WB4APR SK, 17 Meter RPR

I will probably post more this evening, but getting word that Bob Bruninga WB4APR is a silent key. A quick search indicates he finally succumbed to his 2 year battle with cancer on Monday the 7th. A good man, good ham, and a patriot. RIP Bob, you will be missed. #CancerSux

For those that know Bob’s 30m packet BBS history from the 1980s, I bet he’d get a kick out of someone reading the news of (his words) his “Final QRT” via a 30 meter BBS….

For those in my inbox asking about 17 meters…..

I may pop up on 17m robust packet /M or /P at times, but not running anything full or part-time there.  Just using 80-30m on the QTH node for now. The 10m port is always there on K4KPN-4/-1.

 

VE4KLM is still running what I think is both a RP mailbox and I-gate full-time on 18.108 USB dial (18.1095 CF). VE4KLM was strong into Savannah (EM92) on Monday afternoon, but I had no joy getting gated in or making a connection below. Then again one can only ask so much of 4 watts to a $19 hamstick antenna LOL.

Also judging by one of VE4KLM’s past emails to me it appears he has some noise floor challenges there. FYI he has added some experimental support in JNOS for the experimental WinRPR modem.

 

More later this evening if time allows, need to finish lunch and get back on the highway for a SuperBowl weekend (#GoBengals) and V-Day week up in the mountains. Just wanted to help spread the news. Maybe later today we’ll have a more official announcement on Bob’s passing.

 

WA4ZKO

BPQ32 Experimental Support for WinRPR

While not exactly fresh news, I do run into packet folks unaware that John G8BPQ has added an experimental driver to BPQ32 for the WinRPR soundcard modem. Yes, the swiss army knife of packet radio NOS has added yet another supported modem to an already impressive list of modem/mode options.

BPQ WinRPR driver specific documentation is here.

WinRPR supports many of the Tracker DSP hardware TNC commands, so the Tracker BPQ driver documentation here may also prove handy for a command reference. Same for the SCS Tracker manual here (PDF).

For those unfamiliar with Robust Packet, a nice intro document can be found here (PDF).

I now have some limited reports that this BPQ + WinRPR works well enough once you get past bugs and quirky behavior in the WinRPR modem. You can also hack together support for using EasyTerm with it.

Considering that the WinRPR modem was just a summertime spare time experimental project by a SCS developer (yes SCS approved), it is already impressive for incomplete alpha code. A  list of bugs and quirks have been assembled and the developer will work on them when time and company priorities allow. Given its current performance, one can imagine what this modem will be like once it matures.

For now the WinRPR modem is probably best left to light duty needs like HFP APRS and RP APRS. Maybe some BPQ32 node or client use by advanced packet node sysops with time to spare and experienced in working with experimental packet/digital modems and software.

NOTICE:  This is an experimental driver for an experimental modem still early in development. Please go back and reread the previous sentence. WinRPR is alpha code, not even beta yet. If you need things “plug-n-play” easy then this is not for you. Not trying to come off as elitist, just trying to save you some time and gray hair.

Some support is available on the BPQ32 and Robust Packet mailing lists, but ultimately you are diving into the deep end of the pool so be ready to swim there. 😉

 

FWIW – Personally I have not had the time to fool with WinRPR much. I’m actually more interested in the Teensy Tracker project once it hits at least beta status. For now I just have too many other higher priorities for my limited ham radio hobby time and beta testing is not one of them.

WA4ZKO

 

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