• SteppIR Antennas
• Ham Best Practices
• JS8Call
• Fox Hunt

Net operation

When Net Control calls on you, you should address the group and close with your call sign. If you wish to address a comment to a particular person, you need to ask Net Control for permission first. If permission is granted, have your conversation with that person and then indicate that you are returning the frequency to Net Control.

ALWAYS, wait for Net Control to acknowledge you before speaking and give your call sign right away so everyone knows who is talking. AND, lastly, remember, to comply with FCC rules, you must identify yourself by call sign every 10 minutes and when you are finished speaking. 

(a) Each amateur station, except a space station or telecommand station, must transmit its assigned call sign on its transmitting channel at the end of each communication, and at least every 10 minutes during a communication, for the purpose of clearly making the source of the transmissions from the station known to …

How often to use callsign?

Please keep in mind that my reasoning in bringing these questions is for clarity in communications, especially when clarity and transfer of important information is needed quickly and clearly. What we do in routine communications will carry over into an emergency communications situation. Outside emergency agencies may not appreciate this.

1. It is my understanding that this section applies to all transmissions analog and digital. If I am wrong please let me know.

If I am correct then maybe some members need be reminded.

your call is built into whatever protocol your using
but giving your call as normal is IMO good practice 
when we are running Fusion I see everyones call on the screen of the radio 
but we all still announce our calls, as old habits hang and that will playout the same for any digital voice mode

This is incorrect. Only DSTAR and Fusion pass your callsign. An LID in EDACS or P25, and the user number in DMR and NXDN do not suffice as IDing per Part 97.

2. When conducting the nets call signs are given all to often and unnecessarily so. This provides no meaningful information and only clutters the communications

Example: Rick, as control operator, asks for check-ins by name and call sign. After check-ins have been completed, calls on Bob-KE6JGM to take a turn. Bob starts his communication with his call sign. And ends his communication with his call sign. Why the call sign at the beginning. It’s unnecessary, provides no information that has not already been provided by net control and is not required by Part 97. Everybody else follows suit like lemmings.

3. Phonetics for clarity! For clarity means if the given call sign is not, or may not be, understandable due to static or band conditions OR is called for by net control for clarity of the call sign.

since 95% of the time we have a clear channel phonetics are not necessary unless called for. Routinely using phonetics provides no meaningful information to the communication other than the demonstration that an operator can use phonetics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_operation

JS8Call

Getting Started with JS8Call – One of best things going in Digital HF!

“The idea with JS8Call is to take the robustness of FT8 mode and layer on a messaging and network protocol for weak signal communication on HF with a keyboard-to-keyboard interface. JS8Call is heavily inspired by WSJT-X, Fldigi, and FSQCall and would not exist without the hard work and dedication of the many developers in the amateur radio community.”

http://js8call.com

More than the sum of its parts

JS8Call is more than simply a conversational FT8, which is itself very cool. One of the many things that make it unique are the automatic HeartBeat (HB) transmissions, and the ability to put your station on automatic mode. The way it works is this: STATION1 sends out a HB signal. All stations who hear the HB signal and are on auto will send a reply with a signal report (SNR).  Unlike WSPR, this is not for propagation reporting. This informs operators about who is hearing their signal and who can relay transmissions.

Remote stations on Auto are now able to be used to relay messages. Imagine that STATION1 hears STATION2 calling CQ, but ST2 can’t hear ST1’s reply. But you saw ST3 acknowledge ST2’s HB earlier and know they can communicate. So, you reply to ST2’s CQ with ST3>ST2>HW COPY? ST3 hears it, and relays it to ST2. ST2 hears it and it pops up on their screen that they received a relayed message, and they have the opportunity to reply. If they reply it will also go through the relay.

I had such a QSO where I could hear ST2 but they could not hear me, and so I used ST3 as a relay in one direction, and ST2 replied to me directly.

How to get on the air with JS8Call

First off, you need a digital interface for your rig to your computer. I use a basic Easy-Digi kit found on ebay, but if you want you can scrounge audio transformers and an optical isolator from other projects or recycled electronics and build your own. Since the setup is exactly the same as FT8, and there are many tutorials on how to setup for FT8 already online, I’ll refer you to those and focus on setting up with JS8Call.

If you’ve never done digital before, then try a few FT8 QSO’s and come back. Done? Okay great! JS8Call is like FT8 but without the structure, and WITH the ability to have a nice chat and relay messages around the planet.

Download and Install JS8Call from the JS8Call Wiki Download Links page. Be sure to read up on it at JS8Call.com also. The documentation sheds a lot of light on the mode and what is possible. I stronglyrecommend the documentation in full before getting on the air.

Getting started with JS8Call – your first QSO

When someone calls CQ, simply answer “HW COPY?” and thus starts the QSO. It’s that simple. Exchange SNR’s and log it when you’re done. JS8Call is in slow motion. When a reply is coming in, you’ll see it, and if it has a ~ at the end, then you know they’re done. Then you can type your reply and send it. When you’re leaving the QSO just use “SK” at the end of your last message.  Simple as that!

The JS8Call community is very welcoming and the developers are willing to listen to your input. I highly recommend joining their Groups.io group. There’s also the Portable Digital and QRP group on Facebook that is quite good!

https://www.delta25.de/JS8-2021-11/JS8Call_Guide.pdf

Fox Hunt Basics

http://www.arrl.org/direction-finding

https://theprepared.com/blog/tracking-down-radio-signals