes a video to talk about 100 white people that have said nigger. For some reason this is a sensational video.

SF author Patrick S Tomlinson is still fat, despite recent claims. He also claims skills and expertise beyond that of John Wick while discussing the recent murder of Charlie Kirk.

Kiwi Farms successfully registers as a trademark

Charlie Kirk was killed at a speaking event in Utah. Supposed gunman is in custody, analysts like S2 underground have started to poke holes in the official narrative bringing into question if the correct shooter was grabbed and if they were truly working alone, especially since he was communicating about this on Discord.
A website has been created to track all instances of people celebrating the death of Charlie Kirk and listing other people they want shot as well. The website is collecting dox and notifying their employers. Reports of people being fired over their celebration of the assassination are a near hourly occurrence.
Charlie’s wife, Erika, spoke to the media. Please go watch the video for yourself, it was a moving speech.
Hateful actors are continuing to spread provocative images, songs, videos, and posts. I’m expecting this to continue in order to provoke a harsh reaction so they can finally be the victims they’ve always dreamed of being.
The amount of posts are so outrageous that a separate thread has been made to contain the gravedancing and hateful posts.

Jet Neptune’s thread is now out of the Prospering Grounds and in Internet Famous.

Kidd Bandit, professional amateur wrestler, was robbed by a real woman.

Brazil is in the midst of political troubles as well. Former President Bolsonaro has been found guilty of plotting a military coup.

In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s death, numerous false reports of shooting popped up all across the nation. The one in Annapolis at the Naval Academy resulted in a responding midshipman being shot non-fatally by law enforcement. In Colorado an actual school shooter injured 2 students then fatally shot themselves.

Former TG Station owner returned to the forum to shit up the Charlie Kirk thread and somehow managed to break the thread ban system temporarily.

A new species of snailfish was discovered off the coast of California. It’s bubblegum pink and is so ugly cute it’s described as adorable in scientific literature.

Christopher Cantwell posts about his gridr exploits and the struggles of being gay while not democrat. STD dodging and politisperging combine to make a disturbing read with one question left unanswered: Why did he post this?

The Kiwi Farms is having its first ever JS8CALL Net… hold on, that’s what this is!

End of Community Happenings - cutoff at 1300 CST

Farmer’s Comments:
What a week huh? With the tragedies happening around the world it’s hard to notice every single one. Even if you see most of the big ones it’s even harder to care strongly about any of them in a genuine fashion. It can feel overwhelming trying to take it all in. It’s angering when people come out to gravedance on someone who tried to be the bridge in the gap. I can’t tell if it would be worse to give in to the anger and give them the fight they so clearly want, or to try and deescalate. Time will be the judge of that, and I pray deescalation is still a viable option. Conflict is never pretty in the middle of it, and conflict here would be a pyrrhic victory I fear.
Tomorrow is Sunday. If you haven’t been to church in a while, make an effort to go this week. Remember, church is a place you go as you are. No one is expected to be good enough to go, everyone there is in need of a savior, that’s why they’re there.
To echo Null, take the time over this next week to look up your local, state, and national representatives. See when the next town hall meeting is, and make an effort to be there too. The best time to get involved was 5 years ago. The second best time is now. Same goes for getting fit, getting proficient with the weapons you own, and getting prepared. I’m talking to myself here too so know that I’ll be trying to do this too.
Thank y’all for tuning in, setting up your radios, and retransmitting to spread this as far as possible.
If you’re reading this and haven’t the slightest clue what’s being talked about, turn on your VPN and go to https://kiwifarms.st
It’s pretty autistic, and the language isn’t clean there, but it’s a pretty alright place.

73

END OF MESSAGE

Important thing is it would seem that at least my radio is working? I dunno, we can try another approach. i'm not seeing ya @Channel Catfish , but feel free to copy paste the wall of text there and blast it into the ether.

Edit: spelling. adding text.
 
I'm not picking anything up on 7096 USB
 
I'm not picking anything up on 7096 USB
should be an U-Digi mode signal. With me only being 5W out i'm not too surprised if i'm honest. i'd need someone in the same corner of the country with me. At least my radio is reeeing into the night.
 
Damn. My current antenna is optimized for 20 meters, not 40 unfortunately so I know from experience FT8 doesn't carry as well. I'm battery-powered so seeing how long the message takes, I don't think I'll be able to go all the way but I'll try I guess.
 
JS8call keeps throwing the "JS8CALL decoder is restarting" popup and not actually decoding anything. (fixed, I think)

@WanderingFarmer I see you! I think... It's really quiet but I can see what looks like two-tone FSK on 7097.2 are you running it extra long? If not, maybe you should try it.
 
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I'll be honest, i'd restart my computer with that error popping up. I don't know what could be causing that.

I should be on 7.095.5 or so. JS8 decided that was the offset to go with.


r8 my setup.webp
 
Decoding successfully on 7096 USB
1757816949619.webp


02:33 UTC
1757817231758.webp
 

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I'll be honest, i'd restart my computer with that error popping up. I don't know what could be causing that.

I should be on 7.095.5 or so. JS8 decided that was the offset to go with.


Oh you're running LSB, not USB. Most digi modes go USB. Really nice rig!
There's a mexican talking over you for me on 7096 LSB
 
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