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Pactor 4 - ARRL Petition

DaveK

Well-Known Member
Messages
67
Location
So Cal
I use Airmail extensively for our remote location trips or anytime we travel beyond cell phone range. For those who don't know, Airmail is a communications program that uses Ham radio frequencies to both send and receive regular email messages, as well as pictures over 100s or 1000s of miles. Because it uses the HF bands, there are virtually no places where it will not work. In the deepest canyons, in the most remote locations, and under very noisy conditions, Airmail works. There have been many occasions where Airmail worked where Sat phones would not!

In order to make the most efficient use of this program, it is necessary to use a modem made by the SCS Company (Germany) utilizing their Pactor technology. The current Pactor offering in the US is Pactor 3 and when used strictly for text email messages, it is not quite as fast as regular email. All things in the Ham Radio world, however, progress, and Pactor is no exception. The SCS guys have been busy and about a year ago they introduced the Pactor4 modem. By most reports, it is 2-3 times faster than P3 and now offers about the same speed as regular email.

Without going into unnecessary detail, the problem with P4 was that it exceeded the FCC limited transmission symbol rate, thus making its use in the US, illegal. Enter the ARRL. Some months ago, the ARRL stepped into this issue with a proposed rule change which would allow the symbol rate to be changed to accommodate several new technologies, including Pactor4. They noted that:

The symbol rate restrictions were created to suit digital modes that are no longer in favor. If the symbol rate is allowed to increase as technology develops and the Amateur Service utilizes new data emission types, the efficiency of amateur data communications will increase.

This move by the ARRL is a tremendous boon to the effort to support increasing efficiency in Amateur Radio data communications. Very interestingly, the issue surrounding the changes which the ARRL has proposed, have proven to be the most active proceedings ever. From the ARRL:

The League’s petition now tops the FCC’s “Most Active Proceedings” list. As of the December 23 comment deadline, more than 850 comments had been filed.


Interestingly, the majority of the comments support the symbol change.

For those who have or would like to have one of the very few, most efficient wilderness communications devices, the SCS Pactor4 modem is at the top of the heap. They offer two models, both capable of delivering the same performance - the Pactor4 7800 and the Pactor4 7400. Cost and features differentiate the models, but the performance is identical. I will post the final ruling by the FCC when it comes down.
 

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LagunaH1

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,703
Location
Lake Forest, CA
I'm a member of the ARRL for this very type of situation: They are a great lobbying organization with the only purpose of furthering HAM radio. I'm very happy to see this proposed change as the existing symbol rates are really pretty pathetic and ridiculous.

There are *many* new technologies out there that, IMO, would benefit from an increase in the permitted symbol rate. Hopefully this will become reality.

Then again.... some HAM's swear by AM (which someone ironically refers to as "Ancient Modulation")
 
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