Blow-by-blow Report of the 1989 TAPR Annual Meeting by Paul Williamson, KB5MU from the SANDPAC Newsletter On Saturday and Sunday February 25 and 26, 1989, the Tucson Amateur Packet Radio Corporation (TAPR) held their annual meeting. Approximately 75 people were in attendance from around the US, plus one each from Canada and Brazil. TAPR President Andy Freeborn, N0CCZ, opened the meeting promptly at 9:00 AM on Saturday. He announced the results of the Board of Directors election. The following were elected to serve a three-year term on the Board: Franklin Antonio, N6NKF; Bdale Garbee, N3EUA; Steve Goode, K9NG; Eric Gustafson, N7CL; and Lyle Johnson, WA7GXD. A discussion of the possibility of a new Amateur license class not requiring a Morse Code examination was on the agenda for Sunday morning. In preparation for that discussion, N0CCZ took a poll of those present. 35 were in favor of a codeless license, 13 opposed, 7 uncommitted. Harold Price, NK6K, served as program chairman for the meeting. He introduced Phil Karn, KA9Q, who spoke about "Recent Developments in TCP/IP". Phil Karn, KA9Q: TCP/IP Karn showed a diagram of the Internet protocol hierarchy to remind the audience of the general structure of the protocols. Since he has given the introductory talk at previous TAPR meetings, he gave only a quick overview of the protocols. He then showed a very long list of companies that sell or support TCP/IP-based products, to show that TCP/IP is a widespread de facto standard. He then listed the software modules that are currently a part of the KA9Q TCP/IP implementation: IP Applications: FTP, Telnet, SMTP, Finger AX.25 Applications: Mailbox, BBS/Internet Gateway Protocols: TCP, UDP, IP, ICMP, RIP, NET/ROM, Ethernet, AX.25, SLIP, AppleTalk Drivers: drivers for many Ethernet cards Karn went on to point out that NET's capability to use a NET/ROM network to carry IP packets is perfectly in keeping with the Internet concept of tying existing facilities together into a working network. However, link layer protocols cannot patch over physical layer problems. That is, the radios and modems must be able to communicate bits from one station to the next reliably before the protocols, no matter how well designed, can do a good job. An industry standard for Ethernet device drivers has been agreed upon, and Wollongong (a major TCP/IP vendor) has agreed to release their device drivers to the public domain as they are converted to the new standard. The NET software has been converted to work with the Packet Driver standard, so it can take advantage of this working base of driver software. In addition, drivers already exist for the Eagle board, HAPN (Hamilton Area Packet Network) board, the DRSI PC-Packet Adapter, and the Pac-Comm PC-100 board. KISS TNC firmware exists for almost all TNC's, including the TAPR TNC-1 and TNC-2, the VADCG board, the AEA PK-232 and PK-87, and various Kantronics models. The major work in progress on the KA9Q NET software involves an extensive rewrite of the internal structure of the software. Karn has implemented a simple multitasking kernel (referred to as "NOS") to replace the awkward up-call interface of the existing software. It uses lightweight processes and the Berkeley sockets interface. The main idea is to make it easier to integrate applications software with the basic networking software. Other work in progress includes automatic routing, possibly including the experimental SPF protocols currently being tested on NSFNet, and intelligent host interfaces for use with computers without plug-in adapters. Karn has switched compilers from Aztec C to Turbo C version 2.0. This is good news for many who are interested in making modifications to the NET software, since Turbo is much less expensive, more available, and faster than Aztec. Karn has also been working on various performance enhancements in the NET package. The amateur packet environment has unique problems due to the very low speed of the radio channel, so it presents an opportunity for original research in protocol design. Some of the ideas Karn is working on include round trip time variance estimation, slow start, congestion window thresholding, and retry timeout clamping. He is also adding the capability to fragment IP packets over multiple AX.25 frames, allowing the use of shorter frames for better performance over poor channels. Greg Jones, WD5IVD: TexNet The next speaker was Greg Jones, WD5IVD, of the Texas Packet Radio Society, which designed, installed, and operates TexNet. TexNet is a 9600 bps statewide network running on custom hardware. It uses RCA 700 transceivers in the 440 MHz band. Jones showed a diagram of the network, which currently includes three links via leased telephone lines. Linked lines are used as a stopgap to help build network connectivity, which helps to build interest in the network in the newly-connected areas. The leased lines can then be replaced with amateur radio links. TexNet includes a Network Management System, which performs several functions for the network. The network keepalive function of the NMS polls each network node every eight minutes. If any node fails to respond to several consecutive polls, the NMS issues a reset command to that node. The poll responses contain various information about the operational status of the node, which is used by the Report Collection and Analysis function of the NMS. The information is collected into reports, which are made available on the network PMS message system for users to download. The data collection is also used for network engineering, permitting the network managers to detect and correct nodes that have failed or have become isolated from the network. Some sample network statistics were presented. In one 14-day period, the network recorded 674 connections, of which 137 were to the network Packet Message Systems (there are three), 403 were connections through the network to another station, and 5 were to a node's Conference Bridge facility. (They consider the Conference Bridge to be underutilized, and are considering making the conference network-wide to increase interest.) An average weekday sees 2 megabytes of data pass through the network; on a weekend day the figure is 9 megabytes. Other networks based on the TexNet hardware and software exist in Oklahoma and Michigan. Maps of these networks were shown. The Texas group currently has 300 members, and supports three active working groups: the TexNet Support Group, the Texas Networks Group, and the Mailbox/BBS Group. They are currently working on several projects: a protocol converter/gateway to other networks, such as TCP/IP or NET/ROM; a new version of their weather information server, required to interface with the National Weather Service's new distribution system; software enhancements; and backbone radio improvements. Tom Clark, W3IWI: MicroSat Tom Clark, W3IWI, took the podium to speak about the MicroSat project. The first Ariane 4 launch, currently scheduled for July 15, will carry four MicroSats and two UoSATs of similar design. The MicroSats will be Pacsat/NA (North American packet satellite), Pacsat/LU (Argentine packet satellite), DOVE (Digital Orbiting Voice Encoder), and a satellite from Weber State College containing a CCD video camera. All of these satellites will carry a BBS-in-the-sky system for worldwide store and forward mail and bulletin transmission. They will ride on a platform installed atop the top stage of the Ariane 4 rocket, in the otherwise-unused corners around the base of the primary payload. This space provides an inexpensive opportunity to launch several small satellites. More opportunities to launch small satellites may be afforded by Pegasus, a commercial rocket plane being developed by American Technologies. Pegasus is a solid-fuel rocket with a small wing, which can be dropped from a B-52 like the X-15 experimental rocket plane. Since the solid-fuel rocket has no throttle, the main way to control the final orbit is by adding ballast to the payload. The Pegasus has been configured so that small satellites can be used for this ballast. This may provide a stream of cheap launch opportunities for MicroSats The satellites are quite small, only 7 inches on a side. They are constructed from five modules, which are stacked up and bolted together to make the satellite's structure. Each of the modules has a different function. The basic four modules contain the transmitter, receiver, CPU, and power systems. The fifth module contains whatever special application is desired, such as the CCD camera on the Weber satellite. All six sides of the cube are covered with solar panels, which together provide an average of 6 to 8 watts. This slim power budget forces the design to be very frugal with power. YT3MV has designed a transmitter for the MicroSats that is 80% efficient from DC to RF. The CPU is a low-power design by WA7GXD inspired by the PS-186 and based on an NEC V40 processor. It contains a 2K boot ROM, 256 kilobytes error-detecting-and-correcting (EDAC) program RAM, and 8 megabytes of static RAM, and consumes approximately 1.5 watts. The receiver is a high-performance design by W3IWI. It makes remarkable use of low-cost commercial components, such as a Motorola receiver chip designed for cordless telephones and inexpensive Toko coils from Digikey. Clark displayed a prototype receiver in the flight configuration. Power budget calculations indicate that the MicroSats will be capable of continuous operation. Another innovative cost-reduction feature of the MicroSat design is the interconnection scheme. Instead of an elaborate handmade wiring harness connecting signals every which way (construction time: 2 months), the MicroSat is connected largely by a single ribbon cable between the modules (construction time: 20 minutes). Each modules contains a Motorola 14469 AART chip, which enables the modules to communicate serially over a miniature local area network. Clark then discussed the uplink bandplan of the two Pacsats. Their uplink passbands are divided into four 16 kHz channels each, spaced at 20 kHz. Since the satellite band on 2 meters is only 140 kHz wide, the highest channel of one satellite coincides with the lowest channel of the other. Two different modulation schemes are planned. 1200 baud Manchester FSK, compatible with existing Fuji-OSCAR 12 modems, will be used by less sophisticated stations. These stations need not track their uplink frequency according to the satellite's Doppler shift, since the passband of each channel is wide enough to accommodate Doppler plus the narrow 1200 baud waveform. 4800 baud FSK, however, requires more bandwidth, so users of this waveform must precompensate their uplink frequency to remove the Doppler shift. It is expected that this waveform will be used primarily by gateway and mail forwarding stations. Clark explained the choice of Manchester FSK at 1200 baud and straight FSK at 4800 baud. The use of HDLC on the baseband data ensures (through bit-stuffing) that the fundamental frequencies in the baseband data are 75 Hz to 600 Hz for a 1200 baud data stream. These frequencies do not pass through a normal SSB filter. Manchester encoding amounts to a DSB modulation around a 1200 Hz carrier, shifting the spectrum right into the center of the SSB filter. With four times the data rate at 4800 baud, the baseband frequencies are four times greater: 300 to 2400 Hz. This is exactly the passband of an SSB filter, so no Manchester encoding in necessary or desired. The choice of waveform is made on a per-channel basis under software control. The Harris chip used for demodulation provides an appropriate matched filter for either waveform on command. This will permit some channels to be operated at 4800 baud for the use of gateways while others are operated at 1200 baud for user stations. Clark responded to several questions from the audience. Q: Where are the bar magnets? A: The satellites are stabilized by four bar magnets, which are mounted in the corner edges of the satellite. The magnets also provide some additional structural support to the satellite frame. Q: How does TAPR fit in? A: TAPR and AMSAT have a heavy overlap of personnel. In addition, TAPR has funded much of the hardware for Pacsat/NA, for a total contribution of $21,300. Q: What about thermal considerations? A: A detailed thermal model shows that everything runs cold. The temperature is predicted to be 0 C plus or minus 5 degrees C. This is a good temperature for the NiCad batteries. Jon Bloom, KE3Z: MicroSat Power Module Jon Bloom, KE3Z, of the ARRL Laboratory, described ARRL Labs contribution to the MicroSat project. He has designed the power module, including the batteries and battery charge regulator. The solar cells are arranged in clips of 20 cells in series, providing about 22 volts when illuminated. The power control system provides 10V unregulated and 5V and 8.5V regulated to the rest of the satellite. The power control system is heavily instrumented with telemetry sensors. A clever circuit based on a saturated toroidal core is used to measure current without dissipating much power. Harold Price, NK6K: MicroSat Software Harold Price, NK6K, described the MicroSat software design. Since the processor in MicroSat is a V40-based system, software development can rely heavily on standard IBM PC compilers and tools. MicroSat software is written in assembler and Microsoft C, linked with Microsoft LINK. It is then loaded into the satellite's processor by a cooperative process between the satellite's bootstrap ROM loader and the ground station PC. A primary goal of the software design is ease of implementation for new satellite applications. A small multitasking operating system has been implemented, along with an operating system services library that emulates the standard "stdio" C library interface. It provides the application with a disk-like interface to the 8 MB bulk memory. This operating system is a port of QCF, a product developed by NK6K's company and donated to AMSAT for satellite use. WB6YMH is implementing all the low level I/O routines that communicate directly with the satellite's hardware. With these facilities, the applications developer need only program in portable C and link with the provided libraries to develop satellite software. This design enables the software team to be divided between the operating system and applications developers, which has never been possible in previous amateur satellite software development efforts. The software in the satellite is constantly collecting data from many sensors throughout all the modules of the satellite. This telemetry data is transmitted (at low power) on the downlink whenever the downlink is not otherwise occupied. It is also accumulated into files, which are made available to users as downloadable files. In the case of the Weber satellite, some of the CCD pictures will also be made available for downloading. The satellite is protected against software bugs. The only software which is burned into PROM is a small simple bootstrap loader. The actual operating software is uploaded (after launch if necessary) into EDAC RAM, where it is protected against most radiation upsets by the EDAC circuitry. A watchdog timer resets the processor if the CPU fails to kick it periodically. A hardware "Fire code" circuit allows a ground station to reset the satellite's processor even if it is totally crashed. The satellite is expected to be easy to access. The downlink signal should be quite loud, comparable to the signals from the Space Shuttle SAREX transmissions. Omnidirectional antennas should be adequate, except when the satellite is in view of heavily populated areas. An FO-12 modem is the only special hardware needed to communicate with the satellite. Jan King, W3GEY: MicroSat MicroSat program manager Jan King, W3GEY, displayed the MicroSat chassis that was used for vibration tests. It was subjected to 15 G's RMS. He said that all the solar panels (which were once believed to be the critical-path items)had been received from the vendor. Each satellite has two transmitters; it is possible (but not currently intended) to operate both at once. It is yet to be determined whether the two transmitters will be placed on the same frequency or two different ones. The satellite is expected to have a long service life. Its lifetime will probably be limited by radiation damage to the large RAM array. The batteries are 6 Ah GE aviation NiCads, which have functioned flawlessly on UoSAT for over five years. The total materials cost for a MicroSat is approximately $43,500. Dave Toth, VE3GYQ: HF BBS Network Dave Toth, VE3GYQ, discussed the HF network of coordinated BBS systems. This system is designed exclusively for mail forwarding. No users are permitted to use the system directly, and users are discouraged from transmitting on the network frequencies. Several frequencies on various bands are used, depending on propagation and the required range. 40 meters is used for intrastate forwarding, 20 meters for interstate forwarding, and 15 meters for intercontinental forwarding. 30 meters is also used, sometimes in night/day alternation with 10 meters. Each frequency has an assigned manager, and Toth provides central coordination for all frequencies. The network has several deficiencies. It has low throughput, due to low data rate and difficult conditions on HF. It is subject to the vagaries of HF propagation. And, it is subject to the hazard of new or inconsiderate packet operators. They sometimes operate on the network frequencies, causing drastic reductions in network throughput. In December 1988, the HF network experienced a congestion collapse. Throughput remained near zero for several days. It is believed that the problem was caused by network operators raising the retry limit in response to poor conditions. As more and more stations retried more and more times, the network approached a state in which the channel was saturated with retransmissions. When all stations backed off the retry limit to the original value and held back mail transmissions for a few days, the network returned to normal operation. The HF network plans to test a variation on the AX.25 protocol called "prioritized ACK". The idea of this scheme is to give acknowledgments effective priority on the channel over other transmissions. This is thought to reduce the performance degradation due to the hidden terminal problem. Suppose station A is transmitting to station B, and station C has a packet for station D that it is ready to transmit. Station C hears station A, so it is waiting for the end of A's transmission. In AX.25 Version 2.0, station C would transmit its data as soon as A's transmission ended (allowing for DWAIT and possibly random backoff time). In the prioritized ACK version, station C is required to wait long enough for station B to send a RR frame to station A before transmitting. This permits the RR from B to arrive at A without collision, even if C cannot hear B. The HF network will attempt to determine if this modification actually leads to increased throughput. Mike Lamb, N7ML: No-Code License After lunch, Mike Lamb, N7ML, of AEA spoke about the code-free license proposal. Lamb is on the ARRL committee to study the possibility of proposing a no-code license to the FCC. He pointed out that the early days of packet radio were marked by not only technical accomplishments, but also impressive salesmanship by the likes of Pete Eaton. He asked if TAPR members would be willing to act as salesmen for a no-code proposal; 15 to 20 hands were raised. Lamb pointed out that six MHz of spectrum at 800 MHz was estimated by the FCC to be worth $1,200,000,000, and that the amateur UHF-and-up spectrum is extremely valuable to commercial interests. He stated that bands like 902-928 MHz will be as important to the Amateur Radio Service in a few years as 144-148 MHz is now, and that we should seek to populate these bands now to avoid losing them to commercial interests. Bdale Garbee, N3EUA: N6GN 1200 MHz Transverter Bdale Garbee, N3EUA, had several projects to discuss. The WA4DSY 56 kbps modems have a 28 MHz IF interface, and thus require a transverter to 220 MHz or higher. These transverters are quite expensive and not very available. Also, spectrum space on 220 and 450 MHz is scarce. To solve this problem, N6GN is working on a transverter from 28 MHz to 1200 MHz for use with the DSY modems. Spectrum is still available on 1200 MHz, omnidirectional antennas are practical, and Japanese RF building blocks are available inexpensively. The design can also be used at 900 MHz. The N6GN design, which is currently in prototype, provides 1 watt or 18 watts if a final Mitsubishi brick is installed. It has either a 28 MHz or a 144 MHz IF, permitting use with the DSY modems or with a 2m satellite station. It provides fast T/R switching using PIN diodes, and can be run full duplex by splitting the LO. The materials cost is estimated at $150 to $200. Garbee asks that potential users of this design contact him with comments. Bdale Garbee, N3EUA: Microwave Ethernet Garbee is also working on a project to use 10 GHz or 24 GHz Gunn diode transceivers designed for police radar applications to transmit very high speed data. He uses standard Ethernet transceiver chips with the clock oscillator modified to produce 2.4 Mbps instead of the usual 10 Mbps. The reduced rate is necessary to permit use of a Motorola FSK demodulator chip on the receive side. He has a prototype working on the bench at 2.4 Mbps. Operational concerns include stability over temperature and the validity of current path performance predictions. Garbee estimates that a 2 Mbps half-duplex system can be built for around $200, plus the cost of the computer and Ethernet interface card. Bdale Garbee, N3EUA: KA9Q NET Release Garbee is also handling the release of KA9Q's NET software. One final release of the current (122587.33 derived) software is planned before the initial release of KA9Q's new NOS NET. This last release will contain many changes submitted by many individuals. Garbee has been receiving about 100 electronic mail messages per day, about one third of which contain code fragments. Several HP and Apollo technical writers have volunteered to update and enhance the user documentation for the package. Garbee was unwilling to commit to a schedule for the release, but admitted that late March was a possibility. Mike Chepponis, K3MC: Awesome I/O Board Mike Chepponis, K3MC, described his development of the "Awesome I/O Board". The board is a smart I/O controller designed to plug into a slot on an IBM PC or AT computer. It contains an 85C30 serial communications controller chip, connected by four DMA channels to an onboard NEC V40 processor running at 8 MHz. The 85C30 provides two full-duplex channels. The V40 shares 8K or 32K of dual-ported RAM with the host PC via the 8-bit XT bus. Chepponis displayed a wirewrap "not quite working" prototype board. Chepponis described two other configurations for similar designs. In one, the V40 stood alone with its own ROM and RAM, and was connected to multiple 85C30 SCC's. One SCC was connected for DMA and used for a high-speed channel, and the others were connected for interrupt-driven I/O and used for low and medium speed channels. In a second configuration, a stand-alone V40 was connected to a single 85C30 for DMA. One channel of the V40 is used for high-speed communications, and the other channel is connected to a Macintosh host computer's Appletalk network port. Chepponis listed a few of the applications he envisions for high data rate packet radio. At 56 kbps, "instant" mail delivery, six TDM digital voice signals, FAX at less than 10 seconds per page, digital SSTV, and multiperson realtime interactive services such as remote schematic drawing become possible. At 2.0 Mbps, file servers, compressed fast scan TV, 200 TDM digital voice signals, and various picture formats (even animated) are possible. Chepponis compared the cost of a conventional 1200 bps packet station ($1000) to that of a 56 kbps packet station using his I/O board ($1700). In terms of bits/second/dollar, the 56 kbps station is about 25 times more cost effective. Phil Karn, KA9Q: WA4DSY 56 kbps Modem Phil Karn, KA9Q, took the podium again to discuss the design of the WA4DSY 56 kbps modem. He stated that this modem is not well-known in the amateur community. He has a network of three DSY modems working on 220 MHz in northern New Jersey. The DSY modem uses a modified form of MSK (minimum shift keying). In terms of phasor diagrams, MSK can be understood as a vector that rotates 90 degrees every bit time, at a constant amplitude and phase velocity. Thus, it traces out the unit circle on the phasor diagram. This modulation scheme has a constant envelope, but a wide spectrum. The DSY modem achieves a narrower spectrum by having the phasor cut the corners of the unit circle, tracing out a diamond on the phasor diagram. This results in sinusoidal phase velocity, and a non-constant envelope. The DSY modem generates a signal about 74 kHz wide at 56 kbps, or plus and minus 14 kHz deviation. The DSY modem consists of three circuit boards, available from GRAPES. The Transmit Encoder board contains a clock generator, data scrambler (to remove any low-frequency or DC components from the data), and a state machine waveform lookup table driving two DACs. The DAC outputs form the I and Q channel signals, which are lowpass filtered and passed to the Modem board. The modulator consists of a standard I/Q modulator with a 0 dBm 28 MHz output and a receive chain based on a Motorola 3357 FM IF chip with a crystal controlled LO. The analog baseband data is sent to the Receive Decoder board, where a slicer and descrambler recovers the data and a PLL recovers the clock. Karn stated that he is a big fan of the DSY modem. He beleives that the user stations should be operating at least 56 kbps. The channel access problem is critical. He recommends crossband full duplex operation, so that collisions may be detected and aborted. Dan Morrison, KV7B: Modem Comparison Dan Morrison, KV7B, described his experiments in collaboration with Eric Gustafson, N7CL, comparing a phase detection demodulator for FSK with a simple filter demodulator. Their goal is to better understand how HF packet works and how to improve performance of HF modems. They used a Kenwood TS-440S and a Dalanco Spry DSP board together with a beta-test DSP signal analysis software package running on a PC. They used the DSP software to simulate the two demodulators. Morrison showed several graphs of power versus frequency that show a discrepancy between the theoretical power spectrum for random data and the spectrum of actual packet data. The actual spectrum shows an additional peak in the center of the main lobe, which Morrison attributes to the HDLC bit stuffing. Morrison modeled a naive discriminator, having a linear response over the frequency range of interest. This demod performed very poorly. Then he modeled a filter demod, whose graph resembles that of the discriminator to some extent. Integrating the frequency response of the filter demod results in a curve that matches the spectrum of the signal fairly well; a perfect match would imply an optimal demodulator. This demod generates good eye patterns. Next, he added limiters to the filter demod. Filters have a reputation as the bane of HF demodulator performance. It still generated good eye patterns. He then added noise, and still got good eye patterns. He concludes that the filter demod works just about as well as the phase detection demod as long as the signal is bandlimited before the demodulator. Morrison presented a graph of a signal before and during a severe multipath fade. The attenuation of one tone was clearly visible. These signals were demodulated, and both demods did well as long as the envelope of the signal was above the noise level. A member of the audience asked "why not demodulate just one tone?", and Morrison replied "That won't work very well. What if the multipath fade took out the tone you were demodulating?". Tom Clark, W3IWI, stated that the conceptual model of "tones" was a poor one for modulations with bit rates about as big as the shift. Perhaps the incidental amplitude modulation caused by selective fading could be used by a sufficiently smart demodulator. Morrison then presented graphs of eye patterns for a very noisy signal received with a 2.4 kHz SSB filter. This generated a hopelessly bad eye pattern on the phase demod, and a pretty good eye pattern on the filter demod. This is a result of the narrower frequency response of the filter demod. Narrowing the input filtering to the phase demod to 500 Hz produced similar performance to that of the filter demod. Morrison concluded that a well-designed filter demod works very much like an ideal noncoherent demodulator. Either modem needs a narrow bandpass filter before its first nonlinear stage for good performance. A member of the audience asked if increasing the shift from 200 Hz to 600 Hz would help performance. His intuition was that it would. Morrison stated that it would not, and Clark agreed. Both had run experiments verifying their conclusions. Eric Gustafson, N7CL: TAPR Hardware Projects Eric Gustafson, N7CL, described three new developments from TAPR's hardware designers. Two of them are tiny circuit boards designed to improve the DCD performance of a TNC's demodulator. These circuits were described in the last Networking Conference proceedings. One is for a TNC-2, and the other is for AM7910 based modems. The other new development is a hardware upgrade path for TNC-1 owners. This board piggybacks on the TNC-1 board and permits the TNC-1 to run TNC-2 firmware. This allows TNC-1 owners to keep up with the evolution of TNC firmware, even though TNC-1 firmware updates have not appeared. None of these items are priced or available yet. Gustafson described the prioritized ACK proposed modification to the AX.25 Level 2 protocol. He stated that code implementing this version of the protocol for TNC-2 will be available for testing on TOMCAT and CompuServe soon. The code is based on TAPR version 1.1.6. Jim Vogler, WA7CJO: 10 GHz EME Jim Vogler, WA7CJO, was introduced by coworker Tom Clark, W3IWI. Vogler was the first to succeed at 10 GHz EME. He showed us pictures of his EME station. He has a 15' dish with a moving mass of one ton and a half-power beamwidth of 0.5 degrees. He points the antenna at the moon by listening for the noise reflected from it at 10 GHz, and tracks by means of a video camera mounted on the edge of the dish. He can control antenna pointing to 30 seconds of arc, and frequency to a few hundred Hertz. He uses a surplus 100W TWT amplifier with a scalar ring feed for about 20 MW EIRP. The TWT beam was defocused, so he used permanent magnets to refocus the beam. He was able to hear his echoes from the moon with 15-20 dB S/N. Vogler said a few words about the problems of creating a power amplifier for 1.2 MHz and up. Transistors for 20W at 1.2 GHz are $50 and falling. Amplifiers can be built, but commercial ones are very costly. Kits can be a problem, since considerable test equipment is required to align the amplifier, and mistakes that destroy the device are costly. Jon Bloom, KE3Z: ARRL and Packet The STA authorizing automatic control of certain stations on HF has been renewed for another year. The League hopes to have a permanent rules change in place by the time it expires. The Digital Committee and Membership Services Committee will examine the results of the testing and propose new rules. ARRL has established a Technology Grants program, whereby developers of amateur radio technology can apply for funding from the League. This is partially a result of Paul Rinaldo, W4RI, pushing for improved HF modems and protocols. Expect a MicroSat article in an upcoming issue of QST. TNC's are being integrated with the SAREX transceivers in anticipation of the next ham in space, schedule for STS-35 in spring of 1990. The request for prioritization has been submitted to NASA HQ for the experiment. TAPR Business Meeting President Andy Freeborn, N0CCZ, resumed the chair and conducted the annual business meeting. He gave a summary of the year's activities. The office complex was closed, and Chris the office manager now operates the TAPR office from her home. TAPR had no booth at Dayton '88, but has requested a double booth in the new wing for Dayton '89. A rewrite of the TAPR Bylaws is in progress. The DSP Project is now an official joint project of TAPR and AMSAT. The two organizations will share the risks and benefits fully. Two AT-type computers outfitted for CAD work were purchased to support hardware design efforts. They are presently in use in Tucson and St. Louis. TAPR has contributed $21,300 for Pacsat/NA hardware, and is serving as the procuring agency for all Pacsat hardware purchases. PSR Editor Scott Loftesness, W3VS, has announced his intention to retire at the end of the calendar year. A new volunteer is sought. TNC-2 licensing fee income will be ending soon. A new project is necessary to provide a source of income. The Board has been in continuous session via CompuServe HamNet during the year; nine votes were taken during that time. An income statement and balance sheet were presented. With an income of about $61000, the total assets and liabilities of the organization are $122,500. A question and answer period followed. One member stated that the Board should keep the membership better informed about its day to day activities, and there was general agreement. A member asked about the status of the DSP project. W3IWI answered that Bob McGwier, N4HY, has been writing software for the Dalanco-Spry development system, including several new demodulators. Since there is no prototype hardware in the final configuration yet, he has not begun porting the software to the target system. W3IWI guessed that late summer would be earliest possible availability. The V40 hardware has been designed, but layout has not begun. The other boards are being fabricated in a prototype version. They have had problems finding satisfactory CAD software for PWB layout. There may be a problem with the V40 chip and interrupts. It appears that TAPR is standardizing on the V40; this is important so that we can build up a base of knowledge about its quirks. The DSP Project is personnel-limited; more qualified volunteers would be welcome. Another member asked if the DSP Project was the only new development under way. Freeborn answered that there was another project in the early design stages: a 9600 baud VHF radio/modem. This project was mentioned briefly in PSR. TAPR is wary of announcing products before they become real, so they try not to make a lot of noise about a project this early in the design phase. Pete Eaton, WB9FLW, led the membership in thanking Andy Freeborn, N0CCZ, for his outstanding efforts in the past year in reorganizing the organization. Applause. The meeting was adjourned for the day at 5:15 PM. An additional session was held on Sunday morning, with a single agenda item: the no-code license proposal. Harold Price, NK6K, led the discussion. He has been charged, along with other committee members, with creating a concrete proposal of some sort to provide to the ARRL committee. The discussion proceeded in stages: opening remarks, purposes, and specifics. An appropriate background was provided by sounds of hymn-singing from the church service being held next door. Your reporter will not attempt to reproduce all the arguments presented in this 3-hour discussion. Though the discussion remained intelligent and civil for the most part, there were diverging opinions. The following represents an attempt to summarize the semi-consensus that evolved during the meeting. TAPR's purpose in getting involved in the issue in the first place is to help the ARRL to lead the amateur community to accept some proposal. Last time no-code came up, the proposal was violently opposed by a large fraction of the community. The ARRL, being a political organization, will be reluctant to reverse this position unless it believes there is significant support for the proposal in the community. By presenting a workable proposal and standing behind it, TAPR may be able to encourage ARRL leadership to try again. Our purpose in seeking a license that does not require Morse Code proficiency is threefold: 1. To ensure that crucial spectrum allocations in VHF and up are utilized and remain available to the Amateur Radio Service, 2. To lure more technically competent people into Amateur Radio, and 3. To lure more young people into Amateur Radio to ensure the future of the Service. The specific proposal should have the following characteristics: o The existing licensing structure remains as it is. No privileges will be given to or taken from any existing licensee. To do so would be to invite controversy. o An addition licensing structure consisting of two license classes would be added. These classes would grant operating privileges above 30 MHz only. One license would be fairly easy to obtain, with a written exam similar in difficulty to the Technician exam. This license would have very limited privileges. The licensee might be prohibited from controlling repeaters, homebrewing transmitters, or operating high power; and/or the license could be made nonrenewable. The license would be limited to selected bands or subbands. The other license would be difficult to obtain, with a written exam more difficult than any now in use. This license would have full amateur privileges above 30 MHz. The group was unable to agree on the specifics of the restrictions to be placed on the beginning license class, or even on an appropriate name for it, in the time available. The Board's committee is charged with fleshing out the proposal based on the opinions stated during the meeting. At the end of the discussion, Freeborn asked how many opinions had been changed by the arguments. Several people in the anti-no-code and uncommitted camps admitted to being swayed toward no-code by the arguments they had heard. The TAPR Annual Meeting was adjourned at 12:28 PM.