Digital Modes On 2 Meters & 70 CM

[liquidgee]

Having been away from amateur radio for some time I'm considering getting back into it. I've got my eye on the Icom IC-2820H dual band FM unit that I'll be setting up as a base station. My question is are there any digital modes that can be used on either the 2 meter or 440 bands using this unit? Something like PSK31, RTTY, pactor or the like. Having never been involved in digital transmission modes prior to this any info would be helpful.

 

[n9mxq]

You can do all those and more if you have someone to work. I've done PSK/RTTY and Slow Scan TV on 2m FM.. But packet (APRS) is the most popular in most places.

 

[liquidgee]

Great.

I take it I'll obviously need a computer and modem - something along the lines of something from Kamtronics - to get this going. Is there anything else I'd need? And what kind of model modem would you or anyone else recommend?

And thanks.

 

[nd5y]

Instead of a hardware TNC it might be cheaper to get or build a simple sound card/PTT interface and use freeware like MultiPSK or fldigi.

 

[n9mxq]

+1 for soundcard interface.. You can do all the digital modes, including packet with a soundcard setup..

Just google soundcard interface and you'll find bunches and bunches of them.

 

[profiledescent]

The 2820 is also D-STAR ready. I have two 2820s and love them. I use D-STAR, and DPRS where it's available.

 

[AK9R]

Instead of the Icom, get a Kenwood TM-D710. It has a TNC built-in so you can do packet (with a computer) or do APRS with the built-in interface. The Kantronics KPC3+ is still a very capable TNC, but Kantronics hasn't updated the hardware or firmware in years and they are very expensive new. For what you'd pay for a good dual-band mobile plus a KPC3+, you can buy a TM-D710.

You can also do many other data modes besides packet on VHF/UHF. For example, take a look at:

NBEMS - Training