MARCO Grand Rounds on the Air is a on-the-air 20m net, currently held on Sundays at 11am Eastern USA, with discussion of medical topics of interest to professionals, paraprofessionals, and patients. Discussion is led by a Net Control Station who works to overcome the vagaries of propagation and often requests relays. Livestreams by SDR are available at www.marcoaudio.net for those who cannot hear the transmitting station, a nice adjunct to make sure as many 20m participants as possible are heard. Be sure to look for blog posts about upcoming nets that will have Zoom simulcasts, and the sign-in info.
MARCO Grand Rounds: 14.342 MHz Sunday 1600 UTC (Winter Months) Sunday 1500 UTC (Summer Months)
The purpose of MARCO Digital Voice nets are to provide a world-wide discussion forum for current challenges in the medical/health related professions the communities that they serve, events, and to provide support for technical issues related to communication that affect MARCO members. The DV net(s) exist to augment our current HF nets in a manner free of the concerns of propagation, offering a solution for those who are antenna challenged or have HOA restrictions, and at times convenient for members from all countries to participate.
Our net is hosted on the Quadnet Array (https://www.openquad.net/), that allows various DV methods for access. These include the use of hotspots so members can use their own DV mode radios, and DV sticks to allow members access through a computer and headset.
Currently a weekly DV net is held at 9am Eastern USA on Sundays, in the English language, at a time that favors most of the globe but lacks convenience for members in Asia. More time slots and nets in other languages may be added as requested by members (request to Jay AA4FL at his QRZ email address).
A MARCO member acts as net control and members as topic presenters. Our members include professionals in the medical and allied health fields, however all stations national and international are welcome to join the net and participate in the discussion.
In a recent zoom meeting, Jack Spitznagel, KD4IZ presented a brilliant tutorial on the subject of Digital Voice. While the technology itself has been around for many years, DV is still in its infancy as it emerges in the circles of ham radio. At present, the landscape is filled with many alternatives and few standards. Jack does a wonderful job of providing context for DV in ham radio and hints on how to get started.
Jay Garlitz, AA4FL, follows up the tutorial with a discussion of how he plans to access digital mode. This information was sent to the membership via the google groups reflector and is reproduced below for convenience.
Supplemental Resources
N.W. Digital Radio “Thumb DV” http://nwdigitalradio.com/shop/
The KE0FHS Blog website called https://amateurradionotes.com/index.htm for a great tutorial on DV
The K3NXU Miklor Website: https://miklor.com/ for great amounts of information on Chinese Radio and a good section on DMR.
Post by AA4FL on December 11, 2020
The following link will bring up a pdf of graphics to assist you in the following explanation: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mixQrhyuyLKZ6VkG16qFvZKO4T4JjHxW/view?usp=sharing
I do own a DMR radio but for the digital modes I am using a USB DVstick that allows me to use the computer to operate DMR, D-Star and other modes. Christmas did not come early but my birthday was late October and my wife supplied the new toy!
This USB-stick facilitates the use of a PC to communicate on Dstar and DMR. The DVstick 30 is a AMBE-3000 vocoder and USB interface. Using BlueDV software and the DVstick 30 you can make a QSO without a radio. All you need is a Windows PC with a sound card, microphone, speaker, and a DVMEGA DVstick 30.
Hardware–DVMEGA DVstick30: https://www.gigaparts.com/dvmega-dvstick-30.html# (Other brand sticks are available)
Software–BlueDV-Windows (also available for other OS) https://www.pa7lim.nl/bluedv-windows/
My set-up. Some of the issues I had in set-up were solved by looking at YouTube videos. By opening device manager and inserting the DVstick I was able to determine the COM port.
I had already had a DMR ID since I own a DMR HT and had applied for an ID earlier. I had no problem getting on DMR
I did not have a Brandmeister ID for use of The Brandmeister Network (a digital repeater network consisting of master servers and peer repeaters all over the world). I registered at https://brandmeister.network/?page=register
Note after registering you need to go back into your selfcare page and create a master password (hotspot security) to enter into the software to use the network. This information was not on any of the YouTube videos I watched, a recent change to the network in November 2020. Use https://brandmeister.network/?page=selfcare
I had no issues getting onto D-star reflectors.
73, Jay AA4FL
Live Streaming Audio of The MARCO Grand Rounds Online
There is now simpler access to MARCO streaming audio and archived nets. The new url is: www.marcoaudio.net This address will be used for all nets: CW, Sunday SSB, and the Wednesday night COVID net.
This link will take you to a page with a built-in audio player, links for a variety of popular players, and a list of our archived nets going back several years.
The old links still work, and can still program http://marcoaudio.ddns.net:8011/stream into a standard music player on computer, phone, or portable device for a direct link to the live nets only.
Feel free to share these links with anyone, MARCO member or not. No login or password is required. There is no cost. There is room for 100 listeners at a time. Again, no limit to downloads. Comments are appreciated.
N5RTF
Chip
MARCO members are encouraged to check into the CW net convening on 14.307 MHz one-half hour before Grand Rounds. This is intended to be a slow-speed net open to all interested participants. Danny Centers, W4DAN described the net operation:
CW interest has increased within the last six months among many of the MARCO members. The number of check-ins before the SSB net on Sunday mornings has increased. There are several more that listen, but are reluctant to check in because their comfortable CW speed is slightly slower than many that are regular and have checked in for years. While interest in CW is on the upswing, and we have the potential of increasing participation in the CW net, maybe it is time to organize net procedure to accommodate all comers equally. If a formal roll call is implemented at the beginning of the net to recognize everyone that wants to check in, an efficient and orderly net will result. After all have checked in, then declare it a free net for comments. To oblige those that prefer slower operation, care should be taken to call the net at a slower than usual speed until everyone eventually gets up to speed. This would encourage more check-ins. After a fashion those new to CW net operation will become confident and comfortable with higher speeds. Of course, late check-ins should be listened for and permitted even after a free net has been declared.
There is a good potential of having a very successful CW net, but maybe we should have a little organized direction. VE3OQM has served as CW net control for many years. WB6OJB has done a great job of picking up the net when Bob was not on frequency or could not be copied. I would suggest that Bob could call CQ MARCO de VE3OQM QNI. As soon as he has taken all stations he can hear, Arnold would call CQ MARCO QNI. Because of their locations, most on frequency should hear one or the other of them.
Each station wishing to check in should reply with their call sign followed with QRU if they have no messages or QTC if they have a message. Net control should recognize the traffic and allow the message to be transmitted to the desired station. After everyone has checked in and been recognized, net control could send the QNF signal which declares the net free or uncontrolled. At that time individual stations could call each other and QSO at will.
Example: CQ MARCO, CQ MARCO, de VE3OQM VE3OQM QNI QNI K VE3OQM de N6DMV QNI QRU K VE3OQM de WB6OJB QNI QTC K VE3OQM de KD4GUA QNI QRU K …………. until all have checked in that VE3OQM can hear
VE3OQM recognizes each check in by sending QNS and listing all check ins, he then asks WB6OJB who he has traffic for. When WB6OJB says he has traffic for KD4GUA, then VE3OQM requests that KD4GUA call WB6OJB to receive the traffic. Then Warren sends WB6OJB de KD4GUA QRV K. Then WB6OJB tells KD4GUA what he has to say.
After this takes place, VE3OQM calls WB6OJB to take QNI. WB6OJB then takes check ins in the same manner as described above. After the QNS by WB6OJB, then Arnold can declare the net free by sending QNF.
I am not saying that it is best to use the Q signals. This could be done without using Q signals by the net control station(s) formally taking check ins and recognizing them. I really see no problem with that, as long as there is a quick and orderly fashion of everyone getting checked in. Remember to slow down, so that everyone participating can copy and recognize all the calls.
As stated above, I thought this should be brought up for discussion because I know for a fact that there are members that listen but are reluctant to participate because they are presently not confident to operate at faster code speeds. Lets give everyone a break. Encourage as many to check in as possible and we could very well have one of the most successful CW nets on the air. I see interest growing. To do this, I would suggest the CW net begin at 9:30 EDT and try to have QNI over by 9:45 EDT so the free net can be enjoyed as usual.
W4DAN
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