The June club meeting will be held online via WebEx (https://bit.ly/2Tv4bXh). If you have any questions about joining the meeting, please email president@k0kkv.org.

Multiple Frequency-Shift Keying and Mysterious Olivia — Trans-Polar Fun and More

If you have taken the leap into using your shortwave transceiver as a digital mode communication tool, perhaps with the highly popular FT8 mode, or with another mode that uses a computer rather than with your voice or by using a Morse code key, then you understand the effectiveness of digital communication. If you have only heard the glowing reports from others who have tried digital modes, then you are a candidate for a new journey that can be rewarding in many ways.

Olivia MFSK is an amateur radioteletype protocol that uses multiple frequency-shift keying (MFSK) and is designed to work in difficult (low signal-to-noise ratio plus multipath propagation) conditions on shortwave bands. The signal can be received accurately even if the surrounding noise is 10 dB stronger. It is commonly used by Amateur Radio operators to reliably transmit ASCII characters over noisy channels using the high-frequency (3 MHz to 30 MHz) spectrum. The effective data rate of the Olivia MFSK protocol varies but is typically around 150 characters per minute.

Frequency-shift keying (FSK) is a modulation scheme in which digital information is transmitted through discrete frequency changes of a carrier signal. The technology is used for communication systems such as telemetry, weather balloon radiosondes, caller ID, garage door openers, and low-frequency radio transmission in the VLF and ELF bands. The simplest FSK is binary FSK (BFSK). BFSK uses a pair of discrete frequencies to transmit binary information, “0s” and “1s.” With this scheme, the “1” is called the mark frequency and the “0” is called the space frequency. RTTY is an example of a BFSK radio signal modulation scheme.

Come meet Olivia and the digital chat mode that makes FT8 obsolete for social radio enthusiasts.

— Tomas Hood, NW7US

The May club meeting will be held online via WebEx (https://bit.ly/2KEY65D). If you have any questions about joining the meeting, please email president@k0kkv.org.

The Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES) consists of licensed Amateur Radio operators who voluntarily registered their qualifications and equipment with local ARES leadership for public service communications duty when disaster strikes. The ARRL set in motion a new ARES strategic plan to improve collaboration with government and human services agencies and streamline community disaster response.

The LARC May club meeting presentation, “Intro to ARES,” will give a history of ARES and outline what you can do as a volunteer. We’ll also give the “nuts and bolts” of the organization. James Nelson, WØJRN, Southeast Nebraska District Emergency Coordinator (SE NE DEC), and Ed Holloway, KØRPT, Nebraska Section Emergency Coordinator (NE SEC), will tag-team this presentation. Please plan to attend this online presentation on Wednesday, May 13, at 7:30 pm via www.neares.net/larcmeeting.

The April club meeting is April 8 at 19:30 via Facebook Live on the LARC Facebook page.

2020 Lancaster County Spotter Training

This year, like last, will be the Lancaster County Spotter Training for Amateur Radio operators. The PowerPoint that we normally show during our presentation will again be used. All ham radio operators, who can participate in SKYWARN nets and callouts should view this presentation. I will include a question in the middle and end of the presentation that will need to be answered after the presentation concludes. Please visit www.neares.net/lcst and supply your name, call sign, quiz answer, and then click on “Register.”

Please see the LOG for additional details.

At the direction of the local health authorities, the April 8 club meeting will not be held in-person. However, the presentation by Ed Holloway, KØRPT, Nebraska Section Emergency Coordinator, will be live-streamed on Facebook Live. Ed will present on the 2020 storm watch procedures, so this will be of interest to anyone who wants to be involved with storm watch operations in Lancaster County, this year.

The live stream will begin on April 8 at 7:30 PM and can be found on the club Facebook page at fb.me/LARCLincoln or by searching for Lincoln Amateur Radio Club on Facebook.

We will continue to evaluate the situation before we make a decision about the May meeting. If you have any questions, please reach out to me at 402-613-4444 or wj0tx@arrl.net