Category: Training

This is Dylan, KC1PDS, a recently licensed amateur radio operator. Dylan made his first connection with the packet radio network after his club meeting with the Wireless Society of Southern Maine.

Dylan is interested in setting up his own gear for use with packet radio. He has a Yaesu 7800r, just like the club uses for the WS1EC-15 node in Windham.

Brad, KC1JMH and Vice President of the club, discussed the equipment he would need, provided him a quick rundown of the software used, how to connect, hot to move around from node to node, and how to send and receive BBS and Winlink RMS mail.

We look forward to seeing Dylan’s call sign on the nodes again in the future!

With the recent work done to the Southern Maine Packet Group network to enable and connect to the Midcoast Maine UHF Backbone, the Knox County quarterly exercise was able to expand and share their simulated emergency test to Cumberland and York County.

The packet network was used to send messages between Knox, Waldo, Lincoln, Cumberland and York Counties around May 22nd, to and from representatives of each of the county’s Emergency Management Agency offices.

A full write-up is available on pages 6 through 12 of the Maine Telegraph Newsletter, June 2021 edition.

https://www.mainearrl.org/newsletter

Thursday, March 25th, the Wireless Society of Southern Maine held a training net to coordinate a training exercise utilizing the Southern Maine Packet Group’s Cumberland and York County EMA nodes. We passed Winlink and BBS mail traffic, and communicated via packet Chat. Two members worked from new setups, and this allowed them to work out the kinks.

Read the full report on the WSSM ECT Blog!

Brad here, KC1JMH. I did a presentation this evening after the Wireless Society of Southern Maine business meeting, about what packet radio is, what it’s used for, and demonstrated how one connects to a node to send and receive BBS and Winlink mail.

The club runs the WS1EC node for the Cumberland County Emergency Management Agency, Maine.

Our discussions lead to stories about the marine stations we have contacted with Winlink as a training exercise from our region’s traffic coordinator, Steve KB1TCE. They have made for some fascinating contacts, a view into another lifestyle!

There was a lot of information to absorb, but this was meant to be an introduction. We’ll certainly have some practical hands-on training in the coming weeks. 73!