What did you do in the shack today?

I got out with the Venus SW-3B and mag loop for a little riverside fun this afternoon. I had a little trouble on 20m where the reverse beacon network was spotting me at a very different frequency than I was transmitting at, like 600 Hz. So everyone was coming back way off. Eventually I got QRM'd to death by what sounded like SSTV, which shouldn't have been in the CW portion of the band, but that's what it sounded like. I moved to 30m and it treated me well.

At some point I'll have to check it and see if it's transmitting off frequency or it was just bad luck. It wasn't RIT or XIT; I did check that. 30m matched up just fine.

The mag loop is certainly no good for search and pounce type operating, but if you're going to sit on a frequency it's really handy. Setup is fast and it's relatively quiet. I just set it up on a cheap camera tripod I modified to fit it, and it sits right next to me. No stringing up wires or anything like that.

Edit: I checked today into a dummy load and it showed up dead nuts on my waterfall. I'm not sure what the deal was yesterday.
 
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FisherTech said:
So, now the 510 is in my truck and the FTM200 is in the Faraday can.
Click to expand...
I have a FTM500 currently installed in the mobile, and plan to swap it out for the Kenwood TM-D 750 when they come out later this summer or fall. Thinking about mounting the FTM500 in an ammo can with Anderson PowerPole connectors and an bulkhead mount SO-239 antenna port for semi-portable use.
 
My BuddiHex is out for delivery today. It's pretty windy here (and cold) so I'm not sure I'll be able to set it up and try it out after work. I may just do the tripod and work out the process for setting that up and guying it. I've wanted this thing for a long time, so I'm psyched to be getting it. I'll need to find excuses to bring it out.

Edit: It's here. Just two skinny bags. I wouldn't carry them up a mountain, but they don't weigh much.
 
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This afternoon I hiked half an hour into the woods to a shelter on the Appalachian Trail for some much needed CW therapy. There was someone there, so I gave a quick "hello" as I walked up. She (or a low-T he) pulled the sleeping bag over her head and ignored me. Well, the picnic table is out. So I found a log with a decent nearby branch and spent the next hour trying to get my newly acquired tape measure dipole to tune. Nope. Packed it all back up.

I traded for this dipole, but I used it once before and it was perfect. I'm not sure what is wrong with it, but the absolute best I could get on it was 2:1 SWR. I guess I'll try it with some wires next and make sure it's not the center. It uses a 1:1 balun for the center and it has continuity where it should, and doesn't where it shouldn't.
 
Today in the shack I decided to fill a hole in my radio capabilities, but naturally in the most skinflint manner possible.

You see I currently do not own a DMR capable radio, even though I live a relatively short distance from a DMR repeater.

Well, after seeing the following video on the new Baofeng DM-32UV I decided to get one. But of course they are not being stocked anywhere in the USA as of yet, so that meant ordering from China. (See below after the video)




I ended up ordering from Banggood, shipping out of China. I have never ordered from them before, but had read a number of discussions about them. They are a stocking vendor not an eCommerce site for third party sellers, and they have PayPal as a payment option so there is at least that level of security and purchase guarantee.

The radio was $68.27 shipped (which I expect will take a month).

[US$68.99] Baofeng DM-32UV Walkie Talkie DMR Digital Analog Two Way Radio 8W Power GPS APRS 4000 Channels Dual Mode Communication Walkie Talkies from Security & Protection on banggood.com

Baofeng DM-32UV Walkie Talkie DMR Digital Analog Two Way Radio 8W Power GPS APRS 4000 Channels Dual Mode Communication
usa-m.banggood.com


I should note there is a third party seller on Amazon asking $118 with a delivery date out as far as May 15th., so even if it takes two months I am ahead of the game for a radio that I probably don't really need anyway. :D

It will be funny if by the time I get mine from China, Amazon has then gotten stock and is shipping them next day for less.


🐯
 
So the Baofeng DM-32UV in the post above has reportedly been shipped from China via DHL (free shipping for what that's worth) and they are giving a delivery range of April 26th to May 6th.

But I decided if I was going to go down the DMR rabbit hole I needed something to play with now (not really but I am an impatient radio geek).
So I bought a Baofeng DM-1701.

DM-1701 5W Dual Band DMR

About Baofeng DM-1701 The DM-1701 is the most cost-effective DMR HT on the market, with solid hardware construction and easy to use programming software. The greatest appeal of Baofeng’s DM-1701 lies in its ability to deliver great DMR compatibility, crystal clear audio & great cost-effective...
www.baofengradio.com

I have flashed the DM-1701 firmware to OpenGD77, which is praised as an improvement over the radio's stock firmware, and it also uses a much nicer programing application (CPS).

While we do have a relatively local 2 meter DMR repeater, I have also built a hotspot with a Raspberry Pi 3B+ (1GB) single board computer (SBC),
Combined with a MMDVM_HS simplex hat. (that stands for multi mode digital voice modem).
www.amazon.com/dp/B07VW819NW/

The idea of the modem being I can use low power 70cm here at home for access talk groups around the world, without the need to connect the radio to my external Diamond V2000A antenna in order to hit the 2 meter repeater well. The hotspot is plugged into my LAN, sitting near my main router on top of a bookshelf, on the second story of the house. I have not yet built or bought a case for it, and may not depending on how I ultimately use it.

Cz9yygW.jpg

MtIYKC0.jpg


I have loaded WPSD onto the hotspot and configured it for DMR, although I could also use it for Yaesu System Fusion (C4FM) with my Yaesu radios, or D-Star if I had an Icom radio. The MMDVM supposedly supports that, and WPSD OS certainly does. In fact the WPSD will do cross-mode, but that is something to experiment with at another time.

The WPSD Project - W0CHP.radio

WPSD Project Official Web Page: WPSD is a next-generation digial voice software suite for amateur radio.
w0chp.radio

I am still programing the radio so I have not yet made a contact through the hotspot, and the first will probably be to an echo server just to confirm it is working.
But the hotspot appears to be functioning properly, and I get no errors from the software.

I will probably replace the stubby antenna on the modem with a Comet SMA-24 that I have, as it is super light weigh and shouldn't tip over the modem or stress the connector, and it is 5/8 wave on 70cm which might allow me to access the modem from anywhere on my 4+ acre lot.

Comet - SMA-24 - 2M/70cm Superflex HT Antenna - SMA Male - cometantenna

Max Power: 20 watts
www.cometantenna.com


But wait, there's more... Because it's possible the tariffs on China may well effect the price and availability of these MMDVM boards I ordered, and just today received, a duplex version of the same company's board. I may turn this one into my home one, and use the simplex one for mobile/portable use connected to my iPhone for network access
www.amazon.com/dp/B0878WF7HW/

I have a Raspberry Pi 4B on hand that I will use for this build
and I might run Pi-Star OS for comparison to WPSD.

Home - pistar.uk

www.pistar.uk



🐯





.
 
I'm very weak on DMR but if your local repeater has a talk group, can you connect to that via the hotspot and not even need to reach the repeater the traditional way?
 
The repeater will have several talk groups. Check out nedecn.org, pick a repeater, and you’ll see the talk groups that that particular repeater carries. There’s a section in there about hot spot linking. DMR is pretty solid in New England, but as a radio snob I’ve had mixed results with the Chinese radios out there. I have Motorola mobiles and hand helds that are awesome, but you’re locked in to getting their software. Rainy weekend and I’ve been messing around with Icom and Dstar and there are some cross-platform reflectors that link to DMR but I’m not quite there yet. Good luck!
 
ToddDubya said:
I'm very weak on DMR but if your local repeater has a talk group, can you connect to that via the hotspot and not even need to reach the repeater the traditional way?
Click to expand...

First off, today in the shack I got the radio working after a lot of reading and video watching. Programing the radio was by far the most challenging learning curve for me, building and configuring the hotspot was child's play by comparison.

I got both the TG310997 and TG9990 parrots to play back my test transmission. However when I was going through and joining talk groups I was hearing nothing. I started to wonder if there was a problem. I opened WPSD dashboard in a web browser and I could see my RF into the hotspot and the TGs I had activated. It wasn't until I kurchunked the TG93 North America group that a station saw my call and decided to call me (I was actually surprised to hear my call). I responded and we had a brief chat, he said I sound loud and clear at his QTH in TN. I did not ask if he was connected via a repeater or hotspot.

Now Todd as to your question, yes via the hotspot I can access any talk group that my local repeater might be hosting, with one exception being a local TG that is not forwarded to the network.

My local repeater N1WW (the DNR machine, they also have a separate FM/YSF machine) has a local talk group listed for TG9. They are on the DMR-MARC network so I guess that number is available for local only TG, however on the BrandMeister network it would be a technical issue.

There is an article about this here...

If you look at the NEDECN page for N1WW you will see in Time Slot 1 they host access to 14 talk groups dynamically, meaning they must be brought up by a repeater user and will disconnect without activity after a set time.
In Time Slot 2 they host 2 talk groups that appear to be static, the static local TG9 I mentioned above, and also dynamically TG8802 NE TAC2.


Keep in mind everything I have said above is my interpretation of what I am learning, and could be terrible wrong.

@ToddDubya I suspect I will be able to ask you questions about this a month from now, because I know the power of learning something new will draw you in Todd. ;)


🐯

P.S.> I was also able to bring up the N1WW 2m analog FM machine direct with the cheap stock antenna on the DM-1701, so that was cool although I do not know if I would be able to achieve full quieting in a conversation.
 
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We don't have DMR repeater near me, yet, so I just have one person to talk to on DMR simplex. Fortunately he's working on a controller to use with a currently defunct club repeater. They're also working on tower space to install it. If all goes well I think they have a nice spot picked out.

P.S. I'm rubbish with DMR. I have read and watched all manner of instructional things and I just don't get it. I have a code plug someone gave me that I can modify, but there are a lot of things I feel like are redundant but I don't know any better so I do it the same way.
 
I want to say the decode has a sensitivity setting, and I also think it will adapt, but it's initial assumption is that you're receiving at the same/similar speed that you have your keyer set for. I've never had good luck with any radio being able to decode CW. I know some people have more success; maybe they fiddle with the settings more than I did.

Those QCXs are amazing little radios.
 
The Baofeng DM-32UV DMR handheld arrived from China today.

Not bad, less than two weeks shipping. I think based on this I would deal with Banggood again. Matter of fact I may order a Tiny SA+ spectrum analyser from them.

Of course I hvae not taken the radio out of the box yet.

But I am the first kid on the block to own one. [banana]


🐯
 
Got the radio up and running, although the CPS was a bit of a challange.

The radio is impressively well built for the price. Yes it is large and heavy compared to something like the UV-5R, but it is a much more substantial radio.

I will be very interested by this time next year to see what alternative firmware and CPS option are developed.

kNkQbG8.jpg



🐯
 
Is CPS the hotspot? Or hotspot SW?

I built a hotspot a few years ago for my Yaesu FT-70d to get onto the Fusion rooms (?). It worked surprisingly well the first time, and then I did very little with it. Since the hotspots are lying about being Yaesu devices, you have to use reflectors. The radio will remember five rooms, but not reflector rooms. So you have to either keep a little cheat sheet handy or memorize them. Not that handy.

I bet it'll do DMR and other digital modes, I just haven't tried it yet. I bet DMR is way nicer to use just because the radio should do most of the heavy lifting for you, once you program it. But obviously I haven't tried yet.

As for today, I gotta check the bands and see if it's worth finding somewhere in the woods to go set up. Yesterday around noon I checked and every band was basically dead. I also got some BNC connectors so I can make short cables for my satellite setup. I should do that today if it's going to be raining.
 
ToddDubya said:
Is CPS the hotspot? Or hotspot SW?
Click to expand...

CPS stands for customer programming software, the term is a holdover from the Motorola commercial radio service, it is now used generically for radio programing software. It has nothing to do with the hotspot.

My hotspot runs on WPSD (W0CHP's Digital Voice Project) and it has been running flawlessly since minute one.


🐯
 
Today in the shack...

I have never used memory voice keying before.
I don't actually work a lot of, or put a big effort into, phone contests so I haven't had a super big need for voice keying.

However, I decided I will give it a try for the upcoming NEQP contest.

The Yaesu FTDX10 has five "voice memory" message banks that you can record to for playback on the air.

The N1MM contest logging program can activate any of these with the function key macro {CAT1ASC PB01;} just change that last numeral 1-5 to stipulate which Yaesu voice memory slot is played.

You must make sure that break-in (BK-IN) is set to "on" in your radio settings in order for the message to key the transmit. Yes, specifically BK-IN on in SSB, not just as normal in CW mode (the radio remembers the state for each mode).

I turn power down to 5 Watts and use a dummy load for testing, but if you want to listen to your recorded message without transmitting then tune break-in off.

I recorded three message to use when running (I'm not using it for search and pounce obviously).
1.) Contest CQ
2.) 59 my exchange
3.) Thank you, my call, QRZ.

I then mapped them to N1MM function keys F1, F2, and F3 respectively.

To the F3 key macro I added an additional command to log the contact that is populating the call sign field. The idea being that I have sent you my exchange, you reply with yours, then I hit F3 it logs my contact with you and plays my thank you QRZ message, and I'm ready for the next contact.

The macro looks like this F3 TNX,{CAT1ASC PB03;},{LOG}

In testing so far barefoot it seems like it would work just fine moving back and forth between me live on the mic and the recorded messages, but I have yet to see how that is going to work while relaying my amplifier. It has the stock relay, not an optional fast QSK-5 board so we will see if any bounces happen. I will test it before contest time May 3-4.


🐯
 
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CatSnoutSoup said:
Today in the shack...

I have never used memory voice keying before.
I don't actually work a lot of, or put a big effort into, phone contests so I haven't had a super big need for voice keying.

However, I decided I will give it a try for the upcoming NEQP contest.

The Yaesu FTDX10 has five "voice memory" message banks that you can record to for playback on the air.

The N1MM contest logging program can activate any of these with the function key macro {CAT1ASC PB01;} just change that last numeral 1-5 to stipulate which Yaesu voice memory slot is played.

You must make sure that break-in (BK-IN) is set to "on" in your radio settings in order for the message to key the transmit. Yes, specifically BK-IN on in SSB, not just as normal in CW mode (the radio remembers the state for each mode).

I turn power down to 5 Watts and use a dummy load for testing, but if you want to listen to your recorded message without transmitting then tune break-in off.

I recorded three message to use when running (I'm not using it for search and pounce obviously).
1.) Contest CQ
2.) 59 my exchange
3.) Thank you, my call, QRZ.

I then mapped them to N1MM function keys F1, F2, and F3 respectively.

To the F3 key macro I added an additional command to log the contact that is populating the call sign field. The idea being that I have sent you my exchange, you reply with yours, then I hit F3 it logs my contact with you and plays my thank you QRZ message, and I'm ready for the next contact.

The macro looks like this F3 TNX,{CAT1ASC PB03;},{LOG}

In testing so far barefoot it seems like it would work just fine moving back and forth between me live on the mic and the recorded messages, but I have yet to see how that is going to work while relaying my amplifier. It has the stock relay, not an optional fast QSK-5 board so we will see if any bounces happen. I will test it before contest time May 3-4.


🐯
Click to expand...
Isn't the process to record memories ridiculous on the FTDX-10? What makes it even crazier is it's different for CW. And don't forget the bracket at the end or you'll have dead air for the remainder of the memory slot. C'mon, Yaesu. Do better.
 
ToddDubya said:
Isn't the process to record memories ridiculous on the FTDX-10? What makes it even crazier is it's different for CW. And don't forget the bracket at the end or you'll have dead air for the remainder of the memory slot. C'mon, Yaesu. Do better.
Click to expand...

I do not record CW messages directly in the radio, no need as N1MM is the most advanced memory keyer you could ask for.

As for recording the voice memories, I personally did not find it that difficult or convoluted.

1.) Press function knob.
2.) Touch screen "Message"
3.) Touch screen "Mem"
4.) Touch screen to select memory bank number "1-5"
5.) PTT on microphone, speak you message, release PTT.
6.) You are done

Note that if like me you have a monitor and a mouse attached directly to your FTDX10 you do not need to touch the radio to make these selections, beyond first pressing the function knob (which is a shortcoming of the firmware).

If you haven't investigated using a monitor and a mouse directly with the FTDX10 here is a video of some Scottish geezer demonstrating it (however you may be mesmerized by the photo on his wall o_O )





🐯
 
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Also today in the shack…

My admiration for the WPSD hotspot software continues to grow. For a privately developed, free to use, piece of work it is really professional in appearance and performance.

Today, I went to check the frequency calibration of my MMDVM Hat device to make sure no errors were being introduced between the frequency the MMDVM was actually working on and the frequency (myself) and the radio expected it to be (as set).

WPSD has a calibration screen with an application where it monitors your test transmission and graphs the bit error rate (BER), while you adjust the frequency of the MMDVM in small increments if needed.

I guess I got lucky with this Amazon purchased $43 MMDVN hat because it needed no adjustment.
Well let's put it this way, there was a total bit error rate of 0.09%, so that is close enough in my book.

The bottom green line is the graph with just some ever so slight bumps, all well below 1%.

a5Eh9Ex.png




🐯
 
I found the use or non-use of break-in to be confusing. You must use it on SSB, and must not use it on CW. Or vice versa. CW you have to go into a few different menus to tell it whether you want to spell out the message or record as you send it, for each memory. And forget about trying to use more than one without the keypad remote thing (which I have since made my own). I almost never use memories but I did want them for 13 Colonies when I was calling CQ over and over, or just when you want a break to take a sip.

It's also possible that Yaesu expects you're going to use something like N1MM. I use N3FJP which I think can do memories but I never bothered to figure it out.
 
ToddDubya said:
I found the use or non-use of break-in to be confusing. You must use it on SSB, and must not use it on CW. Or vice versa.
Click to expand...

I always have break-in turned on for CW because I have the internal keyer set to "off" and I'm using N1MM for keying, and I have a hand key plugged in for any needed manual fills. If I did not have break-in turned on that hand key would not trigger transmit, it would essentially just be an audio practice keyer.

ToddDubya said:
I use N3FJP which I think can do memories but I never bothered to figure it out.
Click to expand...

I use N3FJP's ACLog for general logging, and in fact export everything from N1MM to it after a contest via ADIF.
I have had a license for Scott's software, including his contest specific versions, for what must be approaching 25 years and can remember when it was a work in progress with I believe a "Yahoo Groups" for feedback. But I have not used his contest software since discovering N1MM.


BTW when I export an ADIF file out of N1MM, before importing it into N3FJP's ACLog I need to clean it up a bit by eliminating or changing unnecessary headings and what have you.
For that I use ADIF Master by UU0JC. It is simple, straight forward and works without error.

ADIF Master - advanced application for working with Ham Radio ADIF logbooks.


🐯
 
Cool, I'm gonna check those out. I need to find a replacement for HAMRS, which is what I use whenever I paper log. But they changed it and the time is in a pulldown or something, so it's a pain to go into it for every contact. I tried FastLogEntry, which is fast once you get the hang of it, but I like to confirm states (or call signs based on states), which FLE doesn't do but HAMRS does do well. So then I import the adif into HAMRS, go through one at a time and fill in missing data from QRZ, export, import to N3FJP. Needless to say, this is not an ideal system.
 
ToddDubya said:
Cool, I'm gonna check those out. I need to find a replacement for HAMRS, which is what I use whenever I paper log. But they changed it and the time is in a pulldown or something, so it's a pain to go into it for every contact. I tried FastLogEntry, which is fast once you get the hang of it, but I like to confirm states (or call signs based on states), which FLE doesn't do but HAMRS does do well. So then I import the adif into HAMRS, go through one at a time and fill in missing data from QRZ, export, import to N3FJP. Needless to say, this is not an ideal system.
Click to expand...

I may be about to tell you something you already know, but perhaps not if you are looking up data and populating fields before importing to N3FJP's ACLog.

Do you have an XML Data or Premium account with QRZ.com?

If yes then N3FJP's ACLog can fill any missing fields that could be resolved from the contact's QRZ.com listing (like name, state, county, grid, etc.).

From the top menu click "Callbook".
Select "QRZ Internet Lookup" and a dialog will open for you to input your QRZ.com login credentials.
That information will be retained after the program is closed.

Then going forward after importing contacts with missing fields, highlight those contacts.
From the top menu click "Edit".
Select "Fill fields determined by call" then "Selected records".
You will get a confirmation dialog asking if you are sure you want to make the edits, say yes, ACLog will look them up and populate the missing fields, and you are done.

I use this feature all the time because my contest contacts have the bare minimum of information when imported.

🐯
 


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