Amateur Radio Users Monitoring Shortages Around The Country

[JohnyMac]

A friend sent me a great article about hams using didgital QSO's to report food and supply shortages around the country.

If we had another hiccup in the food chain as we did in the spring, you?d probably keep up with it via the internet ? by monitoring sites like The Prepared, or by checking social media. But what if the supply chain problems were combined with a cyberattack or other disruption to the internet or broadcast media? How could you communicate with other people around the country to find out whether empty shelves were a local phenomenon or a nation-wide one? -Start Prepping

Looks like AmRRON is doing similar to what Unchainedpreppers ERIN (Eastern Region Intelegence Network) net does every Tuesday. They are using JS8CALL software. Currently the ERIN net is sharing information using Contestia 4/250. Has anybody played with JS8CALL? If so please give a report using this thread.

I am glad to see other hams out there connecting and sharing the truth. 

[FeedingFreedom]

Never used JS8, but after reading more about it I'm going to try it. I'll report back.

[Sir John Honeybucket]

I have used JS8call and for what's its designed to do, it works well.  JS8call works keyboard to keyboard even inder extremely weak signal conditions. However, JS8call is designed to be SLOW, to allow the standard mode to communicate as low as -24dB signal to noise ratio. Standard mode is 16 words per minute. You must keep your system clock within 2 seconds of the station(s) you want to communicate with. This is easy when your station computer is connected to the internet, but without internet, you can use a GPS synch'd computer or use one of the several manual methods in the software, like using WWV audio from your receiver and hitting a 'sync on the minute' button, which is in a pull-down menu in JS8call.

>>>====> JS8call is great for group/team comms, using it like phone texting.

>>>====> JS8call automatically records any callsigns heard on-the call frequency passband (this is a two edged sword re: COMSEC/OPSEC).

>>>====>  JS8cal is excellent as a PERSISTANT , back channel way to keep a group informed, to check propagation between stations and to redirect others to a specific freq/mode for fast transfer of bullitens.


A. I would not recommend JS8call for bulletins of more than a couple of sentances, due to it's low speed (which is a design FEATURE).
B. JS8call is VERY handy for those who want a 'watering hole' frequency' to touch base at random/between regular skeds.
C. JS8call does NOT require those silly ROLL CALLS that most nets use (45 minute roll call and 10 min of traffic;-(   ) because all callsigns heard are posted onto the srceen.
D. JS8call copies ALL stations within the receiver passband (USB passband is usuall 2500 to 2800 Hz - conservatively.)
E. You can create a GROUP CALL like"@ERIN" to 'PING' your entire group (immediate roll-call) , send messages to a specific grou, sub-group or individual callsign and to retrieve any stored messages from that group/individual.
F. Did I mention that JS8call can store & forward messages, RELAY via another JS8call station   Handy

For more information, I'd recommend SURVIVALTECH NORD
https://www.youtube.com/c/OH8STN/search?query=JS8call

and

Jason / KM4ACK , with emphasis on how to run it and more onva Raspberry Pi in the field
https://www.youtube.com/c/KM4ACK/search?query=JS8call

In short: JS8call works very well as a team/MAG on-air CHAT ROOM, watering hole, propagation tester and much more. You can even use it to send a VERY SHORT, one-way e-mail, APRS message. This feature can be handy in a local/regional grid down, to send a one way mSafe&Well/SITREP to friends outside of the impacted area.  As a bulletin mode, CONTESTIA 4/250 is faster and still quite good in poor signal/noise conditions.



Sir John Honeybucket

[JohnyMac]

Thank you Sir John!

[pkveazey]

Speaking of monitoring shortages...... The local Family Dollar store has had the freezers totally empty except for milk and eggs for about 2 weeks. Finally, they got a full stock of stuff so I cleaned them out of the items that I usually buy. I'm having to keep track of cat food because we have stray cats hanging around and I hate to watch them starve. Damn!! Now we have the cats, at least 2 Possums, and 2 Skunks coming onto the front porch to eat and drink. I like them but those skunks really stink. I told the wife that I was going to move the food and water out into the side yard and put it under the Concrete round picknic table. When things get really bad, I guess the animals are going to have to fend for themselves. Prices are starting to really get ridiculus. Even Gasoline has jumped up to about $3.20 a gallon. A few months ago it was $2.69.

[Nemo]

So this JS8 is a program I download and get set up?  It works on my laptop and typing or onboard mic works with it?

Do I need to patch it to a radio?  Do I need an antenna?

Nemo

[JohnyMac]

Yes Nemo, you need a radio, antenna, and amateur radio license.

[Nemo]

I guess I need to get one of those.  Talked to my brother and he has a general radio / telephony license.  I was hoping I could piggyback on his but his is not HAM license.

So find me a good cheap amazon jobber.

Any of those good priced, good capability, not recent govt limited still available there?

Nemo

[pkveazey]

I guess I need to get one of those.  Talked to my brother and he has a general radio / telephony license.  I was hoping I could piggyback on his but his is not HAM license.

So find me a good cheap amazon jobber.

Any of those good priced, good capability, not recent govt limited still available there?

Nemo

I'm guessing that there are still some of the BaoFeng UV5R's at AMAZON that haven't been built to only operate in the Ham Bands. You'll have to look close at the specs to make sure you're buying the right one's. I bought a dozen of them recently and Johnny bought 6 of them right after I did so I'm guessing they still exist for a while at least. My suggestion is to buy as many as you can get your hands on because they won't be available forever and when you need them, you will wish you had 100 of them. Marine band is License free (25 watt max), MURS is license free (2 watt max) , and FRS is license free (2 watt max except 1/2 watt on channel 8 through 14). The wide open version of the UV5R's will operate in all those bands. You can do a little bit of studying and get your Technician Ham License later.

A little History on the General Radiotelephone License: There were 3 levels of the Radiotelephone license in the past. 3rd class Radiotelephone License was issued for people who operated radios licensed to someone else. People like Taxi drivers, Radio announcers, Policemen, Civil Air Patrol, etc. Then there was the 2nd class Radiotelephone License that allowed you to work on and make adjustments to radio transmitters up to a cetain point. Then there was the 1st Class Radiotelephone License that gave you all the priviledges of a Radio Engineer like being the Radio Engineer at a Broadcast Radio or TV Station. Then somebody, in their infinite wisdom or lack thereof, decided to create the General Radiotelphone license and 1st phone and 2nd phone licenses were combined so that 2nd phone holders now have 1st phone priviledges. I had a 2nd phone license and they Issued me a lifetime General Radiotelephone license. The General Radiotelephone license pretty much became worthless because now any uneducated jackass can now work on transmitters because the FCC put the responsibilty of the radio properly operating on the Owner of the Radio Station. The Radio Stations usually hire holders of the General Radiotelephone licenses because they want to make sure that their Engineers know what they are doing because they don't like paying those hefty FCC fines. The only cool thing about having a General Radiotelephone license is that the holder can make BRIEF ON THE AIR TESTS on any radio frequency. Yep, even Police and Government frequencies. When I say brief, I do mean brief. You can key up to check power level outputs and VSWR measurements and audio checks but that is it. You cannot have a conversation with other stations. OK, you might get away with a station on that frequency telling you that they can hear your test.