Time to replace several lengths of coax and run new… 100m ought to do it!

I finally got some wire in the air. Well, not very much and not very high, but at least it is outside. One end is attached to an eye bolt outside the shack window positioned so I can reach it with the window open wide. From there the wire runs down to the workshop. I am not exactly sure of the length, Google Maps suggests just short of 30 feet. So pretty short! But it works, and the FT450D internal tuner can cope with it from 30m to 6m, except for 12m. Anything lower than 30m has SWR approaching 3 but otherwise it seems to be ok. Pity the sun is being naughty right now but it gets a good spread across much of Europe on 20m.

The wire feeds a 9:1 (I think!) unun and a 1:1 choke, then RG58 (*) to the patch panel. The cable needs to be routed yet as it is currently just running through the open window.

Signals received are definitely stronger than with the loft wire and Z11 tuner but it is hard to say exactly how much because of the time taken to swap leads, disable or enable the internal tuner, and tune the wire during which time the watched FT8 QSOs have ended and moved etc. However, with the TS2000X on and connected to the loft wire a random Italian FT8 signal was -17 on the TS2000X + loft wire and -9 on the FT450D + new external wire. Plus the waterfall on the two rigs definitely shows the advantage of the external wire. In fact, the wire length is probably similar to the existing loft wire.

So now I really must get round to running a wire up the garden which will be a lot longer.

(* Typical. I put RB58 instead of RG58, didn’t proof read, turned everything off for work and just got back to edit it now!)

New (to me) arrival in the shack… something I’ve been toying with getting for some time now. This is a TS2000X and has the 1296MHz option installed. It will take me a little while to get acquainted with it but it brings more capability on 2m and 70cm and adds 1296. I’ve been using an FT817 on VHF for FT8 etc. up until now and generally running it at 2.5W – fun, but I wanted a bit more juice up there.

The Signalink from the ‘817 is ready to go, just waiting for a CAT cable and some coax plugs as I’ve used all the ones I need. That will at least give me time to read about the rig before playing…

I dug my poor dusty MD380 out yesterday and charged it up. For a while now I have had Fusion and POCSAG on the pi-star but I rarely use the FT2D and when I do it’s only for APRS. So I thought why not get DMR back into the pi-star. I have a dual DVMEGA HAT with pi-star set to duplex from when I was fiddling with the new HAT.

Anyway, since I last used the MD380 I changed the rx and tx frequencies in pi-star to the ‘designated’ hotspot frequencies so the MD380 needed reprogramming.

That’s where it all started to go south…

First off, since I rebuilt the Windows PC I did not, for some reason copy across the MD380 programming software. Ok, found it on the web and installed it. Can it see the TYT programming lead? Nah. This particular lead is basically a wire, it does not have a chip built in apparently and so needs a specific driver. Oh yes, Windows will see the lead and knows what the device is but has no clue about the driver.

Ok. Found a driver. Installed it – apparently – it does not give an error but the rapidly disappearing screen on installation did not fill me with confidence. And no, it doesn’t work.

Tried another programming software suite called editcp (https://www.farnsworth.org/dale/codeplug/editcp/) in case that included the driver. Nope. The disk that came with the MD380, which took some searching as it is one of those small CDs and has nothing at all written on to indicate it is from TYT, also has the driver but it would not install either.

Right. Over to Linux. It saw the device and lsusb shows a reasonable text string. The same editcp software has a Linux version. And, typical of Linux it just works. It read the radio, allowed me change the frequencies and programmed the radio again, no issues (*). I did have to remember just how to set up the codeplug as I wanted to use both TS1 and TS2… that took a bit of head scratching as it’s been years since I fiddled with this. But a couple of useful websites (there are many others) helped sort my brain out and I now have pi-star and the MD380 set up for TS1 and TS2 with different talkgroups on each via the Brandmeister self service.

(* OK I’ll admit it took me five attempts to program the frequencies as I kept reading it wrong! FOUR times entered wrong before I got it typed in correctly)

(edited 27/7/24 15:34)

I recently came across Meshcom (https://icssw.org/en/meshcom/) which broadly speaking is an amateur radio off grid messaging network like Meshtastic.

I had a 433MHz Heltec V3 with Meshtastic installed but as there is no 433MHz activity nearby it has just been sat in the abandoned project pile aka the corner of the desk. So, I thought, here is an interesting use even if there are no nodes nearby… yeah, that’s always a bad start.

Anyway, as yet the instructions are not as polished as those for Meshtastic and I struggled to get anywhere, routinely managing to lock Windows up completely when using the esptool. When I finally got the thing to look like it had connected the downloader instantly gave an error and packed up. It was then I noticed there is a web flasher (url) so I tried that.

Off to a bad start, the flasher reported that the serial port (the device is directly USB connected) was not ready, and no amount of whinging and gnashing of teeth fixed it. Unplugging and re-plugging the Heltec in made no difference. Three times, same thing. I connected it to the Mac and checked that the esptool.py there could see the board in case I had killed it. It found it and gave the correct output. Back to Windows and the web flasher, and on the fourth failure I pressed the reset button on the Heltec and then the installation succeeded. 5th time lucky. [Subsequently I flashed a TBeam device first time and with no issues, so the Heltec may be a bit odd]

Some configuration is needed which can be done by commands typed in via the web flasher which also has a console function. After setting the location and wifi access the node appeared on the home LAN and also announced itself to the world via the dashboard at  https://srv08.oevsv.at/meshcom/# and after a while it sent all the location information etc via the Internet.

The Heltect only has its tiny spring antenna right now as the 433MHz collinear has and rx LoRa APRS gateway connected. As this is really just yet another experiment it may get repurposed again anyway, but it is an interesting project. Time to read.

27/7/24 I repurposed the TBeam unit that was my LoRa APRS rx gate and was basically doing nothing. Meshcom uses the same spot frequency of 439.9125MHz so it needed to go. This has GPS built in and appears to be communicating – it has its location and altitude etc. plus time The node will go back in the oft on a collinear but once there I have no way to communicate with it because for some reason the onboard web server will not work and the Meshcom iPhone app is beta and on Testdrive which I do not want to install on my phone. I may need to run a USB lead down to one of the Pi systems assuming I have serial comms enabled on it. [15:34 rebooting fixed this – I was sure it had rebooted since I set some parameters but rebooting via –reboot cured the missing web server!]

After our trip to Europe and Japan I really want to do FT8 or other digimodes – my preferred mode because of naff hearing etc – rather than just take handhelds. But the weight of the FT818 + tuner + PSU + a laptop is prohibitive. True, the PSU and tuner would go in the checked bag but I feel that the FT818 would really need to come as carry-on. And anyway I do not own a laptop, plus the fact that we tend to travel light so there is very little room for my stuff anyway.

So it got me thinking. At home I use one PC for Linux, one for Windows 10, the Mac mini, and a Pi. Four systems, four screens, and great flexibility as all the audio is interconnected by a mixer. But the Windows PC is now playing up and is too old for Windows 11, not that I want that but I guess it is inevitable as running Windows without security patches is just about the worst thing I can imagine. Well, ok, my imagination runs a lot deeper than that, but you know what I mean.

The QRP Labs QMX+ looks most interesting, small and portable, and with the QRP Labs heritage ought to be a really useful bit of kit. So it got me thinking, is it time I invested in a small Windows laptop, junk the current Windows box and use the laptop connected to the screen for here plus simply unplug it and go portable? I mean, it’s not like I’ve not done that before and it is a pretty standard model. It’s just that, all my life I’ve used old hardware, secondhand or chucked out, cobbled together to make it do what I want. I’ve never had a new system other than the Mac Mini and its MacBook predecessor, the latter not eve being mine anyway. It is, therefore rather uncharted territory, purchasing a new or new-ish laptop which will not see a great deal of use as I really prefer the Mac. Or do I find an older MacBook and cobble that together? I have an older 11″ model with a dead battery – I changed the battery before but the replacement didn’t last. That was going to be sold but I no longer trust eBay as suitable for someone that sells very little.

So, the choice, should I go this route seems to be a new(-ish) Windows laptop that will take Windows 11, or a cobbled together old MacBook which I already have but could potentially sell to offset the cost of the Windows one.

Either way I will investigate the QMX+ first because the weight of my other HF transceivers is the killer.

We just had a short trip to Europe and then Japan and so I took a couple of handheld radios along. For Europe the CEPT licence was fine but for Japan I arranged a short term one via JARL who were very helpful.

So, licences and HTs in hand, or, rather, in carry-on bag, off we went. I had broken the radios down into battery, radio and antenna and put each in a plastic bag to keep everything clean. Big mistake! My bag was searched at the UK airport and in Schiphol. The bags were causing confusion, especially as, at Schiphol they asked how the battery related to whatever the Mouser code was on the old plastic bag I had used. Very quick though, it only added a couple of minutes each time and they were happy.

So I left the radios intact for the onward trip from Schiphol and into Japan. No issues at all at either end or on the return.

So… note to self, leave the radios intact.

I wanted to get a programmer for the ID51. So, off to RT Systems as I have some of their programmers already. Got the Mac version of the package for the ID51 but it does not allow programming via SD card. That caught me out because their package for the FT2D does and I wrongly assumed this would too.

Of course, it needs a cable! Off to eBay… an allegedly suitable cable arrived today but the RT Systems program will not find it. Typical, it needs one of their enfangled cables that are incompatible with the rest of the world. No way that will arrive in time for our trip.

So… Chirp then. Downloaded the Mac version but it, too will not see the eBay cable. I know the Mac sees it so why won’t the software? RT Systems has no option to select a USB port, Chirp does but offers no help as to what it is.

Try Linux? Hmmm…  I’m really not into fiddling with flatpack or any other enfangled package managers – apt is enough, no apt, no use.

Windows then! Got Chirp, and it can find the cable, and Chirp will see it and will download from the ID51. All good then? Nope!

This exercise was to enable me to program up all the foreign repeaters ready for the trip and also to figure out why our local repeater was in the list incorrectly. So let’s take a step backwards now…

I had tried to update the list of repeaters by downloading from Icom. This method works fine by loading the relevant file onto an SD card and telling the radio to load it. RT Systems take note – why does your FT2D software allow this but the ID51 software does not? This should be standard!

But the resultant list was missing the local repeater. I tried to add it but then the radio tells me there are no repeaters at all. I tried downloading the file from repeaterbook which at least knows about the local repeater. No joy. I tried editing the files already on the radio but each time it somehow messed up. After many attempts and permutations I had to give up which is why I though getting an actual programmer would help.

Enter Chirp (on Windows, yuk…). It downloaded from the radio fine but when I looked at the repeater list it seemed broken – all it had was a list of callsigns and no other information. Ugh! But then I remembered that the radio had whinged that there were no repeaters. So, I loaded a known good repeater list file already omitted the SD card, checked the radio would see repeaters when DR is pressed, and downloaded that from the radio into Chirp. The repeater list is just as broken.

Ok… so I exported everything from Chirp as CSV and opened in LibreOffice. But it does not export the repeater list so I am no further towards understanding how the data works. Time to hit the ‘net. Meanwhile, I checked the current repeater list to see if the ‘Near Repeater’ option was working… nope… 20 minutes in and the radio still has not got a GPS location, just like the FT2D!

Fiddling further with Chirp I found someone had kindly created a list of repeaters that does include our local one. I downloaded this and tried to load it into Chirp but it just says the file format is invalid. I copied it to the SD card and tried to import it into the ID51 – data error. Ok, this has gone far enough, this is not rocket science but it seems that it is made so.

Let’s try Icom’s own software, apparently called cs-51plus2. This is called cloning software and, of course is for Windows. After installing the software it read the ID51 ok. I found the repeater list under ‘Digital’ and, indeed, the local repeater is missing. The big question is, can I add it? Ok, I added the  local repeater to the end of the list of repeaters, adding the frequency and offset, plus coordinates. Coordinates are degrees, minutes and seconds but I had digital so had to convert – not a biggie. Wrote the data back to the radio and rebooted. And… the repeater is there! And it keys! Just had to wait for the radio to find the GPS – I reckon it does this by carrier pigeon – but finally the ‘Near Repeater’ function works and also finds the newly-added local repeater. Now to add the foreign ones…

So what is the takeaway from all of this? I wasted money on RT Systems software by assuming it would work the same as the FT2D software i.e. use the SD card. Never mind. I tried Chirp but that just confused the issue. And the manufacturer’s own software, generally looked down on, worked fine! (Apparently the software comes with the radio, I don’t remember it having a CD and there is no sign of it but I downloaded it from Icom just fine). I must remind myself if I ever get another radio to first try the manufacturer’s software as my needs are generally lightweight, otherwise try Chirp, and last get the RT Systems software after making sure (by which I mean email them as it is very muddled reading the literature) whether it needs their special cable – and, personally, if it does then I won’t buy the software. I mean, come on, I pay for the software and I am forced to buy a lead I’ll probably only use once or twice?

I now have a Raspberry Pi set up on one of the four monitors in the shack. The original layout was two screens at the top on Linux, then bottom left on Windows and bottom right – central to where I sit on the Mac as the main screen. But that layout had two major issues…

I use a program called Barrier to basically act as a KVM switch for the three systems with the Mac as server. That way the Mac mouse and keyboard controls any of the systems, although it can be awkward sometimes where Windows expects keys which Apple doesn’t have. But Barrier does not understand dual monitors and so moving the mouse up from the Mac got to the Linux box fine, but moving it down from the left hand screen would not get to Windows as the program does not see it being physically there. I could live with that, except for issue two…

The main issue was with the Linux screens being at the top and thus making me sit back or crank my neck upwards, not a good position.

So…

I got to realising that although I use both screens on the Linux box for radio stuff this tends to be with wsjt-x on the right screen and pskreporter on the left.

The solution, which somehow never occurred to me, was simple. Move all the wiring about so that the Mac is right and central, Linux is to the left at eye level so no neck ache, Windows is top right because I rarely use it anyway, and that left a dead screen top left. Enter a Pi 4B. So now I can arrange the four screens with pskreporter top right, Hamclock top left, wsjt-x bottom left and logging bottom right. QED.

Another new toy, a Quansheng UK-K5(8). Size-wise it’s taller and heavier than the Baofeng UV5R and has a nicer display. The reason I got this, apart from the price is there is firmware available to enable a spectrum display among other things.

I’ve loaded this version: https://github.com/egzumer/uv-k5-firmware-custom/wiki. Loading was simple enough. There have been mentions that one needs to insert the programming cable very firmly but I found that my aftermarket Baofeng USB cable went in quite easily with a click. Once I had remembered you need to turn the radio on in program mode the firmware went in via the Edge browser in just a few seconds.

Other than that I have yet to use it on air and it has not yet been near a spectrum analyser so no idea how good or bad it is RF wise. There’s plenty of information out there already anyway. For me, like the UV5R it’s a handy little radio that won’t hurt too much if lost or damaged, but it is the available firmware that seals the deal.

I may have the chance to visit Japan for a couple of weeks this year. I was hoping to take a couple of handhelds with me and to apply for a license. The information how to acquire a license as a non-resident foreigner seemed straightforward until I got to the requirement that any radios need a ‘technical standard certification number’ without which each one needs to be certified at a cost of around £30. It took some searching but I eventually found a document about this including the mark applied to equipment.

Neither my Yaesu FT2D or Icom ID-51 carries that mark. The Yaesu came with a printed booklet which discusses various conformances, the Icom has a PDF which says very little on that score. Presumably this is because of the market – I remember reading that some radios which can be wide banded cannot be if they are Japanese spec ones.

Both the handhelds are, of course radios which are made in Japan, and say so, but it seems I cannot bring them to Japan without incurring costs to have them certified. Both carry the CE mark. I am not (yet) convinced that I read everything correctly but that is what seems to be the case.

So, a radio-less holiday then! At least with an upcoming trip to Amsterdam I can just bring any radio and use it under the CEPT agreement. I am determined to use one outside the UK at least once!

After having ditched Meshtastic, for now at least, I had a fiddle with two of the LoRa modules with a view to repurposing them. And there they are. The first is a LoRa APRS r/o iGate, listening on 439.9125MHz, and the second is a receiver for radiosondes listening around 400MHz.

Nestled under a 70cm ground plane in the shack is, of course a good way to ensure nothing is ever received unless it is very close! However, it is destined for greater things… although at the end of the day it’s just me fiddling. The LoRa APRS map is at https://lora.ham-radio-op.net/

The radiosonde one stands a better chance of actually receiving something, especially as it is currently connected to the 70cm big wheel antenna in the loft. See https://sondehub.org/

The plan is to connect these two along with the module running TinyGS to a common antenna currently in the loft. They will be connected using a Crosscountry Wireless multicoupler which is due to arrive in a day or so.

Some time ago I wanted a logging program that would do things my way. Although there is absolutely nothing wrong with any of the various offerings they generally try to be everything for everyone and none of them really sat well with me. So I wrote my own in PHP (learning Python is high on my list of things to do, along with Mandarin, Morse, cooking…) which uses the QRZ.com logbook as the backend. Ok then, really I wrote a series of various scripts in PHP that make it all work. The advantage is it does just what I need and nothing more and can easily be modified to add functionality. The downside is I never was a coder (well, ok, I have a certification in COBOL from the 1970’s!) and it is not going anywhere other than my own server. So you can’t have it…

The way I tend to log stuff is via wsjt-x or other software that logs to a local file. I then have a script that takes the ADIF data and populates QRZ.com on a QSO-by-QSO basis. Somehow having to actually do something after each QSO feels like I am actually engaging in the process. But I am not a contester… it would simply not work for any stress situations (but then I could easily make it work if I so desired…)

With QRZ.com being the master a script then populates a local database which does all manner of stuff that I personally need. For example, it holds records of eQSL sent/received, real QSL sent/received, and various tabular data for Worked All Britain (WAB).

Scripts also modify the wsjt-x log file on all my systems such that each has a record of all QSOs. As QRZ.com is globally accessible (not tried from China mind… not that I plan to take any radio gear there anyway) and my main database is on a VPS so is also globally accessible the various scripts work from anywhere.

I do plan to move the database from the VPS to a system at home once we get FTTP broadband and use the VPS as a backup, synchronising between the two. But that will wait.

One plan which is more immediate is LoTW integration because as yet my LoTW logging is via QRZ.com which means an extra step. No biggie, I mean it’s its a few clicks and a password… but it would be nice to integrate it. The same goes for eQSL sends, but as yet I only send on receipt and I have scripts to deal with that anyway.

I’ve been rationalising hardware, in particular as the PoE HAT on the Pi running the GB7RVB packet mailbox was noticeably noisy and needs replacing. I had originally moved the packet mailbox off of my AMPRnet router Pi as I needed to install a VPN and the networking was becoming a bit too complex for my liking. In the end I had no use for the VPN, so GB7RVB has gone back, removing one Pi.

Linbpq went across just fine – there is an apt for it (https://wiki.oarc.uk/packet:linbpq-apt-installation) so installation is easy. Just install and copy the config across and the files under /opt/oarc/bpq (there are neater ways but this sledgehammer method works). With the node running I could access via the web interface as expected, but then the axudp route disappeared.

Then I realised that our broadband router had a NAT rule for the UDP port needed for axudp and that was still pushing it to the now switched off Pi. And I’m sure I’ve forgotten this same thing before! So now I have a note as a reminder, assuming I bother to check the note…

Now having removed one Pi with a noisy fan the NTP server Pi is also whining. Grumble.

It’s out! OFCOM today published the new licence terms stating that licences are changed from today, see https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0029/278345/amateur-radio-general-notice-decision.pdf

I did respond to the consultation. The two things that I was rather unsure of was the new rule that one cannily hold one personal licence – I still have my foundation and intermediate as well as the full – and the business about RSLs.

On the licences I have not used my foundation or intermediate calls since I got the full licence but I maintained domains named after all three and in some cases my login ID for various forums etc is still my foundation callsign. But no biggie, the domains can expire, I will make sure I do not use any old email addresses and it doesn’t actually matter if my login ID is the old callsign in any given forum provided my email address is correct. But to be tidy I’ll work my way through those. It looks like OFCOM will be revoking one’s ‘lesser’ licences during 2024/25.

RSLs always stuck out with me but as I live in England never affected me. I can see the point where people want to use the RSL, I mean if I lived in Scotland, say, I would definitely use MM. But the change is optional rather than RSLs being outlawed somehow. I have never operated outside England (I don’t seem to travel much!) and often wondered how, say I were driving up the A1 do I change callsign on approach to the Scottish border. But it was always academic because I never use radio while driving anyway.

I do like the bits about data stations and such but it will take some time to properly digest the new rules. I did find to my surprise that my 70cm pi-star setup could be heard from a few miles away given it was connected to a dummy load! One half of my setup – it’s a dual HAT – runs a pager for Dapnet and given a bit more power would be rather handy for the local area.

Also nice is the supervised use by unlicensed people whereas before those people needed to be on a recognised training course (I may have remembered that wrong…) – not that I have the need personally but it can only be helpful to the cause.

I actually spotted this little CB handheld via one of M0XFB’s Tiktok videos. CB is not particularly active round here but even so I felt a handheld bit would still make a good addition to my kit.

It will manage the full 4W output and has both the UK FM, and EU FM / AM ranges. https://www.thunderpole.co.uk/thunderpole-t-x-overview.html explains it better than me. It has the ubiquitous rubber duck type antenna but the antenna connector usefully is a BNC. No idea what the range will be with that antenna but it’s certainly a handy little thing.

I recently acquired a 10Ghz / 144MHz transverter which should get me a little closer to the band. I do still have a kit to build but having this means I can eventually test that as well. It needs a 10MHz reference input and I was recommended one from an eBay seller in China. The unit arrived today and having had it sat on a ‘scope and counter for several hours it does seem to produce a solid 10Mhz signal at a nice sine wave (it has TTL output too). Not bad for £12.

All this packet radio progressing around the place reminds me of a time long ago, pre-Internet where dial-up BBSs became the new thing in town. Back then I had a BBC Micro and a modem that ran at two speeds – I forget which now (will edit later!) and I persuaded my mum to get BT in to fit a socket rather than the hard-wired phone we had then. This let me plug the modem in. I used to use a BBS called ‘More Summer Wine’ plus one other but I forgot the name. Much of the activity back then is lost in the mist of time (or rather I just can’t remember) but sending and receiving mail was fun. BBS systems were all a part of the wider FidoNet. Mail would be routed between the various BBS systems, many of which only had the one telephone line and so would be inaccessible while that was happening. Indeed, they were mostly single user anyway, although if the sysop was there you could message them via the console of the BBS which was probably sitting in someone’s bedroom. I am reminded of the many times I would set the BBC and modem up on the hall floor because we only had the one telephone socket. In fact, it would be quite some time between then and when we finally got broadband Internet which for us was not until the later 1990s in our new home.

During that time and working in academia I had routine access to networks and mail and so interest in the BBS systems dwindled. There was a time before the winder Internet became available where we could gain network access to remote systems, all typically mini- or mainframe computers. One such system ran a MUD – Multi-user Dungeons and Dragons – another angle to remote access but this time for gaming rather than BBS. That provided an introduction to online chatrooms because the MUD we used to play on had that feature. One could not only progress through the game but also exchange messages online, the latter becoming the wanted feature vice the game itself.

And here we are. I was never involved in packet radio when it first came to be, but now it has reminded me a lot of those old days of the dial-up BBS.

And FidoNet? It is still there https://www.fidonet.org/

See: https://spectrum.ieee.org/social-medias-dialup-ancestor-the-bulletin-board-system

Made some useful progress on packet radio today. I managed to access a node in Scotland and one near the south coast on 40m, 300 baud. This was using QtSoundModem on the Linux box connected to the FT450D via a Signalink, fed into the random length wire in the loft. Access was via EasyTerm running on the Windows PC at first, but then I managed to compile QtTermTCP so ran that on the Linux box instead. A bit of fun but it proves the possibility of using 40m to interconnect where there is currently no VHF or UHF paths here.

Fingers crossed once I get some wire and metal in the air things will only improve.