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====== National Packet Update - September 2023 ======

===== Introduction =====

Welcome to the (slightly delayed) 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.

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 =====

==== 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.

==== Software ====

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. 

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]]

==== Hardware ====

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. 

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.


===== How to get involved =====

  * Join the OARC Discord server (https://www.oarc.uk/join) and visit the #national-packet-project channel.
  * Join the UK Packet Radio mailing list: [[https://groups.io/g/ukpacketradio/]]
  * Visit https://packet.oarc.uk for further information, tutorials, and more. (Please note that this page is a work in progress, just like this project!)
  * Build a node and get it on the air, or try connecting to any of the existing nodes.
  * Stay tuned for future updates on the progress.