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Wait, PSK? Is this a PSK net or a voice net? I thought it was a voice net, which might be better since everyone has that equipment.
It's both. PSK is the backup. Depending on where you guys are it's between 800 and 1400 miles between me and you. Unfortunately for me, I'm on the south facing side of the San Gabriel range, so I either have to go over it, or I have to take the long way around.
I may see if I can head out to the desert which will give me some more flat land and a lower take-off angle. Also, the LA area is probably one of the most congested RF areas anywhere. I'm neighbors with about 15 million people, and the most powerful AM radio station in the western US, plus myriad AM, FM, and other stations. Just tuning to a blank spot on the dial my S-meter was reading S5 on 20m, and S3 on 40m.
Comments inline in RED:
I was able to listen via websdr and didn't hear anything (from a San Fran station). One reason we chose the 20m band is AmProducts capabilities at the moment, as well as the MUF floating around 17-18 mhz.Near-Real-Time MUF Map <--- It's not an absolute authority on what bands will work, but a strong indicator as we were trying to reach So. Cal., and the DX propagation conditions are more crucial.
In the original vein of a regional net, keeping in the Pac Nor West, we can work within a smaller area usually. The CQ time for the net was also past grey line, so we didn't have that advantage.
It only matters if people transmit
I think we should strive for SSB phone (voice) as the digital modes require more tech (although a computer and CAT cable is really all that's needed for any contemporarily made HF rig, the learning curve for the software make it more complicated than most care for I think).
Agreed, I think AM was kinda've a pointless endeavor. All the frequencies I chose were chosen to be: In the General License spectrum, and were also chosen so operating USB would not take you out of that.
If there is still interest, we should try again this Sunday, an hour earlier, and start at phone CQ frequencies. We can make another frequency decision tree based on what most people have available. Incidentally people who have NVIS type antenna might benefit more with short hop DX; I think 80m-20m are our best starting places. Even 10m might be a possibility.
Works for me, publish the frequency list and I'll hop on as I can. We should definitely keep a BPSK31 portion available "after the voice net". It would be cool if we could do a CW section, but I'm not that good, but my computer can at least interpret it (FLDIGI).
Maybe interested folks can post their band abilities (who haven't yet). 2m is a possibility, and there are repeaters that get around the whole west coast, but it would take a lot permissions and time slots scheduling to make happen on a heavily used system. Again, I think an HF freq is best for a regional net.
HF really is the winner here, however 6m also works really well in the PNW. There's a 6m repeater up near Index I used to talk on all the time. However the 2m repeaters on Tiger Mountain have really good coverage as well (unless you're taking 18 from Fall City to Maple Valley, it just drops through the pass).
One thing we might do, is ask Joe if we can use the NWFA chat to let people who are just listening to check in, like AmRRON and others do; that might appeal to some who want to support the idea and listen in, but don't have tx capabilities.
I don't see why that would be a problem, for what it's worth: paging @Joe Link
Anyway, if people still want to pursue this, please contribute your thoughts and ideas so we can make this as accessible as possible.
^^^^^ Seriously.
I can set up a beacon function on my rig, voice or cw, which I would turn on an hour or so before net time, which could give people an opportunity to adjust their gear ahead of time. Also, checking the beacons is a good way to see where the waves are going International Beacon Project Introduction
If someone has this capability, or want to schedule a time to attempt contact before Sunday, let me know. I'm in So. Oregon, for basic directional orientation.
Sounds good, I'll keep my ears open.
Thanks to AMProducts for seeing the idea through as my chit went sideways last weekend.
If the ball doesn't stay rolling, it will gather moss and be forgotten.