New Packet Radio - Hamnet over 70cm

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Daniel Estévez EA4GPZ / M0HXM has been investigating NPR, an open-source modem designed to carry IP traffic over the 70cm Amateur Radio band, with data rates of up to 500 kbps

The goal of this modem is to be used for the Hamnet Amateur radio IP network, to give access to end users where coverage on the 2.3 GHz and 5 GHz bands is poor due to the terrain.

Overall, Daniel think that NPR is a great project. In its present state it is already a useful kit that anyone can build. It is also a very nice platform to study and experiment with TDMA, and its protocol can be modified and improved further. It is also completely open-source.

Daniel Estévez EA4GPZ / M0HXM Blog - https://destevez.net/2019/04/npr-hamnet-over-70cm/


FCC Asked to Allow All-Digital on AM band

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FCC Asked to Allow All-Digital on AM band

Bryan Broadcasting Corp. has filed a petition for rulemaking asking the commission to initiate a proceeding to authorize the MA3 all-digital mode of HD Radio for any AM station that chooses to do so.

Permitting such modernization would “give AM broadcasters a needed innovative tool with which to compete” without harming others in the spectrum ecosystem, it wrote.

Bryan is licensee of four AM stations, five FMs and six FM translators in Central Texas. Ben Downs is the Vice President and General Manager, and submitted the petition along with the company’s attorney David Oxenford of Wilkinson Barker Knauer. Downs also has served on the NAB board in the past, and he has been a vocal advocate for various regulatory steps to “revitalize” the AM band.

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Petition Seeks to Limit Digital Modes to Open-Source Software

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Petition Seeks to Limit Digital Modes to Open-Source Software

The FCC is asking for comments on a new Petition for Rule Making RM-11831 which calls for 'Amateur Digital Mode Transparency'

The FCC is accepting comments on a Petition for Rule Making (RM-11831) seeking to amend FCC Part 97 rules that require all ham radio digital transmissions to use techniques “whose technical characteristics have been documented publicly.” The Petition, filed by Ron Kolarik, K0IDT, of Lincoln, Nebraska, expresses concern that some currently used digital modes are not readily and freely able to be decoded, and it asks the FCC to require all digital codes to use protocols that “can be monitored in [their] entirety by third parties with freely available, open-source software,” per §97.113(a)(4).

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