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HF Radio: The OP Weapon of Modern Minutemen — Transcript

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0:00So, what's your plan to maintain contact
0:02with your network in the event of a
0:04widespread services outage such as in a
0:07natural disaster or a cyber attack, EMP
0:12attack, or maybe just the slow burn of
0:15increasing censorship and government
0:17spying on your activities online? Well,
0:20I'm civil defense engineer and today we
0:23are going to talk about HF radio as the
0:26backup comms.
0:32Well, what are the other alternatives
0:34though? Maybe you rely on Starlink.
0:36Well, that's a great solution, but uh it
0:39has its problems. You know, it's it's
0:42not relying on the regular internet
0:45infrastructure. It's kind of a parallel
0:47system and uh you'd have to take out all
0:49the satellites to take it down or a
0:52well-coordinated cyber attack. But more
0:54importantly, I want you to consider
0:56this. A as much as Elon Musk talks about
0:59free speech and all that, you're still
1:02putting all your eggs in one basket if
1:04you are relying on Starlink, unless you
1:07own all of the infrastructure from point
1:09A to point B, you are subject to
1:12somebody else's censorship. And a
1:14whimsical man like Elon Musk, he's had
1:16an effect on the geopolitics of the
1:18world today just by turning on and off
1:20access to Starlink. Moreover, just
1:23between you and me, my idea of free
1:25speech is not the ability to share
1:28pictures of waifu catg girls in various
1:30states of undress. It's more about
1:32forming resistance movements and the
1:34freedom to communicate with anybody I
1:37choose and talk about whatever we want.
1:39So, keep that in mind. All right. So,
1:41what else do we got? Well, there's the
1:43ubiquitous Bow Fang radio and this
1:46allows for direct comms. Uh, but it has
1:50limited range cuz on VHF and UHF bands,
1:54you are limited by line of sight
1:56basically. So, you can reliably get out
1:59to about 2 or 3 miles, I'd say, before
2:01you start having spotty connection.
2:03Obviously, there's repeaters out there,
2:05but repeaters, they're only so helpful.
2:10If you have friends that live further
2:11than 30 m away, you might not be able to
2:14even reach them with a repeater. And
2:17from our group's perspective, we have
2:20members dispersed over an entire state,
2:22two states basically. So there's no one
2:25repeater that can reach everybody. I
2:27used to think when I first got into
2:29amateur radio that repeater networks
2:31were like cell networks that once you
2:33tap into them, you can you can talk to
2:35anybody in an entire geographical
2:38region. But that's not how they work.
2:40It's one repeater that boosts your power
2:43and your signal by an elevation
2:45advantage. So that's all that's all a
2:47repeater does for you. There is stuff
2:50like the East Coast reflector, things
2:52like that that you do use internet to
2:55relay messages to other repeaters. So I
2:57once was listening in on it and heard a
2:59guy in like Florida talking to a guy in
3:02Ireland, but you're still relying on
3:04that internet infrastructure to make
3:06that link. Well, what about if you're a
3:09little nerdier? What about Mishtastic
3:11devices? Well, these are useful, too,
3:14but they are even more limited by range.
3:17The nice thing is every node is its own
3:19repeater, and they do link, but they
3:22have even more limited range. So, I
3:25don't know, maybe a mile or two,
3:26definitely only that. So, you're not
3:28going to reliably reach all of your
3:31members. The where these really shine is
3:34say you have a mass protest and there
3:38are thousands and thousands of people in
3:40one geographic location. all trying to
3:43coordinate. Now, if the government
3:45doesn't like that, maybe they will be
3:47shutting down comms and even if they
3:50don't, comms could be overloaded. You
3:52know, cell networks could be overloaded
3:54because of all the influx of people.
3:56That's where these really shine. Or if
3:58you are all meeting up at a bugout
4:01location and um that's also where these
4:04will be really helpful. You can track
4:06where people are at. You can communicate
4:08via text, over phone, but it's not going
4:10to reliably reach people that are
4:12dispersed over a geographical region,
4:14even a city, um maybe a neighborhood.
4:18Honestly, even in the city where I live
4:20where there there are a lot of people
4:21using these, we can't reliably have a
4:25text conversation with our members
4:27because some people might not have their
4:29nodes charged up. Some people might not
4:32have them turned on or just just doesn't
4:35propagate through the through the mesh
4:36network reliably that day. If you want
4:40to know more about meshtastic, check out
4:42some of my videos on that. I have one
4:44where I put it up on a balloon and that
4:48definitely helps, but a balloon is not a
4:50very uh stable platform. So, uh I'm
4:54considering using drones next time. I
4:57did find lots of uses for drones and
5:00hurting sheep and whatnot. Okay, that's
5:03it. So, there really is only one
5:05solution and that is HF radio. And this
5:10is a little bit daunting to most people
5:12because they don't understand it and
5:14it's expensive to get into typically.
5:18But in this video, I'm going to show you
5:20how HF propagation works, show you all
5:23the cheapest gear that you need to get
5:25into it. And I'll just demystify it for
5:30you using as basic language, lay
5:32language as possible. I am not an RF
5:35engineer. I am a mechanical engineer.
5:38So, I will be bringing things into lay
5:41parliament and dumb person speak as much
5:44as possible. This video is not for the
5:46ham nerd. This video is for the average
5:49prepared citizen that wants to maintain
5:52contact
5:54in any situation. So, we'll talk about
5:56all the gear you'll need, how HF
5:58propagation works, and then at the end,
6:01we'll go over step by step all the
6:04nitty-gritty little details you need to
6:06know to get set up and be transmitting
6:09on HF.
6:14So, let's go over all the gear that
6:16you'll need to get into HF radio. And
6:20all told, it should be under 200 bucks.
6:22But I'll put the current price of each
6:25of the components up on the screen here
6:27as I go through it. First and foremost,
6:30the beating heart of the whole system is
6:32the HF transceiver. Now, this is a QRP
6:36rig. Now, that is a ham brevity code for
6:40an HF rig that is low power, under 10
6:43watts. If you get just the true SDX
6:46here, it will cost you 123 bucks. You
6:51can power it over USB. It only does 5
6:53watts in that configuration. I do
6:55recommend getting the external battery
6:57pack, which gets you up to 10 watts, and
7:00that makes all the difference for making
7:02contacts. This is the simplest, cheapest
7:05HF rig on the market that I know of. And
7:08uh I think it's going to really help get
7:10HF capabilities into the hands of
7:13regular folks.
7:20All right, we'll talk about the computer
7:22in a second. Now, I have my higher power
7:25nice Yau rig in here. Yasu FT891.
7:29Um if you can afford it, go for a higher
7:32power HF transceiver. But the next thing
7:35you'll need is a bit of coax. And that
7:39connects your radio to your antenna.
7:42Just make sure your coax cable matches
7:44your radio on one end and your antenna
7:47on the other end. The main types of
7:49connectors are SMA, which are like the
7:52little twiston types with the B-nuts.
7:54And they come in a small version and a
7:58larger version.
8:00and then BNC like this, which allows
8:03just a field expedient quarter turn. And
8:07you'll need supplies for an antenna. You
8:08can buy one outright, but to do it
8:10cheaper, uh you can make your own. My
8:13favorite method is to get some aluminum
8:17um electric fence wire. Aluminum is a
8:19great conductor. Not as good as copper,
8:21but you know, it's cheaper and it's
8:24stronger. Um you know, that's why they
8:26use aluminum for high tension lines.
8:28This is a good way to make one that has
8:30the banana connectors to attach the wire
8:33to and then the coax connection at the
8:35bottom. It has a balon built in and that
8:38helps match the impedance of the antenna
8:41to the coax cable. You know, they have
8:44to match in order to get the most
8:46efficient setup. I don't think you need
8:48to nerd out on that. Uh, a lot of this
8:50stuff the ham nerds will chase maximum
8:54efficiency, but in my opinion, better is
8:58the enemy of good enough. So, let's see
9:00what I have set up over here. I have my
9:03antenna set up in an inverted V
9:06configuration. And it matters how long
9:09each leg of the dipole is in order to be
9:12resonant. It's based on the frequency
9:14you're using. So you might have to have
9:16multiple antennas set up if you're using
9:18multiple frequencies. Or you can set up
9:21like a fan dipole with different legs
9:23that are resonant on different
9:24frequencies.
9:26I'll put the equation for calculating
9:29that up here. It should just be 468
9:32/ the frequency that you're using in
9:35megahertz. And that will get you the
9:37length in feet. So back over here, I
9:40strongly strongly recommend getting into
9:42digital modes. and that allows you to
9:45use keyboard to keyboard typing on your
9:48computer and uh great way to connect
9:52with people. It also is a weak signal
9:55mode, JS8 call, FTA, that kind of thing.
9:57We're going to be using JS8 call. Uh
10:00it's a weak signal mode, meaning that
10:02you can make the connection with a lot
10:05worse signal to noise ratio than you
10:07normally could on voice. So, in order to
10:10operate digital modes, you need a device
10:12called a Digi Rig. And this just talks
10:15to the radio by converting your digital
10:17signals into audio signals and vice
10:20versa. So, if you remember that scene
10:22from the Transformers where they're in
10:24the Hoover Dam and the mic doesn't work
10:25and they're like, "Hey, can you hotwire
10:27this computer in order to transmit?" You
10:30know, blah blah blah. That's basically
10:31what they're doing.
10:33>> We're hot. We're live. Where are the
10:36mics?
10:38>> Nice. This doesn't work without mic.
10:41Glenn,
10:41>> huh?
10:42>> Can you hot wire this computer to
10:43transmit a tone through the radio?
10:46>> What good is that?
10:47>> You can use this to transmit it through
10:48that.
10:49>> Okay, I'll do it.
10:50>> So, you'll need a special cable that
10:51matches the radio you're using. So,
10:54they've got a gazillion different um
10:56Digi Rig cables. So, uh this one is
11:00currently plugged into my YESU,
11:02but I've got one for the True SDX as
11:05well. You also want to have another bit
11:07of cable, just a micro USB that connects
11:09to the radio directly. And that's for
11:13the control, not for the audio. And
11:16lastly, grab a beater computer. Um, you
11:20know, you can have one that never
11:21connects to the internet if you're
11:23worried about any kind of spyware or com
11:26related issues. You can also use an
11:29Android device, but the Android version
11:31of JS8 call is still in development. So,
11:34um, your mileage may vary on that one.
11:36So, that's all you need for gear. Well,
11:38what do you think? That's not much money
11:41unless you're factoring in the computer,
11:43but, uh, and you don't even need the
11:45digital modes, but I strongly recommend
11:47it because it offers a lot of
11:49capabilities that you wouldn't have
11:50otherwise, such as relaying messages, a
11:53little bit of added comse sec. It's not
11:56encrypted, but it's encoded into its own
11:59digital protocol. uh anybody who's
12:02listening who is decoding on JSA will be
12:05able to read your messages in the clear
12:07but it adds a little bit of security by
12:11obscurity but don't don't count on it
12:13you can't sacrifice your other good com
12:15practices it also allows for relaying of
12:19messages so if you can see that station
12:24two can reach station three and you can
12:27reach station two but you can't reach
12:30station three directly. You can actually
12:32have station 2 relay a message to
12:34station 3 almost like a not like a
12:37repeater, but basically that's what
12:39you're doing. So, it's pretty powerful.
12:41I really recommend you get into it. It's
12:43it's a takes a bit of trial and error
12:45and a steep learning curve, but I'm I'm
12:48going to show you all the nitty-gritty
12:50nuts and bolts of how to get set up
12:52after we talk about HF propagation. All
12:54right, we're all hooked up. Let's go
12:56over all the connections once more.
12:58Starting from the antenna, the signal
13:01travels down the coax.
13:04We've got a uh adapter to the small SMA
13:08that goes into the radio right here.
13:10From the radio, we have the digg cables.
13:14Um mic and key goes to the red one.
13:17Audio is the green one. Then there's
13:20only a single plug down on this end
13:23which goes into the audio jack. And then
13:26there is a
13:29USB connection.
13:31I've got a USB hub right here. Uh don't
13:35worry about this one. That one's going
13:36to my YESU radio, not active right now.
13:39And then this one goes to my radio and
13:44that will power it on.
13:49All right. How does HF propagation work?
13:52Well, here is the Earth.
13:55Okay.
13:57And here's your
14:00your station.
14:03There is the ionosphere.
14:07And there are multiple layers of the
14:09ionosphere.
14:10There's the D layer. There's the E
14:13layer. And there's the F layer, which is
14:17F1 and F2. So, you're trying to reach
14:20this dude over here.
14:25You can't reach him line of sight like
14:27you would with a VHF radio because the
14:30curvature of the earth gets in the way.
14:32Now there is there are three types of
14:35propagation for HF radio. One actually
14:39is ground wave
14:45which propagates along the ground and it
14:48can kind of go around the earth a little
14:50bit but you're basically limited to the
14:52line of sight that we're used to with
14:54UHF and VHF. So let's say that's um I
14:58don't know 30 miles.
15:02Then we have
15:05skywave
15:06that will refract or reflect e either
15:12way off of the ionosphere and it depends
15:15on what band or what the conditions are
15:18which layer it's bouncing off. This D
15:20layer here it absorbs lower frequency
15:23sorry yeah lower fre higher frequency
15:27lower wavelength
15:29uh and but it allows the lower frequency
15:33higher wavelength to pass through and
15:35get refracted by these higher ionosphere
15:38levels. So maybe if we're on 20 m, maybe
15:42we're being refracted by the e- layer
15:44here and bada bing bada boom, we can
15:48reach this guy way over here. And maybe
15:52this guy is like 800 miles away. I don't
15:55know. The interesting thing though about
15:58HF propagation is there is a skip zone.
16:06This is a dead zone where you can't
16:08reach anybody in this area because by
16:11ground wave it's too far and by skywave
16:14just based on the trigonometry you can't
16:16bend it down at that acute of an angle.
16:18But there is something called
16:23envis
16:25nearvertical incidence skywave.
16:29It's a type of skywave propagation where
16:32the takeoff angle is basically straight
16:34up and then we are refracted back down.
16:40So it's uh higher than it's within like
16:43a 30° cone of vertical and you can hit
16:47the skip zone that way. You also don't
16:50care about mountains in the way. You
16:52could be at the bottom of the Grand
16:54Canyon and you're still transmitting
16:56just fine. you could probably reach
16:58somebody in uh Las Vegas from the Grand
17:00the bottom of the Grand Canyon. I don't
17:02know if anybody's tried that. You're not
17:03going to be reaching the 800 mile away
17:06guy because in this case the
17:09trigonometry is only allowing for acute
17:11angles. Now, there might be multiple
17:13skips. I think that's possible. It can
17:15bounce off the ground and then hit the
17:17ionosphere again. That's happened. That
17:19can happen. But it attenuates the signal
17:22dramatically with each bounce. So, this
17:25is great for our type of cops because
17:28all the people we're trying to reach are
17:30kind of in this skip zone. They're
17:31within a our state, you know, they might
17:34be within 200 miles of my location. So,
17:38this is the type of propagation we're
17:40going for. But how do we set that up?
17:45Well, normally you would want your
17:48dipole antenna.
17:50There's the feed point.
17:53Let's just say it's perfectly uh
17:55horizontal here.
17:58And here's your ground plane.
18:01Normally, you would want that to be So,
18:04for normal skywave, you'll want a height
18:06above the ground of at least
18:10half of a wavelength.
18:14But for NVIS,
18:18that should be less than
18:221/10enth [clears throat]
18:24wavelength. It should be about 110
18:27wavelength. You don't want it too close
18:28to the ground or you're not going to be
18:30getting very good propagation that way
18:32either. But the ground plane is acting
18:35kind of like a reflector. So the energy,
18:40the RF energy that is propagating
18:42downward is reflected back up. That's my
18:45understanding anyway. There's probably a
18:46more technical way of explaining it, but
18:49it's kind of using the ground plane as a
18:52directional antenna forming the beam
18:55upwards rather than at a low takeoff
18:58angle. A couple of notes on NVIS
19:00propagation. The first is that ENVIS is
19:03a type of propagation, not a type of
19:05antenna. And that means that even though
19:08you have it set up in a sort of NVIZ
19:10configuration, like onetenth wavelength
19:12above the ground, you may still be
19:15getting a component of your transmission
19:17that is propagating regular skywave. And
19:20so I've actually been making lots of
19:22contacts all over the country, not just
19:24in my own like 200 mile radius around
19:28me. The other thing is for those of us
19:30that care, NVIS propagation is very
19:33difficult to radio direction find
19:35because the signal, especially if you're
19:38using a QRP transmission under 10 watts,
19:42it's a weak signal, but moreover, it's
19:45coming from the sky. It's really hard to
19:48get a precise bearing on the transmitter
19:51location. That's why spy stations
19:54historically were able to get away with
19:56using these discrete numbers stations
19:59for so long because not only were they
20:02able to get their messages out all the
20:04way across continent sometimes, but they
20:06were very difficult, if not impossible,
20:08to pinpoint the location of. You also
20:10need to know about space weather. Oh my
20:13goodness, you can't even predict regular
20:15terrestrial weather. And now you're
20:16telling me you have to know about space
20:18weather? Well, here's the basics of it.
20:21The solar flux is what energizes the
20:24ionosphere. That's how much solar energy
20:27there is passing through unit area. And
20:30uh it follows an 11-year cycle. If you
20:32remember, we are near the solar maximum
20:34right now. A couple years ago, you could
20:36see the Aurora Borealis all the way down
20:38in southern states like Alabama, which
20:41is very atypical. Now although increased
20:44solar flux gives the ionosphere a boost,
20:47it also comes with an increased solar
20:51flare activity. And when there are solar
20:53flares, it can cause a geomagnetic
20:56storm. And when that happens, the
20:58ionosphere is way too unstable for HF
21:00skywave propagation. Think of it like a
21:03reflective pool versus a stormy sea.
21:06Now, that's not exactly the difference
21:08here because it's refraction, not just
21:10reflection. But the point is the
21:12ionosphere has so much unsteady energy
21:16and it just scatters the radio waves
21:18making the noise level way too high for
21:22communication. The good news is the
21:24smart people have already done all this
21:27leg work for you. You don't need to
21:29learn all this jargon like K factor and
21:32all that. There are websites that you
21:34can go on and look up the current band
21:37conditions and it automatically updates.
21:39It's not perfect because again,
21:42weatherman is always wrong. Sometimes
21:43when a band is showing fair, I've made
21:46lots of contacts and when it's so
21:47showing good, I haven't had any luck.
21:50But it's just a good reference to go off
21:52of.
22:03Now, this is not an ideal setup in terms
22:06of antenna efficiency. However, in terms
22:10of practicality and balancing your radio
22:13operation with everyday life, this is
22:16the perfect solution. I'm up here in my
22:18attic and I've got a 40 m dipole. The
22:21coax runs to a closet where I've drilled
22:24a hole through the ceiling. Run the coax
22:26down there. I can sit right at my desk
22:29and transmit away to my heart's content.
22:32It has pretty good propagation, but it's
22:34slightly attenuated by the roof, by the
22:37asphalt shingles, by the roofing nails,
22:40by the particle board, but I've made
22:41contacts all around the country this way
22:44on this tiny little antenna from 10
22:47watts up to about 80 watts. Using the
22:49Yau transceiver, I can go up to 100
22:52watts, but I typically hover around 80
22:54just cuz. Now, while I'm up here, have
22:56you heard the tale of the spectre of the
23:00HOA?
23:02Now, before we get into transmitting on
23:05HF, I suppose you're wondering, how do I
23:08do this legally? Well, to transmit on
23:11the amateur radio bands, all you got to
23:13do is study for the test and take it. It
23:17costs what, probably, I don't know, 20
23:19or 30 bucks at most to take it. It's
23:23good for 10 years. And the good thing
23:25about getting the license is that it
23:27gets all the sad hams off your tail
23:29because honestly, the FCC doesn't really
23:33care. They never find you. They never go
23:35after you if you're just doodling away
23:38on HF transmitting blah blah blah. They
23:42only go after the really bad ones, the
23:44ones that are causing harmful
23:46interference to official channels.
23:48That's what they really care about.
23:51But the amateur radio nerds out there,
23:55they're the ones that will enforce this.
23:58They're the ones that really care. And
24:02maybe you don't care about taking these
24:04people off, but honestly, the best thing
24:07to do is get the license because these
24:10people can be your allies. They can help
24:14you learn the ropes. Yes, they're rough
24:18around the edges, but being able to talk
24:21to them in the clear over the airwaves
24:23is a great way to practice. So, I'm not
24:26into rag chewing with them, but I'm all
24:30about making contacts, testing radio
24:32equipment out, and just experimenting.
24:36And you can't do that without someone to
24:38talk to. So, get your license. It's not
24:41that hard. Now, to get everything set up
24:44right, you have three things you need to
24:46do. You need to check all your hardware
24:48connections, which we already went over,
24:50but here is a nice little diagram
24:53summing it all up.
24:55Second, you need to get all your radio
24:58settings correct. And third, we'll need
25:01to go over all the software settings in
25:04JS8 call. So, let's first take a look at
25:08the radio settings. Everything can be
25:10accessed through the menu here.
25:14So, the first thing we want to change is
25:16the volume. Don't want it too high or
25:18too low. Um, this matters because the
25:22audio is how the computer and the radio
25:24are communicating. It's not
25:26communicating with ones and zeros
25:28through this USB. It's communicating
25:30with audio through this audio jack
25:33through the Digi Rig. So, the next thing
25:36you need to look at is the mode. So,
25:38that's 1.2. 2. You can go through the
25:40menu with this knob right here. And you
25:43want USB. This is not referring to
25:47universal serial bus USB. This is
25:50referring to upper sideband as opposed
25:54to lower sideband. Now, usually if
25:56you're on 40 m and you're talking on
25:59voice, you want that to be
26:02uh lower sideband LSB. But for digital
26:06modes, at least for JS8 call, it uses
26:09upper sideband modulation. For filter
26:13bandwidth, you want full or as full as
26:16possible.
26:17I think I think it needs to be at least
26:193K. I guess I've got it on 4K. For
26:21[clears throat] band, we're using 40 m.
26:25I think 40 m is the most capable do all
26:30band at any time of the day. Now
26:33sometimes 20 m will be better than 40 m.
26:36Just go and check that website that
26:39shows the band conditions at their
26:41during the daytime and the nighttime.
26:44But uh 40 m is generally fairly capable
26:47because it doesn't get absorbed by that
26:49D layer of the ionosphere. Next, this
26:52this is the tuning rate. So when we're
26:55not in the menu, this knob controls what
26:57frequency we're on. And this tune rate
27:00just shows by how much it changes with
27:02each click. Um,
27:05I honestly I keep it at 1K hertz, 1 kHz.
27:10VFO mode, leave it on a
27:14RIT, leave it off.
27:18AGC, that's automatic gain control. I
27:22would recommend having that on. And
27:24that's it. There are other things on
27:26this, but you don't need to worry about
27:28all of them. I would leave them at the
27:30default. Um, so there you have it.
27:35Those are the radio settings. Let's move
27:37on to the software settings. Okay, so
27:41this is the JS8 window. I'll introduce
27:44you to the different elements here and
27:46then we'll dive into the settings. Down
27:48here in this main part on the bottom is
27:51the waterfall. And this will show you
27:54the messages as they come rolling in.
27:57And you won't see a lot right now, and
27:59I'll explain why in a second, but uh
28:01when they are here, they appear as
28:04lighter green or yellow blobs that show
28:07up in between these green horizontal
28:10lines. And they have to be in bursts
28:14between the horizontal lines because
28:18that allows the software to decode it
28:20accurately.
28:22This means that everybody's JSA call has
28:25to be running on an accurate clock.
28:29Therefore, there are two things you need
28:32to know about that. Either your computer
28:34is connected to the internet and it's
28:35getting clock updates through that or
28:39you have another device like a GPS that
28:42has an accurate time that your computer
28:45can pull from. Or there's something
28:48called automatic time drift where
28:52over here timing automatic time drift.
28:55If you can see that your messages are
28:58overlapping these lines and they're not
28:59being decoded properly, then you can
29:02start automatic time drift and then it
29:04will adjust your horizontal lines until
29:07it decodes something properly. Then
29:09it'll have that offset.
29:12up here in the messages window, you will
29:15see the decoded messages.
29:18And uh sometimes if it doesn't get the
29:20whole thing, you'll see a bunch of dot
29:22dot dot here. You see somebody's call
29:24sign and I don't know what he said
29:26because he has a really low SNR, signal
29:29to noise ratio. And why don't I address
29:31the elephant in the room right now while
29:34I'm talking about it.
29:37Here are the current band conditions.
29:40For some reason, we're green across the
29:42board except for 40 80 to 40 meters in
29:46daytime conditions, and it's currently
29:482:30 p.m. local, as you can see. So,
29:52poor propagation on 40 m currently,
29:56even though there's no geomagnetic
29:58storm. There was one yesterday, I
30:01believe, which can carry over to today,
30:04unfortunately. So, I will try again
30:07tonight and we'll see if we can actually
30:09send some messages. But I'm just trying
30:11to get the settings out of the way right
30:13now. Look, we decoded somebody. We got
30:16him at -21 dB SNR, but he heard whoever
30:20this is at minus09 dB. Now, this
30:24yellowish window here, those are your
30:27saved messages. So everything that
30:29you've sent here
30:32uh and everything that you've clicked on
30:34and saved. See I just clicked that one
30:35and it appeared over here. It saves it
30:37here. Otherwise they'll disappear after
30:39a minute or two. And then on the right
30:44we have all of our saved call signs. And
30:47I have recently cleared it cuz I am not
30:50trying to give out all my contacts call
30:53signs. These are ones that I've just
30:55picked up on since starting recording.
30:57Also, you'll notice I'm using a bogus
30:59call sign up here. CDE A1. That's not my
31:03real call sign. I'm pretty private about
31:05my call sign when it comes to YouTube. A
31:07lot of the ham nerds are going to be up
31:09in arms in the comments that I'm even
31:11using a bogus call sign. I am licensed,
31:14guys. But for YouTube, I'm not going to
31:17blast my call sign. It has my full name
31:20and other personal information that
31:22people can find online. So, let's go to
31:25the settings. So you go to file settings
31:27and there are three tabs you'll need to
31:29look at. All these other ones don't
31:31worry about the general tab. Enter a
31:34call sign. Even if you don't want to put
31:37your actual call sign, the the software
31:40will let you use a bogus call sign. And
31:44I think that is a win. But in actual
31:48operation, I will put my real ham call
31:52sign in here because like I said, other
31:55hams you encounter on the airwaves, you
31:58won't build any build any rapport with
32:00them if they can't get past the fact
32:02that you're using a bogus call sign. So,
32:04use your real call sign, your real grid,
32:08uh your grid locator here. This is not
32:11my real grid, but it's not too far off,
32:13I guess. This is your maiden head grid.
32:18And this is what most ham radio people
32:21use instead of like a a 10digit uh GPS
32:26coordinates. If you don't know what
32:28yours is, there's a easy way to find
32:31out. Just type in your zip code or
32:33something on on a web map and it'll tell
32:36you. And this is important because
32:38entering one here will allow you to do
32:40heartbeats. And that is a very important
32:43functionality of JSA call we'll talk
32:46about after going through the settings.
32:48So that's the general tab on radio. The
32:53simplest way to get this to work at
32:55least for the true SDX is for rig select
33:00none. If you click on this you'll see
33:02that there are a bajillion different
33:06radio models in here. icons, Ken Woods,
33:09um, Yus, all the big names. And, uh,
33:15that's because each radio might have its
33:17own, uh, control protocol or something
33:22like that. And, uh, I don't want to mess
33:26with that. So, I'm not doing CAT
33:27control. I'm doing RTS.
33:30RTS stands for request to send. I
33:34believe it is still a digital command
33:36using RS232
33:38control to toggle your radios PTT, but
33:42uh it's a lot simpler here. Um your
33:46port, find out which port your radio is
33:49on. Um and if you're not sure, go to
33:53device manager, unplug your radio, and
33:57see which which com port disappears, and
33:59then plug it back in. Finally, when you
34:03are ready, click test PTT.
34:07And now I will grab my phone and show
34:10you
34:13that my radio is transmitting. See that
34:16T right there? That means transmitting.
34:19Usually it says R. So, right now, I'm
34:23just blasting something. I don't know
34:25what it's sending, but I'm blasting. I'm
34:27holding it wide open. Uh, but that's I
34:31was that threw me for a loop when I was
34:32first doing this because I didn't know
34:34that you have to go back over here and
34:36uncclick it. And now
34:41you see it's an R on receive. So, it's
34:44stupid little things like that that I
34:46got to show you because I would spend
34:47hours beating my head against the wall.
34:49Why is it holding the transmit on? It's
34:52cuz you have to uncclick test PTT. I
34:55don't know why I didn't think toclick
34:57it. I thought it was just like a brief
34:59little thing. Anyway, [laughter]
35:01moving on. The last tab you need to
35:04worry about is the audio tab. And
35:06remember, we have the Digi Rigg. If you
35:08go down here to your
35:12uh taskbar
35:14on audio, you'll see a bunch of
35:16different things. You'll probably have
35:17headphones and speakers and stuff. It'll
35:20show up as a USB audio device. And
35:23again, if you're not sure, go to your
35:25device manager, unplug it, see which one
35:27it is. So for input and output, select
35:31that on the audio tab. And that's it.
35:34Now we are ready to dive in and try
35:36using JSA call. Are we brave? Are we
35:39going to try and get a message out on 10
35:42watts with an attic dipole on a day with
35:45poor propagation? Let's try it. So, what
35:49we do here is we go over here and we
35:52click heartbeat. Oh, before that, make
35:55sure it's enabled because it might you
35:57might not see that button. So, go to
35:59mode at the top, enable heartbeat
36:02networking,
36:04and
36:06you'll probably also want auto reply
36:07with confirmation because it's fun to be
36:10able to acknowledge other people's
36:12heartbeat requests. Oh, and enable
36:15heartbeat acknowledgement act.
36:18All right. So, when I hit this,
36:22you'll see in this text box right here,
36:25this is what we're transmitting. And
36:27over here, once it's ready, it will
36:29start transmitting automatically. And it
36:32takes 10 seconds to do it. While we're
36:35transmitting, we can't receive anything.
36:38So, make sure you time it right so you
36:40don't miss out on important messages.
36:44Are we going to hear anybody back? Did
36:47anybody hear us? This will be awesome if
36:49so.
36:50>> One minute later.
36:52>> Well, doesn't look like it. Anyway,
36:55we'll try this again in the evening and
36:57see if we get any better results, but I
36:59hope I've been able to show you the
37:01basic functionality of JSA call. I
37:04forgot to mention that you can operate
37:06JS8 call on any frequency. Well, any
37:09frequency that you have transmission
37:11privileges on. I must rush to stay. But
37:13to have the highest chance of making
37:14contact with others on the air, there
37:17are standard frequencies for each band.
37:19And on 40 m, that's 7.078 MHz. When
37:23running your own net with your chums,
37:25you may want to find another frequency
37:27to avoid unwanted attention. For
37:29instance, those of you who follow S2
37:31Underground will know that he runs his
37:33ghost net on 7.107 MHz. So, here on the
37:37screen, you will notice that I had
37:39picked up two stations, one of which the
37:41call sign didn't come through for some
37:42reason. You can check the location of a
37:45station by going to qrz.com and looking
37:48up the call sign. The contact I made
37:50just before this clip appears to be
37:52located in Ohio, about 400 miles away
37:55from me. Not bad for a 10 watt rig and
37:58an attic antenna. He heard me at -1 SNR
38:02and I heard him at minus14. weak signal
38:06modes are where it's at. This also goes
38:09to show that NVIS is not a hard and fast
38:12thing. My contact that I made on this
38:15video was 400 miles away or so. That's a
38:19little bit beyond the traditional 200
38:21mile radius that is often quoted with
38:23Envis propagation. That could be either
38:27two things. One is that there were
38:29multiple bounces off the ionosphere.
38:32Maybe there were two hops. Or the other
38:34option is maybe it wasn't an NVIS
38:38propagation. Maybe it was a small
38:41component of the lower takeoff angle
38:44that gets mostly dampened, I guess you
38:47could say, by the ground plane, but it
38:50still gets out a weak signal. And for
38:53JSA call, that's all it needs. Just to
38:55explain a little bit about digital
38:57modes. This is what JSA call actually
39:00sounds like.
39:12>> It's actually audio. And if you have an
39:15audio file of the encoded JS8 sound, you
39:19can actually play it straight into a
39:21microphone on your computer and decode
39:24it on the JS8 call software. So, it's a
39:27really cool ability. It's all based on
39:29sound. And as an added Easter egg, here
39:32is another digital message using another
39:36protocol and see if you can figure out
39:38what it is. Let me know in the comments
39:40below.
39:46>> [music]
39:52[music]
40:00>> So, here are your action items for
40:02today. Consider what you're going to do
40:05to meet up with your group or to
40:07communicate with them if comms go down.
40:10If cell networks internet infrastructure
40:13goes down, gets clamped down, gets
40:16censored, goes blackout, how are you
40:18going to stay in touch? Cuz you're
40:21without a group, without friends, you
40:24are sunk.
40:26So consider getting into HF because it's
40:28a pretty powerful tool and you don't
40:31need a bunch of nodes or infrastructure
40:33in between two two people in order to
40:36make that contact. Secondly, you need
40:39somebody to be able to talk to, which
40:42means this is not just on you. It's you
40:45have to educate your friends now to be
40:48able to gain this capability.
40:51So, send this video to your closest
40:53friends, the ones that you absolutely
40:55need to stay in contact with if and when
40:58the grid goes down, and see if you can
41:00get them to get into HF radio as well.
41:03That way you'll have somebody that you
41:06can do a regular net with to practice to
41:11make iron out all the kinks so that
41:12you're not trying to figure it out in a
41:14panic in a moment of emergency. Third,
41:18make a pace plan. That's the primary
41:20alternate contingent and emergency
41:23communication methods. This will fit
41:25somewhere into the A and C category.
41:28Emergency often times that's just
41:30courier. You're like, you're I'm going
41:31to my friend's house right now. Get in
41:34the car. I don't know. Something like
41:35that.
41:38Maybe is eating my script right now.
41:42>> Uh so yeah, in conclusion, HF radio,
41:46it's not everything, but it is a very
41:49crucial part of the communications
41:51puzzle that you've got to figure out.
41:54And and nowadays, the barrier to entry
41:56is very minimal. Please give it a solid
42:00try. Look into it. You won't regret it.
42:06And with that, this is Charlie Delta
42:08Echo and Charlie Delta Echo Jr. out.
42:14[music]

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