Amateur Radio Operator
Please welcome Sean KQ4JAV to the AREDN family and to the N3FUD AREDN system! Sean hails from Virginia and is starting to work on AREDN in his area of Ashburn, VA.
The AREDN network continues to grow. Join us and help serve the amateur radio, public safety, and experimenting communities.
A few days ago, I was contacted by Jay W7SDA about getting a tunnel to N3FUD-Main. I set up a tunnel for him to start exploring the AREDN mesh. 24 hours later, I created a Supernode tunnel for him as he set up a base network in Highland, Maryland, just west of Washington D.C and just east of Nick, KC3VNC.
Together with Ray, N3HYM, I’m hoping that they can get western Maryland set up with an AREDN RF network and possibly expand the packet network.
THe W3ND BPQ32 Node is coming along nicely. The next steps are to get the radios programmed, connect them, and make sure they work. Once that’s done, I need to talk to the site manager to get the node installed on Blue Mountain north of Harrisburg. It should have good coverage there.
Nick lives in the Silver Spring, MD, area and is working to set up AREDN nodes in Montgomery County, MD. His first node, KC3VNC-AC3, has been connected to N3FUD-Main. Once he connected, he started exploring the mesh right away.
Welcome aboard Nick!!
The DAPNET (Decentralized Amateur Paging Network) is a network operated by amateur radio enthusiasts. It is the new and further developed version of the FunkrufMaster. It consists of a decentral server cluster feeding paging data to distributed transmitters. The most used frequency is 439.9875 MHz and the protocol is POCSAG. Common paging receivers are of the type Skyper or AlphaPoc, but there are others as well. As it is used on amateur radio frequencies, commercial use is forbidden.
I operate three DAPNet transmitters in local spots; one at my residence running 45 watts into a JPole antenna about 20 feet off the ground (definately needs to be higher); one in my vehicle running 0.1 watts as part of a DMR hotspot; and one at work running 0.1 watts as part of a DMR hotspot. All of the transmitters are in the following transmitter groups:
| GROUP | DESCRIPTION |
| ALL | All |
| US-ALL | United States |
| US-PA | Pennsylvania |
| US-PA-ACS | Pennsylvania Auxillary Communication Service |
| US-PA-ACSE | Pennsylvania Auxillary Communication Service – Eastern Area |
| US-PA-ACSC | Pennsylvania Auxillary Communication Service – Central Area |
| US-PA-ASCW | Pennsylvania Auxillary Communication Service – Western Area |
| us-pa-pac001 | Adams County, PA, Weather Alerts |
| us-pa-pac041 | Cumberland County, PA, Weather Alerts |
| us-pa-pac043 | Dauphin County, PA, Weather Alerts |
| us-pa-pac055 | Franklin County, PA, Weather Alerts |
| us-pa-pac071 | Lancaster County, PA, Weather Alerts |
| us-pa-pac075 | Lebanon County, PA, Weather Alerts |
| us-pa-pac099 | Perry County, PA, Weather Alerts |
| us-pa-pac133 | York County, PA, Weather Alerts |
The goal is to place a 45 watt transmitter on Blue Mountain to cover parts of the eight counties in southcentral Pennsylvania, find the dead spots, and then add or encourage others to set up transmitters. I also want to look up at setting up a hub so that if the Internet goes down, pages can still be sent.
I updated the file server to include copies of some of the software used / needed for use with the AREDN servers, including the TeamTalk clients under Windows and Linux.
I also added the NWS National Water Prediction Service website as an accessible link. This provides access to all of the National Weather Service river and stream gauges in the United States.
The connection to Ray N3HYM’s AREDN node has been reestablished on the N3FUD-MAIN AREDN node. With the restoration, access into Maryland and DC nodes is avaiable.
I’m happy to announce that the W3ND-7 packet BBS is back on the air!
Well, sort of. The BBS is back online. I have to configure the radios and soundcard interface, and then it will be ready for installation. The BBS is running BPQ on a Windows platform; Windows was chosen as the OS as the possibility of a VaraFM port may be added in the future.
The original intent was to install it at Reesers Summit. However, due to some site changes, the BBS will probably be installed at the Central Pennsylvania Repeaters Association (CPRA) Blue Mountain site next year. Additionally, the possibility of a digipeater on 145.03 MHz at Reesers Summit is being investigated; the W3HZU-7 digipeater covers 145.01 MHz for York County.
After some trial and error with setting up tunnels on the new AREDN interface, I finally have W3ICK-home linked to N3FUD-NCPA (the PA node tunnel server). It took me a while to realize that the switch showing red meant the switch, and therefore the tunnel, was off. Turning it on (switch to the right) shows up white until the link is completed and the switch shows green.
Miles lives in the southern part of York County, PA, and plans to work with clubs in the area to set up AREDN nodes in York County. He is also the ARRL Eastern Pennsylvania State Government Liaison.
Welcome aboard Miles!!
So much to share, so little time….
About two weeks ago, my main server and weather bots server were hit with a ransomware attack. The main server was cleaned and reimaged, and the hard drive array was scrubbed. The weather bot server was left offline, as the social media server it fed was taken offline.
The packet BBS was reimaged eight weeks ago, so it is in good shape, with new connections through the AREDN and AMPR networks. The main server was reattached to the AREDN network but isn’t offering much in the way of services other than the N3FUD webpage and the fileserver. I’ll get the DAPnet app back online as soon as I rewrite it.
Which brings me to the next topic: backups. I’d been a bit sloppy in backing up hard drives and websites and didn’t have good copies for the main server. That will be fixed this week when I build out the backup application and find a place to store it offsite.
And on the hitlist…. one hurricane that wrecked the hell out of five states, and three more running around the Atlantic Ocean like it’s a playground. Damage from Helene is really bringing out the need for ham radio, as most, if not all, of the infrastructure in the areas she hit got shredded.
It’s not over. Hurricane Milton is spooling up in the Caribbean and is expecting to become a Category 3 hurricane before coming ashore in central Florida, running through Orlando, and clipping Tampa Bay again.