Welcome to my blog space, a piece of the world wide web to record my amateur radio related activities.
I tend to operate on VHF/UHF in and around the South East of England. You will normally find me monitoring the simplex calling frequencies and the local 2m and 70cm repeaters as and when I pass through their coverage areas.
My main area of interest is currently Digital, and I am experimenting with the different Digital voice systems currently available to amateurs. Digital voice modes are an area of contention amongst many amateurs, with some eagerly embracing it, and others choosing to vehemently ignore it.
To some extent, it does offer only a small advantage over existing analogue radio and Echolink internet gateways, but Digital has proven to be a fast moving area of development, and it has come on in leaps and bounds over the last ten years. The latest radios use built in GPS to locate and automatically switch to the nearest repeaters. They allow directed call routing, and give access to reflectors (repeaters and simplex gateways linked to a virtual room). DMR even allows a single repeater to hold two simultaneous conversations.
My main area of interest is currently Digital, and I am experimenting with the different Digital voice systems currently available to amateurs. Digital voice modes are an area of contention amongst many amateurs, with some eagerly embracing it, and others choosing to vehemently ignore it.
To some extent, it does offer only a small advantage over existing analogue radio and Echolink internet gateways, but Digital has proven to be a fast moving area of development, and it has come on in leaps and bounds over the last ten years. The latest radios use built in GPS to locate and automatically switch to the nearest repeaters. They allow directed call routing, and give access to reflectors (repeaters and simplex gateways linked to a virtual room). DMR even allows a single repeater to hold two simultaneous conversations.
The amateur VHF and UHF analogue and digital repeater infrastructure in the UK is a vastly underused and under appreciated resource. If you are a licensed amateur, dig out your hand held or mobile and get on your local repeaters!
Many thanks to all the repeater owners and gateway operators who spend time and money maintaining them. Check out the ukrepeaters website for an up-to-date and complete list of all the UK analogue and digital repeaters and simplex gateways.
Many thanks to all the repeater owners and gateway operators who spend time and money maintaining them. Check out the ukrepeaters website for an up-to-date and complete list of all the UK analogue and digital repeaters and simplex gateways.
