Tag: digital

  • What Is CommStat? The Complete Guide to JS8Call’s Group Status Board

    What CommStat is, how it works with JS8Call, why StatReps matter for emergency comms, how groups use it, what you need to run it, and how the versions differ.

  • AREDN Node Hardware: Which Routers to Buy

    AREDN does not run on random WiFi routers. Here is the hardware that actually works, and why it matters.

  • What Is an HF NVIS Regional Net?

    What an HF NVIS regional net is, why it beats a repeater net as a regional comms test, plus modes, antennas, radios, and four station builds.

  • Getting Started with JS8Call: Setup and Your First Contacts

    Part of our Getting On The Air guide. JS8Call takes the weak-signal decoding strength that made FT8 popular and points it at a completely different goal: real keyboard-to-keyboard conversation over HF, not just a quick exchange of signal reports. How It Differs From FT8 FT8 is built around a rigid, automated exchange format, callsigns, grid…

  • Getting the Yaesu FT-857D on FT8 with WSJT-X

    Part of our The Yaesu FT-857D: The Complete Guide. What You Actually Need The FT-857D predates USB audio interfaces, so getting it onto FT8 means bridging two separate connections: a CAT cable for rig control and a sound card interface for audio in and out. A USB sound card interface like a Digirig handles both…

  • FT8 Contesting: How Digital Contests Actually Work

    Part of our Getting On The Air guide. Most hams who run FT8 do it casually, working stations one at a time while doing something else with half their attention. Contesting on FT8 is a completely different animal. It is fast, structured, and genuinely competitive, and understanding the difference will save you a frustrating first…

  • Pi-Star vs. WPSD: Why I Switched My DMR Hotspots

    Part of our Getting On The Air: Modes, Operations, and Making Contacts guide. I ran Pi-Star for a long time before switching over, and now every hotspot I own runs WPSD. Both projects do the same underlying job, but a couple years of running both back to back has made the differences pretty clear to…

  • Brandmeister vs. TGIF: Comparing the Two Big DMR Networks

    Part of our Getting On The Air: Modes, Operations, and Making Contacts guide. If you’ve spent any time programming a DMR codeplug, you’ve run into these two names. Brandmeister and TGIF are the two networks that carry almost all of the DMR traffic hams actually talk on, and if you’re setting up a hotspot for…

  • What Is QSO One (qso1.net)?

    Part of our Getting On The Air: Modes, Operations, and Making Contacts guide. If you’ve been in any DMR or AllStarLink group lately, you’ve probably seen someone mention QSO One. It’s a free app for Windows and Android that gets you on several digital voice networks without a radio, a hotspot, or any hardware at…

  • MAGNET: A Nationwide HF Network for Mutual Assistance Groups

    MAGNET connects Mutual Assistance Groups across the US over HF, using digital modes for grid-down comms. Here’s what they do, who runs it, and how to reach them.

  • Two Cheap Ways to Get Into DMR

    Part of our Getting On The Air: Modes, Operations, and Making Contacts guide. DMR is one of the cheapest digital modes to actually get on the air with, and you don’t need a nearby repeater to do it. There are two realistic paths in: buy a little hardware, or skip the hardware entirely and run…

  • 2001: D-STAR Published, the First Ham-Specific Digital Voice Mode

    Part of our The Evolution of Amateur Radio timeline series. Every digital voice mode I operate today, C4FM on my FTX-1, DMR on my AnyTone, all traces back to a research project the Japanese government funded in the late 1990s. The result was D-STAR, and it holds a distinction none of the other digital voice…

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