FreeDV Aims to Bring Open-Source HF Digital Voice Into the Mainstream

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FreeDV Aims to Bring Open-Source HF Digital Voice Into the Mainstream

ARDC grant will fund development, documentation, and promotion of this important open-source amateur radio technology.

To advance the state of the art in HF digital voice and to promote its use, Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) has awarded $420,000 to the FreeDV Project. With this grant, the FreeDV Project team will:

  • Hire experienced digital signal processing developers to work with the volunteer staff to improve speech quality and improve low signal-to-noise ratio operation, making FreeDV performance superior to single-sideband (SSB) over poor high-frequency (HF) channels.

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Astronauts from UAE Taking on Space Education

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Astronauts from UAE Taking on Space Education

The website has a strong tie-in to the classroom experience and each week new topics will be released discussing the challenges and discoveries of space travel. There are also classrooom-based activities for educators to download for their students. As part of a 20-week learning programme, students around the world will watch each episode as it is released with subtitles

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Getting Serious About Sat-Phone Service

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The FCC is getting serious about defining spectrum - and usage guidelines, for consumers’ use of satellites in emergencies.

A recent move by the FCC means that increasing numbers of smartphone users may discover what hams already know: that when there's no terrestrial service, additional coverage is readily available from satellites.

Smartphones may soon have a direct connection to satellites when necessary, following a move by the US Federal Communications Commission to set out guidelines for such service. While space-based connections are already a reality on a limited basis with Apple phones and are in the works for T-Mobile, SpaceX, Qualcomm and Iridium, guidelines are still needed to sort out the rules for broader implementation. A recent draft document by the FCC seeks to explore this kind of supplemental service and how it would work.

The FCC said in a news release that this would require agency authorization for terrestrial-based providers so they could provide licensed operation on a part of the spectrum reserved for them. Phones would switch to the satellite signal when no other signal is available.