On The Air Net Training and Support for
Narrow Band Emergency Messaging System
Emergency Radio Communications Operations
Operational since 2008!
NBEMS Basics for
PEMA/ACS Operations
Sending and Receiving
with NBEMS FLDIGI
Prerequisites for Sending and Receiving NBEMS Operations:
Current
versions of FLDIGI, FLMSG and FLAMP downloaded,
installed and configured
Download
NBEMS apps at www.w1hkj.com
Follow
the directions in :
NBEMS_Basic_Setup_Config_PEMA_ACS_2013.ppt
NBEMS_Basics_Monitoring_Copying_NBEMS_PEMA_ACS_2013.ppt
(Files are available on paNBEMS Yahoo Group, or email kb3fxi@yahoo.com)
A
computer with a working sound card and microphone
(internal or plug in)
An
analog HF and/or VHF/UHF receiver
Open the FLDIGI application
(appearance can vary with different config settings)
Frequency display is in the upper left corner with
the figures in green on the black background.
The automatic correlation of the frequency display
in FLDIGI with your transceiver requires the use of
“rig control” which is not necessary for the use of
FLDIGI and PEMA/ACS operations.
Arrow over the frequency display then right
or left click on each digit to manually
correlate to your transceiver dial frequency.
This will ensure that any of your logged
contacts will record the proper operating
frequency. You will notice that the log book
frequency, as shown in the smaller red circle
to the right, will automatically calculate your
exact operating frequency when you move
your spot on the waterfall.
The frequency in green with the black
background is the transceiver dial frequency
and the other is the dial frequency plus the
offset of the selected spot on the waterfall.
At the upper right corner of the FLDIGI screen are
the RSID controls “RxID” and “TxID”.
When RxID is enabled (with the green indicator), transmissions will start with the
short RSID burst. This will automatically identify, to receiving stations, which
mode you are transmitting.
The TxID tells FLDIGI to identify received RSID signals so that your station can
automatically detect the modes from stations sending RSID.
The waterfall, which appears below the blue text
box of FLDIGI, provides a visual representation of
the received audio from the RF signal.
The horizontal shows the audio bandpass of your receiver on any given RF
frequency. The vertical representation is in time, with the previously
received audio at the bottom and the most recently received audio at the
top. Color is our third indicator representing the strength of the received
signal.... black being no signal, blue being light, yellow being moderate
and red (which usually indicates too high of a level) being very strong.
The Macro buttons appear above and below the
waterfall.
This is a view of the default macro set in FLDIGI. The macros automate
some of the transmit and receive functions of FLDIGI.
Macros can be edited and modified for specific operations and different
macro sets can be saved and recalled for different uses of NBEMS /
FLDIGI such as casual chat, contesting or emergency communications.
Notice the symbols to the right of the text in the macro buttons.
A right arrow followed by a vertical bar indicates that by clicking that
macro, the transmission will both start and stop automatically.
Two right arrows indicates that a click of this macro will start the
transmission but the transmission will not stop automatically.
The macro with two vertical bars indicates that this macro will
automatically stop a transmission.
The macros with no symbols are only used for injecting text without
starting or stopping the transmission.
The yellow box in FLDIGI shows received text and
the light blue box shows the transmitted text.
By double clicking on a received call sign in the
received text box, the call will automatically be
imported into the “Call” log field. Double clicking
on a received name and location will also
automatically import that data into the log screen
above the received text window.
As mentioned previously, different macro sets can be
created and saved, then recalled later.
paNBEMS has created two macro sets for use in
PEMA/ACS NBEMS nets. The first is for those monitoring
and checking in on nets and the second is for use of Net
Control Stations.
In the following slides, we will show how to save and
recall the different macro sets to FLDIGI.
The paNBEMS macro set files are available for download
from the paNBEMS Yahoo Group. To join the group, visit:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/paNBEMS/
Or, email kb3fxi@yahoo.com and I will reply with an email
and the macro file attachments.
Once you get the macro file(s), save them to your desktop.
Right click on the macro file and then arrow over the choice
for “copy” and left click.
Start FLDIGI then click on “File” arrow over “Macros” then
arrow over and left click on “Open” which will bring up the
fldigi.files/macros folder.
Arrow your mouse over into the fldigi.files/macros folder
window, right click, then arrow over and left click on
“paste”. This will place the paNBEMS macro you copied
into the fldigi.files/macros folder.
You should see the new macro file in the fldigi.file/macro folder.
Make sure the new macro file is highlighted by left
clicking on it once then click “open”.
Now you should see the new macro set displayed on the
FLDIGI program.
Determine whether you want to detect RSID in the
entire passband or only on the monitoring spot you
select on the waterfall.
Many HF and VHF/UHF nets have predetermined transceiver dial
frequencies combined with specified spots for the center waterfall
frequency. For these instances, it is recommended to set RSID to only
detect at the spot set on the waterfall for monitoring.
However, there may be instances where we may want to monitor the
entire bandpass of a certain dial frequency such as on VHF/UHF nets
that may switch to very wide/fast modes that require a shift from our
standard 1500 Hz center spot to 2000 Hz center waterfall.
The settings for “search entire passband” can be
found under FLDIGI, Configure, ID as shown in
the graphic below.
Note:
Be sure to always click
“Save” then “Close” to
save any changes made in
the FLDIGI configuration
windows.
Select the RSID modes you want to monitor...
Duplicate the following settings then click on “receive modes”
Select the RSID modes you want to monitor...
Click on “clear all”
then select only the
modes you want to
have FLDIGI auto
detect, then click close.
Key modes for NBEMS
are Olivia, MT63, Thor
and the PSKR MultiCarrier modes.
When your selections
are complete, click
close in the mode
selection window then
click “Save” and
“Close” in the ID/RsID
window.
Software Squelch Settings
The Squelch settings are
found at the bottom right
corner of FLDIGI.
FLDIGI squelch is not a
signal strength squelch. It
is a confidence level
squelch. Check the SQL
button to activate and
adjust the slide to set the
confidence level just above
the point where it
eliminates random
characters from appearing
in the yellow received text
window of FLDIGI.
Select your spot on the waterfall...
Move your mouse pointer to the center spot on the waterfall of which you
want to monitor then left click on that spot. Use the left and right arrows
to fine tune the exact spot on the waterfall according to the audio
frequency figures displayed between the arrows.
In the upper right corner of the
FLDIGI screen, you will see the
“Tune” button. Click this button
once to transmit a tune tone on
your selected spot on the
waterfall. Click the “Tune”
button again to turn off the tone.
If you have a direct interface, you should see your transceiver go into transmit
when you click the “Tune” button. For HF operations, when you transmit the tone,
make sure your transceiver ALC shows little or no level reading and with a 100w
transceiver, make sure that your power output is no higher than 35-50w. ALC
levels can be reduced by adjusting your sound card playback volume levels.
For a great tutorial on ALC adjustments, go to the following K7AGE video on
Youtube at: http://youtu.be/I3CwHaX7t5M
Now, lets transmit!
Click the “CQ/CALL” macro button. You will see the macro data appear in the
transmit window and, if you are using a sound card interface, your transceiver
should go into transmit. The text that is being transmitted in real time in the
transmit window will turn from black to red and the actual transmitted text will
also appear in red in the receive window above the blue transmit text window.
IMPORTANT...
Make sure that your cursor (see the vertical line just to the right of the ^r) is at the
end of the ^r text. If you click your mouse anywhere in the transmitted text prior to
the ^r, the text beyond your cursor will NOT be transmitted, but your transmitter
will stay in transmit mode, sending an idle digital signal indefinitely.
If you ever get stuck in transmit mode, press your keyboard “Esc” key to abort
transmission. The “Esc” keyboard key should be the upper most key on the left.
When a response
is received,
double click on
the call sign to
add that call to
the log window
of FLDIGI.
Now you are
ready to respond
by clicking the
“ANS CQ”
(answer CQ)
macro.
Like the Call/CQ
macro, the ANS
CQ macro will
start and stop
automatically.
After you receive a reply, you may now answer by clicking the “exchange” macro.
Keep in mind that the exchange macro will only start your transmission and insert
the other stations' call followed by your call.
Now, you can manually type your message response.
When you are done typing, and want to turn it back to the other station, click the
“BTU” (Back To You) macro, which will automatically insert the other station's call
followed by “de” and your call, and will insert the ^r code which will automatically
end transmit once all the text is sent.
These are some of the basics of sending and receiving with
NBEMS / FLDIGI.
To learn the rest of the macros, and the general flow of
digital contacts, there is no substitute for just getting on the
air.
The best place to start is by checking in on the regular
paNBEMS nets then making some contacts with the net
participants after the nets.
You will find that digital operators are very friendly and
you will be very likely to engage in casual conversation or
“chat”, which is very good practice in the use of macros as
well as being very enjoyable!
Info and Downloads:
www.w1hkj.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/paNBEMS
Instructional Videos:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/paNBEMS/links
Additional training files and the custom paNBEMS macro sets:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/paNBEMS/files
Need additional help?
Email: KB3FXI@yahoo.com
or join the paNBEMS Yahoo Group email list at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/paNBEMS/
Thank You!
Please keep in mind that all you need to get started is a
computer with a working sound card and microphone
(internal or plug in).
Check your local NBEMS schedules and start out by
just monitoring… then check in and send some files
and messages!
Email: KB3FXI@yahoo.com
Join the paNBEMS Yahoo Group email list at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/paNBEMS/