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--- national_packet_update_draft [2023/08/13 22:10] – 2e0sip
+++ national_packet_update_draft [2023/09/26 20:08] (current) – 2e0sip
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+====== National Packet Update - September 2023 ======
 ===== Introduction =====
 Welcome to the latest edition of the National Packet Update, where we strive to collate updates on our endeavors to increase packet radio usage and expand its coverage in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and beyond.
-It's been another busy month for packet radio with 7+ NOV applications for new nodes, 25 Barebones NinoTNC kits being sent out, with parts for another 20 on order with suppliers, and 20 Tait radios being sent out be put into use for packet radio.
+I think its fair to say that packet has well and truly taken off and is seeing some exponential growth, with almost 50 NoV'd packet nodes online. Whilst this is great news and an incredible effort from all those involved, it does making these updates a little more challenging to put together. If I've missed a node going live or some other update this month apologies.
+Going forward I'd request that people submit their updates via this [[https://forms.gle/b7et3B2724D1i3JH8|Google Form]]. These could be updates on new nodes, new links, software updates, and general progress or success stories that you want included in the update. These can then be collated into the update rather than trying to manually keep track of everything!
 ===== Progress =====
-In the North West of England, the North West Packet Group have put GB7MBC (Morecombe Bay) and GB7ROS (Rossendale, Lancashire) into service, with a hive of activity in the surrounding areas and more nodes planned for the future. Matt M5MPC has also put GB7ELE into operation in Walkden, Manchester and G1OHH has applied for an NoV for MB7NLA near Windermere on 6m
+==== Packet Network ====
+The network continues to grow with lots of new nodes and links going up this month.
+In Scotland Andy GM7GDE	has put up MB7UAH near East Kilbride
+In the North East of England, Robin M0JQQ is now operating GB7CNR near Cramlington, and Gregory M0ODZ has put GB7ODZ into service in the nearby Houghton Le Spring. These two nodes are now operational and exchanging packets with one another. Scott M0RWV has also put up MB7UWV near Scarborough.
+In the North West, Neil M0NFI has put MB7NFI into service near Prescot, Merseyside. Neil's also running some custom apps on the node, which are well worth checking out.
+In the Midlands, Dave G1ZEK has put up GB7NWL near Castle Donnington and Jon G7RUP GB7LCN in Lincoln. Andy M1NER has also put up MB7NER near Peterborough.
+In London, Szymon M0GZP has been granted GB7WEM for his Node in Sudbury, and has reliable RF connectivity into GB7CIP in Caterham - one of, if not the oldest packet node still operating and the gateway into the international packet network. GB7WEM also has a good link to GB7NHA in Harpenden, which in turn can reach Milton Keynes and beyond.
+In the west of England, M0ZEN has put up MB7NCD near Coleford in Gloucestershire
+Last but not least, GB7IOW has had a flurry of activity with some 50 users connecting to the BBS from Holland, Russia, Germany and Portugal.
-In the East of England, Andy M1NER has also put up MB7NER near Peterborough, which may help link central England to the pocket of activity surrounding Norwich in future.
+==== Software ====
-In the South East of England, Matt G7HMV has put up MB7NLB in Leighton Buzzard, with the goal of linking the Milton Keynes area up to G8KHF's node in Daventry, MB7NXX.
+The software world has also been incredibly busy this month. Paula has released Xrouter v502x, available on the [[https://groups.io/g/xrouter/files/|XRouter groups.io]]. It's currently for upgrading existing systems but she's currently working on a new installer and documentation for fresh installs.
-In the South West of England GB7PEW in Pewsey, Wiltshire has been issued the new callsign MB7NPW, and is now RF only since stable RF links have been setup to MB7NBH near Bristol. Great progress!
+Hibby MM0RFN has also been putting in some hard work to build packages and host packet related software so it's as simple as `apt-get install`. For a list of instructions and available packages see this [[https://online-amateur-radio-club-m0ouk.github.io/oarc-packages/|page]]
-In the South of England, Jules G0NZO has setup MB7NSC on Bell Hill near Ibberton, which has an RF path to GB7IOW and onto GB7RDG in Reading.
+==== Hardware ====
-In Wales, M0ZEN has put up MB7NCD in Coleford, further boosting the activity that's gaining traction around Wales and Bristol.
+Jonathan G4KLX and Nino KK4HEJ have been working to add new C4FSK based modes to the MMDVM and NinoTNC respectively, with the hope of squeezing 9600 baud or more out of a 12.5kHz channel, which could also pave the way to similarly increased speeds over a 25kHz channel in future. Nino and Jonathan have also been discussing extending the IL2P protocol to include a checksum to further improve its accuracy.
-In Ireland, Vic EI5IYB and Ben EI9IUB have been experimenting with getting a 9600 baud link between their nodes around the Tullamore area.
+You may recall that last month Nino also added some experimental  [[https://wiki.oarc.uk/packet:ninotnc|BPSK/QPSK  modulations]] to the NinoTNC, intended for use over HF. John G8BPQ has since added these to [[https://www.cantab.net/users/john.wiseman/Documents/QtSoundModem.html|QtSoundModem]] so NinoTNC and QTSM users can test them out.
-Also worth noting, Nino KK4HEJ has added new experimental modes to the NinoTNC, see https://wiki.oarc.uk/packet:ninotnc for more details
 ===== How to get involved =====