Are you interested in starting out with the amateur-radio digital modes on the high frequencies? Have you heard of FLDigi? FLDigi is a software control and modem suite that interfaces with your transceiver, your computer sound card, and other input/output interfaces so that you can receive and transmit one of many digital modes. For example, FLDigi allows you to operate using the Olivia digital mode.

Demonstration: Using FLDigi to Communicate with Olivia Digital Mode on Shortwave

Unlike the JT/FT digital modes–modes that do an incredible job under marginal propagation conditions–there are other modes that offer keyboard-to-keyboard conversational QSO opportunities that can overcome rough shortwave radio propagation conditions. (The meaning of QSO on Wikipedia: An amateur radio contact, more commonly referred to as simply a “contact”, is an exchange of information between two amateur radio stations.)

While making quick work of getting DX stations into your logbook by exchanging callsigns, a signal report, and a grid square, the JT/FT modes (JT stands for Joe Taylor, the fellow that pioneered these modes) are limited. They cannot handle any additional communications beyond a callsign, a signal report, a grid square, and a very limited set of acknowledgments and sign-off messages.

When you desire to get to know people from other areas of the world, or if you need to establish networks around the world for passing information–perhaps an emergency net in support of the Red Cross–or if you are motivated by any other of a myriad reasons to establish a keyboard-to-keyboard conversation by way of the ionosphere, modes like Olivia are great candidates for your consideration.

In this video, contributing editor with CQ Amateur Radio Magazine, NW7US shares some starting points in the FLDigi software for Olivia keyboard-to-keyboard chat mode.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejSNfXiT8FE[/embedyt]

Current CENTER Frequencies With 8/250 in MHz:

1.8269, 3.5729, 7.0729, 10.1429, 14.0729, 18.1029, 21.0729, 24.9229, 28.1229, and so on. See the pattern?

By the way: The current suggested CENTER frequency With 16/1000 or 32/1000 on 20 meters is 14.1059.

(Why the …9 frequencies? Experts say that ending in a non-zero, odd number is easier to remember!)

Q: What’s a ‘CENTER’ Frequency? Is That Where I Set My Radio’s Dial?

For those new to waterfalls: the CENTER frequency is the CENTER of the cursor shown by common software. The cursor is what you use to set the transceiver’s frequency on the waterfall. If your software’s waterfall shows the frequency, then you simply place the cursor so that its center is right on the center frequency listed, above. If your software is set to show OFFSET, then you might, for example, set your radio’s dial frequency to 14.0714, and place the center of your waterfall cursor to 1500 (1500 Hz). That would translate to the 14.0729 CENTER frequency.

The FLDigi Manual of Operation is found here: http://www.w1hkj.com/FldigiHelp/

FLDigi can be downloaded here: https://sourceforge.net/projects/fldigi/

Join the Olivia movement:

1. Subscribe to the mailing list: https://Groups.io/g/Olivia

2. Join the Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/olivia.hf

For additional information on Olivia, check out:

http://blog.nw7us.us/post/168515010062/olivia-digital-mode-great-compromise

http://blog.nw7us.us/post/169114702522/are-you-an-amateur-ham-radio-operator-check-out

73 de NW7US

[this blog entry originally… well, seconds ago… appeared as a QLOG blog post on the HamRadioNow.tv web site]

If you watched all of HamRadioNow 377, BS#11: ARRL, CQ, Happy New Year you saw my most direct statement that I’m going to leave the show in the hands of my co-host (now full host) David Goldenberg W0DHG. Thanks for the many comments about the show so far, and the ‘don’t go’ requests.

When I finished that show, I felt kind of sad. I’d be sadder if it were really my last show, but I’ll be around a while longer. I’ve committed to go to Orlando in February with a booth in Commercial 3, and I’m planning on a SIB (Studio In a Booth) there. It’ll be nicer than tent city in Xenia. I’m also planning on going to Dayton to shoot some forums, but no booth. Maybe a little tour. The 2018 TAPR DCC in September will depend on a pretty expensive KICKSTARTER (I’m guessing $8000) that I’ll run in June.*

David is getting close to finishing the ‘West Coast Studio’ and being able to run shows on his own. Then the show will take his direction entirely. I’ll be happy to show up as a co-host now and then, but I’m eager to see how David develops as an ‘on-air talent’. It will put him on level ground with most of the other ‘HamCasters’ out there who didn’t come from a professional media background. Only a few did – I’m thinking of Don Wilbanks AE5DW (Ham Nation and Newsline), Valerie Hotzfeld NV9L (Ham Nation), Cale Nelson K4CDN (Ham Radio 360), Neil Rapp WB9VPG (HamTalkLIVE), and some more of the Newsline contributors and anchors who don’t do podcasts. I probably missed a few, and OK, that’s more than I thought, but there are a lot of shows out there by ‘amateur amateurs’.

As I mentioned on the episode, I’ve got plans for a show that’s not ham radio related. My own background started in the ‘general media’ broadcast biz, with stints on-air at several radio stations. I always preferred doing that, but always made a far better living with my video and audio production talent than my on-air talent. I almost got hired to do a talk show out of WMBD radio in Peoria IL in 1986. I could have been Rush Limbaugh instead of Rush Limbaugh, and the whole political landscape could be different today. So it was my fault. OK, dream on, and Rush started his talk show in Sacramento CA in 1984, so I would have had some catching up to do. I didn’t take that job, and it’s a longish story. But coulda woulda.

As I dipped my toe into producing some ham radio videos, I didn’t appear on-camera much. I did short on-camera intros for The Last Big Field Day and Digital Voice for Amateur Radio DVDs, but the rest was voice-over, with the usual ‘invisible producer’ interviews. Even my first Hamvention Tour DVDs starting in 2007 used Jeff AC4ZO on camera more than me. It took a while to build the confidence to step into the spotlight completely.

One of my goals when I started ARVN:Amateur Radio//Video News… a clunky name that became HamRadioNow… was to get more professional video media into ham radio. At the time, ham media was mostly magazines, while video/television was seeping into corporate communications and other non-broadcast interest areas.

CQ had tried making some videos (professionally produced, and released on VHS) in the early 90’s. Video production was extremely expensive back then. A decade later, when I bought a camera and shot The Last Big Field Day, it was DIYish (after spending about $15,000 on my first camera/mic/editing system). I didn’t know it, but George W5JDX was starting AmateurLogicTV about the same time, with way cheaper gear and lower production ‘values’, and putting it on the web instead of DVD. I missed that boat for almost a decade

Before starting, I sought advice from two friends in ham media. Rich Moseson W2VU, who produced the CQ video series and went on to become CQ editor, discouraged me. He considered the CQ videos an expensive and somewhat failed experiment—failed in that they weren’t embraced by the ham community enough to be commercially profitable. Let’s put it this way: they didn’t go on to make a second series. At that time (early 90’s), video production was either really bad amateur stuff (badly shot and edited on VHS), or very expensive professional work. CQ opted for pro. I think it would have looked bad for them to do take the schlock route.

Bill Pasternack WA6ITF (SK), on the other hand, was highly encouraging. Like me, Bill (co-founder of Newsline) had longed to see ham activities documented more professionally. Newsline was a shoestring audio production. It was all volunteer, with just enough financial backing from the audience to keep it limping along year-to-year.

Bill was also part of the team that produced a handful of ham radio films (yes, films), with Roy Neal K6DUE and Dick Van Dyke, and later one with Walter Cronkite, mostly a labor-of-love with modest financial support from the ARRL. As a broadcast video engineer, Bill saw ‘pro-sumer’ video equipment getting better and cheaper, but he was frustrated that the Amateur Radio Today video he produced with Cronkite had little actual footage covering ham operation, particularly EmComm (the video focused on California fires that year, and they had to stage much of what they used). Bill dedicated one of his Town Hall forums at Dayton to encouraging hams to shoot and edit video with the new tools whenever and wherever they could, especially during EmComm operations. So far, that’s not happening.

Bill believed that someone with my technical background could maybe pull it all together. I miss Bill. I was looking forward to many more BS episodes with him on HamRadioNow.

Neither Rich nor Bill was fully right or wrong. Production get did get cheap enough that I could produce videos that looked as good as CQ’s series for probably 10% of their cost. But the ham community still did not embrace them enough to make them a business. My goal (and Bill’s hope) was for a program that could document and present ham radio professionally, both for ham ‘internal consumption’ and to provide grist for the general media mill to tell our story. It wasn’t happening.

Ham Nation appeared on the TWiT network in 2011. Bob Heil brought in one of Ham Radio’s biggest ‘stars’, Gordon West WB6NOA, and asked me to guest-host when he was on the road. Then he discovered George W5JDX from his Amateur Logic series. I suggested they try to incorporate Newsline into the program with a short peek at upcoming headlines, and initially Bob Sudock WB6FDF did the job (but it was never ‘upcoming’ headlines. It was and still is leftovers from the previous week. Have I mentioned that video production takes time?). Bob had health problems, and the Newsline job fell to Don Wilbanks AD5DW. Don’s a total pro, and quickly became a regular part of the full show. I’ll say that Don ‘took my job’ as guest host and leave the long story at that.

I’m gonna also say that in some ways Ham Nation ruined ham radio’s chance at the professional production Bill Pasternack and I had hoped for. The popular show sucked much of the air out of the room for ham media with a low-production-value happy-talk style that put ‘amateur’ back in ‘amateur’ (OK, it never really left). They do some Skype interviews, sometimes newsworthy and sometimes really interesting, but never hard-hitting. They get some videos contributed by viewers with variable quality (and for the ‘big’ show, they don’t get flooded with videos). The most popular segments are about building stuff, a ham staple that lots of other shows rely on and I’ve stayed mostly away from (my Episode 82: Dipole with over 32,000 views is among my most popular, so no, I don’t learn lessons). We don’t know how popular Ham Nation really is because TWiT doesn’t release statistics. Their YouTube channel shows view counts in the 2 to 4k range (with spikes above that), but YouTube is only one outlet, and if that’s just a fraction of the viewers and listeners, we’re looking at 10k or more… maybe in the 20 to 30k range.

TX Factor

There is one show out there that does produce very professional ham media: TX Factor. It’s a British production that began in February 2014. While they cover the usual ham stuff, they do it in a magazine show style (three to five segments in their 40 to 60-minute show… they’ve been getting longer…) that are all shot on location, edited and packaged. It’s a lot of work, as evidenced by the fact that in four years they’ve produced only 19 episodes. They also shy away from controversy, though they’ll occasionally note that something is a bit off here and there.

ARRL… QST-V?

I didn’t intend to do a full media review when I started writing this blog entry, but I should mention the League’s lack of participation. They’ve made a few video programs in addition to equipment reviews and now the Doctor Is In podcast (excellent, by the way). But they’ve never built a TV studio or produced a regular video program, even though they concentrate almost everything going on in ham radio in one building in Newington (and could Skype in the rest). Nor do they go out of their way to get their staff to appear as guests on the many talk-format shows out there. I was able to get some of their leadership on HamRadioNow for a while, but that seems to have stopped when I proved not to be a reliably friendly venue.

Money is a issue at HQ, but I’ll just say that if I can do it with my limited, individual resources, it’s not the main issue. Clearly they don’t see value… a cost/benefit calculation. At least not yet.

Meanwhile I have seen some good stuff from the RSGB (with help from TX Factor). Nothing regular yet, but more than the League has done.

The one area that has consistently produced high-quality video programs are the ones coming from DXpeditions. Not all are top notch, but Bob Allphin K4UEE and James Brooks 9V1Y have led the field in all amateur radio video production. And I’m not saying that just because I edited Bob’s Navassa DXPedition video. And sorry, they’re not online. You gotta buy the DVDs (a few of the old ones have found their way to YouTube). You can watch James’ excellent WRTC 2014 documentary online. That this is the case shows where the money is in ham radio media.

So as my car on the HamRadioNow train approaches the terminal, I’ll say that it’s been very rewarding (emotionally, not financially). I look back over the nearly 400 shows (over 400, if you count the many multi-part episodes), I can’t believe where I got the ambition to do it. And I’m generally happy (sometimes very happy) with my ‘performance’ on-camera. Happier than most of you are, it seems. It is a vanity and ego-driven business, after all. I’m sorry I didn’t get to do what I set out to do – the documentary style programs that TX Factor does – here in the US. I’m sorry that nobody in ham radio has found a way to make a business out of ham video, and maybe the hobby is just too small for that. Maybe it’s just not possible, and all our ‘new’ media will continue to be in the DIY/vanity category.

But I’m not sorry I tried. If I hadn’t done this, I probably wouldn’t have tried doing what’s next.

73, Gary KN4AQ

*And I’ll leave it to motivated TAPR enthusiasts to promote and make the KICKSTARTER successful. It’s not that I don’t want to go, but at this point it will be a business proposition that covers expenses and editing (highly discounted editing). Think of it as you’re hiring me to do it, not that I’m just asking for some support.

Our Amateur Radio and the Maker Community post defined our stance that the future of ham radio is in experimentation and learning. This post builds upon that cornerstone article by outlining why you should even bother getting an amateur radio license. I won’t make points around the ability to talk around the world or independence from infrastructure that are often touted as benefits of ham radio. Instead, I will highlight why as a hardware designer and a software developer having your amateur radio license is a ticket to designing more interesting, useful, and complex projects.

The Federal Communications Commission provided US citizens with an amazing opportunity to experiment with and develop innovative technology when creating Part 97. You should take advantage of this opportunity. Let’s take a closer look at it!

Part 97, Part 15, and Part 18 (ISM)

We’ve seen these terms thrown around with little explanation. Often, they are taken at face value when you come across a transceiver on Adafruit or Sparkfun. In-reality there are very specific reasons a radio may be one or the other and in most-cases not requiring a license is preferred by manufacturers. That’s why Adafruit and Sparkfun do not focus on selling ham radio transceivers. We on the other-hand tailor to radio amateurs. FaradayRF specifies right on our Starter Pack that you must be a licensed radio amateur to use Faraday.

Licensed Versus Unlicensed Spectrum Use

Before we dive into the regulations lets take a moment to talk about the use-cases of each type of radio. We should be careful to directly compare radios such as Faraday which require an individual license against radios such as the Sparkfun RFM69 Breakout as they are aimed at very different use-cases.

Unlicensed radios operating under Part 15 let you do essentially whatever you want as long as you don’t change the manufactured device. There is no requirement to identify who you are and you can encrypt all your communications. Broadcasting is even allowed. Projects looking to connect to WiFi or Cellular networks will absolutely want to be encrypted so they should use these radios. However, as a hardware designer and software developer you’re not allowed to modify the radio or run higher power. Additionally, you’re at the whim of politics and interpretation as seen in the FCC firmware lock-down saga which is still a problem but has been alleviated because some manufacturers are taking a small stand.

Licensed radios operating under Part 97 on the contrary allow you to modify the hardware, firmware, and software to your hearts content. Most operating modes on most bands even allow you to push out 1500W to the antenna (not including antenna gain!) which is honestly just crazy amounts of power. Since most amateur bands give radio amateurs primary or at least privileged use of RF spectrum other users have to accept if you interfere and radio amateurs can also legally challenge interference against unlicensed users if necessary. There are many cases where this power has been helpful and one of the most notable cases is the ARRL and Broadband over Power Lines clash.

While you cannot encrypt your communications the debate is out whether authentication is legal. Exploring authentication will prove to be a fun endeavor in the near future for ham radio. With the lack of encryption the amateur radio community has a completely different feel to it since they want to communicate with each other. Generally, you don’t want your neighbors on your WiFi router but with ham radio we actually want them to join in most of the time. This helps create a community of experimenters that I’m proud to have been a part of since 2004!

Being able to hack at your hardware, firmware, and software just because you passed the easiest amateur radio test to get your technician class ticket makes the effort worth it. Projects like Faraday encourage open communication, open experimentation, and active collaboration on projects that are higher power and longer range than most unlicensed offerings. Next we will explore the differences between the radio services but remember that your amateur radio license doesn’t stop you from using unlicensed radios. It gives you all the privileges aimed at experimentation which I’ve outlined and lasts a lifetime with simple renewals once every 10 years. It’s worth it.

ISM and Part 15 is the Same Thing Right?

No! This is a really easy mistake to make. The Part 18 Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) band radios are not allowed to be used for telecommunications. See §18.107(c) which defines ISM equipment as “Equipment or appliances designed to generate and use locally RF energy for industrial, scientific, medical, domestic or similar purposes, excluding applications in the field of telecommunication“. The ISM bands provide areas of RF spectrum where unlicensed transmissions can occur that are often dirty, broadband, and sporadic. If you’re going to have these types of transmitters emit RF and they generally only need to transmit then grouping them together makes sense.

FCC Part 15 addresses the telecommunications gap for unlicensed use. Part §15.1(a) classifies what types of devices fall under it “This part sets out the regulations under which an intentional, unintentional, or incidental radiator may be operated without an individual license“. The last part about operating without an individual license is the most important statement. If you do not assume the operator is technically skilled enough to understand proper operation then it’s up to the manufacture to make sure the electronics are compliant as marketed and shipped to the consumer. This makes sense due to the FCC having no ability to determine whether you’re skilled enough to operate legally as a general consumer.

Part 15 Radios Using the ISM Bands

Many wireless solutions for makers and experimenters often operate in the ISM bands. This falls under Part §15.247which defines operation on 902-928 MHz, 2400-2483.5 MHz, and 5725-5850 MHz. These bands are three really popular ISM bands with the latter two best known for IEEE 802.11 WiFi use. Even the CC430F6137 used in Faraday is aimed directly at operating under Part 15 on the 902-928 MHz ISM band, that’s why we chose it! There is also a very good reason for manufacturers using ISM bands for unlicensed communications under §15.247. Most Part 18 users who can file complaints against part §15.247 devices do not even attempt to receive in the ISM band. In other words, the lights are on but no one is home.

ISM use is generally used for one-way transmissions such as microwave ovens, medical heating therapy, and IC wafer manufacturing (creating plasma with RF). Most CFL lightbulbs are Part 18 due to the RF energy needed to excite the mercury vapor inside them! Therefore any Part §15.247 radio transmitting on these bands is extremely unlikely to cause any noticeable interference to an ISM device. Secondly, when you as an experimenter use these radios and modify them (however legal that actually is) it will be much more likely that any interference which results will go unnoticed.

So What About Amateur Radio?

The FCC Part 97 rules define what Amateur Radio is. Amateur radio is justified in §97.1 using five points, of which the fourth is our favorite “Expansion of the existing reservoir within the amateur radio service of trained operators, technicians, and electronics experts“. This right here is why we love amateur radio! One of the founding principles of the hobby was to spur innovation.

I will highlight why as a hardware designer and software developer having your amateur radio license is a ticket to design more interesting, useful, and complex projects

You need not look much further before finding §97.103 which clearly states “The station licensee is responsible for the proper operation of the station in accordance with the FCC Rules“. Unlike general consumers the FCC trusts you, a licensed radio amateur, as being capable of properly operating your station. In the more than 100 years of ham radio this expectation of trust and self-regulation has worked out far better than one would initially assume.

So far we’ve only showed you why earning the FCC’s trust is beneficial. Now we will show you what that trust gets you! That’s where §97.303 comes in. Faraday operates on the 33 cm ham band (902-928MHz) as a Part 97 device. More importantly §97.303(b) and §97.303(e) define how we as radio amateurs can use the 33 cm band.

(b) Amateur stations transmitting in the 70 cm band, the 33 cm band, the 23 cm band, the 9 cm band, the 5 cm band, the 3 cm band, or the 24.05-24.25 GHz segment must not cause harmful interference to, and must accept interference from, stations authorized by the United States Government in the radiolocation service.

(e) Amateur stations receiving in the 33 cm band, the 2400-2450 MHz segment, the 5.725-5.875 GHz segment, the 1.2 cm band, the 2.5 mm band, or the 244-246 GHz segment must accept interference from industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) equipment.

As a maker interested in amateur radio these are profound opportunities. You are allowed to transmit unless you cause interference to the “United States Government in the radiolocation service” and you must receive interference from ISM band devices since we are secondary users of this band. As I stated earlier you are not allowed to interfere with ISM devices but since almost no ISM devices have receivers, interfering would prove very difficult to do in practice.

The requirement not to interfere with the United States Government sounds scary but KB9MWR has a great web-page talking about just what these uses are. In summary, you have little chance of actually being required to stop transmitting due to interfering with government radiolocation services. This leaves the requirement of accepting ISM interference as the only real downside to using the ISM band for ham applications. As long as you are OK with some extra RF noise the 33cm band is wide open for ham radio.

The ISM Bands are Junk!

So, ISM bands are largely relegated to “junk” use and radio amateurs must accept interference from ISM devices when using them. This doesn’t mean you have to stop using them when interfered with, it means you have no legal ability to complain about an ISM device bugging you. This is true for Part 15 devices as well and yet we use ISM bands for communications all the time with WiFi on 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. Most garage door openers, wireless headphones, and baby monitors use ISM bands as well. For example, sometimes our microwaves cause WiFi to slow down but most of the time we never notice.

Amateurs have often denounced the 33 cm band (902-928MHz) as junk due to the noise heard on it. This however is antiquated advice. Digital transmissions are much less susceptible to observation of noise than analog transmissions. Using 33 cm for FM voice maybe be irritating but digital users may never notice the noise.

This is why Faraday is pushing the use of 33 cm for hams. Combined with the incredible privileges of a ham radio license, Faraday is set to be revolutionary for the 33 cm ham band. We want you to start experimenting, start learning, and start using amateur privileges on the 33 cm ham band.

Go Earn Your Amateur Radio License… Now!

We’ve convinced you that being a radio amateur is pretty badass. We know it is, too. As a designer or programmer you will find it easy to “earn your ticket” with a little study. The opportunities to work on interesting projects with increased functionality, range, and reliability are a few of many reasons an amateur radio license kicks-ass. Using your Part 97 license gives you the right to build more powerful, more complex, and more useful projects than possible using unlicensed radios.

To use Faraday or any other amateur radio transceiver on the 33 cm band you only need a Technician class license in the United States. This is the easiest license to get and requires no Morse Code skills. The AmateurRadio subreddit has an awesome wiki page on what you need to do to become licensed. Check it out, get your license, and push the boundaries of RF experimentation with us.

We are excited to see you get licensed! If we’ve convinced you to get your license please let us know. We’d also love to hear your thoughts on the benefits and drawbacks to using ISM, Part 15, and Part 97 devices here in the United States. Leave us your thoughts in a comment below!

We are simply conversing about published documentation regarding ISM, Part 15, and Part 97 regulations and are not lawyers! Do not take this article as legal advice.