February FreeDV Activity Day

Be a part of the Amateur Radio tradition of experimentation and learning!

Try out FreeDV—the Open Source Amateur Radio Digital Voice mode—during the February 2022 FreeDV Activity Day.

Activity Day operations will run from 1700Z (1100 CST) February 19th through 1659Z (1059 CST) February 20th. There are no rules or logging requirements.

FreeDV can usually be found [at]:

• 80 meters: 3.625, 3.643 or 3.693 MHz
• 40 meters: 7.177 MHz
• 20 meters: 14.236 MHz
• 17 meters: 18.118 MHz
• 15 meters: 21.313 MHz
• 12 meters: 24.933 MHz
• 10 meters: 28.330 or 28.720 MHz

The QSO Finder and PSK Reporter are great sources for finding contacts, whether during the event or any other time. ¹

Please visit the FreeDV website to find:

• A list of what you need
• Download links
• Documentation links
• Support suggestions

and other links and information about this Digital Voice mode.

Assistance setting up the FreeDV application (or the SM1000 adapter) is available through the event announcement page and the Digital Voice Google Group (AKA reflector).

Why FreeDV?

Amateur Radio is transitioning from analog to digital, much as it transitioned from AM to SSB in the 1950’s and 1960’s. How would you feel if one or two companies owned the patents for SSB, then forced you to use their technology, made it illegal to experiment with or even understand the technology, and insisted you stay locked to it for the next 100 years? That’s exactly what was happening with digital voice. But now, hams are in control of their technology again!

FreeDV is unique as it uses 100% Open Source Software, including the speech codec. No secrets, nothing proprietary! FreeDV represents a path for 21st century Amateur Radio where Hams are free to experiment and innovate, rather than a future locked into a single manufacturers closed technology.

Controlled testing suggests FreeDV is comparable to and in some cases works better than SSB on low SNR channels.

FreeDV 2020 is built around leading edge neural net speech coding (LPCNet), putting Ham radio at the forefront of digital radio innovation. It provides 8 kHz wide audio bandwidth, while using just 1600 Hz of RF bandwidth.

Urban HF noise is a growing problem for SSB communications. Hams around the world are using the advanced FEC and modem technology in FreeDV to overcome urban HF noise in channels where SSB is unusable.

FreeDV 1600 and 2020 is being used over the QO-100 experimental combinations of Internet and HF radio to overcome poor propogation. ²