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ptrs-local-net-test-001/ptrs-intro.md
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chris d557ff9dc3 Add Newbie talk - first pass
2026-07-10 23:00:29 -04:00

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Introduction to the Pine Tree Radio Society

Outline

Newbie talk <15min, <5min?

  • Who we are
    • History
      • Pine Tree Riots
        • Weare, New Hampshire, April 14th, 1772, was one of the earliest colonial rebellions
        • Predates the Celtic Metric-Leaf Shindig on December 16th, 1773, by 1 year, 8 months, and 2 days
      • Club impetus
        • Shutting down of Parler in 2021
          • January 8th, Google pulled Parler from Google Play Store
          • January 8th, Apple requested Parler submit a "moderation improvement plan" within 24 hours
          • January 9th, Apple removed Parler from the App Store
          • Twillio shutdown Parler's two-factor authentication service
          • Okta denied access to idenity management services breaking some of Parler's software tools
          • ScylliaDB ended Parler's use of Scyllia Enterprise Database
          • January 9th, Amazon said it would shutdown services the next day
          • If seemingly distributed, seemingly coordinated, attacks could take down a seemingly free-speech bastion, what other unseemly platforms could be taken down? How would we communicate vital information not-yet-approved or agreed-upon?
        • Founders Jack and Will held some group discussions with citizens and amateur radio operators (hams)
          • the hams were too much, overwhelming the non-hams with technical and legal details
          • We needed a group focused on "soccer moms" staying informed, not learning antenna theory to design antennas for radio contests
      • Club goals
        • community communication
        • un-censor-able speech
        • share information in time of need
        • approachable
        • distributed, decentralized, alternatives
    • Current
      • crew
        • Jack de facto leader of cats
        • Will co-founder
      • meeting schedule
        • second Saturday of the month at The Quill
      • online presence
      • local vendor table(s)
        • Meshtastic, radios, 3D printing, etc.
    • Radio Theory

      • RF - Radio Frequency. Electromagnetic spectrum vibrations. Starting at:

        Band Band Frequency Range Wavelength Uses
        Extremely Low ELF 3 Hz - 30 Hz 100,000km - 10,000km
        Super Low SLF 30 Hz - 300 Hz 10,000km - 1,000km
        Ultra Low ULF 300 Hz - 3 kHz 1,000km - 100km
        Very Low VLF 3 kHz - 30 kHz 100km - 10km
        Low LF 30 kHz - 300 kHz 10km - 1km
        Medium MF 300 kHz - 3 MHz 1km - 100m AM
        High HF 3 - 30 MHz 10m - 1m Shortwave, Ionospheric propagation
        Very High VHF 30 - 300 MHz 1,000cm - 100cm FM, TV, MURS, Air Band, "Low Band" for fire and police
        Ultra High UHF 300 - 3,000 MHz 1m - 10cm
        Ultra High UHF 300 - 1,000 MHz 100cm - 30cm TV, FRS/GMRS, MURS, Police, Fire, CDMA, Cellular
        Ultra High L band 1 - 2 GHz 30cm - 15cm GPS, GSM
        Ultra High S band 2 - 4 GHz 30cm - 15cm Bluetooth, 2.4GHz WiFi, Microwave
        Ultra High C band 4 - 8 GHz 7.5cm - 3.8cm Satellite, 4.9 GHz Public Safety
        Ultra High X band 8 - 12 GHz 3.8cm - 2.5cm Satellite
        Ultra High K (sub u) band 12 - 18 GHz 2.5cm - 1.7cm Satellite
        Super High SHF 3 - 30 GHz 10cm - 10mm
        Super High K band 18 - 27 GHz 1.7 - 1.1cm Satellite
        Super High - Extremely High K (sub a) band 27 - 40 GHz 1.1 - 0.75cm Satellite
        Extremely High EHF 30 - 300 GHz 10mm - 1mm
        Extremely High V band 40 - 75 GHz 0.75 - 0.40cm Satellite
        Extremely High W band 75 - 100 GHz 0.40 - 0.27cm Satellite
        Extremely High mm 110 - 300 GHz 0.27 - 0.10cm
        Tremendously High THF 300 GHz - 3,000 GHz 1mm - 0.1mm
        • v = lambda x f => c=wf => w = speed of light / frequency
        • 468 ft / freq in MHz = overall half-wave length (vf (velocity factor) of wire already considered)
        • Propagation: ground wave and sky wave

      • Most radio waves travel along LOS (Line-of-Sight) (plus ~15%)

      • Up on a mountain, tremendous range.

      • Repeaters on mountains and towers allow handhelds and mobiles to reach beyond LOS.

      • 2-10 MHz can refract off the ionosphere and bounce back down (and up and back down).

        • Skip zone is dead area between end of ground wave and Sky Wave returning to Earth.
        • Similar roots as CB "Skip"

      • NVIS - Near Vertical Incident Sky Wave

      • PACE Plan (Primary Alternate Contingency Emergency)

        • PACE should not share devices, frequencies, antennas, nor dependencies
          • E.g. Cellphone for call and email means you lose both when your battery dies.
        • P - Cell, A - Email, C - Radio, E - walk over and tap on shoulder

      • Modulation is how information is imparted to the Carrier wave

        • CW - Continuous Wave (Morse Code)
        • AM - Amplitude Modulation (Air band, Shortwave)
        • SSB - Single side band (Shortwave)
          • USB, LSB - Upper Side Band (above 10MHz and digital), Lower Side Band (below 10MHz)
          • convention from repurposing WWII surplus gear
        • FM - Frequency Modulation (Baofengs)
        • AFK - Audio Frequency Shift Keying (tones, RTTY (Radio Teletype))
        • MFSK - Multiple Frequency Shift Keying (many tones)
        • OFDM - Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (Vara)

      • Checksums - error detection

      • FEC - Forward Error Correction (error detection and possible fixing)

    • Projects
      • Everyone gets a radio!
        • Kit (hand-held local two-way, receive AM/FM/Shortwave)
        • training with multiple levels
      • 3-3-3 Radio Project
        • Emergency/Ad Hoc communications Plan
        • Any radio, tune to Channel 3 (CB, FRS, GMRS, MURS (green dot))
        • Every third hour 3, 6, 9, 12
        • Call out and listen for three minutes
        • PTRS runs a monthly test, all day on the 3rd
      • Meshtastic
      • Reticulum
      • VoIP apps and devices
      • MeshCore
      • GMRS
        • repeaters
      • Previous
        • HF NVIS (High Frequency Near Vertical Incident Skywave) statewide comms via ham radio frequencies
        • Programming Baofengs in June 2026
        • Range testing from The Barn (Wearehouse) 2023-2024
        • Programmed Baofengs to Porkfest in 2023
        • Low-power FM transmitter for Porkfest
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