GAARES-P2P NET RESULTS & MAPPING FOR SUN 24-NOV-2024
Thanks to Kory, W4RZ, for serving as NCS today and also to Ricky NG4DX for backing him up as alternate.
Callsigns checking in today: 32 (plus W4RZ)
Check-in msgs – 80m: 24
Check-in msgs – 40m: 21
Total Check-in msgs: 45
Three stations addressed the check-in message incorrectly to NCS WG4PTP rather than the tactical callsign GAARES-P2P.
30M CAPABILITY SURVEY:
Only 21 of the 32 stations checking in this week indicated that they had 30m capability. The NCSs will be discussing whether we want to proceed with a test or not. Personally, I do not feel propagation on 30m will be good to/from stations within Georgia but we will be looking at a possible test. Feel free to let us know what you think about its feasibility.
FUN QUESTION OF THE WEEK:
The Session window has a block, right below “Favorites”, that shows green Channel Free or Red Channel Busy. You want to connect to WG4PTP to check in. However, the box is red and shows Channel Busy. What should you do? (Pick the best answer.)
A. Go ahead and call the Target Station anyway.
B. Observe the signals on the Vara HF TNC waterfall- If not in the 500-hz area between the red lines, start the call.
C. Never initiate a call when the red Channel Busy light is on.
D. Determine if the incoming signals are anywhere on the Vara HF TNC waterfall. If so, do not call.
The answer is B. The question is basically asking, with regard to digital signals, “Is the frequency in use?” and the answer is derived by analyzing the Vara HF waterfall. If signals fall within the 500 Hz bandwidth Vara is using, then the frequency is indeed busy. If the signals are outside that area, the frequency is not busy for our purposes. What we see across the scope and what we hear are different from what Vara is going to “hear”. Vara may be displaying signals all across the waterfall but it is only decoding signals between the red lines that show its current bandwidth. Vara is very good about filtering the signals outside that band. Yes, there are times when you can improve the speed by using narrow filters but Vara actually recommends you keep filters wide because its internal filtering attempts to ignore signals outside the bandwidth.
Answer A is totally unacceptable.
Answer B is CORRECT
Answer C is not correct, although logic might tell us that it is. The truth is that it is very common for that busy flag to be on, even when no signals are in the entire waterfall. Even noise can cause that flag to come on. So it is okay to initiate transmit by bypassing the pop-up warning that tells you the frequency is busy. Provided there are not signals in the 500 Hz band, of course.
Answer D is overly conservative. Yes, it would work but you might be waiting a long time to transmit. You really only care about the 500 Hz band where both you and the station you are calling are. Remember, we asked for the “best answer”.
Answers reported in check-in messages today are below. If you sent more than one check-in msg, we counted your answer only once.
A none
B 16
C 9
D 5
No answer 2
Total 32 Check-ins
GAARES-P2P NET MAP LINKS for 2024-11-24
80m Map:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1sP-dXTjtSjaGlmIJ4fk0b4BT_YF_a1o&usp=sharing
40m Map:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1ZGVoCYgbYLrhaYKBB33veyu8eKzL5o0&usp=sharing
Next week’s net will be same time, same frequencies, and same short check-in subject line. Later this week I will post the new Fun Question of the Week for that net. Have a great Thanksgiving!
73-
David – ND1J, NCS