| AMSAT | AMSAT Satellite Real-Time Status Amateur Satellite operators provide up-to-date status active satellites in real-time. https://www.amsat.org/status Satellite Frequency List AMSAT satellite status and frequencies are updated frequently and published in many formats on this web page. www.ne.jp/asahi/hamradio/je9pel/satslist.htm SatNOGS satellite ground stations SatNOGS is a global network of satellite ground-stations running open-source software such as a Raspbian image and client software for Raspberry Pi and Linux OS. There are also project designs for a 3D printed azimuth/ elevation rotator and home brew beam antennas. https://satnogs.org Serenity CubeSat I’m pretty sure this is the first amateur radio satellite based on raspberry pi. Use frequency 437.1 MHz FM to send x.25 telecommands to request information packets to be sent back.
https://teachers-in-space.com/serenity |
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| NTS | ARRL National Traffic System During disasters or other emergencies, radiograms are used to communicate information critical to saving lives or property, or to inquire about the health or welfare of a disaster victim. www.arrl.org/nts DFW Traffic Net The DFW Metroplex Traffic Net is a local affiliate of the ARRL’s National Traffic System. Our purposes are to move NTS radiogram traffic into and out of the Dallas/Fort Worth area through the NTS, and to provide training for amateurs interested in traffic handling. All licensed amateur stations are welcome and encouraged to participate. https://www.dfwtrafficnet.org K8AMH NTS training Aaron K8AMH is the NTX Section Traffic Manager and has excellent NTS training resources on his web site. https://www.k8amh.com NTS Methods and Practices Guidelines (PDF) NTS Methods and Practices Guidelines (NTS MPG) is the working reference manual on Message Formatting, Message Handling, and Traffic Net Procedures in the NTS and NTSD. It shall be the uniform reference guideline document for STMs, Section/Local NMs, and Area Staff members. For consistency, the MPG should also be the guidance reference for handling formal record traffic by ARES(r). www.arrl.org/files/file/NTS_MPG2014.pdf |
| Repeaters | W5EBQ Repeater System on the Dallas Green Building 52.59, 146.7 and 441.925 FM repeaters are linked together and have wide-area coverage due to the height of the building. https://www.repeaterbook.com/repeaters/msResult.php?band=%25&freq=&loc=&call=w5ebq&features=%25&emcomm=%25&coverage=%25&status_id=%25&order=%60freq%60%2C+%60state_abbrev%60+ASC N6LXX repeater system 53.13 and 443.7375 FM repeaters are located on a 1500 foot tower in Rosston, TX with wide-area coverage. When propagation opens up on 6 meters the system is able to link to repeaters located in TX, CA, NV, CO https://www.repeaterbook.com/repeaters/feature_search.php?system=N6LXX%20System&state_id=%25&type=systems North Central Texas Connection NCTC is a repeater system with linked radios that are spread across North Central Texas (and beyond). The UHF and VHF repeaters are mostly linked using RF link radios, but some internet links are sometimes connected via AllStat, DMR, Wires-X and EchoLink. The primary objective is to provide communications between the National Weather Service in Fort Worth and SKYWARN storm spotters during times of inclement weather. Sometimes other linked repeater systems are added during severe weather, state emergency drills, training nets and special occasions. Other affiliated systems include: FLG ETECS ERS NESTxLINK N5OAK https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1fSV6GMj8DqKAfetU8AG51zPKsKQGeKqp&shorturl=1&ll=32.693203002932314%2C-97.36946599997549&z=7 W5DFW - Republic of Texas Repeater System The W5DFW repeater on 29.66 FM is linked to several UHF remote base repeaters in the DFW area. A link to Internet Archive is used because the w5dfw.org server is misbehaving. I recommend scanning all listed frequencies for occasional DX and other fascinating traffic. https://web.archive.org/web/20190915061840/http://www.w5dfw.org |
| SKYWARN | Important guidelines for SKYWARN nets "A quiet conference, with transmissions limited to reporting criteria, is a huge asset. This makes it easier to place a report or for the NWS to contact stations and linked systems directly." "Be aware that NWS radio operators may be working several radios and spotter nets across the warning area. Too much noise or unnecessary transmissions may force the NWS operator to mute or turn down the audio on the offending station in order to take other reports. Then when the offending station or net actually needs to transmit a report, the NWS operator may not hear it." "The National Weather Service Radio Operator has top priority with the exception of a report that includes a threat to life and/or property. If you hear WX5FWD or Weather Service make a call, stand by." https://wx5fwd.org/guidelines NWS Fort Worth Hazardous Weather Outlook This is a link to the latest Hazardous Weather Outlook for the areas covered by the NWS Fort Worth office. I recommend checking this at least daily and pay special attention to the statements about potential spotter activation. https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/wx/afos/p.php?pil=HWOFWD NWS Fort Worth SKYWARN Program "Every year, NWS Fort Worth conducts over 40 SKYWARN classes within our coverage area of 46 counties in North and Central Texas. These classes are usually held between January and March, before the spring severe weather season." "SKYWARN® is a citizen volunteer program with between 350,000 and 400,000 trained severe weather spotters. SKYWARN® storm spotters are citizens who form the nation's first line of defense against severe weather. These volunteers help keep their local communities safe by providing timely and accurate reports of severe weather to the National Weather Service" "Since the program started in the 1970s, the information provided by SKYWARN® spotters, coupled with Doppler radar technology, improved satellite and other data, has enabled NWS to issue more timely and accurate warnings for tornadoes, severe thunderstorms and flash floods. Storm spotters play a critical role because they can see things that radar and other technological tools cannot, and this ground truth is critical in helping the NWS perform our primary mission, to save lives and property." https://www.weather.gov/fwd/skywarn WX5FWD SKYWARN Team "The WX5FWD SKYWARN™ team are volunteer radio operator liaisons for the Fort Worth National Weather Service (NWS) North Texas SKYWARN™ Spotters. During SKYWARN events, you are reporting information to our team and the NWS warning forecasters. Three goals of a storm spotter are to safely observe, identify and report conditions. Weather spotters provide what's called "ground truth" to the National Weather Service and emergency weather management. Spotters are needed because, while radar is very good at helping the National Weather Service see what's going on in the upper atmosphere, it's unable to detect what's actually happening on the ground because of the curvature of the Earth. Knowing the "ground truth" about a weather event from the location can be the deciding factor to issue a warning." https://wx5fwd.org |
| Software | Build-a-Pi - Compile and Config Ham Code Get up and running fast with a Raspberry Pi for ham radio. KM4ACK maintains and updates this script that downloads, compiles and updates several software packages that are useful to ham radio operators. https://github.com/km4ack/pi-build QRUQSP - Online and Offline Ham Tools Open-Source Field Day and Winter Field Day logger, Weather station on a Raspberry Pi, TNC for APRS, NTS Radiogram training and much more. https://qruqsp.org SatNOGS - Satellite Ground Station SatNOGS is a modular and scalable stack for Satellite Ground Station implementation with rotator control, transceiver control, a machine-readable crowdsourced satellite information database and a network of ground stations. https://satnogs.org/documentation SvxLink - EchoLink for Linux Advanced repeater controller and EchoLink software for Linux including a GUI, Qtel - The Qt EchoLink client. NOTE: I learned about this from Tom KE5ICX when he posted about the W5FC-R EchoLink node. It's nice to know that there is an alternative to the official EchoLink software, which runs only on Windows software. https://www.svxlink.org |