Aloha,

The Hawaii team providing video supervised Internet Amateur Radio
licensing exams just passed the 100-candidate mark on August 10th with a
session testing ten candidates simultaneously. Candidates from all
Hawaiian Islands, Puerto Rico,  Guam and US military bases in Okinawa
have had an opportunity to sit for licenses.  The high pass rate of 95%
is most likely due to candidates having time to prepare for the exam.

Success is due to the team of volunteer examiners that contribute their
time. ZOOM meeting video lends itself to handling three candidates per
session and each requires three VEs.  The 1 to 1 ratio of candidates to
VEs makes planning sessions important.  Fortunately, the team of 15 VEs
has volunteers from Oahu, Maui, the Big Island, California, and the
Pacific.  Frequently hams from, Okinawa and Guam are helping license and
upgrade hams in Hawaii.

It looks like testing opportunities for Hawaii residents will continue
to be needed for a while longer. Please pass on the word that remote
video testing is available and all are welcome to register for a test at


     http://hameducation.org/register

For information on how tests are conducted click on the link at,

     https://tinyurl.com/y5sdcf52

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Aloha,

Lots of education opportunities popping up on ZOOM these days.  Joe
Tabrah (KH6FHI) has stepped forward to organize a session on high speed
VHF/UHF FM digital communications.  It is headlined by an overview of
adapters by the designer of the cards many Hawaii hams are using in
repeaters and Winlink equipment.  Here’s the announcement of what’s
planned to help help more Hawaii stations get on digital.

QUOTE
Aloha all,

ARES is planning a zoom information and training session for Saturday, 8
August at 10:00 AM to help local amateurs equip and program their
VHF/UHF radios to operate Winlink and other digital modes. 

For many of us connecting our radios to a computer to use Winlink seems
like a major project.  On the HF side, transceivers with inbuilt sound
cards make it simpler. Most ham software operates with audio frequencies
in the range of voice communications; A good match with HF Winlink!

Amateur Radio FM VHF/UHF equipment is capable of “Hi-Fidelity” audio
but most transceivers have audio circuits to optimize voice
communications.  This removes high frequencies unwanted for
person-to-person communications.

There is a class of Japanese transceivers designed for VHF/UHF packet
radio with an audio path that skips the voice optimization allowing
“Hi-Fi” frequencies to be transmitted.  It is called 9600-baud
packet, a name that was suitable when hardware TNC modems were used.
With today’s computer sound card modems, more appropriate names for
the two modes would be NARROW (voice) and WIDE (high speed digital).

ARRL ARES has arranged for Masters Communications to give us an overview
of the Digital Radio Adapter (DRA) series used by many for Winlink
communications.  Kevin Custer (W3KKC), the designer of these cards, will
meet with interested Hawaii hams on ZOOOM Saturday, August 8th, at 10:00
AM.  Interested? Send an email requesting an invitation to,

     dra-zoom@...

For Amateurs wanting to know what audio adapters and cables to use with
their VHF/UHF equipment, advice can be useful. To help with that,
attending the session will be four Hawaii Amateurs with digital adapter
experience.

Kauai
  Jim Pilgram (NH6HI), who recommended Kevin’s repeater adapters
  as a candidate for Winlink audio.

Oahu
  Van Malan (NH7IT), a member of the Winlink Development Team
  Peter Matsunaga (KH6DK), a BETA tester for these adapters

Big Island
  Jim Huntley (WH6FQI), a BETA tester for these adapters

These guys are already helping many Hawaii hams get on Winlink.
Attendees will have an opportunity to meet them and discuss
implementation.

73 de Joe Tabrah, KH6FHI
UNQUOTE

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Aloha,

Alan (AD6E), the HQP Chairman, reminds us the Hawaii QSO Party is next
month.  HQP is the one HF event where stations worldwide point their
antennas at us.  It is an opportunity for more modest stations to fill
out their WAS and DXCC lists.  There are many still looking for a KH6
confirmation.

It is a low-key contest, a fun event, with contacts having a chance to
chat a bit about Hawaii instead of high-pressure competition.  Here's
Alan's invitation.  And take a look at Alan's new web site. I especially
like the new Hawaii multiplier maps making it easy for Hawaii stations
to figure out their multiplier.  Well done Alan!

QUOTE
Please save the dates: Aug 22-24 for the Hawaii QSO Party

     https://www.hawaiiqsoparty.org/

The HQP will run from 0400Z 22 August to 0359Z 24 August. Work as many
stations on as many bands and modes as you can. Complete rules:

     https://www.hawaiiqsoparty.org/sample-page/

The biggest complaint I heard last year was “Where were all the Hawaii
stations?” We really need YOU to get on the air and make some QSOs.
This is our one big HF event of the year and there will be a LOT of
folks out there looking for HI. This event will be active for 48 hours,
but no one has to be active the whole time. Think of it as a 48-hour
window of opportunity. Play radio as much as you like during those
hours.

A map of the Hawaii multipliers can be found here:

     https://www.hawaiiqsoparty.org/mult-map/

While most QSO parties use their counties as multipliers, here in Hawaii
we only have five counties so we've expanded the multiplier list to use
“districts” instead roughly following the ancient Moku.

All digital modes (RTTY, FT8, FT4, PSK, whatever) are considered
“digital” so there are three modes to use: CW, Phone, Digital.

Hopefully, the WX will cooperate and we'll have some excellent
conditions.

With Aloha,
Alan AD6E / KH6TU
HQP Chairman
UNQUOTE

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Aloha all,

There is a lot going on in the Amateur Radio digital communications
arena.  Amateur Radio under the leadership of the ARRL LAX ARES group,
developed a real-time data processing system using Amateur Radio digital
message that captures information about earthquakes.  Working
cooperatively with the U.S. Geological Survey, the  sole science agency
in the Department of the Interior, hams developed use of Internet to
capture earthquake reports from individuals that quickly gives first
responders and others information about an affected area.  For more
information about the USGS follow this link to their web site.

     https://www.usgs.gov/about/about-us/who-we-are

Based on an Amateur Radio Winlink message template, data from ham
operators is delivered directly to the USGC database computer without
the need for human intervention.  It sounds complicated, and maybe the
served agency’s computer database and writing a template are, but the
reporting system only requires training on using Winlink, something
easily mastered.  The worldwide Winlink system now processes over 60,000
messages per month.  Over 30,000 hams already have a Winlink account.
It is not hard to use!

Hawaii ARES played a major role in the first USGS exercise, which is
recognized in Oliver Dully’s presentation to the 71 ARRL ARES sections
yesterday.  With only 22 hours advanced notice, Clem Jung (KH7HO) put
together Hawaii’s participation of about 18 Winlink operators, a
significant contribution to the project.  The Hawaii Amateurs even added
reporting for a real earthquake in the Fern Forest on the Big Island
that occurred soon after the simulated exercise. Check out Oliver’s
presentation PDF at

     http://www.hawaiiarrl.info/stories/2020/USGS.html

Oliver is an accomplished presenter and his commentary adds a lot to his
charts.  Here is a link to his talk to the ARRL EmComm group yesterday.

     https://vimeo.com/437004042

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