Some Notes From the 41st Annual DCC
In the middle of September, I drove to Charlotte, North Carolina to attend the 41st annual ARRL & TAPR Digital Communications Conference (DCC). Originally known as the Computer Networking Conference (CNC), this annual event has people from the breadth of humanity, hams and non-hams, experts and beginners, gathering together to find out where the state of the art lies in digital communications. When TAPR (Tucson Amateur Packet Radio) joined with the ARRL to run these conferences, the name DCC was adopted.
As a short 4-hour drive from Atlanta, along with a $99-anight discounted room rate, this was yet another opportunity to meet with fellow enthusiasts in person instead of yet another Zoom meeting. I was fortunate at Hamvention to avoid the recent bat sniffles plague, but at the Huntsville Hamfest I did manage to catch Covid-19 for the very first time. Thankfully the vaccines and boosters did their job and I suffered only a mild sore throat for a few days along with about a half-day of fever. Yes, I am fully vaccinated and boosted: In the immortal words of John Cleese, “Well, I may be an idiot, but I’m no fool.”
The range of presentations was only exceeded by the opportunities for personal networking and conversation. This month, I’ll just touch on
