A lot is unclear as of now.
E.g., I think if I'm present at the premesis while my station is running, I'm legally administering my transmissions, so I don't need that special license for automated operation.
Am I allowed to sleep next to my station while it's up and running? Or do chores in the same or another room?
In the context of #JS8, lots of people already do this. While IANAL, I think I'm operating within the limits of what my license allows if I do that as well.
#js8call Party today and #POTA 20m. Only 8 contacts. Thanks to them. No QSO on 15m. Anyway it was a good winter activation in #rennes Parc des Gayeulles.
I think we are only few users operating #js8. It's sad.
Today at 19 UTC, the mothly 24-hour "#JS8 party" activity starts. https://groups.io/g/js8call/viewevent?repeatid=12902
Expect German newcomers! Besides the usual 20+40 m band, I advertise the 80 m band for the party's first 12 hours and again Sunday after 15 UTC, and 10 m (or, if dead, 15 m) 9-15 UTC.
Grab JS8Call-improved 2.4.0 from https://github.com/js8call-improved/js8call-improved/releases (if on Windows, wrestle with the usual false malware alarm) and join the ragchew fun!
https://WWW.FAMSIK.DE/JS8 has "Party Game" "Challenges" introducing JS8 features.
Am Samstag 13. Dezember ist #JS8 Party. Der OV #P62 macht auf 10m mit, um auch die neue Klasse N-Lizenz zu unterstützen.
#DARC #Amateurfunk #ham-radio #Notfunk
Am vergangenen Dienstag, 9.12. wurde im Rahmen der Treff-T-Abende in die digitale Betriebsart JS8 eingeführt.
JS8 ermöglicht gemütliche QSOs, spontanen Relaybetrieb, dezentralen Nachrichtenversand und mehr - das wurde besprochen. Wer das verpasst hat, kann unter https://dj3ei.famsik.de/2025-JS8/ das Nötige nachlesen.
Nach der theoretischen Einführung trafen sich einige noch auf dem 80-m-Band und probierten JS8 ganz praktisch aus. Die Kombination von Theorie und Praxis hat großen Spaß gemacht!
Der Spaß mit JS8 lässt sich fortsetzen bei der monatlichen internationalen JS8-Party, die am kommenden Wochenende stattfindet. Ab Samstagabend, 19 Uhr UTC sind alle Interessierten für die nächsten 24 Stunden besonders herzlich eingeladen, mit JS8 QRV zu werden.
Was wird gebraucht? Ein Setup wie für FT8, nur mit anderer Software. Wer noch JS8Call in der Version 2.2.0 installiert hat, kann das weiter nutzen. Für Neueinsteiger empfiehlt sich derzeit JS8Call-improved in der Version 2.4.0. Leider schlagen Virenscanner bei diesen Programmen immer wieder falschen Alarm.
Wie am Wochenende die Party finden? Die meiste JS8-Aktivität findet derzeit auf den Bändern 20 m und 40 m statt. Für die Inhaber einer Klasse E-Lizenz bietet sich abends 80 m an, am Sonntag ab etwa 16 Uhr MEZ. Inhaber der Klasse N können es zur Zeit der höchsten MUF auf dem 10-m-Band versuchen, also Sonntag zwischen etwa 10 und 13 Uhr MEZ. Mit Klasse E verspricht zur selben Zeit auch das 15-m-Band Erfolg.
Dieses Wochenende ist mit guter deutscher und auch mit europäischer Beteiligung rechnen, es dürfte eine schwungvolle Party werden!
Für Online-Austausch hierzu bietet sich der Chat "Fernschreiben" des Matrix-Servers des DARC an.
#DARC #Amateurfunk #JS8 #JS8Call-improved #DARC
The old 2020 JS8Call guide has been opened up by Jordan! It is now change-able under CC BY-SA.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/159S4wqMUVdMA7qBgaSWmU-iDI4C9wd4CuWnetN68O9U/edit?tab=t.0
Someone has told me he has translated this to German. You can now legally publish your translation!
Introductory #JS8 online presentation (in German) this Tuesday 2025-12-09 19 UTC. Feel warmly invited! Details https://treff.darc.de/d/#/kalender/445 .
On-the-air workshop follows starting about 20:15 UTC: Participants do first JS8 steps, via the 80 m band.
The weekend after, we'll enjoy our traditional monthly JS8 party https://js8call.groups.io/g/main/viewevent?repeatid=12902&eventid=1597242&calstart=2025-12-13 . Expect some 80 m signals in Europe after German sunset (roughly 15 UTC) on Sunday.
https://FAMSIK.DE/JS8 suggests "party games" introducing JS8 features.
Oh, FT8 is a digital mode for #AmateurRadio. ;)
It's adapted to #JS8, which uses the same signaling, but less for (to use non-domain-specific-language) "Marking that I was able to reach this country and talked to this person," but more for what they call rag-chewing, or what we'd call "chatting."
But it's like, a handful of bits per second. Meant for crossing great distances via radio, not rapid comms by any stretch. ;)
Shameless plug: The best place to grab up-to-date #JS8 software from is presently https://github.com/JS8Call-improved/JS8Call-improved/releases . The version 2.4.0 that you can find there is mostly the same as JS8Call 2.3.1, but with several bugs fixed.
A new programm for #js8 has appeared, called "JS8Call-improved". Some "gang of five" is responsible for this, to which I have the honor of belonging.
Its first and only version 2.4.0 has several bugfixes on top of the official JS8Call 2.3.1 and some new functionality; prominently user-configurable logging that hopefully will ease pinpointing further bugs.
https://github.com/Chris-AC9KH/JS8Call-improved/releases has installers for Win and Mac and an installer-script that compiles it on Linux.
Maybe figured out what "Test CAT" button in JS8 app does, finally.
It makes cats radioactive?
You want to find #HamRadio stations and frequencies for contacts via a digital mode that has a small community? PSK reporter can be helpful. For one example, here is a "permalink" that leads to a report of #JS8 activity during the last 30 minutes.
https://www.pskreporter.info/pskmap?preset&callsign=ZZZZZ&what=all&mode=JS8&timerange=1800&hideunrec=1&blankifnone=1&hidenight=1&hidelight=1&mapCenter=75.94072310702728,3.8503508267151063,0.890869063241453
(Adjust mode and time as needed.)
#JS8 features: Stations not currently involved in other business will give you an SNR report in answer to your "heartbeat". You can ask any such "free" station for certain info, including an (incomplete) list of stations it recently received. JS8 has relaying built in. Also, storage+forwarding of text messages, mailbox style. The "group" feature supports groups of stations to communicate. And there are (often ragchew) 1:1 QSOs.
Lots of fun! Not sure it is a "net" 🧵 or not.
Mein Vortrag über #JS8 bei der UKW-Tagung ist zu Ende und ich hatte meinen Spaß 😁. Es gab eine Menge mitdenkende, sinnvolle Fragen stellende Zuhörende und mindestens eine Person hat Lust bekommen, JS8 gelegentlich auszuprobieren.
Es waren übrigens ungefähr doppelt so viel Leute im Raum wie bei meinem Vortrag über Transistorschaltungen bei der #HamRadioFriedrichshafen!
Kudos, @DL0WH! Ihr leistet Großes!
Bei der allgemeinen Amateurfunktagung in Weinheim (die immer noch "UKW-Tagung" heißt, obwohl sie das längst nicht mehr ist) halte ich morgen einen Vortrag über #JS8. Folien und mein Beitrag zum Tagungsband sind online unter https://dj3ei.famsik.de/2025-JS8/ ; der Beitrag kann als "inoffizielles JS8-Handbuch" durchgehen.
Abends ab 19 UTC steigt dann die monatliche "JS8-Party". Sie dauert 24 Stunden. Mögliche Partyspiele hat https://WWW.FAMSIK.DE/JS8 . Ich werde leider nicht QRV sein 😢 .
I took part in Chaoswelle's Fieldday Saturday-Sunday at JO42PC and was one of about a dozen folks enjoying the experience. The rigs where busy, countries reached via shortwave included Japan, Brazil, and Australia. One lady was eager to do her first QSOs; when she encountered contest stations, I explained to her how to distribute points to them. Another I informed about #JS8. Other mentionables include ad-hoc APRS experiments, pretty nice weather, a splendid location.
The next #JS8Call release 2.3.2 will have six different commits that were authored by me. Most prominently, my fix for the ALL.TXT receive timestamp bug.
Many people in general and #hamRadio ops in particular are "hunters and gatherers". E.g., QSOs with ATNO DXCCs are a common source of happy feelings of accomplishment.
Similarly, I enjoy seeing my name appear in the git tree of another software project. Gives me that happy feeling of accomplishment.
😀
It is again #JS8 party time! Starting tomorrow (Saturday) at 19 UTC for 24 hours.
This is just a time when the JS8 community is particularly busy and more people than usual are QRV. For details, see the announcement https://js8call.groups.io/g/main/viewevent?repeatid=12902&eventid=1597238&calstart=2025-08-09
There's a new version 2.3 of JS8Call available. 2.3.1 unfortunately has several bugs, see https://github.com/js8call/js8call/issues , in particular 51, 45, 37, and 52. My branch https://github.com/aknrdureegaesr/js8call/tree/stuff_dj3ei_wants fixes 45, 37, and maybe 40. Build instructions are sort-of at PR 35.
