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Voice nets for NCPACKET

These nets help people working to join the network to get connected, and help the community stay aware of our project. In addition, since the NCPACKET network is a text service, the voice nets give us an oportunity to interact verbally, regularly. The Net is a forum where questions about NCPACKET may be asked (and often answered on the spot). The nets are open to any licensed amateur who is curious about NCPACKET. We welcome your inquiries!

The nets are moderated and are intended for NCPACKET matters only, not for general ragchew.

All but the HF net use standard analog FM on local repeaters, with standard offsets. Join the net whose repeater is nearest you. We are grateful to the clubs in the Triangle area that make these repeaters available for our nets. But you don't have to be a member of a club to join an NCPACKET net on that club's repeater.

All nets meet weekly except as announced. All times Eastern. Watch for info on these nets on the TARPN and NCPACKET groups.io email reflectors.

• Thursday, 7 pm: 442.150, PL 131.8. NCPACKET info net. This repeater is southwest of Chapel Hill.
• Friday, noon: 444.525, PL 82.5. NCPACKET info net. This repeater is in north Raleigh.
• Sunday, 9:00 pm: 3.942Mhz LSB. TARPN info net. Please check tarpn@groups.io email reflector for latest news.

In addition, there have been monthly or semi-monthly gatherings of NCPACKET participants for a weekday lunch. They will be announced in advance on the ncpacket@groups.io email list (see above).

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Youtube Videos

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NCPACKET Callsign Badge

We'd love you to have one of these to wear at ham club meetings, at hamfests, and at NCPACKET gatherings.

Order from Oyster-Creek

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Off The Grid

Our networks will depend on Amateur Radio Operator controlled infrastructure, including HF, VHF, UHF, microwave and wired links. Our network won't be disrupted by short term or long term disruptions in the CATV, Cellular, or other Internet systems. We get to build and operate our own network for fun and education and to build a community for social value, for the ease of cooperation, and for mutual inspiration.
No Internet required. No Internet desired.

Why Off The Grid?

It has been shown (to the founders) that packet networks which combine Amatuer Radio with Internet do not attract or promote Amateur Radio operation, and instead results in a network which is the worst combination of fragility of Internet and Amateur Radio. By cutting off the Internet connection we're forcing any station, who wants access to our group and our network features, to do the work required to build onto the independent ham radio based network. While this will discourage some potential Internet users, it has been shown to increase the amount of individual participation in the network's operation. Everybody you meet on the network will be actually on the Amateur Radio network.

Our separation from commercial networks will require manual cut and paste by a ham-in-the-middle for any traffic which bridges the divide. Our participants and group members will enforce this requirement and will absolutely not do station remote control (of the packet station) via commercial means or perform automatic relaying of our content into commercial networks, including via VPNs. All links of data into and out of our network will be by ham-in-the-middle. We insist on separation from commercial networks and any other Amateur network which does not insist on separation from commercial networks. Any bridge to commercial networks (or other merged networks) must be by ham-in-the-middle manual cut and paste.

Why TARPN?

TARPN has a very usable installation package which gives access to the powerful G8BPQ suite of tools with almost no learning or effort. They have decent instructions and plans for hardware, including cabinetry. TARPN is a collaborative group (which many NCPACKET people should participate in) which creates new solutions to make setting up a sophisticated, multi-radio, high performance, Amateur Radio packet switch easy, and inexpensive, for anybody.

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What about Winlink, APRS, ARES, and MARS?

There are many ways to use ham radio. Most of them can co-exist in the same community.

APRS and Winlink are ham radio and Internet systems. Both can be used without Ham Radio involved, and both can be used without Internet involved.

Winlink

Webpage for WinLink
Winlink is a system for connecting remote radio hams to an Internet email address, and for creating a common Internet email presence which can be accessed by hams from the Internet and from ham radio using various packet radio schemes. Winlink does not specifically create a vhf/uhf packet radio network, or create a resource for training new digital networking technologists. TARPNs are not particularly useful for Winlink and also don't compete for resources, much. A single ham can do both a TARPN and be part of WinLink. Just don't share the data back and forth except by cut and paste.

APRS

Webpage for Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS)
APRS has multiple facets. APRS is well known for serving as a last-hop extension of the Internet, providing a web-page map of the positions of many items. But it doesn't have to end there.

On the Internet side, APRS carries data from thousands of ham radio transceivers which are called digipeaters and igates. That data is agregated by Internet servers which perform a switching duty to allow a stations on ham radio APRS in one region to have messages relayed back to ham radio in a different region. In addition. the Internet servers permit access to traffic relayed to and through the Internet so one can look at one's own historical beacons, or message traffic to and from other APRS participants.

On the ham radio side, APRS is what we call a Sparse Network in that the channel is usually quiet. APRS ham radio transmissions are not immediately acknowledged, and failure to deliver does not result immediately in a retransmission. APRS works very well, especially considering the unpredictable presence of participants, but a lack of guaranteed deliver creates a very different experience than a TARPN. APRS is also well known for being a way for stations to send their locations to their friends who would be watching, or for alerting event coordinators of what stations are in the area.

APRS could be used for a chat protocol, allowing multiple stations within range of each other to send text messages to one another. In practice, the terminals used for text entry and display are almost always Internet connected and don't even need ham radios to participate.

A TARPN is not currently competition for APRS because we don't have a mobile instantiation of the TARPN plan and TARPNs don't operate on 144.39 Mhz. It's possible that some people who are active with APRS might also be interested in participating in a local TARPN. There's nothing stopping a ham doing both.

Your author is a participant in both APRS and TARPN. I acquired a Kenwood TM-D710G for the purpose of exercising the real-time ham-radio chat aspect of APRS. I think the ham radio community can do better than the TM-D710G in ham-radio exclusive operation, and I'm willing to work towards that.

ARES

Webpage for Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES)
ARES can use a TARPN.
It may not be what they'd have designed, but if we have a state-wide TARPN, they may become interested. Let's find out. Warning:: Some organizations, in support of emergency preparedness, will pre-position club-owned or county-financed packet radio equipment including networking capability. It has been the experience of some of our membership that government financed equipment often times is a dampener to Ham financial involvement. Please do not ask for funding to build a TARPN. TARPNs are supposed to be fun. That they could become critical in times of emergency is just what Amateur Radio does. It's not a reason for us to become non-amateur.

MARS

Mecklenburg Amateur Radio Society
The Mecklenburg County ARS, Charlotte and vicinity, has one of the few over-the-air packet networks in North Carolina, and it has been continuously running since the 90s. The idea for using Raspberry PIs and low-cost TNCs together with G8BPQ to create packet network nodes (which led to the creation of TARPN!) was presented to the TARPN founders by MARS members. We have nothing but appreciation for the hard work members of MARS have put in to keep their system updated and operational. That said, the scheme they have been using since the early 2000s may be counter productive if the goal is to get more people using and practicing Amateur Radio packet. I think the goal of MARS is to maintain a capability to do messaging using Internet, with a fallback to packet radio. The TARPN is not compatible with the MARS packet radio projects so long as they automatically tie-in to commercial networks. However, there are plenty of radio resources and hams to permit both to coexist. I'd like to think that if we get big enough across the state that the members of MARS will join us, hopefully without having to dismantle what they've maintained all these years.

How do we build the NCPACKET network?

There are two paths to take, depending on what TARPN nodes exist in your area. If there are any TARPN nodes, make contact with the operators and see if they can find a way to get a link to you. A link requires a pair of radios and TNCs, but we're on a pay-it-forward model mostly. Anybody who already has a TARPN node will probably be eager to add new links, within limits.

If you are not in range of an existing TARPN node, consider building a couple of your own, even if just to run across your hamshack. The cost of building 2 nodes on the bench are right around $200. Getting them on the air to span a distance is where the expense lies because it takes antennas and coax. It's all fun, and the unique TARPN-specific equipment is all resellable. The TNC we're mostly using comes as a the easiest soldered-kit known to man, for $30 or so, and once assembled is easily re-sold if you decide this was a bad direction to go.

If you can create a new TARPN network which is geographically separated from the existing networks, you'll also create a vacuum which will attract new node developers. This is a very good thing. It is quite fun and rewarding to be the key-stone to finally get two disparate networks to be connected.

Check out the shopping list and more youtube videos.

Repeater Sites?

Almost anybody doing packet radio in the mountains is going to quickly turn to the idea of repeater sites. Some of the people we'll attract to the hobby won't be 2-way radio/repeater professionals (no kidding, right?). Click here for information about how to coexist with repeater sites.

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Hamfest Photos

• Concord NC (Charlotte MARS) is in March ??      2019photos
• Kinston NC (Down East Hamfest) is April ???      2019photos
• Raleigh NC (RARS) is April ???                          2019photos
• Catawba Valley Hamfest, Morganton NC is late April      2019photos
• Reidsville NC (Rockingham County ARC) is early May
• Durham NC (DFMA DurhamFest) is late May      2019photos
• Salisbury NC (Rowan ARS) is July 6

NCPacket news

Historical news entries when I was able to keep up. 2015-2020 Click to Show/Hide News History July 9, 2020 NinoTNC has revolutionized the network. We have half a dozen 9600 baud links now as well as a couple 2400 baud links. REED node is up but the connection needs work. This is true also of GEORGE and MARKDM ED, KEITH, JACK, BRNTLY, BEN, JAY, ELIJAH and JP nodes are new with ELIJAH, JP, BEN, JAY connected to the network. . JACK node is up and connected to BRNTLY using 9600 baud Tait radios but they are isolated for the moment ED and KEITH are also up, also with TAIT radios but isolated. IAN has moved and is now connected into ERECH and BILLY from Wendel. DAN has three 2m cavity filters and can work ADRO, REED and FFVC without interference now. Many things are pending, as is usual. March 22 2020 NinoTNC A2 units have shipped. NCPACKET has about 60 of them. REED node is on the air in Apex working with a temporary connection to DAN in Pittsboro KEVIN K4KDE moved and is now linked to TILL with an excellent and shorter path. DAN to ADRO is down pending arrival of cavity filters at DAN. This orphanned GEORGE FIN to AARONJ is off pending the new NinoTNCs. ANOIA is back off-line with more antenna work. . ERECH to BILLY is intermittent Jan 21 2020 We're now testing several NinoTNCs in IL2P mode at 1200 baud and 9600 baud. See the map. GEORGE put a 6m vertical moxon in a tree in Swepsonville and is now linked to ADRO on 51.56, though it is intermittent still FIN to AARONJ is offline temporarily. We're having RFI problems where 6m causes TNC-PI to corrupt. ANOIA node is back on, having moved his antenna. IAN1 o ANOIA is having trouble. AARON to ERECH moved to 2m. ERECH now linked to BILLY on 446.975. Our nodes now show show on APRS.FI Dec 17, 2019 GEORGE put a 6m vertical moxon in a tree in Swepsonville and is now linked to ADRO on 51.56 FIN to AARONJ is offline temporarily. TNC-PI malfunction at AARONJ maybe? KILMER is back online. ANOIA node is still off, moving his antenna. MARKDM is still cut off . ERECH got a new antenna in a tree and AARONL to ERECH is now on 440.1. Aaron KN4ORB is working on getting our nodes to show on APRS.FI Dec 8, 2019 BOBS has his new 6m antenna up and the BOBS to DAVE link is working KILMER went down to rebuild. ANOIA node is off, moving his antenna. MARKDM is cut off for a bit. FIN to JOHN is now up. Welcome N8ZU to the network. DAN is now linked to ADRO. Nov 17, 2019 BOBS and TADD are now linked on 438.025. BOBS is working on his new 6m antenna to fix the BOBS to DAVE link KILMER and FIN 927.2 link is working now. ANOIA node will need some work soon. The tree in which his packet antenna is hung has died and removing the tree will require relocating the node hardware. TADD and DOUG are linked using the NinoTNC-A0 and that's working about 10x as fast as the TNC-PI with Kenwood radios Nov 9, 2019 ERECH and GREG are both back on the air this weekend. DAN:K4FD amd BOBS:W4TTX have joined our netework. BOBS is in north Raleigh and is linked into DAVE on 51.14. He's having some RFI issues so it's still a work in progress. DAN is in Fearington, part of Pittsboro NC, and is linked to FFVC. Dan is interested in linking to people around him using several SD125 data radios he bought from Jim WB2LHP in Michigan. KEN node is intermittent. Work required. IAN is now connected to ANOIA and FFVC. ANOIA node will need some work soon. The tree in which his packet antenna is hung has died and removing the tree will require relocating the node hardware. Sept 29, 2019 IAN is linked to ANOIA -- IAN to ADRO coming soon Sept 24, 2019 We had a pretty rotten summer with the divided network. Several links went fallow with the 4-month long split of the network. The good news is that due to the work of half a dozen hams, including Billy's eagle-eye slingshot work, TADD node now has a 70' high antenna providing a link to FFVC, so our Capital District Network is back together! ADRO node is off the air, temporarily ERECH node and GREG node are both off the air, but neither has anounced quits so hopefully will be back. KEN node is intermittent. Work required. ADAM node has called it quits. The good news: BOBR:W4GIA and IAN:KC2BXN have joined us. Bob:W4TTX is almost ready. IAN will pick up ADRO and maybe ANOIA as well with a 3 link UHF-only node May 6, 2019 The good news is that we now have two substantial networks in North Carolina. The bad news is that they are both half the size of what we had when we had only one network! VON node is gone, and due to a lack of redundancy, the network is split. AI4WV is moving to Chapel Hill. VON will return at a new location but we're now short a Durham to Raleigh link! We have two possible new nodes coming in the next month or so that might link the two network fragments. Testing will tell! SKIP node is returned. MARKDM to ANOIA link is suffering. ANOIA to ADRO is back up but needs adjusting. A signal generator and scope will need to come for a visit. We've given up on the ANOIA 22 element beam project. We couldn't get the signal levels to be even as good as the high omni. DAVID node is off temporarily. DAVID:N4DBZ joined the network a month ago with a temporary antenna. He's creating a new outdoor antenna setup. Apr 25, 2019 SKIP node is still off. MARKDM to ANOIA link is suffering. ANOIA to ADRO is back up but needs adjusting. A signal generator and scope will need to come for a visit. The plan for ANOIA is to add a 22-element yagi array to link to MARKDM, then use the high 2m omni for another future link VON node is going away in a few weeks. AI4WV is moving to Chapel Hill. VON will return at a new location but we're now short a Durham to Raleigh link! DAVID node is off temporarily. DAVID:N4DBZ joined the network a month ago with a temporary antenna. He's creating a new outdoor antenna setup. Apr 6, 2019 ERECH node is now linked to AARONL. Mar 21, 2019 AARONL node link to TADD is back up. DAVID:K4DBZ-2 is now up, linked to AARONL. Mar 19, 2019 ANOIA to ADRO down because of a TNC-PI i2c reset?. Feb 25, 2019 SKIP node is removed from service to be rebuilt. It will come back as a 4-port node. MARKDM to ANOIA link is suffering. W4EIP and KM4JRH are now linked. KEVIN link moved to TILL node. AARONL node link to TADD broken. New coax for Tadd site shortly. Jan 31, 2019 DANIEL to AARONJ link is now on its new frequency and tuned up very well. W4EIP and KM4JRH are still looking at antennas to do their link. FIN to KEVIN link is now excellent. Jan 27, 2019 TADD-AARONL is now running PAR SM50 Moxon beams and the link is up to 10% NB and 2% Southbound. DANIEL to AARONJ link is barely scratching by now. AARONJ needs some adjustments we think. However, we're about to move that link from 145.75 to 147.585 to avoid some ham project in Clayton that we didn't interfere with back when DANIEL yagi was facing west. W4EIP and KM4JRH are still looking at antennas to do their link. KEVIN:K4KDE node is now up. FIN to KEVIN link needs improvement. Work in progress Jan 14, 2019 TADD-AARONL link still not working great. We ordered a pair of Moxon beams, one for each end. Maybe fix it this coming weekend? FIN-AARONJ just needed adjustment and is working well again. W4EIP and KM4JRH are working on antennas to do their link. AARONJ:KF4EZU to DANIEL is working well now. AARONJ is now a 3 port FIN modbox Jan 2, 2019 TADD-AARONL link isn't working very well. We need a mid-site maybe or better antenna at one end. TILL is now linked to KILMER KM4JRH node. The plan is that Mark will do a link to FIN on 927 and also a 2m link to W4EIP. W4EIP and KM4JRH are working on antennas to do their link. FIN-AARONJ is also not working well. AARONJ:KF4EZU added a 2m port to try AARONJ to DANIEL instead. December 6, 2018 KN4ORB, Aaron, joined us with a 6m link to TADD. Aaron has an Austinantennas GP52 1/4 wave antenna hanging in a tree at 50 feet. K4DSP, Doug, decided not to proceed. Mark KM4JRH is taking over his link to TILL. The plan is that Mark will do the link to FIN on 927 and also a 2m link to W4EIP. W4EIP and KM4JRH are working on antennas to do their link. November 26, 2018 KEN:AC4RD is back in the network via DANIEL but the FIN-DANIEL link is not working well. There is some possibility that RF noise ingress is bugging the link. K4DSP, Doug, is running a demo node off of TILL node. If all goes well, that will become a 927mhz link from FIN to HALL:K4DSP. November 11, 2018 MARKDM is working pretty well though we'll want to address this by Spring when leaves come back DAVE:W4EIP and DANIEL:AG4DB are in the network. W1KES is not in the network anymore. GREG is looking to link to either KN4ORB or KM4IFU. Hopefully by Christmas KEN node will be testing against DANIEL real soon. ADAM is back in the network. September 24, 2018 ADRO to ANOIA is back up ANOIA has a 147.555 radio on the omni now, to link to MARKDM:KN4BTI, and 144.45 is linking to SKIP via a 4-element yagi MARKDM is now on the air though link quality wasn't great. We'll try a different radio in a week. SNELL is moving to Fuque Varina. He's actually in range of KK4QMB. TILL to TADD is moving from 2m to 900Mhz. This will free up the 5-el 2m yagis at both sites for future links August 18, 2018 DOUG to GREG is up ADRO to ANOIA died. We don't know why yet. It's a good thing we now have ANOIA - SKIP - CHRIS - FFVC - ADRO as a backup. July 26, 2018 CHRIS-to-SKIP is up on 441.025 July 19, 2018 CHRIS node is up with 1 link. Link CHRIS-to-SKIP may happen. GREG was up and testing. Hopefully he'll be back. GREG links to DOUG. DOUG node is on. He'll be linking to GREG ADAM KM4DLS is off, hopefully for not very long. We're working on nodes at GREG, DANIEL, MARK, KEVIN, SCRCCO. There is thunder in the west. People are talking about starting one or more TARPN hatchlings in High Point through Boone. June 9, 2018 ADRO is back TILL now has 3 links, to FIN, VON and TADD DOUG node is on. He'll be linking to GREG ADRO site antenna is back up. AC4RD:KEN is disconnected -- foliage killed the link. DANIEL node will serve in the middle when it comes on. March 31, 2018 SCOTT off the air. Hasn't come back GREG temporarily off the air. VON is linked to TILL ADRO site having antenna problems for a couple of weeks. Expected back after RARSfest. AC4RD:KEN is on the network connected to TADD. January 12, 2018 VON to TADD moved to 433.7Mhz TADD to GREG added on 144.41 October 15, 2017 ADAM node is connected to FFVC node on 433. SCOTT node temporarily offline due to in-house remodeling work July 09, 2017 ANOIA is now linked to SNELL on 6m. We're planning to replace VON to TADD with 433Mhz. June 17, 2017 SCOTT node is up with 3 radios on 4 ports. 50.97 is linked to FFVC, and 145.75 is linked to SNELL. I've decided that multipath is a big problem when working with Omni vertical antennas. The link from VON to TADD and VON to FIN on 2m were both plagued with multipath. Now I think the problem is that there is a water tower just hundreds of feet away from VON node and the path from the VON antenna up to the water tower and over to FIN or TADD is as good as the non reflected path. Our solution is going to be to move VON to TADD to a pair of 10 element beams on 433Mhz. That should fix it. March 27, 2017 SKIP node is up with two ports. 144Mhz to ANOIA and 51Mhz to BRYAN March 25, 2017 ANOIA node is up with two ports, 440Mhz to ADRO, and 145Mhz to SKIP FIN and TILL link is now at 7% or so. SCOTT node is coming soon. That will link into FFVC and bring SNELL back in the network. March 5, 2017 K4RGN, TILL, has a new dual band corner reflector beam aimed at FIN. This improved the situation. We're at 15% retry rate now and working on a radio replacement, aiming at < 5% retry rate. JENRET is off permanently. W4JSK:SCOTT node, coming soon, will take over the link to SNELL FIN to AARONJ is working mighty well now. FIN bought a 4-element yagi to link to AARONJ and this made a big difference. Aaron KF4EZU did some work on the 6m radio at his end as well. HANK node is going off the air. FFVC is now directly linked to VON node. HANK equipment will end up in another node shortly. ANOIA:KW4KZ is still coming soon. Chuck has his GP15 up 80' in a tree and has tested it by talking directly to Billy KE4VNC on 2m. He also was able to talk to FFVC and easily hear ADRO. The plan is to tie ADRO to ANOIA on 440, and SKIP to ANOIA on 2m. Then ANOIA may use 6m to talk west, possibly to KJ4OLI in Efland. John, N4RMV, is looking to establish a node in Archer's Lodge, Johnston County. Billy KE4VNC is working with him on antennas. October 22, 2016 TILL node got a new antenna. This should improve the FIN to TILL 440 link. FIN node got a new antenna for 6m FIN to AARONJ link, but that didn't help it enough. So Fin, NC4FG, got an even better 6m antenna. 4 element Arrow 6m yagi. Not up yet. W4AUV. Dale, said he'd have a node if somebody wants to help with it. Dale's site would make a great midpoint and alternate path to the now weak AARONJ to FIN link. The idea is to link Dale with AARONJ on 2m and TILL on 70cm. KA2DEW put up a node at work called FFVC:KA2DEW-3 in RTP. That is linked to ADRO and to HANK. DAVIS is off the air entirely. Charlie says he'll be back but he's repairing antennas on his tower. ANOIA:KW4KZ is completely assembled except for stringing a tree. It turns out that node cannot talk to SNELL but it can talk to SKIP and ADRO. We're going to link them up. VON to FIN never worked very well so we moved it to VON to TADD. FIN 2m can now be used to expand, hopefully we can get a station in Cary to link to FIN JENRET node, maintained by ka2dew, is off the air, maybe due to stress-broken coax. The run was hanging in free space for quite a distance. Bad June 5, 2016 TILL node is up. ANOIA:KW4KZ node is coming soon. We're going to delete the 440 link from SKIP to ADRO and instead put CHUCK in the middle. DAVIS to BILLY link is off the air, temporarily. WA3UTC:DAVIS took a lightning hit. It didn't hurt packet, but Charlie, WA3UTC, borrowed the packet node's coax to restore HF functionality ANOIA:KW4KZ is also in range of SNELL so that may give us a complete loop. March 29, 2016 KF4EZU:AARONJ node is up. FIN to KF4EZU:AARONJ on 50.99 horizontal and AARONJ to BILLY on 431.1 vertical, soon to be horizontal. Welcome Aaron! March 20, 2016 Billy started working on a new plan for his link to FIN. The 6m link from BILLY to FIN has been unreliable. The new plan involves getting a new site AARONJ:KF4EZU-2 on the air at Knightdale. Welcome Aaron. The 6m link moves from BILLY to FIN over to AARONJ to FIN. AARONJ to BILLY is short range and can be done on 440. Hopefully that will be running in March. However, for much of January and February the BILLY site was completely off-line, breaking the network into two pieces. As of Feb 29th, BILLY is back up in the old capacity of linking to FIN and to DAVIS. SAM:KM4WUF joined us with a 440 link to TADD. Welcome Sam! VON:AI4WV - name Steve - joined us with a 2m link to FIN. Welcome Steve!. HANK node is on-the-air linked into VON. Welcome Hank! KEITH:W1KES joined us with a 2m link to ADRO. Welcome Keith. Keith is working with Chuck KW4KZ north-west of Durham, to do a 6m link between the two. We have lost ERECH and BRYAN, at least for the moment. Oct 11, 2015 Adding 4th port to ADRO to support KEITH node. JOE, KEITH, DOUG, CHUCK testing simplex paths and acquiring parts. WILSON acquiring parts. ADRO node rebuilt into Skip-box. Oct 1, 2015 FIN to BILLY now reliable due to change of frequency and away from a noise emitter on 6m and improved antenna and RF susceptibility on both ends. FIN to TADD now moved to 220 to eliminate in-band interference at TADD. This frees up the 2m rig at FIN. As soon as we can we're moving the 2m link ADRO to DAVIS to 144.31 from 144.35. 144.35 is apparently co-opted for a Chinese satellite uplink. Aug 30, 2015 Added FIN site. Link from TADD to BILLY replaced by TADD to FIN and FIN to BILLY THEDON is up but we stole his 2m link at BILLY and will be moving THEDON over to 440 with BILLY or with DAVIS. SCOTT and JEFF are now on-line but BRYAN got hit by lightning. That should be back on shortly. The lightning probably came in via the landline Internet provider and killed many items connected to the Ethernet including the HF rig and the Raspberry PI. We're working on links west from ADRO and SNELL to eventually make a loop of the network, providing decent robustness. Dave, W4VU has a node up west of Burlington that will hopefully be connected as part of the western plan. Everybody on the list below has acquired Raspberry PI and TNC-PIs so they can connect to our network. Some are working on antennas, others waiting for a neighbor to tie into.

North Carolina TARPN Nodes:

site neighbor freq quality radio antenna miles TADD:KA2DEW North Raleigh April 2014 FFVC 144.31 @2400 IL2P intermittent TAIT TM8105 F-22A omni @ 70ft 10 AARONL 51.12 intermittent Vertex FTL-1011 PAR SM50 Moxon horz yagi in tree 6 TILL 446.475 @9600 IL2P excellent TAIT TM8105 vertical yagis 1.5 JAY 440.1 @4800 IL2P excellent Kenwood TK862G 10 el horz yagi 2 DOUG 147.555 @9600 IL2P excellent Tait TM8105 Diamond A144S5 horz yagi 1.1 BILLY:KE4VNC Wendel September 2014 AARONJ 440.025 @9600 IL2P excellent Tait TM8105 10 el horizontal yagi 6.4 IAN 421.025 excellent Kenwood TK880 3 el vertical yagi 1 ADRO:KV7D Blackwood NC (near i40 and Chapel Hill/Hillsborough line) January 2015 MARKDM 147.525 @9600 IL2P excellent Tait TM8105 70ft vertical omni 16 JASON 144.33 @9600 IL2P working Tait TM8105 70ft vertical omni 16 ANOIA 446.050 @9600 IL2P working Tait TM8105 70ft vertical omni 9 FFVC 440.100 @1200 baud intermittent Tait TM8105 70ft vertical omni 14 KEITH 440.100 @9600 baud off line Tait TM8105 70ft vertical omni 2.5 VANCE 51.14 @1200 baud excellent Vertex FTl1011 70ft vertical omni 7 FIN:NC4FG north Raleigh August 2015 AARONJ 50.99 working Vertex FTL1011 horizontal 4 el Arrow yagi 12.7 TILL was 145.69 @9600 IL2P working TAIT TM8105 vertical dipole 2 TILL 147.495 @9600 IL2P future TAIT TM8105 vertical dipole 2 JOHN 144.37 offline Kenwood TK705d 5 el vert yagi ? AARONJ:KF4EZU Knightdale March 2016 FIN 50.99 working Vertex FTL-1011 Horizontal Moxon 12.7 BILLY 440.025 9600 working Tait TM8105 Horizontal Diamond A430s10 6.4 DANIEL 145.53 9600 working Tait TM8105 Vertical dipole 5 TILL:K4RGN North Raleigh June 2016 FIN 145.69 @9600 IL2P working TAIT TM8105 Arrow corner reflector 2 TADD 446.475 @9600 IL2P excellent TAIT TM8105 5 el vertical yagi 0.6 JOHN 440.075 @9600 IL2P future TAIT TM8105 Arrow corner reflector 0.8 ----- 144.49 @2400 IL2P future TK radio 5 el Diamond yagi horizontal 1.8 FFVC:KA2DEW Research Triangle Park October 2016 DAN 147.585 @2400 IL2P working Tait TM8105 Comet GP15 omni 14.5 ADRO 440.1 intermittent Tait TM8105 Comet GP15 omni 14 TADD 144.31 @2400 IL2P intermittent Tait TM8105 vertical yagi 10 CHRIS 446.975 offline Kenwood TK862G Comet GP15 omni 3.4 ANOIA 440.125 @9600 IL2P offline Tait TM8105 vertical yagi 16 ANOIA:KW4KZ Eno Township November 2016 ADRO 446.050 @9600 IL2P off-lin Tait TM8105 20ft vertical yagi 9 VANCE 144.45 @1200 AX25 off-lin Yaesu FT2980@5W 20ft vertical-yagi 4 FFVC 440.125 @9600 IL2P off-line Tait TM8105 70ft Comet GP15 omni vertical 16 future ------- ? future Tait TM8105 70ft Comet GP15 omni vertical ? DOUG:N3LTV north Raleigh May, 2018 TADD 147.555 @9600 IL2P excellent Tait TM8105 Diamond A144S5 attic horz yagi 1.2 BRNTLY 144.33 @9600 IL2P excellent Tait TM8105 Diamond A144S5 attic horz yagi 2.4 DAVE 440.150 @9600 IL2P excellent Tait TM8105 homebrew attic vert yagi 0.5 BOBR 446.525 @9600 IL2P off-line< /td> Tait TM8105 homebrew attic horz yagi 0.9 CHRIS:KK4VBE south Durham July, 2018 FFVC 446.975 offline Tait TM8105 6 element vertical attic yagi 3.4 JASON 440.025 working Tait TM8105 6 element vertical attic yagi 3 MARKDM:KN4BTI Mebane September, 2018 ADRO 147.525 @9600 AX25 working Tait TM8105 Diamond A144S10 15 LARKIN 440.075 @9600 IL2P excellent Tait TM8105 vert Ailunce 5-el 6 BFRS 144.31 @9600 IL2P working Tait TM8105 vert HyGain VB25FM 5 el 13 DANIEL:AG4DB east Raleigh November, 2018 KEN 51.18 poor Vertex FTL-1011 Horz Maxon 9 AARONJ 145.53 9600 working Tait TM8105 Vert HyGain 5-el 5 LUCAS 440.175 9600 future Tait TM8105 vertical omnis 4 DAVE:W4EIP north Raleigh November, 2018 DOUG 440.150 @9600 IL2P excellent Tait TM8105 vertical omni 0.5 BOBS 145.73 working Kenwood TK? 1/4wv ground plane in tree 2 KEN:AC4RD southwest Raleigh April 2018 DANIEL 51.18 poor Vertex FTL-1011 Horz 3 el yagi 9 JAI 144.43 future Tait TM8105 Vert HyGain 5-el 4 JOHN 147.525 future Tait TM8105 Vert HyGain 5-el 5 AARONL:KN4ORB north Raleigh December 2018 TADD 51.12 @1200 IL2P working Vertex FTL-1011 PAR SM50 horz moxon in tree 6 DAVID 147.525 @9600 IL2P excellent Tait TM8105 horizontal yagi 9 BRIAN 145.61 @9600 IL2P offline Tait TM8105 vertical tree omni 5 DAVID:K4DBZ Grissom March 2019 AARONL 147.525 @9600 IL2P excellent Tait TM8105 horizontal yagi 9 BOBR:W4GIA N. Raleigh June 2019 DOUG 446.525 @9600 IL2P offline Tait TM8105 homebrew horz attic yagi 2 IAN:KC2BXN Wendell July 2019 BILLY 421.025 excellent Kenwood TK880 vertical yagi 1 BRIAN? 2m ? survey 2m radio vertical yagi 13 BOBS:W4TTX N. Raleigh October 2019 DAVE 145.73 working Kenwood TK? Comet GP-15 2 JAY 446.450 working Kenwood TK805d attic omni 1 DAN:K4FD Fearington Village, Pittsboro October 2019 FFVC 147.585 @2400 working Yeasu FT2980 Comet GP-5 14.5 RYAN 145.63 @2400 intermittent Yeasu FT2980 Comet CX333 14~ JOHN:N8ZU Downtown Raleigh November 2019 FIN 144.37 working Kenwood Tk762H tree GP-1 4.5 FIN 440.125 future Tait TM8105 tree GP-1 4.5 KEN 147.525 future Tait TM8105 tree GP-1 4.5 RYAN:N7RYN Apex March 2020 DAN 145.63 @2400 IL2P intermittent Yeasu FT2980 vertical omnis 14 PAT 446.375 @4800 IL2P working Kenwood TK8180 vertical yagi 1 TONY 440.150 1200 IL2P working Tait TM8105 vertical yagi 4 RICHRD 147.555 1200 IL2P working Tait TM8105 vertical omni 8 AL116 147.555 2400 IL2P working Tait TM8105 vertical omni 9 JAY:KM4EP n Raleigh March 2020 ELIJAH 144.43 sometimes Kenwood TK762G vertical indoor omni 0.1 ERIC 449.975 @9600 IL2P excellent Kenwood TK862 low power attic vertical omni attic 1/4 mile TADD 440.1 @4800 baud excellent Kenwood TK862G vert yagi attic 2 BOBS 446.450 working TK862G indoor groundplane 1 ELIJAH:KO4BAC n Raleigh April 2020 JAY 144.43 sometimes Kenwood TK762G indoor groundplane 0.1 AARONB twisted pair excellent Kenwood TK762G USB-serial card 1 inch BRNTLY:K4CBW n Raleigh April 2020 SANJAY 441.025 future TK8180 horizontal yagi 1.5 DOUG 144.33 @9600 IL2P excellent TM8105 horizontal yagi ? ED:W4AEN west of Carboro April 2020 KEITH 144.43 @9600 IL2P excellent Tait TM8105 HyGain 5-el yagi 5 JIM 147.?? @9600 IL2P future Tait TM8105 tree hung vertical omni ? KEITH:W1KES Carborro February 2020 ED 144.43 @9600 IL2P working Tait TM8105 tree vertical GP15 5 ADRO 440.100 @9600 IL2P broken Tait TM8105 tree vertical GP15 2.5 PAT:KS4PE Apex August 2020 RYAN 446.375 @4800 IL2P working Kenwood TK8180 vertical yagi 2 DBURT 441.475 @1200 working Kenwood TK8180 vertical yagi 3 DBURT:W4OFO Cary October 2020 PAT 441.475 @1200 working Kenwood TK8180 vertical yagi 3 JAI 446.125 @9600 future Tait TM8105 vertical yagi 0.9 LARKIN:NC4AU downtown Mebane October 2020 MARKDM 440.075 9600 IL2P excellent Tait TM8105 Comet GP15 6 GEORGE 51.16 excellent Vertex FTL1011 Comet GP15 7 BRIAN:KA9QJT north-east Raleigh October 2020 SANJAY 2m ? 1200> survey ? J-pole 4 LUCAS:KK4FVC Raleigh January 2021 DANIEL 440.175 @9600 IL2P future Tait TM8105 vertical something 2.5 FIN 440.175 @9600 IL2P future Tait TM8105 vertical something 7 ERIC:WO2S N. Raleigh Febrary 2021 JAY 449.975 @9600 IL2P excellent Kenwood TK860 low power vertical omni attic 1/4 mile KARL 144.97 @2400 IL2P working Kenwood TK762G 5 element home-brew attic-yagi horz 1.3 miles TONY:K1OC Apex March 2021 RYAN 440.150 @1200 IL2P working Tait TM8105 5 element vertical yagi 4? idle 446.275 @1200 IL2P working Tait TM8105 5 element vertical yagi 4? BFRS:K4BFR Bushy Fork April 2021 MARKDM 144.31 @9600 IL2P working Tait TM8105 vertical something 12.4 AARONB:KE4NQG n Raleigh December 2021 ELIJAH twisted pair excellent Kenwood TK762G USB-serial card 1 inch RICHRD:K7RLH Apex December 2021 AL116 144.310 @1200 IL2P working Kenwood TK760 vertical omni 8 JASON:KO4WVO Durham April 2022 ADRO 144.33 @9600 IL2P working Tait 8105 vertical omni 8 CHRIS 440.025 @9600 IL2P working Tait 8105 vertical yagi 3 DANA 446.450 @9600 IL2P future Tait 8105 vertical omni 1.2 AL116:N4SWC Fuquay-Varina July 2022 RYAN 147.555 @2400 IL2P working Tait TM8105 vertical omni 9 RICHRD 144.310 @1200 IL2P working Kenwood TK760 vertical yagi 3 SNELL 440.025 @9600 IL2P working Tait TM8105 vertical yagi 1 SNELL:W4RFQ Holly Springs July 2022 AL116 440.025 @9600 IL2P working Tait TM8105 vertical yagi 1 KARL:K4LNX nw Raleigh July 2022 ERIC 144.97 @2400 IL2P working Kenwood TK762G 6 element home-brew attic-yagi horz 1.3 miles VANCE:KV4P nw Durham September 2022 ANOIA 144.45 @1200 AX25 offline Kenwood TK762G 20ft vertical-yagi 4 ADRO 51.14 @1200 IL2P working Vertex FTL-1011 vertical Jpole 7 KEITH 440.125 @1200 IL2P future Kenwood TK862G indoor groundplane 1 JAI:WJ0J Cary sometime DBURT 446.125 @9600 IL2P future Tait TM8105 dual band vertical omni 1 KEN 144.43 @1200 IL2P future Kenwood TK760H dual band vertical omni 4 AARONH:KG4FMF nw Durham sometime VANCE 440.125 @1200 IL2P future Kenwood TK862G indoor groundplane 1 DANA:KO4JYN Durham sometime JASON 446.450 @9600 IL2P future Tait 8105 vertical omni 1.2 RICH:N4AED Wendel sometime JON 144.43 @2400 IL2P future Kenwood TK762HG vertical yagi 9.3 IAN 446.450 @9600 IL2P future Tait 8105 vertical yagi 2.7 JON:KO4VIA Clayton sometime RICH 144.43 @2400 IL2P future Kenwood TK762HG vertical yagi 9.3

Frequencies in use or planned in our network. See TARPN FAQ freqs for packet for info about available frequencies. 6 meter band 50.99 FIN to AARONJ 13 miles 4-el horz to moxon 51.12 TADD to AARONL 6 miles horizontal moxons 51.14 VANCE to ADRO 7 miles vertical omnis 51.16 unused 51.18 KEN to DANIEL 9 miles horizontal yagis 51.54 unused unused 51.56 unused 51.58 unused 2 meter band 144.31 Greensboro area - DX spotting?? 144.31 FFVC to TADD vertical omnis 144.31 AL116 to RICHRD vertical yagi to tree omni, 2.6 miles 144.31 BFRS to MARKDM vertical yagis 144.33 ADRO to JASON high omni to 4-el vertical yagi 144.33 DOUG to BRNTLY 3 miles, horizontal indoor yagis 144.35 Chinese Satellite 144.35 144.37 FIN to JOHN ?? miles, vertical yagi to indoor Jpole 144.39 A.P.R.S. digipeaters 144.41 KNOX to HALL vertical omnis, 6 miles 144.43 KEITH to ED vertical omnis, 10 miles 144.43 JAI to KEN tree omni to vertical yagi, 4.6 miles 144.43 ELIJAH to JAY vertical omnis?, low power, .1 miles 144.43 RICH to JON vertical yagis, 45 watts, 8 miles 144.45 KILMER to DAVE vertical omnis, 3.6 miles 144.45 ANOIA to VANCE vertical yagi, 3.6 miles 144.47 TILL to ? 2 miles horizontal yagis 144.91 unused 144.93 unused unused 144.95 unused unused 144.97 KARL to ERIC horz attic yagi 1.3 miles 144.99 unused unused 145.01 claimed by NC ARES 145.03 claimed by NC ARES 145.05 claimed by NC ARES 145.09 claimed by NC ARES -- used in Johnston CO 145.51 simplex repeater, Clayton 145.53 DANIEL to AARONJ 5 miles vertical 145.55 unused unused 145.57 unused unused 145.59 unused unused 145.61 MARKDM to ANOIA 15 miles vertical yagi to high vertical omni 145.61 AARONL to BRIAN 5 miles tree omni to 20' high omni 145.63 DAN to RYAN 14 miles vertical omnis to yagi 145.65 unused unused 145.67 unused unused 145.69 was FIN to TILL 3 miles, 10' 2 el yagi to 20' corner reflector 145.73 BOBS to DAVE 2 miles 2m vertical omnis 145.75 Used in Clayton N4JDL 145.77 auto-Morse-ID heard in north Raleigh July2015 145.79 too close to International Space Station freq. 147.495 demo network 3 miles, 10' vertical dipole to 20' corner reflector 147.495 FIN to TILL 3 miles, 10' vertical dipole to 20' corner reflector 147.525 Avoid near Burlington -- this freq used for simplex 147.525 MARKDM to ADRO 16 miles, 20' vert yagi to 70' tree omni 147.525 AARONL to DAVID vertical yagis, 9 miles 147.525 KEN to JOHN 5 miles, vertical yagi to omni 147.555 TADD to DOUG 1.1 miles, rooftop horz yagi to indoor horz yagi 147.555 RYAN to AL116 9.5 miles, rooftop vert omni to tree vert omni 147.585 DAN to FFVC 14.5 miles, vertical omni to vertical omni 1.25m band 222.30 222.0->222.3 is weak signal portion of the band 222.32 HAMFST to FIN 3 miles, 20' horz yagis 222.32 BATZIE to SNELL 4 miles, vertical yagis 70cm band 421.025 BILLY-IAN 1 mile, vertical yagis 421.125 unused ? 425.125 unused ? 425.125 unused ? 433.2 AARONJ to BILLY 6.7 miles 24' horz 10el yagi to 10el yagi 433.3 unused 433.725 unused 433.775 unused 438.025 BOBS to TADD defunct 1 miles, 20' GP15 to 10 el yagi 440.000 unused 440.025 AL116 to SNELL 1 mile vertical yagi to vertical yagi 440.025 JASON to CHRIS 3 miles vertical yagis 440.025 AARONJ to BILLY 2 miles horizontal yagis 440.050 ANOIA to FFVC new after july 2020 - - 15 miles, 70' vert to 40' GP15 440.075 TILL expansion corner reflector 440.075 LARKIN to MARKDM 6 miles vertical GP15 omni to 5 el vert yagi 440.100 KEITH to ADRO 3 miles? GP6 to GP15 440.100 JAY to TADD 0.1 miles attic vertical antennas 440.125 VANCE to AARONH under 1 mile with indoor groundplanes 440.125 FIN to JOHN 5 miles vertical yagi to GP-1 omni in tree 440.150 RYAN to TONY 440.150 DAVE to DOUG 1 mile attic horizontal yagi 440.175 LUCAS to DANIEL 3 miles vertical antennas 440.200 JOHN to FIN 4 miles vertical antennas 441.025 JR to CHRIS 2.5 miles, vert omni to attic 6 el yagi 441.075 unused 441.425 repeater link Heard somebody calling K4ITL on here from N. Raleigh 441.475 PAT-DBURT 3 miles 445.45 unused 445.525 unused ?? 445.575 unused ?? 445.600 unused ?? 446.050 ADRO to ANOIA 9 miles Vertical omni to vertical omni 446.075 unused ?? 446.125 DBURT to JAI under a mile 446.275 ERIC to somebody 446.375 PAT to RYAN 1 mile, vertical yagi to omni 446.425 in use by repeaters in central NC 446.450 DANA to JASON 1.2 miles vertical indoor antennas 446.450 JAY to BOBS 2 miles vertical indoor groundplanes 446.450 RICH to IAN 2 miles vertical yagis 45 watts 446.475 TADD to TILL 2 miles vertical yagis 446.525 DOUG to BOBR 1 mile with home-made attic horizontal yagis 446.975 CHRIS to FFVC vertical omnis 449.975 JAY to ERIC 1/4 mile vertical attic omni antennas 33cm band 927.2 KILMER to FIN 0.6 miles, vertical yagis 927.3 unused ??

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