ROTA-Radio

The Mark in Texas Connection: Training with a Purpose

A radio station is only as good as the operator on the other end of the skip. For the past year, my “other end” has often been Mark in Texas.

What started as two “ham radio nerd friends” swapping technical notes has evolved into a sophisticated, two-way technical partnership. Together, we’ve spent hundreds of hours developing and honing our Community Disaster Messenger (CDM) project—a system designed to move vital health and welfare traffic when the world goes dark.

Forged in the “Home Command Center”

This project wasn’t built in a vacuum. Much of our development happened over a challenging summer spent in and out of hospital rooms. While those weeks away from home were limited to Winlink Telnet (internet-based) messaging from cafeterias and bedsides, the real “ROTA” evolution happened the moment we returned.

When Sue got home and needed to rest, I needed to be nearby. In those early days, I used VNC (Virtual Network Computing) to remote into the shack from my recliner over our home WiFi. It worked, but it was “fiddly” and didn’t allow me to hear those digital warbles and whines, a valuable piece of “information” for a digital modes operator. Those long sessions, acting as a caregiver while trying to maintain a technical drill with Mark, were the ultimate stress test. They led directly to my decision to invest an additional $500 in the Icom IC-7300Mk2. The native LAN port on the Mk2 replaced the VNC setup with a direct, high-speed pipe. For ROTA operations, that upgrade was the best money I ever spent—it turned a “force-fit” into a seamless, professional dashboard that allows me to stay present in the living room without the technical headache.

The CDM Mission: Practicality Over “Rabbit Holes”

Mark serves as my primary technical sounding board. In a hobby where it’s easy to spiral down “rabbit holes” of theory, we keep each other grounded in what actually works. Our goal is simple: The Hand-off. If Florida is hit by a hurricane and my local infrastructure fails, Mark is my “Outside the Affected Area” gateway. Our daily practice has led to a finalized PACE Plan for our communications:

Primary (P): Starlink / Internet (Winlink Telnet).
Alternate (A): Winlink VaraHF via a regional RMS Gateway.
Contingency (C): Winlink P2P (Peer-to-Peer) — a direct HF link between Florida and Texas.
Emergency (E): Winlink Radio-Only relay through indirect stations.

Practice vs. Reality

We don’t just talk about the PACE plan; we break it. During our drills, we’ll intentionally drop the Primary and Alternate levels to find the “holes” in our Contingency links. This “FUNCOMM” practice drill, which we conducted during the busy Winter Field Day weekend while everyone else was trying to make as many contacts as possible, ensured us that when a real disaster strikes, our workflow is muscle memory.

However, there is a key distinction between Practice and Activation. While I love the comfort of the recliner and the LAN connection for daily drills, a real “Grid Down” scenario changes the math. During a true CDM activation when grid power is down, the power-hogging network routers go off. I move from the recliner back to the shack, sitting directly in front of the Mk2, running on pure battery power to ensure every watt goes toward getting the message through. In fact, we crank down the power output on the Mk2 to save our backup battery power and make it last longer until the next charge from a propane generator.

A Two-Way Street

This partnership is the heartbeat of my station. Whether we are testing the ionosphere with JS8Call or passing formal traffic via Winlink, Mark and I are building more than just a network—we’re building a service for our communities. And after the “drill” is over? We’re just two friends enjoying the best hobby in the world.

📡 The ROTA Journey Continues…

We’ve looked at the hardware, the software, and the partnership. In our final chapter, we’ll look at the “User Manual” for the soul: Why we do all of this in the first place.

NEXT ARTICLE: The ROTA Philosophy — Presence, Service, and the Long Skip