Active Capt / Defender SSB special

[btrayfors]

Wow! Lucky you.

Go for it. RG-214 is my favorite for high quality installations. The Navy likes it, too.

I like the silvered double-shielding and tinned center conductor. Sometimes you need to remove a bit of the outer layer of the shield so it will fit properly into a PL-259 connector, or ream out the connector a bit.

I like it better than LMR-400 though I can't say exactly why. In a VHF installation with a tall mast I'd probably opt for the LMR-400 because of its lower loss at 150mHz, but for HF installations it hardly matters.

Bill
WA6CCA

[Matt Johnson]

Nice! I'll wait for your ad in the classifieds before I hit you up for a few feet for our mast rewire

Matt

[zboss]

Is there a software defined HF modem? I see no reason why the sound card in your PC wouldn't make a great SSB modem.

[ka4wja]

zboss,
Yes, there is....

Originally Posted by zboss

Is there a software defined HF modem? I see no reason why the sound card in your PC wouldn't make a great SSB modem.

After many years of development, there is WINMOR, which is used on the WINLINK network (ham radio), that does work....speeds/thru-put are fairly limited to about that of PACTOR II (typically a bit slower)....typically about 1000 - 1200 baud....and, of course it also depends on your computer / sound-card....

Problem is the PACTOR II, PACTOR III, and PACTOR IV protocols / coding are proprietary, and owned by the developers in Germany, SCS...and they have not licensed them to anyone (at least none that I know of)....

So, while PACTOR IV is a wonderful system, and an outstanding technological achievement (giving thru-puts of 8kb, up to 10kb, in a narrow 2.4khz channel), and the fact that Sailmail adopted it instantly, etc....and this all makes it a fantastic choice for sailors....it is also a proprietary system...


So, there you go....a software defined modem capable of supporting slow-speed data and interfacing with windows software, and allowing some e-mail connectivity, DOES exist....but, ONLY for ham radio (no business or commercial use), and only with fairly limited speeds....
(and also, you need to remember the sometimes sporadic nature of ham radio station reliability, signals, etc...)



Fair winds..

John