FT8Call Email! - AR15.COM

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Posted: 9/3/2018 2:06:41 PM EDT

I know we've got the other FT8Call thread, but I thought this might be worthy of its own.

It appears that FT8Call stations, with spotting to the APRS-IS server turned on in the settings, will forward raw APRS email packets! This is a tremendous capability!

You send the message to ALLCALL so that anyone spotting will get it and forward.

Right now the message needs to be formatted as a raw packet, so it's got some crazy rules, as follows:

APRS::EMAIL-2 :[email protected] HOW NOW BROWN COW{01}

Breaking this down...
"APRS" means send to the APRS internet services
"::" is required formatting
"EMAIL-2 " is the address of one of the main APRS forwarding services. Note that you must pad this with TWO spaces because the address here MUST be 9 spaces total.
":" is required formatting
Then the recipient address, don't worry about the all cap's nature of FT8Call.
Then the message, it can be 67 characters maximum.
{nn} the message sequence number. It matters not what this two digit number is as long as you don't reuse the same number two messages in a row. It helps the APRS system identify and kill duplicates.

I recommend you set up shortcuts for your important email addresses so that you are not sending them over the air all the time (and it save character count) as described in this link. I tried this and it worked.

There is currently no way that I'm aware of for email to go from the internet to APRS, but I could be wrong about that.

Turn on your spotting and become part of the network!

I went to https://aprs.fi/?c=raw and found that my messages had been received and forwarded by a huge network of stations (the "***" are me editing out my callsign and email). It is now very feasible to send messages from QRP radios in the back of the beyond to tell folks you are OK, etc. This is bad ass stuff!

2018-09-03 10:34:23 CDT: ****>G3SNT,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,G3SNT::EMAIL-2 :****.****@GMAIL.COM TEST
2018-09-03 10:35:08 CDT: ****>N9VV,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,N9VV::EMAIL-2 :****.****@GMAIL.COM TEST [Duplicate message content]
2018-09-03 11:01:01 CDT: ****>N0JDS,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,N0JDS::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST{01}
2018-09-03 11:01:03 CDT: ****>WB8SKP,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,WB8SKP::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST{01}
2018-09-03 11:01:05 CDT: ****>KI7GZY,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,KI7GZY::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST{01}
2018-09-03 11:01:09 CDT: ****>N9VV,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,N9VV::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST{01}
2018-09-03 11:01:09 CDT: ****>WE4SEL,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,WE4SEL::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST{01}
2018-09-03 11:01:14 CDT: ****>N1AAE,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,N1AAE::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST{01}
2018-09-03 11:01:20 CDT: ****>KU4ZD,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,KU4ZD::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST{01}
2018-09-03 11:01:21 CDT: ****>K9BZ,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,K9BZ::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST{01}
2018-09-03 11:01:21 CDT: ****>N5PRE,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,N5PRE::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST{01}
2018-09-03 11:01:28 CDT: ****>HB9JOI,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,HB9JOI::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST{01}
2018-09-03 11:01:33 CDT: ****>VE7CQX,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,VE7CQX::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST{01}
2018-09-03 11:01:34 CDT: ****>KD4UMQ,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,KD4UMQ::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST{01}
2018-09-03 11:01:34 CDT: ****>EA5ISG,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,EA5ISG::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST{01}
2018-09-03 11:01:40 CDT: ****>MI6JVC,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,MI6JVC::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST{01}
2018-09-03 11:01:40 CDT: ****>KM6CQ,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,KM6CQ::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST{01}
2018-09-03 11:01:42 CDT: ****>HB9AVK,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,HB9AVK::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST{01}
2018-09-03 11:01:42 CDT: ****>CT7AON,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,CT7AON::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST{01}
2018-09-03 11:01:42 CDT: ****>KC4GO,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,KC4GO::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST{01}
2018-09-03 11:01:43 CDT: ****>KK5AA,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,KK5AA::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST{01}
2018-09-03 11:01:45 CDT: ****>K1UTI,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,K1UTI::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST{01}
2018-09-03 11:01:53 CDT: ****>K7DD,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,K7DD::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST{01}
2018-09-03 11:01:55 CDT: ****>K9CBT,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,K9CBT::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST{01}
2018-09-03 11:01:56 CDT: ****>F1ABL,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,F1ABL::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST{01}
2018-09-03 11:01:57 CDT: ****>F5RD,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,F5RD::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST{01}
2018-09-03 11:06:56 CDT: ****>G0LUJ,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,G0LUJ::EMAIL-2 :****.****@GMAIL.COM TEST2{01}
2018-09-03 11:06:56 CDT: ****>G4WNC,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,G4WNC::EMAIL-2 :****.****@GMAIL.COM TEST2{01}
2018-09-03 11:07:08 CDT: ****>N9VV,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,N9VV::EMAIL-2 :****.****@GMAIL.COM TEST2{01}
2018-09-03 11:07:17 CDT: ****>EI2KK,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,EI2KK::EMAIL-2 :****.****@GMAIL.COM TEST2{01}
2018-09-03 11:07:18 CDT: ****>KD8UJG,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,KD8UJG::EMAIL-2 :****.****@GMAIL.COM TEST2{01}
2018-09-03 11:07:22 CDT: ****>PE1KZU,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,PE1KZU::EMAIL-2 :****.****@GMAIL.COM TEST2{01}
2018-09-03 11:07:24 CDT: ****>G3SNT,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,G3SNT::EMAIL-2 :****.****@GMAIL.COM TEST2{01}
2018-09-03 11:07:25 CDT: ****>WB4M,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,WB4M::EMAIL-2 :****.****@GMAIL.COM TEST2{01}
2018-09-03 11:07:25 CDT: ****>KC1GTU,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,KC1GTU::EMAIL-2 :****.****@GMAIL.COM TEST2{01}
2018-09-03 11:07:34 CDT: ****>G4ENZ,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,G4ENZ::EMAIL-2 :****.****@GMAIL.COM TEST2{01}
2018-09-03 11:09:56 CDT: ****>F1ABL,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,F1ABL::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST3{01}
2018-09-03 11:10:20 CDT: ****>KI6SSI,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,KI6SSI::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST3{01}
2018-09-03 11:10:23 CDT: ****>G7OED,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,G7OED::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST3{01}
2018-09-03 11:17:20 CDT: ****>KU4ZD,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,KU4ZD::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST4{04}
2018-09-03 11:17:33 CDT: ****>VE7CQX,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,VE7CQX::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST4{04}
2018-09-03 11:17:34 CDT: ****>EA5ISG,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,EA5ISG::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST4{04}
2018-09-03 11:17:41 CDT: ****>MI6JVC,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,MI6JVC::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST4{04}
2018-09-03 11:17:41 CDT: ****>G3RCE,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,G3RCE::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST4{04}
2018-09-03 11:17:42 CDT: ****>KC4GO,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,KC4GO::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST4{04}
2018-09-03 11:17:45 CDT: ****>K1UTI,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,K1UTI::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST4{04}
2018-09-03 11:17:48 CDT: ****>SQ5PFF,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,SQ5PFF::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST4{04}
2018-09-03 11:17:57 CDT: ****>F5RD,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,F5RD::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST4{04}
2018-09-03 11:18:03 CDT: ****>WB8SKP,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,WB8SKP::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST4{04}
2018-09-03 11:18:14 CDT: ****>N1AAE,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,N1AAE::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST4{04}
2018-09-03 11:19:56 CDT: ****>F1ABL,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,F1ABL::EMAIL-2 :****.****@GMAIL.COM TEST5{05}
2018-09-03 11:20:08 CDT: ****>N9VV,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,N9VV::EMAIL-2 :****.****@GMAIL.COM TEST5{05}
2018-09-03 11:20:17 CDT: ****>EI2KK,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,EI2KK::EMAIL-2 :****.****@GMAIL.COM TEST5{05}
2018-09-03 11:56:49 CDT: ****>WT0DX,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,WT0DX::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST{01}
2018-09-03 11:56:49 CDT: ****>WT0DX,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,WT0DX::EMAIL-2 :********@GMAIL.COM TEST4{04}
2018-09-03 12:36:03 CDT: ****>PA3CWQ,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,PA3CWQ::EMAIL-2 :ME ********@GMAIL.COM{06}
2018-09-03 12:36:05 CDT: ****>N0JDS,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,N0JDS::EMAIL-2 :ME ********@GMAIL.COM{06}
2018-09-03 12:36:07 CDT: ****>W8MDG,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,W8MDG::EMAIL-2 :ME ********@GMAIL.COM{06}
2018-09-03 12:36:14 CDT: ****>N1AAE,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,N1AAE::EMAIL-2 :ME ********@GMAIL.COM{06}
2018-09-03 12:36:15 CDT: ****>LB9YH,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,LB9YH::EMAIL-2 :ME ********@GMAIL.COM{06}
2018-09-03 12:36:20 CDT: ****>KI6SSI,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,KI6SSI::EMAIL-2 :ME ********@GMAIL.COM{06}
2018-09-03 12:36:25 CDT: ****>G3SNT,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,G3SNT::EMAIL-2 :ME ********@GMAIL.COM{06}
2018-09-03 12:36:26 CDT: ****>N0BW,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,N0BW::EMAIL-2 :ME ********@GMAIL.COM{06}
2018-09-03 12:36:40 CDT: ****>KM6CQ,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,KM6CQ::EMAIL-2 :ME ********@GMAIL.COM{06}
2018-09-03 12:36:41 CDT: ****>MI6JVC,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,MI6JVC::EMAIL-2 :ME ********@GMAIL.COM{06}
2018-09-03 12:36:41 CDT: ****>HB9AVK,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,HB9AVK::EMAIL-2 :ME ********@GMAIL.COM{06}
2018-09-03 12:36:42 CDT: ****>K1TGF,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,K1TGF::EMAIL-2 :ME ********@GMAIL.COM{06}
2018-09-03 12:36:42 CDT: ****>KC4GO,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,KC4GO::EMAIL-2 :ME ********@GMAIL.COM{06}
2018-09-03 12:36:43 CDT: ****>WA6LIE,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,WA6LIE::EMAIL-2 :ME ********@GMAIL.COM{06}
2018-09-03 12:36:48 CDT: ****>KM5SW,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,KM5SW::EMAIL-2 :ME ********@GMAIL.COM{06}
2018-09-03 12:36:50 CDT: ****>WT0DX,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,WT0DX::EMAIL-2 :ME ********@GMAIL.COM{06}
2018-09-03 12:36:56 CDT: ****>F1ABL,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,F1ABL::EMAIL-2 :ME ********@GMAIL.COM{06}
2018-09-03 12:36:56 CDT: ****>G4WNC,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,G4WNC::EMAIL-2 :ME ********@GMAIL.COM{06}
2018-09-03 12:36:56 CDT: ****>K9CBT,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,K9CBT::EMAIL-2 :ME ********@GMAIL.COM{06}
2018-09-03 12:36:57 CDT: ****>F5RD,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,F5RD::EMAIL-2 :ME ********@GMAIL.COM{06}
2018-09-03 12:36:59 CDT: ****>G3PXT,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,G3PXT::EMAIL-2 :ME ********@GMAIL.COM{06}
2018-09-03 12:38:18 CDT: ****>EI2KK,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,EI2KK::EMAIL-2 :ME L{07}
2018-09-03 12:38:23 CDT: ****>WU9Q,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,WU9Q::EMAIL-2 :ME L{07}
2018-09-03 12:38:36 CDT: ****>K4SOL,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,K4SOL::EMAIL-2 :ME L{07}
2018-09-03 12:38:37 CDT: ****>VE7WAJ,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,VE7WAJ::EMAIL-2 :ME L{07}
2018-09-03 12:38:42 CDT: ****>CT7AON,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,CT7AON::EMAIL-2 :ME L{07}
2018-09-03 12:38:44 CDT: ****>MU0KNC,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,MU0KNC::EMAIL-2 :ME L{07}
2018-09-03 12:38:46 CDT: ****>K1UTI,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,K1UTI::EMAIL-2 :ME L{07}
2018-09-03 12:38:58 CDT: ****>G4PEN,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,G4PEN::EMAIL-2 :ME L{07}
2018-09-03 12:39:01 CDT: ****>WD4KAV,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,WD4KAV::EMAIL-2 :ME L{07}
2018-09-03 12:39:03 CDT: ****>WB8SKP,APRS,TCPIP*,qAS,WB8SKP::EMAIL-2 :ME L{07}

Posted: 9/3/2018 3:15:38 PM EDT

[#1]

speaking of Email, for some reason the group just started sending me notifications today, my inbox has been on Fire! had to shut that thing down

Posted: 9/3/2018 4:15:25 PM EDT

[#2]

Quote History

Quoted:
speaking of Email, for some reason the group just started sending me notifications today, my inbox has been on Fire! had to shut that thing down

View Quote

And half the messages were originated by some guy named: aa777888-2

Posted: 9/3/2018 4:15:44 PM EDT

[#3]

I've played with a lot of digital mode things over the years. Foxxz and I did a digital mode field day using nothing but psk and some perl software.

That said with all the performance coming in the new modes the UI sucks.

I'm excited to play with ft8call but the interface leaves some to be desired

Posted: 9/3/2018 4:25:32 PM EDT

[#4]

When you send an email, the waterfall lights up from wall to wall of acknowledgements that your email was received.

Posted: 9/3/2018 4:54:09 PM EDT

[#5]

Curious re your comment "sending emails from the back of nowhere is now possible" - is Winmail not viable?

Quote History

Quoted:
When you send an email, the waterfall lights up from wall to wall of acknowledgements that your email was received.

View Quote

Sooo.... does each station fwd to APRS and do you receive as many emails as there are stations that receive the FT8CALL transmit?

Posted: 9/3/2018 5:00:01 PM EDT

[#6]

No, you just get one email.

Posted: 9/3/2018 5:12:46 PM EDT

[#7]

Cool, thanks for sharing. I agree that this is yet another useful tool in this new software.

Off to experiment!

Posted: 9/3/2018 5:13:27 PM EDT

[#8]

I haven't starting looking into this yet, but I would bet you can also text message.

I am not going to try it right now, I have used up my allotted time sitting on my ass for awhile, but just google APRS text messaging, figure it all out and let the rest of us get in on the free ride.

Of course keep in mind that you are putting email addresses and phone numbers out over the air to a wide audience. I am not sure whether I care about that or not.

Posted: 9/3/2018 5:41:16 PM EDT

[#9]

Quote History

Quoted:
Curious re your comment "sending emails from the back of nowhere is now possible" - is Winmail not viable?

View Quote

Winmail/winlink uses a much wider mode that requires more power and active management of the
connection. So it works fine, but it's not something you'd typically do with a portable QRP setup.

This is using a very narrowband mode with gobs of forward error correction and taking advantage
of a pretty massive reverse beacon network to provide redundancy. It's a very clever solution
and I was wondering when something like this was going to happen.

Posted: 9/3/2018 5:41:52 PM EDT

[#10]

Quote History

Quoted:
I haven't starting looking into this yet, but I would bet you can also text message.

I am not going to try it right now, I have used up my allotted time sitting on my ass for awhile, but just google APRS text messaging, figure it all out and let the rest of us get in on the free ride.

Of course keep in mind that you are putting email addresses and phone numbers out over the air to a wide audience. I am not sure whether I care about that or not.

View Quote

One could setup a service where you register your phone number to your callsign, you could then text others by their callsign. Unlicensed users could be issued a non ham callsign with the service.

Txt w1aw "hello there bands are good" de b1b

Posted: 9/3/2018 6:24:09 PM EDT

[#11]

This is very cool; it works well. Thanks for the write up!

Posted: 9/3/2018 6:40:04 PM EDT

[#12]

Quote History

Quoted:

And half the messages were originated by some guy named: aa777888-2

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ahem......

Posted: 9/3/2018 9:03:16 PM EDT

[#13]

Super cool. Is this out of beta yet?

Figures, i just got a pactor modem....

Posted: 9/3/2018 9:04:39 PM EDT

[#14]

Quote History

Quoted:
Curious re your comment "sending emails from the back of nowhere is now possible" - is Winmail not viable?

Sooo.... does each station fwd to APRS and do you receive as many emails as there are stations that receive the FT8CALL transmit?

View Quote View All Quotes

View All Quotes

Quote History

Quoted:
Curious re your comment "sending emails from the back of nowhere is now possible" - is Winmail not viable?

Quoted:
When you send an email, the waterfall lights up from wall to wall of acknowledgements that your email was received.

Sooo.... does each station fwd to APRS and do you receive as many emails as there are stations that receive the FT8CALL transmit?

Actually, it's probably fair to say that Winmail is NOT viable, from a certain perspective. And that perspective is that Winmail is BIG signal mode, you need good conditions to make it go. and you have comparatively few radio mail server (RMS) stations to contact. With FT8Call you don't need good conditions AND you have DOZENS if not SCORES of "mail server" stations who will all happily copy your signal and forward it to the internet. The trade-off, of course, is that you can send multi-kB with Winmail, but only 67 characters at a time with FT8Call APRS email.

As alluded to above, dozens of stations will ACK your email, which, while a bit wasteful of bandwidth, is exceedingly reliable!

Because the email has a sequence number appended, the server will not forward multiple copies. It parses the sequence number and the first message with that sequence number wins. It will not forward another message with that sequence number until it sees another from your call sign with another sequence number. So you can send multiple messages by alternating sequence numbers: 1, 2, 1, 2, etc., or just increase the number each time.

Posted: 9/3/2018 9:06:11 PM EDT

[#15]

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Quoted:
Super cool. Is this out of beta yet?

Figures, i just got a pactor modem....

View Quote

It is effectively out of beta. However, your Pactor modem still has a place. APRS email is only radio-->internet, not the other way. And you can only send 67 characters at a time, not multiple kB like you can with Pactor and Winlink.

Posted: 9/3/2018 9:52:42 PM EDT

[#16]

Cool.

Ill dowload it and check it out, i just have no interest in beta testing and getting a new version every week.

Incidentally, pactor is friggin great compared to the soundcard modes for weakish signal work, got a few cables on order so can interface all the greenies with it, but so far it works great with the 897.

Posted: 9/3/2018 10:47:59 PM EDT

[#17]

I just tried this.

I got lots of ack responses and went to the raw message link and lots of forwards of the email, but I never got the email.

ETA: Second test worked. the msg number at the end {01} must be 2 digits, a single digit will make the email not get sent.

Posted: 9/4/2018 8:00:36 AM EDT

[#18]

Quote History

Quoted:
Cool.

Ill dowload it and check it out, i just have no interest in beta testing and getting a new version every week.

Incidentally, pactor is friggin great compared to the soundcard modes for weakish signal work, got a few cables on order so can interface all the greenies with it, but so far it works great with the 897.

View Quote

What modem did you end up with? Looking forward to a write up!

Posted: 9/4/2018 8:39:06 AM EDT

[#19]

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Quoted:
What modem did you end up with? Looking forward to a write up!

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Its the pac2 usb. With a pac 3 license.

The one thing i immediately noticed was that i was able to connect to way more rms stations when compared to soundcard modes. However many of the stations would connect and then timeout or disconnect without sending data, not sure what that was all about. Also when I did connect the data was sent much more rapidly as expected.

Posted: 9/5/2018 8:32:15 AM EDT

[#20]

Quote History

Quoted:
Its the pac2 usb. With a pac 3 license.

The one thing i immediately noticed was that i was able to connect to way more rms stations when compared to soundcard modes. However many of the stations would connect and then timeout or disconnect without sending data, not sure what that was all about. Also when I did connect the data was sent much more rapidly as expected.

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Quoted:

Quoted:
What modem did you end up with? Looking forward to a write up!

Its the pac2 usb. With a pac 3 license.

The one thing i immediately noticed was that i was able to connect to way more rms stations when compared to soundcard modes. However many of the stations would connect and then timeout or disconnect without sending data, not sure what that was all about. Also when I did connect the data was sent much more rapidly as expected.

From what I've seen, the Pactor 3 modems can connect and stay connected when the Winmor software modems cannot. I think the newer Ardop and Vara modes may be closer to Pactor 4 in terms of data throughput but the Pactor modems do a lot of signal processing in hardware to pull signal out of the noise. I'm hoping to do some experiments with Ardop in particular to see the thruput for that mode. I had an issue with Vara a while back because when I tried to download it, my anti-virus went nuts. Hopefully they've cleaned that up by now.

Posted: 9/5/2018 10:54:06 AM EDT

[#21]

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Quoted:

From what I've seen, the Pactor 3 modems can connect and stay connected when the Winmor software modems cannot. I think the newer Ardop and Vara modes may be closer to Pactor 4 in terms of data throughput but the Pactor modems do a lot of signal processing in hardware to pull signal out of the noise. I'm hoping to do some experiments with Ardop in particular to see the thruput for that mode. I had an issue with Vara a while back because when I tried to download it, my anti-virus went nuts. Hopefully they've cleaned that up by now.

View Quote

ARDOP is effectively the same as Winmor and will go no faster. Vara is very different and much faster, even in its neutered, FCC compliant form. Pactor is unique in that it is the only commercial/amateur HF waveform that does channel equalization, which is what makes it so good, particularly in bad conditions. I believe Pactor also does channel multipath estimation, as well. Neither of these techniques have reached amateur modem/codec/waveform designers as of yet, which is quite surprising since they are widely used in the cellular industry.

Posted: 9/5/2018 9:17:44 PM EDT

[#22]

Yeah I'm generally super impressed with it, had it running at around 10ish W avg right now, no problem for P3.

I have sent mail via Vara, but just the trial version, the whole virus thing is a false positive btw yay visual basic! Vara wasn't fast since I only had the trial, and I had to try multiple stations before I got one to work (same issue with winlink/ardop). As for winlink and Ardop, its not so much the speed but being able to connect at all thats been the issue (same for vara), especially at low(er) power. I've been using this with my ham gear, next step is to get it running with some milpacks if I can, my main concern there is the audio/data processing most of them want to do with the signal or weird shit like not being able to receive in 50hz band at 1700hz with certain c00l guy rigs... The only thing I don't love about the modem is how big it is relatively speaking, its no issue in the shack, but the P3 usb specs have that one being tiny compared the the P2 usb (like several inches)...

I didn't mean to hijack the thread either, I really am interested primarily in low power emcomm email kinds of stuff. And I recall being able to email to text which further extends the viability of the mode. Though not being able to receive a reply sucks balls.

Posted: 9/6/2018 8:46:00 AM EDT

[#23]

Quote History

Quoted:
Yeah I'm generally super impressed with it, had it running at around 10ish W avg right now, no problem for P3.

I have sent mail via Vara, but just the trial version, the whole virus thing is a false positive btw yay visual basic! Vara wasn't fast since I only had the trial, and I had to try multiple stations before I got one to work (same issue with winlink/ardop). As for winlink and Ardop, its not so much the speed but being able to connect at all thats been the issue (same for vara), especially at low(er) power. I've been using this with my ham gear, next step is to get it running with some milpacks if I can, my main concern there is the audio/data processing most of them want to do with the signal or weird shit like not being able to receive in 50hz band at 1700hz with certain c00l guy rigs... The only thing I don't love about the modem is how big it is relatively speaking, its no issue in the shack, but the P3 usb specs have that one being tiny compared the the P2 usb (like several inches)...

I didn't mean to hijack the thread either, I really am interested primarily in low power emcomm email kinds of stuff. And I recall being able to email to text which further extends the viability of the mode. Though not being able to receive a reply sucks balls.

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Obviously with Winlink, you can send or receive emails. I haven't tried the new FT8Call e-mail trick yet but that might be a cool way to send an outbound e-mail out of a disaster area to family someplace with a still working internet. I wonder if you could use FT8Call to send an e-mail out and use Winlink to receive the reply (by using [email protected] in your FT8Call APRS email)?

Posted: 9/6/2018 11:50:23 AM EDT

[#24]

I don't want to put my cell phone number out there, but it probably works for text messages through the providers email to text gateway.

Posted: 9/6/2018 1:16:16 PM EDT

[#25]

Quote History

Quoted:
I don't want to put my cell phone number out there, but it probably works for text messages through the providers email to text gateway.

View Quote

Look at the OP, specifically about making shortcuts for addresses. This way you only have to put the address out there once.

Posted: 9/6/2018 4:52:17 PM EDT

[#26]

Hold off on using the email function. APRS guys are throwing a fit saying that the ft8call email traffic is crashing their servers.

My experience has been that they have been iffy before this, but its their space have to play by their rules.

Probably login data like other software that connects, and restrictions on number of forwards to APRS.fi

Should be squared away in the release.

Posted: 9/6/2018 5:02:41 PM EDT

[#27]

Quote History

Quoted:
Hold off on using the email function. APRS guys are throwing a fit saying that the ft8call email traffic is crashing their servers.

My experience has been that they have been iffy before this, but its their space have to play by their rules.

Probably login data like other software that connects, and restrictions on number of forwards to APRS.fi

Should be squared away in the release.

View Quote

Interesting. Where did you see that? Nothing on this on the FT8Call group.io or FB pages (yet). The FT8Call crowd is also sending APRS positions.

Posted: 9/7/2018 10:00:32 AM EDT

[#28]

It's from the development group, small group of testers since inception.

Instructions on how to do it have been removed.

Next version should have some fixes like throttling packets and changing the header to be a more appropriate igate header. They want to restrict raw packet usage to validated users with a passcode. Their network their rules.

But they are often seen as a great tool for Emcomm and SAR. Instead of fixing their network they complain? Both sides need to get together and make this work, there is too much upside.

Why do so many groups/hams complain when their is actual experimentation going on? Of all hobbies that should embrace it, this is it. Too many people carving out their little kingdoms with walls.

Posted: 9/7/2018 6:11:25 PM EDT

[#29]

validated users with a passcode will not fix the problem, the only people using it are hams that are already validated by having a callsign and HF equipment

Posted: 9/30/2018 3:05:42 PM EDT

[#30]

Sounds very cool. I just tried sending an email using audio computer to computer. The originating one recognised the formatting as an email requiring a passcode which I entered, but the receiving computer doesn't seem to have relayed it to the aprs network.
Hmm. Formatting or permissions somewhere must be wrong. Just registered here by the way.

Posted: 9/30/2018 6:28:35 PM EDT

[#31]

Quote History

Quoted:
Sounds very cool. I just tried sending an email using audio computer to computer. The originating one recognised the formatting as an email requiring a passcode which I entered, but the receiving computer doesn't seem to have relayed it to the aprs network.
Hmm. Formatting or permissions somewhere must be wrong. Just registered here by the way.

View Quote

Welcome to the forum! ARF ham is best ham.

Lots of folks here can help with a variety of issues. All my gear is in a box right now or I'd be trying to get stuff figured out, too.

Posted: 10/1/2018 9:21:04 AM EDT

[#32]

Quote History

Quoted:
Sounds very cool. I just tried sending an email using audio computer to computer. The originating one recognised the formatting as an email requiring a passcode which I entered, but the receiving computer doesn't seem to have relayed it to the aprs network.
Hmm. Formatting or permissions somewhere must be wrong. Just registered here by the way.

View Quote

Hey New Guy! Welcome

Posted: 10/2/2018 7:32:28 AM EDT

[#33]

Nice to be here boys. Thanks. I was a little surprised to see three of my favorite time burners in one place--guns, outdoors and radio.

Posted: 10/2/2018 9:36:26 AM EDT

[#34]

There are a few new things coming in version 7. "FT8Call today can transmit at about 10WPM on average. (8WPM on some sentences and 12WPM on others). With the 0.7 compression algorithm, I'm getting 10WPM minimum, 20WPM peak, and a 15WPM average on normal QSO sentences. Most of the QSOs operators sent me via their ALL.txt files would take 50% fewer transmission frames. Huge!"

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - FT8Call Email!

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