The following is a press release from SafecomLink:
The Software Behind the Next Generation of Pactor Modems
NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, September 1, 2026 WiMo & SafecomLink today announced that SafecomLink for Pactor – Hamradio Edition is now available through WiMo Antennen und Elektronik GmbH, one of the world’s leading suppliers of radio-communications and antenna technology, serving the amateur radio, professional and commercial radio, aviation, marine, and industrial markets. Developed in close collaboration with the WiMo and SCS (Special Communications Systems) teams, the release brings the full power of the SafecomLink platform to the Pactor community, sold either bundled with a Pactor modem or as a standalone license, and positioned as the software that brings SCS’s new generation of modems to life.
OVERVIEW & AVAILABILITY
A software platform, purpose-built for Pactor
SafecomLink for Pactor – Hamradio Edition turns an SCS Pactor modem and a standard HF transceiver into a complete, modern HF digital-communications system, reliable long-range messaging, file transfer, internet email gateway, and AI-powered information access, the same capabilities trusted by 90,000-plus users worldwide, now tuned for the amateur-radio operator running Pactor. Crucially, SafecomLink integrates with every one of the modem’s features driving the hardware natively and exposing its full feature set through one clean, unified interface.
It is offered in the WiMo store three ways:
Bundled with a DR-9400 Pactor modem (ready to operate out of the box)
As a standalone 2-year license
As a standalone lifetime license
THE COLLABORATION
Built hand-in-hand by WiMo, SCS, and SafecomLink
This launch is the product of a deep, months-long collaboration between the SafecomLink, WiMo, and SCS engineering teams. Drawing on SafecomLink’s long experience with amateur-radio operators and a close understanding of their real-world needs, SCS developed and refined modem features specifically to support SafecomLink’s requirements, so the hardware and the software were engineered around the same goals from the start.
For years we’ve listened closely to what ham operators actually need on the air, and in SCS and WiMo we found partners ready to build toward that vision with us. SCS shaped real modem capabilities around our requirements, WiMo made it effortless to put in operators’ hands, and the result is something none of us could have delivered alone. – Irad Deutsch, General Manager, SafecomLink
As engineers we care about one thing in the end: does it work flawlessly for the operator. Building these modem features hand-in-hand with SafecomLink is how we made sure the answer is yes, every time. – Hans-Peter Helfert, Pactor Engineering, SCS
Our customers want gear that simply works together, and that is exactly what this partnership delivers. SafecomLink’s understanding of the operator is remarkable, and pairing it with SCS’s modems in our store was an easy decision. We’re proud to bring this combination to the amateur-radio community. – Uli Zehndbauer, WiMo Antennen und Elektronik GmbH
WHY IT MATTERS
For the operator, the value is direct: a single, supported platform that unlocks the entire feature set of the Pactor modem, backed by three organizations working as one: hardware and software designed to work together, sold and supported through a trusted retailer, with the assurance that the software will keep pace as the modems evolve.
About WiMo & SCS
WiMo is one of Europe’s leading suppliers of amateur radio and radio communication equipment, serving the amateur radio community with a comprehensive range of antennas, radios, accessories, and technical solutions. SCS is the inventor of PACTOR, a protocol and line of HF radio modems used globally by sailors, ham operators, and emergency teams for reliable data communication.
About SafecomLink
SafecomLink is a grid-independent radio-data platform that turns standard HF, VHF, and UHF radios into sophisticated digital communication systems, reliable long-range messaging, file transfer, email gateway, and AI-powered information access even when traditional networks fail. With more than 90,000 users worldwide and support for 100+ radio models.
Have you ever looked at contest schedules and thought it seemed like every format had already been tried and that the good ideas had already been used? That if your club wanted to sponsor a new contest, there just wasn’t any room for something original?
The board of the Portage County Amateur Radio Service (PCARS) in Ohio had the chance to ponder those questions back in 2008. We wanted to create a contest that would have particular appeal to hams in the Ohio Section. The contest would have a unique format that had not been tried before yet still be relatively simple to score and have low hurdles for participation. That is, almost anyone could take a shot at it.
Jim Aylward, KC8PD (SK) was the member who came up with the idea for Ohio State Parks On The Air (OSPOTA). Chuck, W8PT, was the OSPOTA Contest Chairman from 2008-13, and I (Tom, KB8UUZ) have been the OSPOTA chairman since 2014.
(Image/PCARS)
What we came up with in 2008 is a contest that not only met those requirements but combines some of the best elements of Field Day and a State QSO Party, provides public demonstrations of in-the-field communication abilities, and rewards the ability to make contacts within your own section/state. Even better, it is a template that can (and would) easily be adopted in any other state or section or even used for the basis of a nationwide event that the ARRL did in 2016 with the National Parks On The Air year-long event.
OSPOTA is not affiliated with the now popular Parks On The Air® (POTA) program, which was started in 2017.
Putting Parks on the Air
The primary goals of OSPOTA are to have hams operate individually or as club stations from as many of Ohio’s state parks as possible and to highlight the beauty and diversity of each of the state parks that are spread throughout Ohio.
(Image/OSPOTA)
The format is straightforward: Individuals and clubs operate low- or high-power portable stations at Ohio state parks and attempt to make as many contacts as possible in an eight-hour time frame. They can contact any station anywhere. Other Ohio hams and non-Ohio hams can only contact park stations. Contacts are made in SSB and CW modes on 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters, and the scoring is the same for each contact no matter the mode or band.
The magic is in the multiplier: the number of Ohio state parks you work. Unlike a State QSO Party, this puts a particular premium (even for all of the Ohio stations) on working other stations in the state. As a result, all of the Ohio state park stations will have to seriously consider the propagation characteristics of their antenna(s), in particular using Near Vertical Incidence Skywave (NVIS) antennas.
John, WG8X, operating from southeastern Ohio’s Zeleski State Forest, one of 76 parks eligible for OSPOTA activation in 2026. (Image/WG8X)
PCARS tried to ensure that the date selected would not interfere with other events yet still be at a practical time of the year, allowing for Ohio’s weather and times of peak park attendance. The first Saturday after Labor Day (September 6 in 2008 was the first OSPOTA) was chosen because the weather would still be good while park use should be down a bit.
Participants are encouraged to make a weekend of it if they would like. Many of Ohio’s parks have excellent camping facilities while others have beautiful contemporary resort facilities that may be particularly appealing to the non-ham spouse. You know, “Honey, I planned a great weekend for us, and I will only be on the air for eight hours.”
Keep the Park in the Loop
As soon as we began discussing the event, we also made sure that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the state agency responsible for managing the parks, was fully informed about our plans. It took some emails and phone calls to satisfy them that the radio operations would not put any undue demand on park resources and to satisfy their curiosity about what we would be doing.
(Image/Ohio Department of Natural Resources)
After the first year of the event, they came to recognize what a great way it is to publicize the excellence of Ohio’s state parks and to generate some additional off-season park activity. Some park visitors and even Ohio state park rangers stopped by groups that were active in the contest and made some contacts over the ham bands.
Want to Join in?
More information can be found at the OSPOTA website: www.ospota.org, including contest rules, FAQs, log sheets, and entry submission forms. Awards are given to the top entries for individual and club stations operating from the parks in various categories, and for the top individual Ohio and non-Ohio stations.
Be aware only electronic (Cabrillo files) will be accepted for entries. No text, pdf, csv, adif, bin, photos of logs, paper, etc. Comparing contest logs is somewhat automated and we need your log file in standard Cabrillo format.
As in the past, you can let us know which state park you plan on activating, and we’ll keep everyone informed. Fill out the new form for your planned park infohere.
If you have questions or comments, please email to INFO@OSPOTA.org.
Here’s hoping that we catch you on the air on Saturday, September 12, 2026, for the 19th annual OSPOTA contest! And for you Ohio hams, there’s still time to check out eligible locations in your area and make plans to join us for this fun event from one of Ohio’s beautiful state parks/
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Editor’s Note: Why is there a black squirrel in PCARS’ logo? Good question! Black squirrels had died off in Northeast Ohio and were reintroduced into the Portage Country area in 1961. Ten black squirrels from London, Ontario, were legally imported to the Kent State University grounds. Sixty-five years later you’ll find them scurrying up trees throughout the region. Perhaps you’ll share a picnic table with one during your OSPOTA activation!
The following is a message from the HAARP Program Office:
The High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) will be conducting a research campaign September 8 – 11 UTC, with operating times specified in the table below. Operating frequencies will vary, but all HAARP transmissions will be between 2.8 MHz and 10 MHz. Actual transmit days and times are highly variable based on real-time ionospheric and/or geomagnetic conditions. All information is subject to change.
Note that, because the experiments generally require real-time schedule and frequency adjustments based on ionospheric conditions, no frequencies are specified in the table below. The included transmission notice supplement contains information on the frequencies HAARP is authorized to transmit. HAARP transmissions will only occur on our authorized frequencies. There are no specific data collection requests by investigators, but reception reports are appreciated and may be submitted to our online form at https://haarp.gi.alaska.edu/form/reception-reports.
Maurizio IK2GZU / 5H3MB informs DX-World that from October 19 to November 19, he will return to Tanzania for a volunteer period at the Ikelu hospital in the South Highlands of the country. As usual, in his free time, he will be active on HF; SSB, CW, RTTY & FT8. Setup: FT-891, amplifier, dipoles and […] This post appeared first on: DX-World Want to know more about it? Read More
[INFO] – Kasimir, DL2SBY will again be active from the Seychelles as S79/DL2SBY during September 11-21, 2026. He mentions the QTH is on the north side of Mahé Island, about 100m from the saltwater, with a clear view from northeast to northwest. Activity on 80-6m; CW, SSB, FT8 (MSHV). Equipment as follows: 2x ICOM IC7300. […] This post appeared first on: DX-World Want to know more about it? Read More
[INFO] – Gerry, G3WIP will again be active from Ascension Island as ZD8GB during September 5-7, 2026. QRV on 40-10m; SSB & FT8 (via OQ-100 SAT). Previous activities listed below. QSL via EA5GL. [MAY 4, 2025] – For approx 2.5 days, Gerald G3WIP will again be active from Ascension Island as ZD8GB starting on May […] This post appeared first on: DX-World Want to know more about it? Read More
Editor’s Note: OnAllBands is pleased to post a series of articles written by accomplished amateur radio contester and DX Engineering customer/technical support specialist Kirk Pickering, K4RO. The articles, originally published in the National Contest Journal from 2008-11 and updated with current information, offer valuable insights for both contesters new and old.
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Spending considerable time tracking down RFI, I was reminded of how important it is to deal with the myriad unintentional radiators in and around the house. Several books have been written about RFI, and I suggest reading up on the subject in detail. I will attempt to cover the basics of finding and fixing RFI problems in the contest station and hopefully give you some idea where to start.
Truly Quiet Band
I remember my first time operating at W4AN, Bill Fisher’s place located in northern Georgia. There was a national forest for miles around, and there was no trace of line noise or other interference of any kind. I’m sure that the great antennas and hilltop location played a large role, but even the weakest of signals seemed to pop up out of an incredibly low noise floor. Bill mentioned something about how quiet things were that night, and how important that was to his station’s success. I remember driving home the day after the contest and wondering just how many of those noise-level QSOs were made possible by the quiet receiving location.
Back home at my own station, a closer inspection was in order. I was surprised to find several types of noise across every HF band. I heard power line noise, with its characteristic buzz. It was centered around harmonics of 60 Hz and often covered entire bands. There were little “birdies” and whistles which appeared at regular intervals across an entire band or even several bands. Lots of nice juicy frequencies were made completely unusable by warbling tones that wandered up and down the band, covering 3-5 kHz wherever they happened to land at the moment. Compared to W4AN’s place, half of my usable band segments were essentially useless, littered with all kinds of noise. Where was I to begin?
It turns out that hunting and eliminating noise sources is an ongoing process which really has no defined end point. With the advent of today’s computerized consumer marketplace, almost every device contains at least one oscillator, plus a noisy switching power supply. Unfortunately, this means that new noise sources continue to appear with each passing month. Population density also plays a role. I have noticed a significant increase in the noise floor where I live. A steady sprawl of housing developments has sprung up around what used to be a semi-rural environment. Each house may contain a dozen or more oscillators—from computers to TVs to cell phone chargers and so forth. It is impractical, if not impossible, to silence every noise source in a neighborhood.
Consider that RFI noise hunting is a bit like peeling an onion. You work on it one layer at a time, starting with the most troublesome sources, then working your way down into the noise floor from there.
Power Line Noise
After listening to all the different noises on the bands, I tried to determine which source appeared to be the worst offender. There was a loud buzzing sound on all of the bands above 10 MHz, and it was wiping out entire bands at a time. After asking some questions and playing the interference to a few of my contesting pals over the phone, the consensus was that I had the dreaded “power line noise” problem. Further reading revealed that this was a fairly common type of interference caused by high voltage arcing, which creates a spark gap transmitter.
Learning the probable cause was helpful, but I still needed to identify the source. AA4NU came to the rescue with his homebrew 130 MHz Yagi and VHF AM Aircraft receiver. I was able to walk around the neighborhood with the Yagi in search of the noisy telephone pole. (Yes, I still receive strange looks from the neighbors when doing this.) With a little bit of practice, I was able to find areas where the noise seemed to peak and narrowed down the search area to a couple of likely poles. After checking on several successive days, I was convinced it was not just an intermittent issue, and the pole was making a lot of noise every day. The next step was to contact the utility company, ask for their assistance with locating the exact source, then attempt to correct it.
Locally Generated RFI
The second-most troublesome source of interference I heard was a wide band drifting “warbling” sound. The noise was S7 to S9 in strength and covered about 3-5 kHz at a time. The warbles would drift up and down the bands, rendering random frequencies unusable at random intervals. Unfortunately, the interference was not audible at 135 MHz, so the noise-sniffer Yagi was not going to help. By process of elimination, I eventually determined that the noise disappeared when I unplugged the computer monitor.
The best way to determine if a noise is being generated locally within your house is to use a battery-powered radio connected to your antenna system. If your antenna relay system requires power, it will also have to be run from a battery. Shut down all power to the house using the main breaker. Make sure that any UPS or other battery-powered devices are disconnected and powered down. If the interference goes away, then you need look no further than your own home to find the source.
You’ve Got to Find It to Fix It
The two examples listed above are common problems but represent only a fraction of the types of interference sources. The main thing to keep in mind is that locating the source of the problem is the primary objective. I have found that one of the most helpful tools to have available is a handheld receiver covering the frequencies of interest. Several VHF-UHF handie talkies now include wideband HF receivers. The HT can be carried anywhere and be used to “sweep” a room’s electronic devices. When I hear a new RFI source at my station, the first thing I do is grab the handheld receiver and tune it to the same frequency as the interference. Then I go around the house trying to find the source.
An S-meter and attenuator are very helpful to zero in on the source once I get closer. Also, AM mode is a must for tracking down power line noise. New tools are available which allow a visual wideband inspection of noise sources. One of the current experts in the field of RFI sniffing is Don Kirk, WD8DSB. Don has contributed a lot of useful information on solving RFI problems. His work is invaluable.
The DX Engineering NOISELOOP Portable Receive Flag Antenna Kit, based on a design by Don Kirk, WD8DSB, is an excellent tool for locating noise sources from 1.8 through 30 MHz. It may be used while walking or stationary with your portable HF receiver. (Image/DX Engineering)
Fixing the Interference
Once we have successfully located the source of the interference, the next step is to try to cure it. In the case of power line noise, there is not much the contester can do besides enlist the help of the utility company. Do NOT try to climb the pole or use a sledgehammer on it. The best approach is to not touch the pole at all; there could be loose hardware which could pose a safety hazard. Record the pole’s identification number (most have some such marking) and its location. Contact your utility company with the information and give them as much information as you can about the pole and your efforts to locate the problem.
Experience varies greatly from region to region, but forming a helpful alliance is your goal. Courtesy and patience tend to work far better than angry threats and abusive behavior.
In the case of other types of interference, we have a few more options available. Once we have located the offending piece of gear, the most obvious option is to replace the device or just unplug it during contests. Usually this is not an option—especially if the device is part of the contest station or something that other members of the household need to use while you are in front of the radio. The number one cure used by most hams today is some form of common-mode choke, usually constructed from ferrite beads or toroidal cores. Ferrite beads and cores are now available in a large variety of physical configurations and ferrite mixes. A lot of research has been done in this area, and the consensus seems to be that the type “31” Mix is the most useful at HF frequencies.
Note that the effectiveness of common-mode chokes at specific frequencies is directly related to the number of cable turns which pass through the ferrite material. The information published by K9YC and W1HIS are required reading to gain an understanding of common-mode chokes and why they matter.
Common Sources
Here are some of the RFI sources I have found over the years:
Telephone pole arcing insulator
Telephone pole lightning arrestor
Track lighting
Battery charger
Anything with a switching power supply
Ethernet routers (especially above 10 MBPS)
Computers
DX Engineering’s ISO-PLUS Ethernet RFFilters provide common-mode RF interference and EMI noise filtering of radio frequencies from well below 1 MHz to over 100 MHz with no effect on digital throughput. (Image/DX Engineering)(Image/DX Engineering)
See you on the bands, and don’t forget to submit your log to the contest sponsor. It helps you, helps the sponsor, and helps the sport of contesting.
Randy, K5SL will be active from Curaçao (holiday-style) as PJ2/K5SL during September 18-26, 2026. QRV on 40-17m; CW only. Generally active in his mornings and late afternoons. QSL via H/c. This post appeared first on: DX-World Want to know more about it? Read More
APRS Connect is a new APRS client for Android, built around conversations rather than a packet console. It is free to install and use over APRS-IS. APRS Connect Pro, a subscription after a 7-day free trial, adds radio connections, offline map downloads, the radar layer, track export, extra beacon profiles and capture replay. An iOS version is in progress.
Most of what answers on APRS is a bot that expects exact wording. APRS Connect keeps a directory of 22 of them and gives each a guided screen instead of a command to memorize: WXBOT and WXNOW weather, the REPEAT repeater finder, WHO-IS lookup, the SMS, email, Winlink and WhatsApp gateways, the QRX missed-message mailbox, APSPOT and APRS2SOTA self-spotting, and ANSRVR group nets. The exact packet each button will send can be shown before it goes out, and you can always type a command by hand instead. #APRSThursday and other ANSRVR groups appear as a single net room rather than a thread per stranger, and APRS OTA ops can be hosted and chased from one screen.
Messages are kept as one thread per station, with delivery state on every message and automatic retries. All of this is in the free app.
With Pro, the app connects to KISS TNCs over Bluetooth Classic, Bluetooth LE, USB serial, or TCP, or to a radio’s speaker and mic through a built-in AFSK 1200 audio modem with VOX or wired PTT. Several links can run at once as named channels, alongside APRS-IS, and every received frame is tagged with the link that carried it.
The map is a vector basemap rendered on the phone. Every tile you view is cached and redraws with no connection; whole regions download ahead of a trip with Pro. Every frame heard is stored and decoded field by field in the packet log, which can be filtered and exported as a capture file.
Pertti, OG2M announces he will be active from Garowe, Puntland, northeastern Somalia as 6O2M during October 5-25, 2026. QRV on 40-10m; CW & SSB. Spare time activity. QSL via LoTW. This post appeared first on: DX-World Want to know more about it? Read More
