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Israeli Amateur Radio Group for Digital Communication

Getting Started

Well, we've already started and it happened more than twenty years ago. The digital communication age has already started with TAPR's Packet Radio technology (though CW and RTTY are also a type of digital contact). Feasibility studies and ranges were carried out by a group of radio amateurs, Zvi Baratz, 4Z5RP, and Meir Dahan operated data communications at a frequency of 2.4 GHz between the Carmel and Tel Aviv for a range of 100 km. Ronen Pinchuk, 4Z4ZQ, who was also a member of the team described the whole process of experiments. With the entry of Wi-Fi systems into Israel, the Ministry of Communications narrowed the activity and power permitted to be used in the band of 2.4 GHz, although we still had the 13 centimeter range at full power, but there was no equipment to operate in this band. Only recently has the possibility of using this frequency range been developed, with commercial equipment for the ISM band being converted with software designed specially for radio amateurs operating digital communications between 2.3 to 2.4 GHz. The first group which started the subject was BBHN, followed by the AREDN group, who developed the software that we are currently adopting.

First, it is recommended to read the document "National Amateur Radio Data Network Communication" (in Hebrew). The principle of operation and much more information can be found in a document called the AREDN Getting Started Guide and on the group's whole website. Technically there is no difference, the recommended equipment for operation, and the software to be used are the same. Operationally, there is a difference in perception between us. In emergency situations the events there are regional, as opposed to the global national situation here. Our Backbone must therefore cover the whole country from north to south, and provide a good response to populated areas. The location of nodes can be situated near the DMR repeaters, but it is not obligatory. Then the link to the server can also be performed when the unit functions as an end point. The current popular equipment prices range from $ 60 for the NanoStation Loco (Ubiquiti) or CPE210 (TP-Link) with a built-in antenna, and for a Bullet M2 with a prominent directional antenna, between USD 100 and USD 150. The purchase of personal endpoint equipment by the radio amateur depends on his geographical position with respect to a given node. It is quite possible that an amateur group for instance, in Nahariya will jointly purchase a node that will be link to Mount Carmel, and then they will each acquire a cheap endpoint for a few kilometers range to the local node.

To be followed