The Random Wire newsletter and podcast are going to be a little light this week. In fact, I’m going to skip the podcast. We spent several days visiting with family over the Labor Day weekend and that is when I would usually be writing and preparing for the audio version of the newsletter. No project build information in this issue; hopefully I’ll have some next week.
I listened to a very interesting early morning conversation the other day. The topic was identifying one’s station while using a digital voice mode like C4FM or DMR. One amateur radio operator said he was told “years ago” that he didn’t need to identify because his callsign was embedded in his digital transmission.
That statement really set me back because I had learned that you always had to identify, either by voice or by CW, depending on the mode you were using.
(a) Each amateur station, except a space station or telecommand station, must transmit its assigned call sign on its transmitting channel at the end of each communication, and at least every 10 minutes during a communication, for the purpose of clearly making the source of the transmissions from the station known to those receiving the transmissions. No station may transmit unidentified communications or signals, or transmit as the station call sign, any call sign not authorized to the station.
In part (b), 97.119 goes on to say “The call sign must be transmitted with an emission authorized for the transmitting channel in one of the following ways:”
(1) By a CW emission. When keyed by an automatic device used only for identification, the speed must not exceed 20 words per minute;
(2) By a phone emission in the English language. Use of a phonetic alphabet as an aid for correct station identification is encouraged;
(3) By a RTTY emission using a specified digital code when all or part of the communications are transmitted by a RTTY or data emission;
(4) By an image emission conforming to the applicable transmission standards, either color or monochrome, of § 73.682(a) of the FCC Rules when all or part of the communications are transmitted in the same image emission.
Nowhere in 97.119 does it say that using digital voice means you do not need to identify, and that means you do have to identify “at least every 10 minutes during a communication.”
I think I understand where that operator was coming from. When you see that your callsign is part of the transmission being received by other stations, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to also state your callsign by voice. However, those of us who use digital modes have seen instances where a callsign is mangled, or missing, or shown as “unknown.” This point alone suggests that best practice is to identify by voice.
On top of this, not all stations listening to the digital voice conversation may be on the same system. You may be participating in a C4FM conversation but someone else may be bridged into C4FM from another mode or system. It is unlikely the person coming in from outside can see your callsign. Amateur radio is a public communication medium and we never really know who is listening. Stating your callsign serves to identify to everyone, not just the people you think you are conversing with.
Additionally, here are some points to keep in mind in the "bigger picture" of things. 1. Some of our fellow operators are blind or have vision trouble and are unable to read a screen. 2. Some operators are not next to the radio to read the display. 3. Some are using devices that convey the audio in its digital form, but it does not ID the call sign if that is in the data stream.
It seems like identifying is not only required, it’s also a darn good practice.
That was quick! I am surprised by how quickly the M17 board arrived.
M17 audio board
This is a nice-looking board. This appears to be the rev 0.1d/e board. (The rev 1.0 board has an OHIS connector on it!) The potentiometer is not an on-off type. There is a DB9 connector attached and the power in jack looks to be a standard barrel connector. There is a USB-C port between the DB9 and barrel connectors.
I’m looking forward to seeing what I might be able to do with the M17 board.
In issue 104, I mentioned I was “snakebit with RAK-based Meshtastic devices.” I’ve sent back my third failed device for evaluation. In my Google searches on RAK-based node failures, I have run across several instances that seem to involve power to the node. I’m wondering if power regulation is not working right for these nodes, or maybe some USB chargers are just too hot for them. Hopefully, I learn more in the days and weeks ahead.
Meanwhile, I’m looking forward to receiving the Heltec T114 node. This hardware looks to be more power efficient than the Heltec 3 boards in most of my nodes. My fingers are crossed that the T114 will be a good way to move forward with efficient nodes.
It will be a while, though, before I see the T114. On August 26, I received a notice that my order had shipped…and it must be coming on a ship, because at the top of the notice it says:
The whole mailing process may last about 20~40 days. Please be patient.
You’ll hear some abrupt transients in the time announcement. It’s been that way since I enabled those announcements. The SkywarnPlus audio alerts are clearer. Audio was recorded on my smartphone sitting in front of the Cisco SPA525G phone I use to monitor node 588411.
4.2 A Brief Tale of Not Preparing Well
This is a tale of not preparing well for my three-day Labor Day weekend with family. I decided I would take my tiny SHARI node and a handie talkie along for this trip, figuring I would connect my node to my sister’s wifi network to enjoy some AllStarLink traffic. I failed on two fronts.
First, I forgot that I would have to configure the SHARI node to access my sister’s network. Most of my other devices have already visited her network so logging on is automatic. The SHARI node has not been on her network before. What I failed to bring was the micro USB-to-Ethernet adapter. The SHARI PiZero from Kits4Hams is built around a Raspberry Pi Zero 2W which only has micro USB ports on it. To plug into a wired network, you need an adapter. I didn’t bring it.
Second, I could have (and should have) configured the SHARI node to connect to my travel router. I did not do that, either. A couple of my AllStarLink nodes have already been set up to log into my travel router but it turns out I had not done this for the SHARI PiZero node.
Meanwhile, I’ve ordered a USB transfer cable to see if I can use it to directly network the PiZero with my Windows laptop. (UPDATE: The cable I ordered won’t work as it requires software on both machines and no RaspberryPi version is available.) I’ve not done this before so the jury is out on whether this has a snowball’s chance of working. Lastly, I found the USB-to-Ethernet adapter and put it into the travel bag that is set aside for the PiZero. Had I done that earlier, I would have avoided much frustration.
Another odd behavior was my SHARI node was not announcing its IP address. At least, that seemed strange until I realized that I had not configured the node to connect to my sister’s network, so it was not getting an IP address. When I got back home, it worked perfectly.
I abhor being a single point of failure…but that’s exactly what I am when it comes to the two domain names for my home amateur radio club. I just renewed mc-arc.org and n7sk.org for another year. I need to find someone else in the club to serve as backup for these two domains!
I wonder how other clubs handle their website domain names. Is there only one person who manages the domains? Do they share a login for the domain registrar? My home club can’t be the only one that has some single points of failure, especially when you consider domain names, web hosting accounts, a group email system like Groups.io, financial accounting, repeater maintenance and repair…and the list goes on and on.
This point was driven home rather starkly for me this week when I talked to an amateur operator who is heavily involved in maintaining a radio club’s repeater. He has learned of some potentially significant health issues, bringing the whole single-point-of-failure discussion into brighter focus.
The big tent question is: what can we do to make our club operations more resilient?
I went shopping for an action camera to use while motorcycling and for my Portland-to-Wichita trip at the end of the month. After reading many reviews, I purchased an Akaso Brave 7 package. The reviews were good and the capabilities of the camera met my needs. A key factor was the ability to connect an external microphone, meaning I could clip a lavalier microphone inside my motorcycle helmet and narrate some audio while riding.
Alas, the Brave 7 failed to function properly. I could not get it to reliably connect to my smartphone and the included remote control did not work. When I asked Amazon for return instructions, I was directed to contact the manufacturer. I found the customer support experience surprisingly poor. The maker asked me to perform several steps, over and over. I uninstalled and reinstalled software. I updated firmware. I did these things in all different sequences, as asked.
And then the maker asked me to make a video of the steps I was following “to help improve customer support for other customers.” At this point, I objected. This was a bit over the top. I did make the video but under protest. After sending them the video, they issued an RMA (return merchandise authorization) and I shipped the entire package to them for replacement.
6.2 Insta360 Ace
I’m not confident that the replacement Brave 7 camera will work, or even if it will arrive in time for my trip, so I went a different direction by purchasing an Insta360 Ace (affiliate link). The Insta360 is on sale right now directly from Insta360 but I note that today, the price on Amazon is the same.
Insta360 Ace action camera
Once charged, the camera connected to the Insta360 app on my smartphone easily after I disabled my VPN. Without reading the manual, I took a few photos and transferred them to my phone. I noted that the touchscreen on the Insta360 worked much better than the one on the Akaso Brave 7. On the Brave camera, I had to repeatedly poke the screen with some vigor for my finger presses to register. In contrast, the Insta360 Ace touchscreen worked perfectly. Touchscreen commands seem much more intuitive on the Insta360.
These two photos in original format are 4000 x 3000 pixels. I’ve downsized them to 1440 x 1080 to save space. No editing has been done on these images. I think the quality is acceptable.
The Insta360 Ace is reported to not work as well as the Ace Pro in low-light situations. I’ll have to see how that goes. I’m ordering a windshield mount (wow, only $9.99) today for inside the Honda pickup truck and will test that to see if glass reflections are a problem. If they are, I can put a flexible sticky mount on the roof of the truck. I also ordered a nifty camera mount that clamps onto the top edge of my motorcycle windscreen.
Since I haven’t been able to use the Akaso Brave 7, that device gets a zero score. The Insta360 worked right out of the box (after charging the battery and after installing the app on my smartphone). I was able to complete those steps and use the camera without reading the manual. For now, the Insta360 gets full points. We’ll see if I change my mind after putting it through its paces!
It’s been a crazy busy week, partly because it is shorter due to the Labor Day weekend and partly due to my state association workload increasing. We are deep into planning multiple meetings in October and our statewide annual meeting that occurs right after Thanksgiving. I am very busy in September, October, and November! December sees a lighter schedule which means I can try to catch up on things, then the Legislature convenes in January and I remain busier until April or so.
I’ve got a long road trip coming up at the end of September: Portland, Oregon to Wichita, Kansas. Currently installed in the pickup truck is a Yaesu FTM-300DR transceiver with a Comet SS680SB antenna attached to the roof rack. This is a 1/2-wave antenna for 2 meters and 5/8-wave on 70 centimeters. This combination has worked well for me. I hope to have enough time on the return trip to Visit Santa Fe, NM or Moab, UT again.
Map source: openstreetmap.org
Mounting an antenna on my Honda Ridgeline is a challenge. I don’t want to punch a hole in the roof. A mag-mount antenna would be okay but I know I’ll hit some very windy spots while driving, so a mag-mount is not preferred. I think the most likely would be a modified stake mount of some kind, with the mounting plate slipping underneath the tonneau cover that covers the truck bed…except unlike other light trucks, the Ridgeline doesn’t have stake pockets! I may have to use a carrier bar mount like I do with the Comet antenna.
I see there are several C4FM repeaters between Portland and Wichita, and since I like C4FM, I plan to use the FTM-300DR for this trip. (I’ll certainly need to add the Colorado Digital C4FM repeaters to the FMT-300DR.) I also run APRS while I travel.
My question is: what other radios/bands should I consider taking with me?
Eventually, I do want to move into DMR mobile radio but I have so much piled up on my “to do” list that I don’t think I can give a new DMR radio the attention it needs before the trip.
I like 6 meters but there are not as many 6-meter repeaters as there used to be. I’d consider adding a 6-meter rig for the trip. I do have a Yaesu FT-891 transceiver and would consider taking that to work 6 meters and some HF. I would like to mount an HF antenna on the truck and would prefer that it be adjustable while driving (i.e., an antenna for mobile use, not just portable use).
I’m intrigued by the GRA-750B antenna, even with the “interesting” comments about it on the Amazon listing. I’m not a big fan of putting a screwdriver antenna out in the weather, year-round (it rains a lot in Portland!). The GRA-750B has no moving parts and requires a tuner. The manufacturer rates it for up to 120 watts on SSB and 40 watts on FM. It looks like it would fit on a stake hole antenna mount. You know, it might make an acceptable POTA antenna on a strong mag-mount or a tripod. Hmmm…
For a POTA antenna that I could mount on a tripod or on a hitch adapter on the truck, I’m liking a less-than-full-size delta loop antenna, the EAntenna HF Rotatable Antennas 17826.11B. Similarly, I’ve often wondered if I could build a poor man’s delta loop with a couple of 17-foot telescoping aerials with a wire clipped to the top of each aerial!
For the last several Random Wire Reflections podcasts, I’ve recorded audio using a Behringer C-1 condenser microphone running through a Behringer MIC500USB pre-amplifier. This week, I’m using an Audio-Technica AT2005USB dynamic microphone through the MIC500USB pre-amp. The AT2005USB also has an XLR connector and I’m using an XLR line to move sound from the mic to the pre-amp. The pre-amp has a USB out so that’s how audio gets to Audacity. I save the sound file as a project and edit audio in Audacity.
The AT2005USB has a cardiod pattern that does reject more background sounds than the C-1 condenser mic, at least when the sound is behind the mic. I think the sound with the AT2005USB mic through the pre-amp is just a little bit cleaner than I was getting with the C-1 mic.
I tested the sound and posted the results on the Random Wire:
3. News: A New ASL Audio Interface Under Development by NR9V
David Gleason NR9V is creating a new audio interface board on a single PCB, called the UCI120 USB Communications Interface. This device will be suitable for use as an audio interface for an AllStarLink node. I am really excited about David’s project! His board will greatly reduce the time and frustration in building your own high-quality AllStarLink node. Impressive work by NR9V!
Find his software for AllStarLink nodes at https://allscan.info. When the UCI120 becomes available, I assume that’s where he will also publish product information. In the meantime, David is keeping interested folks informed via his Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/allscan.
About the UCI120, David writes:
The AGC/dynamics section will have a switch supporting 3 attack/release timing settings, a bypass switch enabling external mic-preamps/channel-strips/line ins to be used, a switch to support electret (e.g. headset) mics, and a jumper to bypass the low-cut filter, as well as to the mic gain adjust knob and 0/10/20dB mic boost switch. With these options the UCI120 will support pretty much every type of mic and line input, while also supporting many other applications e.g. recording, podcasting, remote rig control, and use as a standard PC USB audio interface.
Considering that the UCI120 “will also be available as the PCB only without enclosure so it can be used in comms speakers, phone patches, etc.” I’m tempted to delay my Kenwood PC-1A audio interface project! Since I already have my parts on hand, and because I want to extend my learning, I’ll carry on with the PC-1A build. However, when David’s UCI120 comes out, I’ll be one of the first in line to try it!
My project parts box is not at all fancy — it’s a Plano tackle box that I picked up at a thrift store for a couple of bucks! I find it helps to keep the little bits and pieces together as I work on a project over several weeks.
PC-1ASL project box
4.2 Wiring
Below, I describe my thinking on how to connect the components together. I don’t have a good circuit design program so if a drawing shows up here, I probably did it on the back of an envelope in pencil, with lots of erasures! If there is no drawing, well, that means the pieces are still trying to come together in my mind.
This project revolves around the Masters Communications RL-20 audio board:
RL-20 board DB9 pinout from Masters Communications
For the PC1ASL project, here are the pin numbers and connections I think is correct:
not used (it would be for right-channel audio but I am only using the left-channel)
Audio out (left channel) to5KΩ potentiometer center
COS tomicrophone jack PTT pin 2
not used
not used
Audio input from MAX9814 audio amplifier (level controlled by 5KΩ potentiometer)
not used
Ground
not used
4.2.2 Microphone jack
For the microphone jack wiring, I pulled information from the great allscan.info instructions for building your own AllStarLink node.
8-pin microphone jack
Pin number and connection:
Microphone audio through a 5KΩ potentiometer to MAX9814 to RL-20 DB9 pin 6
PTT to RL-20 DB9 pin 3
not used
not used
+5VDC in from the RL-20 MIC +5VDC pad
not used
Microphone ground toRL-20 DB9 pin 8
Ground toRL-20 DB9 pin 8
4.2.3 Audio amplifiers
PAM3806 audio amplifier board
The PAM3806 audio amplifier is used for volume out to a mono earphone/headphone or external speaker.
Audio from RL-20 DB9 pin 2 is fed to the PAM3806 amplifier.
Audio from the PAM3806 (left channel only) goes through a 5K potentiometer to a 1/8” TRS stereo jack on the back of the PC-1A case.
The MAX9814 amplifier is used to condition audio (AGC) and control audio gain (volume in) being fed to the RL-20 board.
Microphone audio comes in through a 5K potentiometer to MAX9814 to RL-20 DB9 pin 6
4.2.4 Capacitors
Am I going to need capacitors? I think I’ll need to use at least one. The Alinco EMS-57 hand microphone can sound harsh when unkeying the mic. A capacitor between MIC pin 5 and MIC pin 8 might soften that hard-sounding attack.
This week I took a closer look at a radio sent to me for review. The XHDATA D-220 radio is a shirt-pocket-friendly lightweight radio for casual listening. Lack of contrast on the tuning dial may make it more difficult for some people to use. This is a separate article on the Random Wire site.
My high school senior class incorporated as a 501c7 nonprofit social club to help maintain knowledge about reunion planning and to protect the people handling funds for the class. We needed a simple way to communicate that hid email addresses but allowed a classmate to reach out to another classmate. We found a good solution in Gaggle Mail.
The free version of this email list service allows up to 1,000 subscribers. Multiple people can serve as administrators and an incognito mode protects email addresses. The interface is relatively modern and attractive.
Simple and Modern Listserv Replacement. Hosted entirely in the cloud, Gaggle Mail allows you to create, set up and run group email discussion lists with ease. Whether you’re a casual group of 10 or a professional organization of 10,000 — Gaggle Mail has you covered.
I did look at Google Groups and Groups.io but both of those services have some drawbacks. Both are a bit confusing to configure and administer. As my classmates continue to get older, simpler approaches are usually better choices. The free version of Groups.io is limited to 100 subscribers; with several hundred classmates, 100 was not sufficient.
Random Wire℠ subscribers know I’m a fan of Steve Stroh’s excellent Zero Retries newsletter. His issue 0166 is chock-a-block full of great stuff. The items I liked the most include:
But there is much, much more to the Zero Retries newsletter. I always find something of interest in Steve’s content. Subscribing is Random Wire Recommended!
ASL has a built-in ability to run a script on the connection or disconnection of one node to another node. Many node owners use this functionality as a notification method to know when someone connects/disconnects to their system. This is done via either email or text message, depending on how the owner has the script set up.
I envision setting this up with Pushover to get real-time messages sent to my Android phone. This sounds ideal for monitoring a remote node I rarely use!
UPDATE: To install ASLNotify, one must install python3 and phyton3-pip. No problem there as these are already present in my Vultr.com instance. However, the install routine failed when I ran pip3 install -r requirements.txt. Apparently, pip3 is running outside of my Vultr.com space and I don’t have administrator control over it. I may reach out to the Vultr support folks to see if there is a workaround.
This device is based on a Raspberry Pi 4 single-board computer running HamVoIP in an Argon Neo aluminum case. If you were looking for an elegant looking setup, this checks that box. One of the great features of this build is the safe shutdown button on the case.
Here’s the description from the eBay listing (I corrected some grammar):
Compact Asterisk "Neo II" UHF portable low power (mW) Asterisk node. Suitable for connection to Hubnet, Echolink and many other systems on the Allstar networks. It's a very good reason to dig out your old UHF FM radio and give it a new lease of life. Using a Pi-4B SBC, it comes mounted in an Argon Neo Aluminium case. This gives a very strong and durable enclosure which is very easy to dismantle and replace if damaged. Also, a front mounted safe shutdown button and a external UHF SMA female antenna connector, TX, RX, 5V power and LAN activity LEDs are all visible externally on the case. The DAC CM119A modified sound-card is hard wired which prevents any future whining due to contact oxidization. You can run it with either a direct hard wired RG45 LAN cable connection, or on the in-built Wi-Fi connection. The node is fully tested and runs with Hamvoip RPI2-3 Hamvoip V1.7.1-04. and can be controlled with transmitted DTMF commands, or with Allmon2, Supermon, Supermon2 and Allscan v0.78 HTML dashboards. Setup also includes for the use of the admin dashboard via SSH direct access. Along with both Node remote and DVSwitch mobile IAX2 android apps. The unit requires a suitable quality PI4 rated 5V 2.5A DC type C USB power supply. or a suitably rated power bank (both not supplied).
The approximately $211 price plus about $36 shipping seems pretty reasonable for such a spiffy looking node.
Not to dwell on an obvious pun, but this sounds like an incredibly risky shot in the dark. I’ll be following the topic of asteroid mining because, well, it is just so bizarre!
The blade is Nitro-V steel and 2.83” long. I’m a big fan of good micarta knife scales; the handle of this knife is an understated, relatively smooth, green canvas micarta. The Sendy has a deep-carry pocket clip and the knife action is silky smooth. Bonus points for the metal tweezers and toothpick hidden in the handle.
I find the Nitro-V blade easy to resharpen with a ceramic sharpener. Says CIVIVI:
Nitro-V is a type of stainless steel that is designed specifically for use in the manufacturing of high-quality knives. It is a relatively new steel, first introduced in 2017, and is rapidly gaining popularity among knife makers and enthusiasts.
A few weeks ago, while shopping in Cabela’s, I got to talking with a Cabela’s associate in the knife section. It turned out that he had just bought a CIVIVI knife, too. We swapped knives for a few minutes and checked out the two different models. He really liked the Sendy and I was glad to get it back from him!
8.5 Wirecutter recommends walkie talkies
If you happen to be in the market for walkie talkies for yourself or for family members (hint: hunting season is coming up), the New York Times recommends two models in their Wirecutter section:
Both models are license-free FRS radios. The Mountain Radio appears to be more water resistant while the X-TALKER has NOAA weather radio built in.
I like the rugged build of the Mountain Radio but I’m not sure I could stomach $220 for a pair of them. I could buy 7 pairs of the Midland radio for that amount of money!
8.6 Wedding Anniversary
This week, my spouse and I celebrated our 47th wedding anniversary. It seems a bit surreal, really. We’ve lived many places and traveled the world together, raised a family, and continue to enjoy our ever-changing life together. What an amazing journey, with more adventures sure to come.
The audio version of Random Wire Review issue 105 is called Random Wire Reflections. You can find it on my podcast page and on most podcast streaming services — just search for Random Wire Reflections.
Featured content in this edition of the Random Wire Reflections podcast focuses on choosing the radio package for a long road trip, information about a new microphone-preamplifier setup for podcasting, a new AllStarLink audio board underdevelopment, and the ASL “restomod” audio interface project.
Topics in Issue 105
1. What Radio(s) for Upcoming Road Trip?
2. Podcast Recording Combination
3. News: A New ASL Audio Interface Under Development by NR9V
D220 Portable Radio AM FM SW Shortwave Radio Receiver Pocket Radio, 2 AA Battery Operated, Transistor Radio
The body of the radio is rounded and comfortable. There are no sharp edges here to poke you or introduce wear to your pocket or bag. (Note: the Sangean shortwave antenna shown below is not included with the radio.)
XHDATA D-220 radio (Sangean antenna not included)
This very lightweight radio is sized to carry in a pocket or purse without weighing you down. It fits in a typical men’s shirt pocket.
D-220 fits in a pocket
Tuning and markings
The tuning dial is, to my eyes, a little hard to see. There is not a lot of contrast between the band labels and frequencies compared to the dark background. Similarly, the tuning indicator is an orange color against an orange background. In the daylight, I can make this out. In the dark when the dial is backlit with the same orange color, the frequency indicator is hard to see.
D-220 band, frequency, and tuning display
While the band selection markings on the side of the radio have good contrast, the selection switch lacks a dark indicator line to help see the selected band at a glance. The headphone jack is clearly marked.
Band selector and headphone jack
Frequency ranges for the bands are displayed on the back of the radio. The radio also has a convenient stand that pops out to prop up the radio at an angle. However, the telescoping antenna is not articulated at the base so for marginal stations, you’ll have to move the radio around to find the best reception.
Frequency ranges are shown on the back of the radio
Batteries
The battery compartment is easy to open. Power is provided by two AA batteries. No ribbon is installed to help with removing the batteries. A piece of foam is affixed to the inside of the battery compartment door to keep batteries in place.
The battery compartment is easily accessed
Audio samples
FM radio sample
I tried the radio with the telescoping antenna extended and with a Sangean portable shortwave antenna I had on hand. FM reception was very good for this type of radio.
Shortwave radio sample
Shortwave tuning is a bit fiddly. Only very slight pressure on the tuning control caused the tuned frequency to change. I found this to be difficult in a crowded part of the band. There is no fine-tuning control so finding just the right spot to pick up the station you want without hearing nearby stations is difficult if the band id crowded.
My home has pretty bad radio frequency interference (RFI) and some of that comes through as static in the recorded shortwave audio.
Conclusions
This radio will be easy for most people to use. I would not hesitate to take it to a baseball game to listen to the radio broadcast of the game. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed as long as you remember this is an inexpensive radio.
For people with eyes that don’t work as well as they used to, the D-220 requires a bit more concentration to see the tuning dial. If your fine motor skills are not great, tuning a shortwave station in a crowded part of the dial may be a challenge. Getting the best signal involves moving the radio since it doesn’t have a movable telescoping aerial.
What appeals about this little radio? It is lightweight, easy to carry in a pocket or purse, and provides good coverage of AM, FM, and SW bands. Sound quality on FM was very good for a pocket radio. It is easy to replace the AA batteries.
If you have a young person wanting to listen to shortwave stations, this might be a great introductory radio. It is simple and might be just the ticket to cause the young listener to want to continue in shortwave listening. As noted above, the D-220 by XHDATA is going with me to the next baseball game!
Audio was recorded directly into Audacity and exported as a .wav file in mono. I then uploaded the .wav file to Auphonic.com for additional processing. Auphonic output the final file in .mp3 format.
Filtering/Processing
In the first test (microphone test 1) no background noise is filtered out. You’ll hear my WIRES-X radio in the background as a conversation on the Kansas City Wide network is taking place. In the second test, the same source file is used but I enabled Noise Reducation as shown in the screenshot below:
Auphonic settings for microphone test 2
The only difference in processing between test 1 and test 2 was enabling the Noise Reduction setting for test 2. The .mp3 files for test 1 and test 2 were uploaded to Soundcloud so that I could post links to the files here.
By the way, I mistakenly state the microphone is an Audio-Technica 2020. Wrong. That was stuck in my mind because I had just been looking at the AT2020 microphones. The mic I used for this test is the AT2005USB, not the AT2020 model.
Audio
Microphone test 1 (no noise reduction)
Nothing special done to this sound clip.
Microphone test 2 (with noise reduction)
Auphonic’s standard noise reduction filter is applied, set to “keep speech and music, remove everything else.”
Microphone test 3 (with noise reduction)
This is the same as microphone test 2 except I left the section in the middle where the unaltered recording has background sounds. In the filtered test 3 audio, you don’t hear any of the background. A new filter to remove breathing sounds was used at the 6 dB level.
This is the same as test 3 except I used a beta filter called Voice AutoEQ. This clip also has “Remove Breathings” enabled at the 6 dB level. I think I like this audio best of the four included in the test. It is slightly richer in tonal quality than the test 3 audio.
Auphonic settings for test #4
Conclusion
I’m liking the Audio-Technica AT2005USB mic in combination with the Behringer MIC500USB pre-amp. The audio sounds really good to me: slightly warm and little to no background noise or hiss. This is a natural sounding combination for my voice.
I think this combo is a keeper for my podcast recordings!
The audio version of issue 104 was published a few days ago and is available on several podcast streaming services as well as right here on The Random Wire at https://www.randomwire.us/podcast.
Support
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It’s time to start thinking about how to wire the bits and pieces together in my conversion of a Kenwood PC-1A phone patch controller to serve as an AllStarLink radio-less node audio interface. What follows is my thinking so far. I do not claim that my understanding is accurate or complete! The process I’m following is educating me on circuit design and wiring basics. Your questions and suggestions will not only be welcome, they will help me learn!
There are four places on the Master Communications RL-20 board for connections. Power will come in via the USB port from the device running AllStarLink 3.3
For the audio amplifier that will power the speaker/earphone jack (audio out), there are a couple of special solder points on the board labeled AUDIO AMP. For sending 5VDC to a DTMF microphone, there are two other special solder points on the board.
RL-20 Pin 2
At one end of the RL-20 board is a DB9 solder pad. Pin 2 is audio out (left channel) so that will feed a 5KΩ potentiometer before the signal goes through a PAM3806 audio amplifier.
RL-20 Pin 3
Pin 3 is connected to the 8-pin mic connector pin 2 and carries the push-to-talk (PTT) COS. (COS means “carrier operated switch” and is synonymous with COR “carrier operated relay.” Says the AllStarLink wiki: “The purpose of the COR signal is to change state when there is a signal being received by the receiver.”)
RL-20 Pin 6
Pin 6 is for audio input. But I’ll want to be able to change the audio input before it reaches the RL-20 board, and for that I’ll run the audio through a 5KΩ potentiometer and MAX9814 audio amplifier before sending the signal on to RL-20 Pin 6. The MAX9814 with onboard automatic gain control will also serve as an audio conditioner.
1.2 Microphone connections
The 8-pin round connector on the Kenwood PC-1A panel works with my Kenwood MC-60A and Alinco EMS-57 microphones. On the 8-pin round connector, pins 1 through 8 are used like this:
Pin 1: microphone to a 5KΩ potentiometer (left pad on the pot) for controlling mic gain.
Pin 2: this is the PTT COS that connects to RL-20 Pin 3. Kevin at Master Communications knew I was going to use the RL-20 for a radio-less node so he reversed LED1 and LED3 so that PTT will activate the red LED in the LED3 position.
Pin 3:
Pin 4:
Pin 5: this sends audio to the MAX9814 U+ pin position.
My AllStarLink (ASL) node 588411 runs in a VirtualBox virtual machine on my home network. Node 588411 is based on ASL 3 in a Debian 12 machine.
(While I work on this, I’m listening to the Puget Sound Repeater Group 9 AM net [node 2462] on my 588417 SHARI machine and a Retevis handie-talkie. Whenever another node connects, 588417 announces it privately to me. I see I need to change the telemetry configuration on 588417 to fix that!)
Updating and upgrading follow the usual two-step “apt dance” as in:
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y
2.1 Find what is upgradable
To find what is upgradable (and I always synchronize my repositories first by issuing the sudo apt update command) you would issue this command in the terminal:
sudo apt list --upgradable
2.2 Find what you just upgraded
But what if you want to see what packages were upgraded after you run sudo apt upgrade? If you haven’t logged out of your session, just tail the log file:
cd /var/log/apt
tail term.log
Want to make a record of it?
tail term.log > upgraded.txt
Want to send that to another machine via Tailscale? For example, sending upgraded.txt from 588411 to my local machine named tombee looks like this:
tailscale file cp upgraded.txt tombee:
(Note that wildcards are supported. I transferred several screenshots in PNG format by issuing “tailscale file cp *.png tombee:” and it worked fine.)
Now what if you want to find what was upgraded and you’ve already logged out of the machine? No problem. Log back in and issue this in the terminal:
The output of the two commands looks a bit different but you’ll be able to glean the pertinent information without trouble. For example, the upgraded.txt file reports this for the upgrade I ran Sunday on my virtual machine node 588411:
Setting up libavdevice59:amd64 (7:5.1.6-0+deb12u1) ...
Setting up asl3-asterisk (2:20.9.1+asl3-3.0.4-1.deb12) ...
Setting up ffmpeg (7:5.1.6-0+deb12u1) ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.26-1) ...
Processing triggers for hicolor-icon-theme (0.17-2) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.36-9+deb12u7) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.11.2-2) ...
Processing triggers for dbus (1.14.10-1~deb12u1) ...
Processing triggers for mailcap (3.70+nmu1) ...
Log ended: 2024-08-18 09:27:52
The history.log file is a bit longer because it captures the actual commands that are sent to the machine. Just scroll to the end of the file to find content that is similar to what we see in the upgraded.txt file.
By the way, you might want to confirm what release of Debian you are running. Here are four different commands that will give you important information about your system:
cat /etc/os-release
lsb_release -a
hostnamectl
uname -r
2.4 Find your Asterisk/ASL version
What version of Asterisk/ASL are you running? The easiest way is through the AllStarLink Main Menu. In the terminal, enter:
asl-menu
In AllStarLink 3.0.4, the third and fourth menu choices are good places to start. Simplest is menu option 4 Show System Version Numbers:
You can also select 3 Enter the Asterisk CLI. Once in the CLI, enter:
core show version
The result looks like this:
You can also select option 5 Diagnostics Menu and then option 3 Show Asterisk Version (“ASL Main Menu —> Diagnostics Menu —> Show Asterisk version”). This method gives you the same information as using the Asterisk CLI:
As I mentioned last week, buying used radio equipment on eBay is a gamble. I received a Ten-Tec Scout 555 HF radio this week and it is in slightly worse condition than I expected…but overall, it isn’t as bad as it could be. Last week, I said the front and rear panels appeared to be “relatively pristine.” For a radio that was manufactured circa 1993 (about 30 years ago) I expected some wear. This radio has some wear!
The front panel looks about as I expected and the back panel is clean enough. The top of the case is a bit filthy but that is easily cleaned. The dirt, though, caused me to crack open the case to see if the interior components were similarly dirty. (The photos above were taken outside in direct sunlight.)
The photo above shows the front panel in indoor light.
The photos above were taken indoors. You can see the wear on the bottom of the case. On the front panel, you can see dirt in crevices and the once-white plastic indicators have yellowed. Dirt is in the threads of the SO-239 adapter, too. This level of grime is not unexpected.
The interior photos show less dirt than I expected. I’ll use compressed air to clear out the small amount of dust that has accumulated inside the case. I also bought a new can of DeoxIT D5 (affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3AB7AME) to “freshen up” a few of the connections.
No time this week to raise the antenna and power up this Scout 555. Soon though!
I renewed my QRZ Premium subscription this week. I’m hoping to get more time on HF in the next 12 months! Hope is not a plan, though, so let me restate this: I plan to get on HF more over the next 12 months.
All paid QRZ subscribers receive“unlimited daily callsign lookups, PLUS enables our Web Contact Log which lets visitors to your page leave simple messages that let you know they were there, and to give their wishes, congratulations, etc.”
I also appreciate having direct access to QRZ’s XML Data Port which is available to “popular logging programs like Ham Radio Deluxe, Amateur Contact Log, Win-EQF, LOGic7, and ProLog2K, just to name a few.”
4.2 Should have been writing
I ran across a trove of great old music CDs at a local Goodwill and brought home a bag of them. Rather than writing on Sunday, I spent part of the day ripping the CDs to my digital music folder.
To do this, I’m using a program called fre:ac which stands for free audio converter. This open source program uses the LAME encoder to convert the music files on the CD to MP3 files on my computer. The interface is a bit dated but after using it once, it feels like an old friend. The best part: it just works.
What Lloyd wrote supports my belief that digital modes have a valuable place in the spectrum of resources that can be applied in emergency situations.
Traditionally, we’ve leaned on RF-based communications first, with other modes occupying second place if they were considered at all. I wonder: is this an artifact of the pre-digital era when RF is what we had? Considering the clarity and speed of digital comms, perhaps digital modes should be the first solution we turn to, with RF serving as the last resort when all else fails.
4.4 Heltec mesh node T114 first look
From the YouTube summary:
So Heltec have updated their popular LoRa 32 ESP32 node to this nice little device called the T114 Mesh Node with a host of improvements including colour TFT screen, low power consumption and plug and play GPS. Join me in this video where we unbox, test and try Meshtastic firmware on this cool new device.
Update: I purchased one (see topic 4.5 below!).
Total with shipping ($4.25 via YANWEN) and handling ($2.80) is $48.75. (NOTE: If you order through the Heltec site, it wants you to set up an account. When you do, your email address will not work as your user name! The error message I received was unhelpful so it took several tries before I figured this out.)
Three RAK-based Meshtastic nodes from two vendors. Three system failures. In other words, every RAK-based device I own has failed within 24 hours of startup.
I have no idea why. I thought maybe my powerful USB charger was cooking the devices, so with the third, I very intentionally used a low power USB charger. That didn’t solve the problem. Nevertheless — and without any real proof — I lean toward poor voltage regulation as the culprit. The most recent vendor has sent a return label for the failed device so they can figure this out.
I am not alone in experiencing failed RAK devices:
I think for now, I’d better steer away from RAK-based devices. Perhaps the new Heltec T114 will provide the lower power consumption I’m looking for while also being more reliable than RAK-based nodes.
4.6 Module 17 developments
I like open source stuff. As noted in previous issues of The Random Wire, I’m kinda sorta following along on Module 17 (M17) developments.
The M17 Project“is developing open source hardware, software, and offers a complete digital radio protocol for data and voice, made by and for amateur radio operators.”
If you’re interested in getting started with M17 on the hardware side, check out the STM32 M17 Modem Board from LILYGO. The cost with a screen is $39.13 US. It is designed to work with radios that support a 9600 baud data transfer rate. I’m just guessing but I’ll bet this would also work with a PC (or Raspberry Pi) running a modern soundcard emulator like Direwolf and maybe UZ7HO.
I like the looks of that M17 modem from LILYGO, so much so that I ordered one ($47.13 with standard shipping). This will be interesting to fiddle with.
The ROCK is definitely a tiny, cute computer! The processor is a quad-core ARM Cortex A53 and the ROCK has a separate GPU. Memory is LPDDR4 and an eMMC is used for storage. It has a microSD slot, two USB-C ports (one is for power), and a USB-A port. Radxa claims it supports the Debian operating system.
From the Liliputing article:
You can buy the Radxa E20C from ARACE or AliExpress. Prices are a little lower at ARACE, but models with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage are only available from AliExpress.
I ordered the 2 Gb RAM, 16 Gb eMMC configuration for $35 plus $12 shipping. Once it arrives, I’m going to try to load Debian and AllStarLink onto this little thing. Fingers crossed for luck.
4.9 ARRL News on your AllStarLink node
Many of us with AllStarLink nodes know that we can hear the ARRL News over our ASL node, but I’m sure some newer ASL users aren’t aware of this.
Allstar nodes may connect to Allstar node 516229 in monitor mode to hear ARRL Audio news. The first node to connect starts the audio news playback. Additional nodes connecting after the first node starts playback may hear only the later part of the audio news. Any node that transmits to 516229 will automatically be disconnected, since muting incoming connections is not provided by Allstar. Connecting in monitor mode will avoid disconnects during playback.
I tested this on Wednesday and it works fine. You can listen to the ARRL News at your convenience by connecting to node 516229 in monitor mode. I’ve saved 516229 as a favorite in my list of nodes.
4.10 Dynamic microphone with pre-amp
I was disappointed when I tried the Audio-Technica AT2005USB microphone* (the asterisk means this is an affiliate link) back in June. It is a dynamic mic that features USB and XLR connections. I just couldn’t get enough sound out of it.
Recently, I’ve been using a Behringer MIC500USB Audiophile Vacuum Tube Preamplifier* with a Behringer condenser microphone. That combination sounds a bit warmer and more natural to me. What if, I wondered, I tried the AT2005USB mic with the Behringer pre-amp? I did that yesterday and was very pleased with the sound.
I still had to boost the input gain on the pre-amp quite a bit but the sound samples I recorded sounded every bit as good as with the Behringer mic, and perhaps a bit cleaner. (By cleaner I mean a bit less background hiss.) I tested by speaking close to the mic with the foam windscreen. Since it’s a dynamic mic with a cardiod pattern, it should have better rejection of some background sounds. I asked my spouse to talk while I was recording some clips and for the most part, the mic rejected everything but my voice.
I think I’ll try this arrangement for the next Random Wire Reflections podcast!
You can contact me in various ways. When I am at my Portland desk, AllStarLink node 588412 is always on. I often have 588411 (the one running on a virtual machine and connected to my Cisco desk phone) going. You can also call my Hamshack Hotline number (6101280) and if I don’t pick up, you can leave a message there.
By the way, thank you to Andrew WA4MTP for leaving me a voice message on Hamshack Hotline! HH sends me an audio file of the message, making it very easy to stay caught up.
I do work full time managing a statewide nonprofit association so I may not be able to respond immediately, but I will get back to you.
Special thanks to a radio friend for inviting me to coffee last Friday. It was incredibly refreshing and fulfilling to just talk radio for two solid hours. I had a great time.
Finally, a big thank you to each and every subscriber for supporting The Random Wire newsletter. 73 to all!
Featured content in this edition of the Random Wire Reflections podcast focuses on AllStarlink and includes the audio interface project being built into a Kenwood PC-1A phone patch controller box and how to determine what you just upgraded in your AllStarLink node.
Following are the topics currently planned for The Random Wire issue 104 publishing early on Friday, August 23, 2024.
Also, please note that links below ending with an asterisk are affiliate links. Purchasing through those links doesn’t cost you more and I get a tiny amount to help offset some of my costs in crafting The Random Wire newsletter and podcast for you. I appreciate your support.
First, let me describe what I mean by the word restomod? Resto refers to restoration, implying older, vintage equipment. Mod is for modification, but also think “modern.” Restomodding is the process of converting an old piece of equipment so that it has modern capabilities, making it function like something new while retaining the outward appearance of the original.
Restomod: Classic cars that combine original exterior styling with modern applied technologies (such as new suspension, wheels, transmission) or modern interior features (multimedia, etc.) for comfortable everyday use.
For this amateur radio project, I am restomodding a Kenwood PC-1A Phone Patch Controller case to function as a modern AllStarLink radio-less audio interface.
1.2 Parts
There are some new parts added to the list previously described in Random Wire Review issue 102. Listed below are the parts and supplies for this build...so far! (If there is an asterisk beside a link, that means it is an affiliate link.)
So far, I’ve removed the following items from the PC-1A case: the original board from the PC-1A, a front panel switch, a real panel plate, and the power cord. Still left mounted are: the 8-pin microphone connector, a VU meter, two potentiometers on the front panel, a sliding switch on the back panel, and another potentiometer on the back panel.
Amplifiers
I did find a few of these items in my parts bins. The LOSC-brand PAM8406 board is one I picked up a few years ago. And it turns out I have a baggy full of XL6009 buck boosters.
Quarter for scale, buck booster (middle), PAM8406 board (right)
The PAM8406 board can be configured as a Class D amplifier or a Class AB amp. The defaults on the board are (a) Class D amp, (b) shutdown disable, and (c) mute disable. All those are fine so I won’t have to change the defaults. The marks that look like fingerprints on the bottom of the board? That’s how it came from the overseas vendor!
As I started to fiddle with how the PAM8406 board would fit, I discovered that the board is so long that it interferes with the second potentiometer hole in the front of the case. Instead of using the board I already have, I ordered a couple of these small units: NOYITO PAM8406 Digital Amplifier Board 5W 5W Dual Channel Stereo Audio Module*
These smaller PAM8406 amps arrived yesterday. Here are two photos:
Size comparison: LOSC PAM8406 VS. NOYITO PAM8406
Closeup of NOYITO PAM8406
I have to confess that the LOSC-brand board looks stouter than the tiny NOYITO board. Maybe it’s the two electrolytic capacitors on the LOSC board that give this impression. Looking at the lack of those caps on the NOYITO board makes me think I might need to consider electrolytic capacitors with the NOYITO board.
Potentiometers
This should give me room to use two 5KΩ potentiometers on the front panel. A fallback would be to put one of the potentiometers on the back panel and use that location for adjusting microphone gain, but that is less convenient than having it on the front panel.
5K ohm potentiometers
I think it makes the most sense to put the potentiometer for the PAM8406 amp in the RX GAIN position. This would control volume to the external speaker. The TX GAIN position would have the other potentiometer to allow microphone gain to be boosted through the MAX9814 board.
At this point, I removed the original pots from the PC-1A front panel to make it easier to see the positions I’m describing: RX for external speaker volume and TX for microphone gain.
PC-1A front panel
The original potentiometer knobs fit the modern pots well enough so I’ll try to use them to help maintain the illusion of an original device. The new 5K pots fit well in these two holes.
Capacitors
I’m out of electrolytic capacitors. I could use one on the 8-pin microphone connector and another on the feed to the VU meter. Capacitors should help smooth out the operation of these devices. I ordered an assortment so I won’t run dry:
Capacitor assortment
I haven’t yet sketched out how to put all the pieces together but I’ve been making audio notes while I drive. Talking about it helps me think through how the components will work together.
2. Tools
2.1 Two inexpensive multimeters purchased
I think my halfway decent multimeter is in storage somewhere so I did the unthinkable — I drove to my local Harbor Freight and bought a new multimeter. Why would I do such a thing? Convenience, pure and simple.
The Ames Dm1000 looks durable and comes with a case. For my general use (household and vehicles) it is probably more meter than I need. For amateur radio work, it should be sufficient for most tasks, even if measurements prove to be a bit off.
Could I have done better? Certainly. Was there a convenient place to just pop in and buy a reasonable multimeter? Not really. Harbor Freight met my requirements today.
I’m sure I’ll hear some comments about trusting anything from Harbor Freight. I’ve certainly had that opinion in the past. Today, though, as I examine this device, I feel like the overall quality is a bit better than in years past, at least with some thoughtful examination of the products by the shopper.
Unlike the Ames multimeter, the Kaiweets device does not come with a case.
Kaiweets box contents
2.2 Comparing the two multimeters
Let’s take a look at the physical characteristics of the two devices: the more expensive Ames DM1000 ($70) and the cheaper Kaiweets HT118A ($40). I’m not equipped to opine on the accuracy, precision, or reliability of the units.
The Kaiweets unit takes two AA batteries, accessible through a panel on the back of the device. A single screw secures the door to the battery compartment. The Ames device is similar except it takes a single 9-volt battery.
Side by side: Kaiweets and Ames multimeters
The form factor and size are similar for the Kaiweets HT118A and the Ames DM1000 devices. However, the Ames device weighs more than (half again as much?) as the Kaiweets. Frankly, the Ames meter feels solid and the Kaiweets feels cheaper, as in lighter in weight and more “plasticky.”
The wire leads for the probes are not the kind that seem to adhere to each other. Leads that stick together drive me nuts. The insulation on the Ames probe leads feels a little more rubbery and substantial than with the Kaiweets device. Both sets of leads are adequate. Both devices also come with a temperature measuring probe.
The main dial control functions fine on both units, but the dial on the Ames device is simpler and less crowded. To my eyes, the dial on the Ames meter is easier to read.
Displays on
The displays are quite readable for both devices.
Displays backlit, multimeters propped up on integrated stands
Here the devices have backlighting turned on and both are propped up using the integrated leg stand that pops out from the back of the device.
Both devices claim to be true RMS devices. Both boast max voltages of 1000V CAT III and 600V CAT IV. Both have a max 600mA fuse. Both claim to have 6000 count accuracy.
Interestingly, both devices have a non-contact voltage detection (NCV) feature. The two devices differ in how they display NCV detections. The Kaiweets device is simpler: turn the dial to the “NCV Live” position and hold the sensor at the top of the device near the suspected circuit. In the gallery below, you see that the light switch in the OFF position generated a different response (green indicator on the meter and L on the display) than when the light switch was ON (red indicator and H on the display).
For the Ames device, the NCV procedure was a bit less clear: turn the dial to any position and hold down the NCV button. The meter did not differentiate between the light switch in the OFF position and when it was in the ON position. In both instances, the meter displayed a red indicator light.
The Kaiweets device seems a bit more intuitive in actual use because the dial includes the NCV setting and because it has a small nubbin on the top of the meter to indicate where the sensor is. I think the difference between the green light and the red light on the HT118A NCV detector is this: the green light is indicating a circuit is present and the red light indicates electricity is flowing through the circuit. This is an interpretation on my part as this is not described well in the small manual. (Someone please correct me on this.) For homeowners checking residential circuits, the Kaiweets HT118A meter seems a bit easier to use.
Of the two, the more expensive Ames meter feels heavier and more solid, the main dial is less “clicky,” and the probe leads are slightly more substantial. Still, for a toolbox meter for the household or vehicle, the Kaiweets may represent good value. Just be sure to put it into a case of some kind to protect it and to keep the parts together!
I’ll give the overall nod to the Ames DM1000 multimeter. It feels more substantial overall, the dial feels and sounds not too “clicky,” the leads are more substantial, and it comes with a case. The Ames unit feels like it might survive a drop or two, compared to the Kaiweets device. (No drop tests were performed to examine this conclusion!) I feel like I can trust the Ames DM1000 meter more than the Kaiweets meter.
I didn’t expect to have three XHDATA radios. I thought I’d just try one (the D-808) but then XHDATA offered the D-608WB and the D-200 for me to review. The D-808 satisfies my desire for airband coverage.
D-808 beside D-608WB
Overall, I’m liking the D-808 and D-608WB radios. While the D-808 is not quite the same as a Tecsun-brand radio, it is comparable and perfectly fine for listening to the bands I want. (My Tecsun radio lives in the camp trailer where we depend on it for information when cell coverage is poor.) The D-808 was well reviewed on SWLing.com.
The D-608WB radio is actually a fine unit. This type of household emergency radio is intended to be kept on hand for weather alerts and receiving information over commercial radio frequencies. As such, the radio needs an alternate means of charging, a flashlight, and reasonable performance on AM and FM bands. NOAA weather alert is a must and shortwave reception is a plus.
The D-608WB checks all these boxes and more. Charge it over a USB-C connection, or with a hand crank on the back, or with the solar panel on top. It uses a standard 18650-size battery so it’s easy to keep a spare on hand. It has the obligatory flashlight but also has a variable output LED light underneath the solar panel, good for area lighting in a tent or for late night reading. By the way, the solar panel tilts to help you capture the most energy from the sun.
You can pick up a D-608WB from Amazon* for not a whole lot of money. This unit feels solid, performs well, and has all the features I want in an emergency radio. I like this little unit more than any other emergency radio I’ve tried. It’s a keeper.
I’m listening to it while I write this. I have a microSD card with dozens of my favorite albums inserted into the radio and it is playing in the background for my wife and me. Unlike many small radios, it has a bass port on the back of the radio body that makes it more pleasant to listen to.
I’m still reviewing the D-220 so more on that to come.
4. Random Observations
4.1 Hams talk about their equipment
We hams are a funny bunch. When friends call each other on the phone, they don’t lapse into descriptions of their gear: “I’m calling on a Samsung model SM-G781U via my home wifi, using a headset that’s a bit of a homebrew.” People just don’t do that, but we hams do exactly this when we talk to each other on the radio. That, and report on our local weather and compare health issues.
4.2 Cell phones, automatic gain control, and audio quality
I also note that cell phone manufacturers have done a tremendous job with what I’ll call automatic gain control (AGC). AGC automatically adjusts the strength of an input. On the smartphones I’ve used, one can talk close to a microphone or several inches from it, and on the receiving end, it can be hard to tell if the talker is close to the microphone or not. Not so with our amateur radio gear! Distance from a microphone makes a huge difference in audio quality. I routinely hear stations with audio that is distorted because the person speaking their lips up to the microphone and is speaking loudly.
Checking our own audio using a Parrot ought to be part of our regular radio practice, even if only once a year. I tried a parrot on WIRES-X at 41619 but got no response. I’m looking for other WIRES-X parrots. Suggestions are welcome!
Will the 0.0.0.0 Day bug affect AllStarLink nodes? This thought surfaced as I was reading a security article titled 0.0.0.0 Day: Exploiting Localhost APIs From the Browser. In the configuration of AllStarLink nodes, sometimes we use 0.0.0.0 as the IP address in a configuration file. For example, my manager.conf file has this set in the [general] setting:
bindaddr = 0.0.0.0
Binding the IP to 0.0.0.0 provides no additional security beyond the username and password for the node. I’m not particularly worried about this on my home node because (a) I’m operating inside my local network and (b) I use a VPN to reach the node from outside the network. Setting the bind address to 0.0.0.0 is a convenience for me.
Is there risk in doing this? I suppose there is but I deem it an acceptable risk for my use case.
5.2 Multilayered attacks
Recently, an entity I work with was affected by bad actors. In popular parlance, they got hacked and lost a chunk of money.
The attack vector started out as you might expect — someone clicked a link they should not have clicked — but it escalated from there to a much more sophisticated operation. I’m still gathering information on this but wanted to get this warning out to my subscribers: be careful what you click! Bad actors are becoming more surgical in their approach and more convincing in their interactions.
If you have not yet enabled multi-factor authentication (MFA) now is the time. I resisted doing this for quite a long time because having to enter something more than my username and password seemed like too much bother. Considering the potential for harm, though, it really isn’t too much bother. If nothing else, you should have MFA enabled for your email and banking/investing services.
I now use random passwords, MFA, and USB security keys to help protect my assets.
6. Miscellaneous
6.1 Inline switch (DC)
The Behringer mic (C-1 medium diaphragm condenser microphone*) and pre-amp (MIC500USB audiophile vacuum tube preamplifier*) combo I bought from a seller on Amazon came with a power supply that did not work. (That might be why I got it for such a great price!) Fortunately, I already had a suitable power supply for one of my Dell Wyse 3040 thin client units that worked perfectly with the Behringer package.
However, to power up the pre-amp you plug the 2.1mm plug into the receptacle on the back of the pre-amp. Alternatively, you can keep that plugged in and plug in (and remove) the wall wart from the 120V socket. Neither method is convenient and both introduce wear on these components.
Instead of manually plugging and unplugging things, I bought a package of inexpensive inline switches. I gambled that the 5.5mm x 2.1mm plugs on the switch would work with the Behringer unit, and it works great.
5.5mm x 2.1mm inline switch
This lets me keep the Behringer pre-amp plugged in at all times. When I need to use it, I power it up. When I don’t need it, I power it off. I don’t know if this introduces noise into the audio circuit but so far, it’s been fine. The podcast for this issue was recorded with the Behringer mic and pre-amp package using this little switch. This is my kind of solution: simple and effective!
Here’s another plus: this switch (there were four in the package) fits some of my Dell Wyse 3040 thin client devices, too.
6.2 Replacement WisMesh Pocket received
On Tuesday, I received a replacement WisMesh Pocket device from Rokland Tech. I reported on the original unit in issue 100.The one point in common with the two RAK-based Meshtastic devices that have failed is my USB-C charger. For the new WisMesh Pocket device, I’m charging on a very low-powered charger. We’ll see if that makes a difference.
Kudos to Rokland Tech for their help. The replacement device worked right out of the box. It shows up on the MeshMap.
TomS node on MeshMap SE of Portland
6.3 New-to-me Ten-Tec Scout 555 on the way
Buying something off eBay is always a bit of a crap shoot. I rolled the dice and purchased a well-used Ten-Tec Scout 555 transceiver. (I do like a simple radio!) In the photos, the case looks a bit rugged in spots but the front panel, display, knobs, and rear panel look reasonably pristine. I have another old Scout 555 (reported in issue 96) that may not be working quite right so what is in a side-by-side comparison. If there is actually a distinct difference between the transceivers, I might do a bit of mix-and-matching to make one good working machine.
In this issue of the Random Wire Review, I’m linking the podcast for this content right here. By doing this, I can still offer the podcast version of the newsletter without sending a separate email each week to your inbox.
The podcast was recorded through a Behringer C-1 condenser microphone and a Behringer MIC500USB pre-amp, straight into Audacity. I adjusted the decibel levels in Audacity to avoid clipping and the audio was exported as a mono .WAV file. That file was then uploaded to Auphonic where the audio was leveled and some constant background static was removed. The file as processed by Auphonic is what you hear in the final production.
While I’m not thrilled that the Behringer C-1/MIC500USB package has a bit of fuzz to it, I think my voice sounds warmer than with any of my other microphones. Since Auphonic removed that very slight background noise, I’m pleased with how the final audio file sounds.
I found the 6 Wire quick connector I wanted on a site called The Custom Saber Shop. That sounds a bit odd until you realize the sabers are light sabers with lots of electronics in them (jump to their sabers here if you’re into this kind of thing).
In general, I’m following the thinking demonstrated by David Gleason NR9V in his wiring diagrams at https://allscan.info/docs/radioless-node.php#wiring-diagram. However, since I’m using the Master Communications RL-20 board, I’ll also be digging into the guidance available for that board:
In the back of my mind is the possibility of putting a Raspberry Pi Zero into the PC-1A case…someday. There will be plenty of room for it, but I don’t really like the idea of the RPi inside the same case as the audio interface. Keeping them separate for now is how I plan to proceed, at least for this phase of the project.
1.3 Plan
RL-20 board
I’ve removed the PC-1A board from the case and the rear panel with screw connections. You can see below that the RL-20 board fits with room to spare in the PC-1A case. I’ve temporarily secured the board with one screw and have short standoffs underneath it to “air gap” it from the metal case.
A USB cable will connect the RL-20 board to the AllStarLink node (either the Dell Wyse 3040 thin client or the Beelink mini PC).
I have no plan for the open rectangle on the back of the case. I could leave it open for cooling or put the screw connector plate back in to fill that space. Or I could pass the USB cable through that nice, big opening.
On the front of the case, I’d like to find a small piece of frosted plexiglass to place there. I think that would allow light from the LEDs to show without being terribly distracting.
Quick disconnect
Then I’ll figure out the wiring for the 8-pin round mic connector on the front panel and where those wires are supposed to go on the RL-20 board. However, I’m going to wire the 8-pin round connector to one-half of the 6-pin quick disconnect. The other half of the quick disconnect will get connected to the RL-20 board and the potentiometer I use for volume control.
You can see the 6-wire disconnect in a build by W07T.
6-wire disconnect
Audio amp for volume
To provide volume control, I’ll use a PAM8406 amp mounted to the front panel next to the meter, and wired to a rear speaker jack on the PC-1A. This device is intended to control audio volume out to an external speaker via a 3.5mm plug. It’s a little confusing to try to visualize this because there is a 3.5mm plug on the PAM8406 board, but that is for audio in, not audio out. The audio out comes off the block of four screw connectors.
I’m picturing the PAM8406 going between the 8-pin microphone jack and the RL-20 board. Can I wire it such that the two channels are combined into a single output channel? I don’t think so. I think the simple approach is to only use one channel. The earphone jack on the board is for audio input. The screw block on the left is for left and right channel stereo output.
In the WO7T build, it looks like audio out is only from the left channel. (The smaller screw block on the right is for power to the board.) He wrote:
The PAM8406 amp is a stereo amp, but only makes use of the left channel input and output since all Allstar audio is mono. The input to this amp, coming from the Pin2 of RL-20 is plugged in via a 3.5mm stereo plug, and wired to the tip of such plug. As always ground is the shield of the plug.
I’m not sure how to “lock in” the PAM8406 where it mounts through the front panel. Perhaps some Locktite where it goes through the panel would secure it well enough to keep it stable. I can also mount a few standoffs in the corners of the board to help keep it positioned against the base of the case. I have a feeling that standoffs and hot glue are going to be my friends in this build!
I would love to know how to wire in the front needle display to show volume in some way. If not, I’ll just leave it there because I like how it looks.
I have no clear idea of what to put in the second rheostat space. Perhaps that’s a good location for some frosted plexi as it will be closer to the actual LEDs on the RL-20 board. I should be able to see the TX and RX LEDs through that small window.
Boost for different microphones
If I can figure out what David NR9V did to allow different microphones to function well in his AllStarLink audio adapter device, I’ll use a MAX9814 and a switch to provide this functionality. However, for now, I may skip this and consider wiring it in at a later time. My Kenwood MC-60 desk mic won’t need the MAX9814.
Your ideas are welcome! I don’t do this kind of thing very often so I could use some help thinking this through.
Buck booster
I have no real need for the XL6009 buck booster module but wanted to have a couple in my parts bin. I can see the possibility of using a 12-volt wall wart to power the audio interface. In that scenario, I’d use the buck booster to convert 12VDC to 5VDC. This isn’t in my plan — it’s just a remotely possible scenario.
I like my older Synology DS-220+ network-attached storage (NAS) device. Synology now makes a more friendly device called the BeeStation. I’ve mentioned this 4-terabyte device before.
The BeeStation’s best feature is how it makes good backup habits automatic. Within a couple of weeks of setting it up, I had both my and my spouse’s Drive and Dropbox accounts synced and regularly backed up; my older music, movie, and miscellaneous files stashed away; and our photos regularly backed up from our phones. All this was then backed up to Synology’s cloud servers every week (for an add-on cost), and everything was accessible remotely and on the local network.
If you dive into that article and read the comments (203 at the time I wrote this) you’ll find a lot of folks who think of themselves as more knowledgeable and sophisticated than the audience the BeeStation is aimed at: home users.
“If you're not ready for full-on NAS gear, consider this clever little drive.”
Take the pontificating and sense of superiority that comes through in the article with a grain of salt. The best backup can be the one you don’t have to think about. The BeeStation can provide that peace of mind and ease of use.
…adding a Telemetry module to your existing Heltec V3 Lora ESP32 Meshtastic Node is a straightforward process that enhances the functionality of your device. The chosen hardware components, including the BME280 Module and header pins, provide a reliable and readily available solution.
2.3 Desk microphone for the Yaesu FTM-300DR
I wonder if any subscribers have thoughts on whether the Yaesu M-70 Desktop Microphone would work as a desk mic for the Yaesu FTM-300DR. That radio is not one that Yaesu shows as compatible with the M-70 microphone, but it appears the microphone uses the same modular plug. There might be a power issue (as in: power to the microphone) with the FTM-300DR.
I’ve been excitedly waiting for my new WisMesh Pocket device from Rokland Tech. It arrived a few days ago and setup was quick and easy. However, I seem to be snakebit when it comes to these RAK-based devices as this is the second one (from a different vendor!) that worked for part of a day and then went dark.
I can access it via a serial connection (USB-C) but I can’t configure it. The bootloader is up to date. I updated the firmware but that did not resolve the problem. The upshot of this is: Rokland Tech is sending me a replacement.
Meanwhile, let’s look at photos of the device. The unit looks good and feels solid. Inside, the interior layout is pretty clean. I think the ten photos below will give you an accurate impression of this Meshtastic device.
Basic directions are on the package
I appreciated the very basic instructions on the outside of the package. My other device (from a different vendor) came with no instructions at all, and also had an incorrect part installed. (I’m still working on fixing that device.)
Front of the device is simple and clean
Note the shaped corners to prevent nuts from turning
Inside the unit
Power switch (top left), GPS antenna, main antenna, Bluetooth antenna
Information sticker on top by SMA antenna connector
I’m on the reunion planning committee for the 50th anniversary of our high school graduation. I also run the class website and publish the class newsletter. Along the way we decided to incorporate the reunion group so we’d be more likely to retain experienced reunion planners. We formed a 501(c)(7) nonprofit social club and incorporated in Washington State. All this adds up to: Tom has been busy.
Last weekend is when the work of the past year came to fruition with reunion events on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Friday was a tour of the high school, a golf tournament, and a no-host social in our old home town. Saturday was the reunion event where I got pressed into service taking photos. I collected more than 800 digital pictures and logged more than 6,600 steps. Sunday was a potluck picnic at a classmate’s country home.
As I write this section, it is Tuesday evening and I’m still tired!
While I’m sure the title of this featured content will raise some eyebrows in the amateur radio community, it’s an important topic and it does affect many aspects of our amateur radio hobby. This came to mind as I thought about the short report in issue 100 about a group of hams that spoke of amateur radio as having no place in emergency communications. As I was thinking of that, I was also reading that Oregon is the top priority in the the country (a dubious distinction, at best) for wildfires.
Let’s take a look the intersection of changing weather patterns and amateur radio.
1.1 Let’s not call it climate change
It is very unfortunate that the term “climate change” has become a trigger word for many people, causing them to immediately deny that any changes are happening. The reality is: weather patterns are changing. This conclusion is based on evidence gathered from long-term observations of weather. The planet is getting warmer. We are seeing the timing of precipitation events change, and the amount of precipitation received in some regions has also changed. More climate-related energy is driving bigger storms.
If you’re a farmer or a forester or a wildland firefighter, you probably already recognize that the weather you’re seeing in recent years isn’t like the weather your parents or grandparents experienced. NASA claims the “rate of change is extremely unusual” when compared to paleoclimate data. NASA says “the rate of change since the mid-20th century is unprecedented over millennia.”
As a geologist, I know climate changes. The geologic record is full of examples of huge shifts in climate. It has happened before. While we like to think of the planet as a big inert ball, a geologist sees it as a huge dynamic system that has one constant: it is always in a state of change.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to find evidence on the internet without that information being linked to a conclusion that recent changes are due to human factors. Sadly, when one mixes evidence and conclusions, sometimes those conclusions become misleading or downright antagonizing. The evidence says weather patterns are changing. That should be enough to capture our attention.
It seems like hubris to think that a single species on the planet can prevent changes in weather. At the end of the day, I care more about identifying what we might do to perpetuate the human race and less about who or what is responsible for changes in weather patterns. Our primary job is to figure out how to adapt and survive. If we also find ways to slow or stop changes, well, that amounts to icing on the cake.
Call it climate change if you wish. I will continue to think of this phenomenon as changing weather patterns because calling it climate change interferes with having rational, reasonable conversations.
1.2 Changing weather is causing more damage
This topic becomes more interesting when it involves what we do for a living or for enjoyment. The intersection with amateur radio is this: our amateur radio hobby is affected by weather in several ways, some large and some small. If weather is getting worse, it will affect us at some point.
Big storms affect telecommunications
Last year, CBC News (Canada) reported that the post-tropical storm named Fiona “affected electrical grids and telecommunication networks, leaving some people unable to call for help.”
Are such storms related to climate change? According to NASA, tropical storms have been getting stronger over the past 40 years. That strengthening is attributed to climate change:
“The warmer the water, the stronger and the more energy this system is going to have and it’s going to just increase in intensity. So are hurricanes getting stronger? The answer to that will be yes. We are seeming more and more tropical cyclones become category three, four and five. So in reality yes, we’re seeing that change every season in the last several years.”
The two important points in this are:
Tropical storms are getting bigger and lasting longer.
Big storms affect telecommunications.
When telecommunications networks go down, who you gonna call? Amateur radio operators, that’s who.
Wildfires can disrupt critical infrastructure sectors such as transportation, communications, power and gas services, and water supply. They also lead to a deterioration of the air quality, and loss of property, crops, resources, animals and people.
“Climate change, including increased heat, extended drought, and a thirsty atmosphere, has been a key driver in increasing the risk and extent of wildfires in the western United States during the last two decades. Wildfires require the alignment of a number of factors, including temperature, humidity, and the lack of moisture in fuels, such as tress, shrubs, grasses, and forest debris. All these factors have strong direct or indirect ties to climate variability and climate change.”
In the realm of emergency management, effective communication is paramount. When traditional communication infrastructures fail due to natural disasters, technological malfunctions, or other unforeseen events, amateur radio operators, often known as “hams,” play a crucial role in maintaining lines of communication.
“With wildfires burning sooner, and hotter and more unpredictably, with floods sometime impacting our communications infrastructure as well, it’s so important to be prepared for anything.”
“When an emergency occurs and conventional communication channels fail, ham can take immediate action and use ham radio to assist in emergency communication work.”
The method by which HF radio signals are broadcasted means that they can be susceptible to breaks in contact, including excessive rainfall. Raindrops essentially absorb the radio waves being transmitted, impacting clarity. Furthermore, stormy conditions such as thunder and lightning creates radio noise and static that makes messages difficult to interpret.
More rain or heavier rainfall? Moisture can find its way into connections in your antenna and feed line. This kind of situation can affect high frequency signals but probably has more impact on VHF and UHF frequencies. (If you’re a ham that plays in even higher frequencies, you already know how critical your antenna system is!)
Sometimes you can hear thunderstorms on HF from the other side of the country. Rainfall can increase background noise and static. Water droplets can scatter and absorb radio waves, particularly above HF, VHF, and UHF frequencies. In my experience on HF bands, this can make it very hard to convey information quickly and accurately. Some will want to argue this point and I concede that rain, in and of itself, is not likely to be significant at HF, VHF, and UHF frequencies.
More directly, we all know to disconnect our gear when lightning threatens. One lightning strike nearby can destroy thousands of dollars worth of equipment. The ARRL recognizes this risk and publishes links to numerous articles about lighting protection.
1.5 Is amateur radio still useful in the face of changing weather?
This is not intended to be an exhaustive dissertation on changing weather and how it may affect amateur radio. It should suffice to say that if weather patterns result in more extreme weather events, it will affect how radio waves travel. That means it will affect what we do in our amateur radio hobby. Whether we wish to admit it or not, weather does intersect with our radio capabilities and enjoyment.
Does amateur radio have a place in a world experiencing changing weather patterns? Absolutely. It’s reasonable to conclude that despite the existence of modern, high-speed networks on land, in the atmosphere, and even in space, there will always be a need for a reliable backstop consisting of functioning amateur radio stations and skilled and willing amateur radio operators.
1.6 New technologies offer hope for amateur radio
I would like to end this featured content on a fairly positive note. In an article on Eos.org titled Ham Radio Forms a Planet-Sized Space Weather Sensor Network, the authors make a case for the utility of new technologies in amateur radio:
Ham radio is currently experiencing a technical renaissance, thanks to the advent of inexpensive single-board computing platforms (a complete computer built onto a single circuit board, such as a Raspberry Pi) and open-source software. Such computer-based systems serve as virtual radio repeaters, connecting computers via the Internet to actual ham radios in the real world to enable remote control and data collection. Beyond the old-fashioned pursuit of voice communication, the lure of maker movement projects and the removal of the Morse code requirement from the amateur licensing exam have led to a greater number of licensed amateurs than ever before. Out of this increasing technical sophistication, digital communications networks, such as the Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS), the Weak Signal Propagation Reporter (WSPR), and the Reverse Beacon Network (RBN), enjoy wide membership and serve the amateur community while collecting propagation data at rates and resolutions that were previously impossible.
As I wrote this piece, I wondered if my frequent defense of radio-less protocols and systems still made sense. I think it does, but like all things, such methods work best in combination with other systems. In other words, digital data and voice probably don’t have legs without radio-based communications. Given the explosion of digital modes and hardware, the reverse corollary is probably true, i.e., radio-based communications are likely to continue to see digital technologies employed alongside, or as supplements to, traditional radio.
You might say that digital and analog systems have become symbiotic in the sense that the success of one depends on the success of the other. Such is the nature of growth and change.
The bits and pieces I need to build an audio interface for an AllStarLink node are coming together:
I have a Kenwood Phone Patch Controller PC-1A box.
Two modified CM108 USB fobs have arrived from a U.K. vendor. However, I’m not particularly fond of how the modifications look so I’m going to try an alternative (see next).
A kind-of-custom RL-20 audio board from Master Communications is on the way. I asked the vendor if I could purchase a board without the DB9 attached and he said sure, no problem. The RL-20 is also coming with the red and yellow LEDs reversed for a radio-less node.
I have a spare Kenwood MC-60 desk microphone I can use. I also have a genuine Alinco DTMF hand microphone I’ve tested on my node 588412.
In my “shack stock” I have numerous small audio amplifier boards, capacitors, switches, and more. I may look for a rocker switch that will fit the ON/OFF switch location on the Phone Patch Controller front panel.
2.2 CM108 vs. RL-20
The modified CM108 doesn’t look quite like the design I was hoping for, so I purchased an RL-20 audio board from Master Communications. The vendor left the DB9 off the board, giving me a nice solder pad for the microphone wires.
CM108 vs. RL-20 board
There is plenty of room inside the PC-1A case for the RL-20 board, audio amp, and wiring.
I don’t think I’ve shared my daily radio habits. Essentially, I try to touch something “radio” every day. For me, this is an important practice because my life is busy and sometimes it can be easy to set aside, or even forget about, my amateur radio hobby. I don’t want to lose momentum or stop learning something new every day!
3.1 Regular nets
Regular radio nets include:
I regularly listen to the 9 am net on AllStarLink (ASL) node 2462. This is a regular morning net hosted by the Puget Sound Repeater Group. This reaches me via my node 588412 with great audio through an old Heathkit speaker, or my SHARI node 588417 and a Yaesu FT-3D handie talkie. Sometimes (like this morning) I listen in via my node 588411 with audio coming through the speakerphone speaker in my Cisco SPA525G. That audio is pleasantly clear.
When I’m getting my morning coffee, I like to listen in on the W7RAT repeater in Portland. This is an IRLP repeater that regularly hosts the Worldwide Friendship Net. This signal comes to me via analog FM.
Also on my coffee runs, I listen in to the America’s Kansas City Wide network that is repeated by the WA7BND repeater in Portland. That signal is digital C4FM, very clear. At home, I often listen in via WIRES-X through my FTM-300DR Portable Digital Node.
I love to check in with friends on the W7NEE repeater in Shelton, Washington. This Yaesu System Fusion repeater is owned and operated by a ham radio friend, Jeff W7NEE, in coordination with the very active Colorado Digital group. The W7NEE repeater is the default in my home-built hotspot that I use only for Yaesu System Fusion, and Jeff also provides an ASL node that is great to listen to.
As I pause and reflect on what I just wrote, I’m realizing how truly lucky I am to have so many great technologies available to me. Most of this equipment is affordable and the audio quality over digital can be excellent.
3.2 Technology democratizes amateur radio
Just as important to me is how this technology democratizes(as in: the action of making something accessible to everyone) ham radio. If we think back to the time before digital radio, one often needed a fairly complicated, large setup for worldwide high-frequency (HF) communications. Today, through digital data and voice modes, worldwide communications cost a fraction of an HF-plus-antenna station.
We might always have some disagreement about whether digital modes represent “real” radio or not. Offsetting this concern is this reality: digital modes make accessing the world relatively easy and affordable. While some of us may want to put up a tall mast and a big antenna to work other stations over HF, some of us aren’t able to do that for various reasons.
Digital radio levels the field for many amateurs. That’s important to me.
I had meetings most of the week and yet still managed to dig into a variety of topics and bring them forward in issue 101 of the Random Wire Review. I peruse hundreds of news sources each week and capture interesting items using an app called Pocket.
(Originally, this was a free browser extension called Read It Later which I used extensively. Later, that morphed into the Pocket app I use today. The free version is perfectly adequate for most users. I capture so many links, though, that I pay for the premium service.)
There are alternatives to Pocket available. For example, I use Raindrop.io to capture bookmarks to share with the conservation district community I serve. You can see that list at https://raindrop.io/tsalzer/wacd-reading-list-15979489. Raindrop works well. Each bookmarked item has one or more “tags” and when you click on a tag, you get all of the bookmarks that are identically tagged.
Truth be told, thought, I was mighty surprised to find relatively few good resources for hams who need assistance to enjoy amateur radio. Maybe I was using the wrong terms in my searches for this information. I invite you to send me links to such information.
For example, one can enable voice prompts on the Yaesu FTM-300DR by installing a Yaesu FVS-2 plug-in module. (The FVS-2 module is a voice guide unit for FTM-100/200/350/400 series radios.) I’ve not done this so please take this observation with a grain of salt.
One person who regularly serves as net control on a Kansas City Wide net is a blind ham who uses the FTM-300DR very effectively. For those of us who are not sight challenged, it may be hard to imagine the many barriers a blind ham faces. Antenna connected? Power on? Reading the SWR? Tuning? How about operating memories in a radio? How to diagnose a problem in the local station setup?
If you are curious about radios that work well for blind hams, check out these resources:
By the way, this kind of assistive technology is not limited to amateur radios. For example, Sangean makes an AM/FM table radio with voice prompts. If you or a family member need this kind of assistance, an amateur radio or an AM/FM table radio with voice prompts would be a gift that demonstrates your understanding and caring.
Recently, I received two radios from XHDATA. The D-608WB is a portable AM, FM, shortwave, and weather band receiver that can be charged with a hand crank or via the solar panel built into the top of the device. The D-220 is an AM, FM, and shortwave pocket radio that is not listed on the XHDATA website at the time of this review.
XHDATA D-608WB receiver
I received these radios at no cost to me with the expectation I would review them. I’m not very familiar with XHDATA so this will be an interesting exploration of these products.
My first impression of the D-608WB is positive. For a plastic weather band radio, the D-608WB feels pretty solid. This radio uses an 18650 lithium ion battery for power and it can be recharged in the radio with a USB-C charger. There is also a hand crank on the back and a solar panel on top. Lifting the solar panel reveals an LED area light. Angling the solar panel may also help you maximize the rate of solar charging.
I’ve been listening to the radio for two days while it ran in the background on battery power. I’ve split that time between listening to local FM radio and listening to some of my favorite albums on a microSD card. I doubt I’ll get the full review done by the time this issue (issue 101) is published but I’ve started that work and look forward to finishing it.
Also received from XHDATA is their new D-220 radio AM, FM, and shortwave receiver. This is a pocket-sized radio that evokes memories of pocket transistor radios in the 1970s. The speaker looks bigger on the D-220 than on the D-608WB, but the 608WB speaker has a bass port on the back of the radio housing. Unlike the 608WB, the 220 uses AA batteries. I’ve spent less time with it while I work with the D-608WB unit.
5.2 Unhappy about SIM cards
The FreedomLINK LTE radios I bought late in May have not had much use. Several weeks ago, I was notified that some of their SIM cards had been compromised. I was urged by the vendor to stop using the two devices. They sent out new SIM cards but those cards never arrived. Several days ago, I contacted the vendor again to inquire about new SIM cards. A replacement shipment is on its way and I may have more to report by the time issue 101 publishes.
The SIM cards arrived with no instructions on how to replace them. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem. But the space available to manipulate the SIM cards is very limited. I managed to break one of plastic ears on a SIM card slot. The vendor did send me a UPS label so they could repair the unit. Fingers crossed that they are able to do so.
5.3 Microphones: unhappy and excited
Shure microphone
The small Shure microphone (Shure MV5 Digital Condenser Microphone) I purchased has been a bit of a disappointment. Yes, it looks like a Shure microphone, and for that I am grateful. However, for $100 I expected a microphone that was more metal than plastic. I’m not certain I like the sound, either. More testing is needed. I may just need to move closer to the microphone.
The C-1 mic is about $50 and the MIC500USB preamp is about $124. Following up on glowing reviews, I checked eBay on a whim and found a Behringer C-1 mic and the MIC500USB device as an open box item for $80. I purchased that package and I’m really looking forward to using the mic and preamp. This purchase is scheduled to arrive after issue 101 publishes.
There is also a C-1U microphone that is, apparently, a dynamic mic with a USB interface. I have little knowledge about this option other than I haven’t had great results in recording the Random Wire Reflections podcast with dynamic microphones.
5.4 M17 Project
Being a long-time supporter of open source software, I find I’m very curious about the M17 Project. M17 bills itself as “Open Source Amateur Radio.”
I love the idea of open source radio. We ought to have more projects like this. An open source car or bicycle or computer would be great to see. I guess I really lean toward open source hardware in general.
I haven’t carved out much time for M17. Instead, I’ve been following Steve Stroh’s coverage of M17 in his great Zero Retries newsletter. Steve finds some of the most interesting amateur radio content for his newsletter and I always look forward to going through it from top to bottom. Zero Retries is Random Wire Recommended!
I’ve been enjoying watching the Blue Angels practice via my ADS-B tracking system. The plans are flying without squawking identification, but given the geographic location, boundaries, speeds, and published practice schedules, it’s obvious these are the Angels.
Blue Angels practicing over Seattle on August 1, 2024
As I schedule issue 100 (a milestone!) of the Random Wire Review for release on Friday, July 26, 2024, I note another milestone: my subscribers just shot past 1,000 people.
I am humbled that so many people are interested enough to subscribe. I am thankful and grateful to you for sharing this journey with me. I also admit I feel a bit of pressure to continue to improve my content and style. However, it’s a pretty good feeling!
Thank you for subscribing and for letting me know when something is, or is not, interesting.
Sincerely yours,
Tom KJ7T
Special note on audio captures of QSOs
I’ve been capturing audio of QSOs over AllStarLink (using both ASL and SHARI nodes), DMR, Yaesu System Fusion, WIRES-X, Echolink, and analog RF. I’ve been planning on sharing examples of audio quality over these various systems. However, it has come to my attention that this may not be legal in every part of the United States. Because of this, I am suspending this activity until I can ascertain whether capturing and sharing such conversations is legal.
This is a confusing, unclear topic. For example, the FCC says:
The FCC and the Communications Act do not forbid certain types of interception and disclosure of radio communications, including…Divulgence of transmissions by amateur radio or citizen band radio operators.
This section shall not apply to the receiving, divulging, publishing, or utilizing the contents of any radio communication which is transmitted by any station for the use of the general public, which relates to ships, aircraft, vehicles, or persons in distress, or which is transmitted by an amateur radio station operator or by a citizens band radio operator.
Seems abundantly clear at the federal level. It becomes murky, though, at the state level because each state treats the interception of wireless communications differently. Essentially, a state can’t have regulations that are less protective than federal law, but it can have regulations that are more protective.
In defense of recording and sharing audio clips of amateur radio conversations, I would say that (a) we have no expectation of privacy when we are engaged in amateur radio communications, and (b) because there is no actual or implied sense of privacy in such communications, all amateur radio operators consent to being overheard.
There is a kicker, though, and that has to do with obtaining personal gain from recording and divulging such conversations. Since no subscription is charged for Random Wire products or services, I feel comfortable saying no personal gain accrues from this activity.
Clear? Not to me. So I’ll hold off on this activity until it becomes clear to me that it is legal to capture and share amateur radio transmissions.
I’m wondering: why not a mini PC instead of a Raspberry Pi 5? I note that a Beelink mini PC on Amazon specs out better than a Canakit RPi 5 kit at close to the same price. (In fact, I purchased the mini PC for a dollar less than the RPi kit by clipping a coupon on Amazon! I already have a different Beelink product and it has been a solid performer.)
The Intel Processor N100 is a mobile processor with 4 cores…It is part of the Intel Processor lineup, using the Alder Lake-N architecture with BGA 1264. Processor N100 has 6 MB of L3 cache and operates at 100 MHz by default, but can boost up to 3.4 GHz, depending on the workload.
The Raspberry Pi 5 features a Broadcom BCM2712 SoC with four ARM Cortex-A76 CPU cores clocked at 2.4GHz. This lets it run circles around the Pi 4, which uses older ARM Cortex-A72 cores that are considerably slower than Cortex-A76 cores even when both are operating at the same clock speed.
If you’d like to dive a bit deeper into comparing the N100 against the Raspberry Pi 5, check out Raspberry Pi 5 squares off against a scrawny Intel CPU. Also, Explaining Computers has a YouTube where he evaluates the performance of both platforms to demonstrate how they compare:
I think the five reasons to go with the RPi 5 are:
You need access to what the GPIO pins offer. You don’t have that kind of flexibility with the mini PC.
You want to use an MMDVM hat (see What You Need to Know About MMDVM Hotspots for more about MMDVM) for a radio interface. If you want an RF-based node that uses an MMDVM hat, the mini PC is not the right choice.
You need the lowest power consumption. The RPi 5 (or an old Dell Wyse 3040 thin client) is going to consume less juice than the mini PC.
When a single-purpose machine meets your needs. (This statement is probably more accurate for the RPi models that came before the RPi 5. The RPi 5 is certainly a more capable processor than previous models.)
It may be less expensive than a mini PC.
If you don’t need those things — or rather, if you need a wider range of capabilities — it’s hard to argue against the mini PC.
The RPi’s power consumption, as measured by CNXSOFT, is 8.8 watts max. It consumes 1.7 watts with the power switched off. Idle for the RPi 5 was 3 watts in headless mode with wifi and 3.6 watts with monitor, keyboard and mouse, Ethernet, and wifi.
For comparison, here is what Dell says about the Dell Wyse 3040 thin client that runs my desktop node 588412:
“Extremely compact and energy efficient, the Wyse 3040 runs on less than 4 watts and offers many years of efficient, secure and high-performance service.”
I don’t know how long the Dell Wyse 3040 will last. It is already long in the tooth. Nevertheless, it has been a stable, long-lasting platform that is well-suited for running a radio-less AllStarLink node.
Context: an AllStarLink node
Here’s my example. To build an AllStarLink node, I could go with a Raspberry Pi 5 and ASL3. That would get me the new control console. Or I could buy the Beelink mini PC for a few dollars less than the Canakit and get twice as much RAM, an M.2 slot on the motherboard, and 500 Gb of SSD storage. Replace the supplied Windows 11 Pro operating system with Debian 12 and you would have a machine that would likely run circles around the Pi.
Even better, you could virtualize an AllStarLink node on the Beelink, thus giving you a W11Pro machine that can be used for other things. Having a backup computer that also runs ASL3 could be very handy indeed.
My proof of concept for this is my node 588411 which has been running 24x7 for several weeks in a virtual machine on my home server. That node runs as a hub, i.e., it has no radio. I use my SIP phone to connect to/through it. The audio is clean. (I have the node automatically announcing the time at the top and bottom of the hour.)
Here is an example of AllStarLink audio as heard through my Cisco SPA525G SIP phone. What you hear in the recording is audio coming through the speakerphone. Recording was done with a Zoom H4n Po handy recorder held about 12 inches from the Cisco phone. Dave KK7LMD was filling in as temporary net control for the Alaska Morning Net and you can hear how wonderfully clear his audio is. A little later, a mobile station using RF radio checked in. I did process the audio to normalize the audio levels but I did not apply any noise reduction.
This section was edited to remove the audio clip. See the note at the beginning of this issue for the explanation of why.
Where this idea falls apart is if you want an MMDVM hat so that you can use a handheld radio to connect to the node. I do wonder if a CM108 fob in the Beelink would function with a virtualized node, though. In fact, I wonder if the HotSpotRadio - USB would work with a virtualized node, or perhaps one of the ANR kits by David NR9V.
I’m sure the ANR devices would work with the Beelink if the operating system on the Beelink was replaced with Debian 12. After all, my desktop node 588412 runs on a Dell Wyse 3040 thin client running Debian 10. Seems like I could test this pretty easily.
Similarly, I do have a HotSpotRadio - USB device that I could use for testing.
What did I do? I bought the Beelink mini PC running Windows 11, then I installed VirtualBox on it. To run VirtualBox I also had to install Python and some dependencies on the mini PC. I exported a copy of my 588411 node virtual machine and imported it into VirtualBox on the mini PC.
Did it work?
So did it work? Did running node 588411 in a virtual machine on the mini PC actually work. Yes, it did. When I ran the node on the mini PC, it worked fine after I changed the network settings to match the network hardware on the mini PC. Allmon3 works on the mini, as does Allscan.
An advantage to the mini PC when moving from place to place is it is easier to configure networking in the mini PC. My model of Dell Wyse 3040 does not have the wireless networking board that came in some versions of this platform. In contrast, wifi is built into the mini PC.
A variation of this theme would be to simply put a copy of the virtual machine on my laptop. This is where virtualization becomes a powerful tool because it means I don’t have to buy more hardware to operate more machines. It also means that my node is already set up and ready to go with me. I’m looking forward to trying this, particularly with the HotSpotRadio-USB device!
Installed to the laptop
In fact, what the heck. I went ahead and installed VirtualBox on the laptop. This mean that I also ran into the “missing Python dependencies” issue but that was easily solved by following these video instructions:
After that, I installed the pywin32 package from the command terminal:
Recently, I caught part of net of folks in Texas, with fewer participants from other parts of the country. Most of the fellows were ex-military. The part that made me sit up and take notice is when they were describing amateur radio operators as useless in an emergency. In their deployments, they had never worked with ham radio people, and from that, they concluded that there really wasn’t a place for hams in emergency response situations.
Huh.
That is so different from my experience. In Washington and Oregon — the two states where I’ve done most of my radio operating — amateur radio is often a key part of emergency response plans. Many clubs drill for such situations. Many counties have close links to groups of amateurs in case those skills are needed.
I suppose this may simply reflect how local authorities view amateur radio. Maybe they don’t know, or have forgotten, some of the lessons from Katrina:
One complaint I heard on the net was about the kind of radio operator who had an overblown sense of his or her own importance. They spoke of “people in yellow vests” showing up at the scene of accidents or emergencies and then trying to direct others. I have seen that before. I get it. However, those folks seem to be the exception, not the rule. I don’t think “people in yellow vests” adequately describes the approximately 750,000 licensed amateurs in the United States.
One thing they said had some real meat to it, though. In an emergency, one of them said, “call the POTA guys!” Parks On The Air operators have portable stations that are ready to deploy. Those operators are used to taking their station to another location, setting up, and getting on the air quickly. This is one of the things about POTA we rarely talk about. We know we perform in a stressful situation to the level we’ve practiced. POTA operators do this all the time.
If you’ve been on the fence about POTA, you might consider how it helps you keep your station and your skills sharp and ready to go if needed in an emergency. And it’s a fun way to practice your radio skills.
A useful adjunct for AllStarLink would be a speech-to-text service for Asterisk. There is at least one project published for this, but it is designed for slightly older versions of Asterisk, not the very recent version included in ASL3.
This package contains an example Node.js program that uses the Asterisk External Application Protocol (AEAP) to facilitate external speech to text translation in Asterisk 18.12.0+ and 19.4.0+.
Since I’m not finding an appropriate package for Asterisk 20, I tried using Otter.ai on my smartphone to convert speech to text. The results aren’t entirely useless but they are sometimes rather amusing.
I’ve wondered how hard it would be to send up a small, battery powered repeater, or perhaps a Meshtastic node, on a weather balloon. It can be done. It has been done.
This came to mind as I read about amateurs using drones to take antennas aloft. That seemed like an expensive and chancy approach to temporarily getting and antenna “up there.”
And I know this is not an original idea. Just search Google for “antenna attached to balloon” and you’ll find a ton of resources!
Years ago we used a Kenwood dual-band ham HT in cross-band mode, wrapped in towel, rubber-banded to a Navistar 40 RC plane, flew up to 400' and flew figure-8's for 45 minutes. Worked great until we ran out of gas.
Seems like this kind of thing would make for a great collaborative project between an amateur radio club and a high school class. You would not need a license like you do with a drone (at least a drone with sufficient payload capacity to lift a radio). It should be relatively safe if you tether the balloon.
Another use case could be working an event or an emergency where you need line-of-sight communications but local topography gets in the way. Lofting an antenna for several hours isn’t practical with a drone but could be accomplished with a tethered balloon. I’ve worked a few bicycle races and comms were always a bit sketchy. I imagine radio communications would have worked much better if I had been able to get an antenna 100 feet up in the air!
Also, check out Steely-eyed Balloon Men at https://www.ve7nfr.com/pico-balloons.html. Their most recent article covers a high-altitude launch with APRS, a crossband repeater, and camera on July 7, 2024.
New outdoor Meshtastic node
I purchased a weatherproof Mestastic node called…well, wait a minute, hold the phone. The new node ran for a few hours and then died. I’ll hold off on talking about this until I can get this resolved with the vendor.
New Meshtastic node from Rokland Tech
Meanwhile, I did it again: I ordered up another Meshtastic node. I’m excited about this one as it checks a bunch of boxes for me.
RAK device? Check.
GPS? Check.
Pocketable? Check.
Bigger battery? Check.
It is a RAKwireless WisMesh Pocket All-in-one Meshtastic Handheld 915 Mhz Radio with LoRa Antenna & GPS pre-ordered from Rokland Tech. The shorter name is the WisMesh Pocket node.
This device should consume less power than most of my Meshtastic nodes and it has a larger battery than some. It’s compact. It has an acceleration sensor (accelerometer) so you can set the display to go off after a few seconds and it will come back on as soon as you move the device. Since displays consume a lot of power, that feature alone will save some juice. It has an external physical switch to turn the unit on and off.
It’s not here yet. When it arrives, I’ll be sure to take some photos for you.
Amazon Sidewalk network
File this one under: did you know that LoRa radio is also used by Amazon?
Amazon Sidewalk is a shared network that helps devices like Amazon Echo devices, Ring Security Cams, outdoor lights, motion sensors, and Tile trackers work better at home and beyond the front door. When enabled, Sidewalk can unlock unique benefits for your device, support other Sidewalk devices in your community, and even locate pets or lost items.
The Sidewalk network is designed as a long-range shared community network. It works over three existing wireless radio technologies — Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) for short distances, LoRa for long range, and frequency shift keying using 900MHz.
That’s pretty interesting, especially in an Internet-of-Things context as this means trackers of people, pets, and things. Where might this go? Who knows, but maybe only Amazon has enough widely distributed hardware to make something like this work.
Personally, I’m intrigued by the potential for an intersection of Meshtastic and Sidewalk via LoRa radio. I haven’t heard of that happening but I’ll be watching for it.
SkywarnPlus on virtual node 588411
I followed the steps at https://github.com/Mason10198/SkywarnPlus to install and configure SkywarnPlus on my ASL3 node running in a virtual machine (node 588411). It didn’t work for me. It should have, based on the documentation:
SkywarnPlus works with all major distributions, including AllstarLink, HAMVOIP, myGMRS, GMRS Live, and more.
Testing generated no audio and I saw nothing reaching the Asterisk CLI. We also received a heat warning today that my Amazon Echo devices relayed to me, but node 588411 did not announce it.
I did not find instructions on uninstalling SkywarnPlus so I’ve reverted my settings. Specifically, I rolled back all of my rpt.conf settings, removed the crontab entry, renamed the config.yaml file, and rebooted. The node is operating fine, just as it was before I tried to get SkywarnPlus working.
I’d like to try this again at some point when I have more time to figure out why I couldn’t get it to work. I missed something along the way, I’m sure.
These are great starting points if you’re curious about the scientific and experimental sides of amateur radio.
Heard neighbors on the Alaska Morning Net
I was listening in during the Alaska Morning Net on AllStarLink node 29332 on July 19th and heard several people from around the region, some near, some far. Dave KK7HLD served well as fill-in net control, keeping the conversation going. He is a near neighbor, just a few miles north of me in Portland, Oregon.
6. Other (Not Radio)
Remember the rotary engine?
This note is for those of us who are fascinated by mechanical things. This article reminded me of the old Rotax rotary engine but this particular evolution of the rotary idea seems like it might actually work well. It marries a single piston to a planetary gear. Very interesting in a mechanical sense: This Super Small, Rotary Combustion Engine Could Power Your Next Motorcycle
Solid state batteries are here
Solid state batteries is a very interesting topic. What is a solid state battery? Says Wikipedia:
Compared to lithium ion batteries, solid state batteries are expected to be lighter, safer, and last longer. This is good news if you do POTA or SOTA. It’s also good news if you use a laptop computer, carry a smartphone, or use an e-bike, as less weight and more safety will benefit a wide range of consumers.
The safety aspect is particularly meaningful when you consider how a thermal runaway condition in a lithium ion battery can have devastating outcomes. Lithium-ion battery fires are a growing public safety concern. Lithium ion batteries are everywhere.
I know what you’re probably thinking: “Oh great, another way for manufacturers and vendors to dig into my wallet again!” That is undoubtedly true. In this case, though, I think the benefits will be worth it.
I’ve had a few incidents with lithium ion batteries in smartphones. In one, the swelling battery broke the phone back. In another, the battery started to overheat; in that instance, I was able to pry off the back and remove the battery to an airtight, fireproof container. Either of those situations could have turned ugly very quickly.
Recent changes to Audacity are described in the change log. I have to say I continue to be amazed at this free sound editing tool. As my skill in using it grows, I’m usually able to produce good quality audio files. I think the limitation in Audacity is me, not the software! What a great tool is Audacity.
Between the time I captured this note and published issue 100, Audacity released version 3.6.1 (see the change log).
I use PowerToys and 7-Zip. I’m going to add Lightshot to my technology stack.
The Yellowstone supervolcano
Here is a very interesting article about the Yellowstone supervolcano…at least it was interesting to me, with my geology background! I think most of us don’t realize how tremendously huge the Yellowstone system is.
If this kind of information is interesting to you, you might enjoy this video by Nick Zentner of Central Washington University. Nick has a very different and engaging style. (Yes, I know this isn’t radio, but it is about disasters, and maybe that broadly intersects with amateur radio.) If you watch the YouTube, the Yellowstone segment doesn’t start until 17 minutes 25 seconds into the video.
The Yellowstone hotspot has special meaning for me because I worked in a gold deposit north of Elko, Nevada, that was probably formed as the North American plate slowly moved over the Yellowstone hotpot. At the time I worked in that region, we had no idea that the Yellowstone hotspot might be related to the gold we were discovering and mining. In a geologic sense, this is breaking news. It’s exciting.
Imagine my surprise when, just a few days after recording the podcast preview of Issue 100, a geyser exploded at Yellowstone. Technically, this is a hydrothermal explosion: “hydro” for water and “thermal” for heat. (One mine I worked at in northeast Washington had an ancient hydrothermal eruption layer that was later buried by the Klondike Mountain Formation. We mined up the fossilized hydrothermal vents and into the eruption layer.)
Color me surprised to be receiving promotions from entities purporting to help push my podcast to millions of people. Sorry, but no. That is not my plan. I’m going to enjoy this journey. I’m not going to try to push people into experiencing something they don’t want. So to all those promoters: you won’t be getting a reply from me!
That’s a bit of a surprise, considering how many aircraft were in the air at the same time over and near Portland! I think my childhood fascination with fighters is never going to abate!
I received some feedback on the audio clip I have been using in the Random Wire Reflections podcast to separate topics. The audio bothered a few people so starting with the Reflections podcast that previews issue 100, I’ll use Morse Code clips. I’m echoing this by using Morse Code as my content separators in issue 100.
I also have a new Shure microphone coming that I’ll try for podcast recording. Even if it doesn’t work as well as I’d like, it is sure pretty to look at. If it works well, I’ll put a link to it on the Support page.
Shure MV5 Digital Condenser Microphone
I had a piece prepared for issue 100 on sources of RF in the home, but as the content for issue 100 grew and grew, I’m saving the RF article for a future Random Wire Review.
More closing of the closing notes…
The two CM108 USB fobs I ordered arrived from the UK. These are already soldered and ready for building a ANR-type device. One of these will (I hope) go into the Kenwood PC-1A Phone Patch box I mentioned in Issue 99. I think I’ve got all the other parts I need so I’m open to suggestions…before I start building! I would have purchased already prepared CM108 fobs from David NR9V but he notes on his website the following: “NOTE: I am temporarily not providing assembly services, but can still ship kits. Please check back in September for updates.“ I look forward to David’s return this fall!
Kenwood PC-1A with board removed, showing the CM108 fob
After looking at the modified CM108 fobs, I have changed my plan. Instead, I’m going to use a Master Communications RL-20 adapter. I think that will give me a cleaner build with a well-proven device. I contacted Master Communications a few days ago and asked for the RL-20 without the DB9 adapter installed and that’s what will be coming in a few days. This will be fun.
I have a new-to-me mic and digital interface coming. I started looking at the Behringer MIC500USB Tube Microphone Preamp and then noticed this was also available as part of a bundle with a Behringer microphone. I wasn’t feeling very committed at the $159 price but then saw the bundle on eBay for $79. At that price, it’s worth taking a chance on it. It can output to USB so that means I can use it to record podcasts on the computer. I have a dynamic mic with an XLR interface, so along with the Behringer C-1 condenser mic in the bundle, I’ll have some options to play with for recording podcasts.
I have a very busy week and weekend coming up due to a long-awaited, heavily planned high school class reunion. I’m on the reunion committee and we are down to the wire before delivering events on August 2, 3, and 4. That might mean Random Wire Review #101 is a little lighter than normal!
TL;DR — I tried to deploy a new server instance on Vultr of a VirtualBox virtual machine running an AllStarLink node. Although Vultr documentation says it can be done, I did not succeed. Why do this? Because ASL 3 opens the door to having pre-made AllStarLink appliances that could be installed easily and consistently! Working on this project was going to be the focus of this issue, but instead I’m reporting that I believe it can be done but I haven’t been able to do it…yet!
A few issues back, I experimented with copying a virtual machine running an AllStarLink node to another computer. The emulator I used is VirtualBox and the only trouble I had after importing the .ova file to a different Windows machine was properly configuring networking. Other than that, it worked fine.
Node 588411 running in a virtual machine
What is VirtualBox? Says VirtualBox.org:
VirtualBox is a powerful x86 and AMD64/Intel64 virtualization product for enterprise as well as home use. Not only is VirtualBox an extremely feature rich, high performance product for enterprise customers, it is also the only professional solution that is freely available as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 3. See "About VirtualBox" for an introduction.
Now that ASL3 supports running on a virtual machine, the thought occurred to me: where are the pre-built nodes as virtual machines that can be downloaded? Imagine being able to simply choose the kind of node you want, download the appropriate image file, and import it into your emulator of choice. Honestly, that seems like a killer way to get some more nodes on the AllStarLink system.
I think it would be a great thing to take a node that is known to be working well and move a copy to a different system. Change a few key pieces of data and boom, you have an almost instant node.
I’m sure this idea may unsettle some hams who believe we should all build our stuff from scratch, as well as those who decry computer-based things as not being part of amateur radio. I confess that I find it really hard to imagine that any ham can completely avoid using any computer systems or knowledge sources in their amateur radio hobby, even it is only to renew their license with the FCC.
I respect that some folks want to lean on historic practices. I get it. I still have my Kenwood TS-520S around because it is a pleasure to operate. There are no computers attached to it or associated with it. It is relatively simple compared to many modern transceivers. Bonus: the receiver is great and the sound is delightful.
Perhaps my perspective is different than most. I believe that if it connects to amateur radio somewhere in the chain between sender and receiver, it’s part of amateur radio. I view amateur radio as a big tent with soft walls, not a narrow aisle bounded by diamond-sharp edges.
I also suspect that many amateurs want a simpler way forward, i.e., they would prefer a radio appliance, something they plug in and it just works. This is where some pre-made, known-good AllStarLink virtual machines could help build the AllStarLink community. Maybe it would help if I describe AllStarLink nodes as radio appliances instead of radios.
1.1 Importing a VM of a working node
What comes next rises to a level of arcane-ness that most people are not going to want to know anything about. Feel free to skip ahead. Otherwise, take a deep dive into this guidance provided by Vultr: Best Practices when Migrating to Vultr. Specifically, look for the VirtualBox section in that document. I offer this information not because you might want to do it, but rather, to prove that it can be done.
(In all truth, I got so frustrated with this process that I took an hour off for a motorcycle ride. That gave me a chance to reset my brain and approach this again with a fresh perspective.)
To bring a virtual machine instance into Vultr, you have to create a raw image file from the .vdi file in the virtual machine. To create that raw file, you use a command line tool called VBoxManage (in Windows, it comes as part of the VirtualBox application but can only be run from the command line). VBoxManage has a thorough online manual.
You have to extract the .iso file that is part of the virtual machines .ova template, then you convert it to a raw image file using VBoxManage. The raw image file then must be placed in a location that Vultr can reach to pull the file in.
1.2 You have to upload from a URL
During this journey, I discovered interesting things about how Vultr expects to access the ISO file. Vultr wants a URL. No direct upload service is provided. That’s a bit awkward. I went down various rabbit holes to get the image file to a cloud location that Vultr liked. Google Drive did not work, nor did OneDrive. Both of those services append some extra information on the end of the file’s URL and Vultr rejects URLs with appended information.
What to do? I tried to use a pCloud (a secure cloud storage service) account to accomplish this but uploads to pCloud are quite slow. Instead, I tried using one of my WordPress websites, modifying the upload limit and adding .ova as a file type. It still didn’t work.
You can, of course, sign up for Vultr’s Object Storage for $6/month. That $6 gets you 1 terabyte of storage and 1 terabyte of transfer bandwidth/month. I confess that I’m tempted. In fact, after a couple of hours of fighting with good ways to fulfill the upload requirement, I succumbed and purchased the object storage from Vultr. (If you want to try any Vultr services, please consider using my affiliate link, found on the Support page as item 4.)
By the way, using Vultr Object Storage is not quite as simple as it sounds. You need a client application to move files in and out of storage. I installed a freeware program called S3 Browser and configured it to use my Vultr Object Storage account. Then I created a bucket for my virtual machines. Once I had a bucket, I was able to upload my image file to the bucket. Note that for a large file like this, uploading to Object Storage takes quite a while. My upload of about 3 Gb’s took about 20 minutes over Xfinity cable. I like S3 Browser so I did go ahead and buy the lifetime S3 Browser Pro license for $39.99.
One benefit of using Vultr Object Storage is you get a URL to the file that Vultr likes. I also don’t mind having some extra bulk storage available. Figuring out where to put the image file has been the hardest part of this exercise!
1.3 Deploying a server with the image file
To deploy a server, you set up a new cloud compute instance on Vultr:
In Products, select Cloud Compute. I chose Cloud Compute - Shared CPU for this test, and selected Seattle as the server location.
Under Choose Image, select Upload ISO, then in My ISOs click the plus sign next to Upload ISO. Enter the URL where your image file is located. Your upload will take several minutes. If no errors are reported, you can proceed.*
Under Choose Plan, select AMD High Performance. Under that option, I selected the 25 GB NVMe option at $6/month. I also accepted the Auto Backups addition at $1.20/month.
*And the Upload ISO step is where I repeatedly failed. I tried to upload the .ova file. Nope: errors. I tried renaming the .ova file to an .iso file. Nope. I opened the .ova template and extracted the .vdi file, then used the VBoxManage to convert the .vdi file to an .img file in raw format. That should have worked but it didn’t.
I spent about eight hours on this on Saturday, and that is usually the time I am recording and editing the Random Wire Reflections podcast. I’m a day behind my self-imposed schedule.
I’m going to set this aside for now but the idea of being able to export and save working node configurations as virtual machines, and then importing one of those virtual machines into a cloud server seems like it should work. It also seems like having a library of working node configurations for various purposes would benefit the amateur radio community. It might take someone smarter than me to make this work.
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2. Did You Get Your Start with CB Radio?
It’s often very interesting to listen to amateur radio operators talk about citizens band (CB) radio. I often hear a sense of derision from other hams as they talk about “those CBers” and their bad radio practices. I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news, but I have to say there are plenty of hams who have pretty atrocious (oxymoron alert) radio practices!
I suspect that many of us who enjoy amateur radio now once had a CB radio. I did. When we lived in northern Nevada in the very early 1980s, you had a land line phone and a CB radio. There were no cell phones. With a fairly inexpensive CB and a mag-mount antenna, you had comms when the land lines went out and when driving.
Winter in northern Nevada can be brutal! We had a half-circle driveway and more than once I could not get it cleared of snow. The snow was a fine powder and the wind would howl across our homesite. I had a grain shovel for the snow. Starting at the top of the drive where the car and pickup were parked, I’d start shoveling. By the time I got to the bottom, the driveway was drifted in again. Rinse and repeat. One day I got so frustrated I started up the car and tried to go through a drift at speed, only to feel the car rise up in the air and settle down on top of the drift, high centered. That’s a lesson you never forget!
Reno was a four-hour drive to the west, Salt Lake City was a four-hour drive to the east, and Boise was four hours to the north. The countryside was largely empty and we could sometimes drive for an hour or more without seeing another vehicle.
CB was a lifeline on the highway. This was in the era of C.W. McCall’s popular song “Convoy.” In our 1/2-ton Chevy pickup, we looked like David to the large multi-wheeled Goliaths on the highway. Every long-haul trucker had a CB and many were willing to talk. I can’t count how often we whiled away the hours tagging along with a group of big trucks, listening to their conversations, and sometimes joining in. It was often humorous, occasionally a bit salty, and it helped us stay awake.
I had forgotten some of these memories until a conversation on an amateur radio net about how people got started in amateur radio. One set of life experiences I had that was generally positive was using a CB radio in the 80s. This didn’t cause me to get my amateur license but it didn’t hurt, either.
I wonder how many of us got our start in two-way radio with a CB rig?
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3. Hamshack Hotline Warning About BLF
Recently, I received an email from the Hamshack Hotline folks titled BLF and Speed Dial No No's. Well that is a bit of a teaser so I read the message. If you have a Hamshack Hotline number on a SIP phone, this message is for you.
Here’s the crux of the message about the Busy Lamp Feature, or BLF:
If you still use the speed dial with either parameter of "blf+" OR "sub=", your phone still sends the request to our server asking for the status of the remote extension(s), over and over and over, every second. Those requests still put a huge strain on the server.
And there are currently several, several hundred users on the HHUS server that have not stopped using those forbidden parameters in their speed dial setups.
So, HH will be turning on the IP Ban rule for users who are still using BLF.
You should also be aware that almost ALL soft phone apps have a BLF feature as well and set to "On" by default.
All HHUS users will need to turn off the BLF feature in their soft phone apps and in their hard phone(s) by 5pm eastern on Friday the 19th or the automated rule check that gets turned on will ban your IP address and your phone(s) will stop connecting to the HHUS server.
For those who were using the Busy Lamp Feature, Hamshack Hotline has published two pages to help you see who is online:
Their page at https://blf.hamshackhotline.com/ explains all this better than I can. I did log into my Cisco SPA525G phone to make sure my speed dial buttons weren’t configured in ways that would cause me to be banned!
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4. Tech Stack: My Daily Drivers
My technology stack is where my personal and work lives intersect. Described below are some of the items I use every day. The things that are backups or are only occasionally used may, or may not, be mentioned. This is not an exhaustive list of the technology I have on hand. Rather, it is just the top layer of my daily drivers.
4.1 Computing: the TomBook
I am really enjoying my Lenovo ThinkPad X1 laptop running Microsoft Windows 11 Pro. It is equipped with 32 Gb of RAM and an i7-3650U processor at 1800 MHz. That processor has 10 cores which, for my uses, makes it a beast.
At home, I have the laptop elevated on a desktop stand. I run a second monitor (Samsung) using a small docking station. To travel, I only have to disconnect the USB-C power and the USB-A dock.
With the laptop on the stand, I use a Logitech keyboard and a Microsoft mouse on my desktop.
When traveling I often take the X1 or an older Surface laptop (named, as you might imagine, the TomSurface).
4.2 Storage: the TomServer
My primary storage external to the laptop is a Lenovo ThinkStation P510 also running Microsoft Windows 11 Pro. This machine has 64 Gb of installed memory. The Intel Xeon E5-2690 CPU runs with 14 cores. Although it is a bit dated, the substantial memory and the large number of cores allow me to run virtual machines on this PC without any trouble.
The primary disk is a 1 Tb SSD. For storage, I’ve installed a 4 Tb SSD.
4.3 Storage backup: Synology box
My backup box is a Synology DS220+ with two 3-Tb hard drives installed. The Synology box is secondary to the P510 TomServer. I use FreeFileSync to maintain repositories for my various machines on the TomServer, and then once a week or so, I trigger a routine to copy those repositories to the Synology box. I also run iDrive (an app) on my machines that incrementally backs up changes nightly.
4.4 Linking machines: Tailscale
Tailscale is on almost every machine I operate. Tailscale allows me to easily make connections through my firewalls from near and far. To operate my Olympia, Washington machine from Portland, Oregon, I use Microsoft Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) over Tailscale. When in Olympia, I can reach my Portland machines the same way.
My Raspberry Pi’s all have Tailscale on them. Even my Synology device has Tailscale. This software has been a tremendous help because I travel so much.
4.5 Network routers
Did I really mean routers, plural? Yes! My main router at home is a GL.iNET GL-MT6000 Flint 2 router. It feels solid. It has been pretty seamless to operate. Sometimes, I activate the VPN I configured on it, helping to protect everyone in the household who is connecting through it. I also run AdGuard Home on it for the same reason.
One of the great things about this router is Tailscale runs on it. That makes it even easier for me to reach into my home network when I’m away.
As a backup router, I have an interesting device called a Linkstar H68K. I wrote about it in May 2024. This unit is not running AdGuard or anything fancy. On those rare occasions I need to bypass some of the filtering on my home network, I simply switch my connection to the Linkstar.
I kept my older TP-Link router as a backup to the backup, just in case something surges and fries some equipment. By the way, I do have most of my networking gear plugged into an APC-brand uninterruptible power supply.
The other piece of home networking that is significant to mention is my use of NextDNS for filtering and for handling my DNS queries.
4.6 Amateur radio communications
Did you notice I did not say radios? That’s because some of my preferred methods don’t involve radio much, at least on my end. My Portland home has truly awful RF interference so I have gravitated toward digital systems. All of my systems are connected to larger systems elsewhere that do have significant RF-related aspects, so to me, these still fall into the realm of amateur radio.
AllStarLink
ASL was the first digital voice medium I adopted in a big way. I have several nodes at home, a couple that can travel with me, and one (node 57945) running on a Vultr cloud server.
DMR
I do have a DMR hotspot and radio that I occasionally fire up and use. I have it if I needed it but I don’t use it very much.
D-STAR
My Icom ID-5100A mobile radio does D-STAR. There just isn’t a lot of D-STAR traffic around me so I generally leave this machine off.
C4FM: RF and WIRES-X
For portables, I primarily use two radios: an FT-3D and an FT-5D. For mobile, I run a Yaesu FTM-300DR radio.
At home, I have a second FTM-300DR running as a WIRES-X Portable Digital Node. This machine is on unless we’re leaving for more than an hour or two.
I also have a hotspot running WPSD that is dedicated to Yaesu System Fusion. The FT-3D and FT-5D play nicely with the hotspot.
I would say that my two most-used digital voice systems are AllStarLink and C4FM. The audio clarity is really helpful, especially as my hearing slowly changes with age.
HF
For HF radio, my stalwart friend is a Yaesu FT-450D. I’ve used it in the shack and for POTA. I also have a Yaesu FT-891 which is certainly more portable than the 450, but I’m more comfortable with the 450.
Meshtastic
I also have several Meshtastic devices. As I learn more about this technology, it spurs my thinking about how it could be used. I’m curious about Meshtastic even though it doesn’t seem to have many uses that align with my radio hobby.
Those are the bits of my tech stack that I touch and use almost every day.
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5. On The Bench…
5.1 Yaesu FTM-300DR power problem
I had a problem with my Yaesu FTM-300DR operating as a mobile in the pickup truck. I would turn it on and 30 seconds later it would go dark. Rinse and repeat, over and over.
It was a very hot day and I thought, well, maybe the control head on the dash is getting too hot, so I moved it off the dash to a shaded part of the air-conditioned interior. That did not fix it.
I checked the antenna connection and it was tight at the antenna and at the radio.
What was left? If it wasn’t internal to the radio, the only likely thing left was power. I move this radio from rig to rig so I use a Powerwerx 12V plug adaptor for power. In this particular adaptor, there is a small screw collar at the tip of the plug that secures the spring-loaded tip. When I inspected it, I saw it was partly unscrewed. Once I screwed that back into place and reinserted the adapter, the radio stopped shutting down.
I know that using a 12V adapter isn’t a robust solution but since I move the radio from rig to rig, it has worked pretty well so far. I suppose it might be better to wire in an Anderson Powerpole pair and use that!
5.2 CoreMP135 by M5STACK
This is an industrial ARM-based device that runs Debian 12. That’s good enough to run AllStarLink, or should be. This little device isn’t much larger than two small matchboxes stacked on top of each other.
There are two operating system images available. One is for controlling devices and the other is a Debian 12 instance that is, unfortunately, limited. I say limited because the root filesystem is quite small. In the M5STACK implementation, the root filesystem is 100% full. I’ve fiddled a bit with fdisk and gdisk, but I think I’m going to have to try to mount the microSD card in a different machine to expand the root filesystem.
Why does this matter? I can run “apt update” as root but there is no room to install any updates. If I don’t have room for updates, I won’t have room to try to shoehorn AllStarLink on board, either.
I am feeling compelled to pull that out of the corner and open it up. I’ll bet some of the capacitors are shot. One reason I wanted to get a Heathkit is the layout likely has plenty of room for me to get in and work on it. If I muck it up, I’m not out much!
5.4 AllStarLink interface from phone patch
I’ve got some other old devices boxed up that I hope to modify someday. One is a Heathkit HD-15 phone patch that I’d like to use as the housing for an AllStarLink node. But as I thought about this little project, I realized that the Kenwood PC-1A Phone Patch Controller already has an 8-pin microphone receptacle so I ordered one in good shape from an eBay seller. It arrived on Monday so I’m including a few photos as my mind starts contemplating how to convert this into an AllStarLink audio interface.
Kenwood phone patch (knife is 3-5/8 inches long)
You can see the 8-pin microphone jack on the left of the photo. That is going to work well with one of my Kenwood MC-60 desk microphones! One of the two knobs will become a volume control. If I can, I’d like to monitor audio level through the monitor gauge, just for fun. I don’t know what to use the other potentiometer for. I welcome your ideas!
While I was at it, I opened up the box. Everything looks nice and clean inside. The 8-pin microphone connector looks to be in great shape. One rheostat is easy to turn and one is more resistant. I need to think about where to put an indicator LED on the front panel.
Kenwood PC-1A phone patch interior
A quick swipe with a lightly dampened microfiber cloth cleaned up the front panel enough to show this device is in “good enough” cosmetic condition for this project.
Kenwood PC-1A phone patch with front panel wiped clean
I’m not thinking of keeping the phone patch functionality so at this time, removing the board seems likely. There is plenty of room in the case for a CM108 USB fob, a small amplifier, and more. The rheostat on the back panel (missing the knob) could be removed and a headphone/speaker jack mounted there. The USB cable that goes to my physical node (a Dell Wyse 3040 thin client, a Raspberry Pi, or a mini PC) can come out the back panel where the existing cable passes through.
I have a couple of CM108 fobs coming from the U.K. around the end of the month. I chose to go this route because I’ve destroyed several CM108 devices while trying to solder the one very fine wire to one leg of the IC chip. Rather than go through that frustration again, I thought I’d try a CM108 that someone else has soldered. Fingers crossed.
Turning this into a sound interface for my AllStarLink desktop node should be a fun little build. I’m obviously starting to dream a bit about it!
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6. Tech Trivia: Drones Splash Down
I saw the headline and had to read the article because once upon a time, I almost lost a drone in a lake:
Fifty-five of 200 drones losing their GPS lock seems suspicious. But what piqued my interest was the drones operating over water. I had an incident two years ago where my DJI drone was hovering over the surface of a lake, and I lost control of the aircraft.
Later, I learned that not only does my drone use GPS for positioning, but it also uses the view of the surface below it. I think the lightly rippled surface, moving from the light breeze and reflecting the bright sun, confused the drone. When I told it to return home, it did nothing. When I tried to pilot it back to the dock, it went away from the dock. When I piloted away from the dock, it went farther away.
I was stumped and pretty worried because I had no control.
Finally, I turned off my controller and then turned it back on. That forced a new connection with the drone and about 30 seconds later I had control again. The drone still couldn’t find home but at least I could pilot it back to land for a safe landing.
I don’t know what happened with the SeaTac drones but losing control of a drone is not unusual. I’m glad no people were injured and no property was damaged.
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7. Closing
Well, not much RF-based radio is in this issue. I had wanted to report success on the proof-of-concept installation of an AllStarLink node on a virtual machine to a cloud server. There is more work to be done on that topic!
Hopefully, I’ll have a bit more on traditional radio in the next issue (issue 100 on July 26, 2024).
7.1 Future test of two consumer radios
I expect to have a couple of XHDATA radios in hand soon to review. One is D-608WB emergency weather radio. I’m looking forward to giving it a try. The other radio is not listed yet on the XHDATA website: the D-220. Here is what their rep said about the D-220:
XHDATA is planning to release a new portable D-220 radio. The D-220 radio has good reception performance and excellent listening sound quality. Not only does it receive the FM/MW/SW bands, but it will be surprisingly good value
XHDATA also describes the D-200 as a “high performance global band radio” with DSP.
The two radios are coming from China so I don’t really expect them to arrive before August.
7.2 Enjoying my virtual machine AllStarLink node
I'm really enjoying my AllStarLink node 588411 in a virtual machine on my home server. Node 588411 is currently connected to node 289802, and that node is connected to XLX303 C. (Check out the XLX303 dashboard.) XLX303 C is the WIRES-X node for Olympic Mountain Digital, and that is code for the repeater in my “home” community put up by Jeff N7NEE.
Locally, node 588411 is connected to my Cisco SPA525G SIP phone. To connect, I hit my speed dial button and hear the phone announce the connection to 588411. Then I pull up AllScan and connect to node 289802.
This morning, I heard Ben AB7I and Gary AC7VA in crystal clear audio. This is truly amazing technology.
7.3 Personal: I bought a new scooter
On a more personal note, I just bought a BMW C 400 GT scooter. This is a single-cylinder scoot that can run on the freeway but is happier around town. I have a 2008 Suzuki Burgman 650 that has carried me many thousands of miles around the Pacific Northwest but it has grown too long in the tooth to depend on. The BMW is loaded with technology so my learning curve right now is very steep. The bike, and my helmet, have Bluetooth, so I’m starting to noodle on how to add a ham radio to this package. It would be a blast to have some QSOs while motorcycling!
BMW C 400 GT scooter
Why did I include this? Because our conversations are better when we learn a little bit about each other.
On July 10, 2024, AllStarLink.org announced the release of ASL 3.02. Details of what changed are in the release notes. This is a significant update and if you are already running ASL 3, updating is recommended.
For those running ASL 3 on a Raspberry Pi, you’ll use the new Cockpit to update ASL 3. I’m running ASL 3 on a Debian 12 virtual machine so I updated from the terminal. The usual “sudo apt update” and “sudo apt upgrade -y” commands work to update ASL 3 to ASL 3.02.
The only problem I ran into was AllScan lost track of some of the configuration settings. I suspect this was because PHP was also updated as part of the update/upgrade process (but not as part of the ASL update), and something changed from my earlier manual installation of PHP. Not to worry, though — a few edits to the config set things right. Allmon3 worked fine before and after the update was installed.
Contents
1. AllStarLink on a VM? Why Not!
1.1 AllStarLink 3 Beta is now available
1.2 Test installation on a virtual machine
1.3 Got it working…kind of
1.4 Installed AllScan
1.5 Fixed problems with manager.conf
1.6 Additional software installed
1.7 Summary of links in this ASL 3 article
2. AllStarLink 3 Beta Configured for SIP Phone
2.1 Update modules.conf
2.2 Update extensions.conf
2.3 Update pjsip.conf
2.4 Restart Asterisk
2.5 Connecting to other nodes
2.6 Moving screenshots from VM to Windows machine
3. Personal Observations on Podcasting
3.1 Getting started: what is your why?
3.2 My whys
3.3 The upsides
3.4 The downsides
3.5 Equipment
3.6 Hosting your podcast
4. Introspection: The Random Wire is Evolving
5. Notes
5.1 Raspberry Pi SBCs eligible for improved functionality
6. On the Bench
6.1 AllStarLink node fixins
6.2 New PC for running ASL in a VM
6.3 Sound sample: Worldwide Friendship Net
1. AllStarLink on a VM? Why Not!
CONTEXT: I started writing this about three weeks ago…just moments before AllStarLink.org announced a major update to ASL that includes support for virtual machines. That announcement completely changed the foundation for this content!
I recommend this video. If you’ve never set up a node before and you want to use ASL 3, Freddie Mac walks you through every step to get your node up and running on a Raspberry Pi. He mentions that ASL 3 Beta supports AllScan, something that is important to me. You can also find Freddie Mac’s website at http://hamradiolife.org/.
Some of the great changes in ASL 3 include:
Ability to install on a Raspberry Pi 5
Ability to install into a virtual machine
Asterisk version updated and no longer runs as the root user
I want to give ASL 3 a try, especially on my node-in-the-cloud. In the meantime, though, I decided to do an experimental install into an Oracle VirtualBox virtual machine on my home server, configuring ASL 3 as a hub running DAHDI. (My node-in-the-cloud number 57945 is configured that way — it’s simply a hub with no radio.)
However, I encountered some hiccups. I did get them resolved, but I’ll describe what they were in case you run into them, too.
I started with a minimal installation of Debian 12 in a new virtual machine. This becomes important later when I found that some services were not working correctly.
The update node service was missing
After installing ASL 3, I discovered that the update node service was not running. I had to search for, and install, an updated .deb file to get that going. I found that on GitHub at https://github.com/AllStarLink/asl3-update-nodelist and manually installed it. If I recall correctly, I had to explicitly start the service from the command line after installing it.
Allmon3 was missing
After installing ASL 3, I did confirm that allmon3 was not installed. I followed the directions for installing allmon3 on Debian 12 found at https://github.com/AllStarLink/Allmon3. Once I did that, I could see the Allmon3 page and log into it, but it gave me no data whatsoever: no icons, no colored transmit bar, nothing. I also found I could not execute commands. Hmmm.
I banged my head on the keyboard for a bit on this issue. All of the required packages are installed. I tried to manually configure /etc/allmon3/allmon3.ini to reflect the IP address and authentication details needed by Allmon3 and that broke it. After an hour or so of fiddling — including comparing the allmon3.ini file to a known-to-work allmon.ini file running on a Debian 10 node, I finally got it to work…kind of. Then I cleaned up my ufw firewall settings and added some port forwards to my router.
Stepping back for a moment, this was all a a bit discombobulating because the new manual for ASL 3 Beta said that allmon3 and asl3-update-nodelist are installed as part of the ASL 3 package. If they are installed, why wasn’t I finding them? That sent me down a rabbit hole for a few hours. (UPDATE: One of the maintainers acknowledged this was incorrectly stated in the manual. That part has been clarified in the online manual.)
Screenshot of errant content in manual
1.3 Got it working…kind of
At this point, AllStarLink.org could see node 588411:
AllStarLink sees my virtual machine node 588411
I could now connect my cloud node 57945 to 588411:
Connection made from 588411 to 57945
That’s easier to see with the bubble map:
AllStarLink bubble map of connection
And Allmon3 on 588411 now does show the correct dashboard icons:
Allmon3 is running
But Allmon3 did not show the connected node, nor do I get the colored transmit/receive bar. Another hmmm moment.
1.4 Installed AllScan
I set that problem aside and moved on to installing AllScan. The software author, David Gleason NR9V, very recently modified the installation routine to work with the ASL 3 Beta and I’m glad he did. I use AllScan far more than Allmon or Supermon. It’s a great piece of work by David. (You might also be interested in his node building page at https://allscan.info/!)
This is when I recognized the root of my problem with the Allmon3 installation. I tried to install AllScan and at the final step when the command tries to run the PHP file, the file wasn’t found. I could see it. It was right there! But PHP couldn’t see it. That was the moment when I realized PHP probably wasn’t installed. Remember that I did a minimal install of Debian 12, meaning that if you need a package, you’ll probably have to install it. To install PHP 8.3, I followed the instructions at https://tecadmin.net/how-to-install-php-on-debian-12/.
Once that was done, I was able to complete the installation of AllScan. It worked immediately and showed my connection to 57945.
AllScan is running on 588411
1.5 Fixed problems with manager.conf
There was one other hiccup along the way with manager.conf. Before I installed PHP, I was watching messages in the Asterisk CLI. I kept getting errors about manager.conf not being able to authenticate so I went into manager.conf with nano and manually changed the user and password (called the secret in manager.conf) to match what I was using for Allmon3. After restarting Asterisk, I saw no more error messages.
Now that I had PHP running and my manager.conf problem was resolved, I went back to look at my Allmon3 instance and sure enough, it was now working, too!
Allmon3 now runs perfectly
1.6 Additional software installed
I also installed Tailscale, xrdp, a desktop environment (xfce), and mlocate. I use Windows Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) over Tailscale to connect to the node desktop. I can also use Tailscale as my SSH backbone. I usually install mlocate as that allows me to find files. (For example, when sleuthing about PHP, I searched for PHP using the locate command and the paucity of files suggested immediately that I did not have PHP installed!)
My takeaway from hitting these speedbumps is…yeah, you can get ASL 3 running. It’s a tremendous piece of work by the AllStarLink team. However, if you are installing to a Debian 12 platform, it may be best to wait a little while for the installation process to get a bit smoother. I think there are a large number of people interested in ASL 3 on Debian it won’t take wrong this to get better.
This was a bit more convoluted than I expected but I muddled through until it worked.
You are going to have to crack open the new manual at https://allstarlink.github.io. The way SIP connections are made has changed in ASL 3 (presumably because of the substantial upgrade in Asterisk) and the manual has vital information to help guide you.
The load command load = chan_sip.so in /etc/asterisk/modules.conf needs to be replaced with noload = chan_sip.so. because chan_sip is deprecated.
Make chan_sip.so a noload channel
While you are in /etc/asterisk/modules.conf, you’ll need to add a whole new section that loads pjsip and related required elements. The manual says “add the following at the bottom of the file” but I modified that slightly. The bottom of my modules.conf file ends with [global]. If I put the pjsip content below that, it would be in the context of global, so I put the pjsip stuff above the [global] section.
Apologies for the small print in the screenshot below. I had to zoom out the view in order to get the entire list into one window!
Add pjsip items to modules.conf
Since I have a desktop installed in my 588411 virtual machine, I simply opened the new manual using the VM’s browser, allowing me to easily copy and paste the long pjsip section right into my modules.conf file.
I like using nano as my Linux editor. In nano, hit Ctrl X on your keyboard and answer Y to save.
2.2 Update extensions.conf
I hit a bit of a brick wall making the required changes to /etc/asterisk/extensions.conf. You’ll see in the new manual that some variables are included in the new [sip-phones] section: ${EXTEN}, ${NODE}, and ${NODENUM}. When I married the new [sip-phones] section with what I had used before, it didn’t work.
(Also, I note that there are a few references in the new manual about lines or content being highlighted in color, but I don’t see any highlighting, no matter what browser I use. My guess is the manual was written in some other system that showed highlights but those highlights were lost when the content was copied to the website.)
Pasted below is a screenshot showing the configuration suggested in the new manual on the left and my actual changes on the right. My changes are working for me but may not work for you because your phone is likely set up differently. I use a speed dial button. When I push the speed dial button, it connects to node 588411. Line 4 on my SPA 525G is set as extension 211, and the phone listens for a call to 300. Hopefully, that helps explain why my working [sip-phones] configuration looks so different than the recommendations in the manual.
Settings from manual on left, my settings on right
One stumbling block for me was ${NODE} is set at the top of /etc/asterisk/extensions/conf as NODE = 588411. Leaving the ${NODE} variable in the recommended [sip-phones] configuration got in the way of the node authenticating to the phone. I noticed the potential problem when the announcement over the phone was telling me that ${NODENUM} was 300 and ${EXTEN} was 588411. That wasn’t right so I started fiddling by replacing variables with static values.
I did find it very helpful to go to open the Asterisk CLI and monitor what pjsip was seeing. In a terminal window, start the Asterisk CLI with asterisk -rvvv. Then type in pjsip set logger on and hit Enter. To exit, type exit and hit Enter. The pjsip logger is where I saw that what I thought was my node number, pjsip was seeing as my extension, and vice versa.
2.3 Update pjsip.conf
Of course, none of the above worked until I configured /etc/asterisk/pjsip.conf per the manual’s recommendations. My UDP port is 5062 so I changed that in the Basic UDP transport section of pjsip.conf.
UDP transport in pjsip.conf
Farther down in the pjsip.conf file, you configure your endpoint in the “Endpoint Configured For Use With A Sip Phone” section. Here’s a side-by-side view, with the manual content on the left and my configuration on the right:
Endpoint settings from manual on left, my settings on right
And then the auth section needs to be changed:
Auth settings to match (password obscured)
2.4 Restart asterisk
I prefer using sudo systemctl restart asterisk to restart the system but sudo astres.sh works just as well.
2.5 Connecting to other nodes
You can use standard DTMF commands to manage connections to other nodes. I prefer the convenience of using AllScan by David Gleason NR9V. AllScan makes connecting to another node very, very easy. A few days after ASL 3 was released, David published an update to AllScan that works with the new system. AllScan is Random Wire Recommended!
2.6 Moving screenshots from VM to Windows machine
As an aside, I have Tailscale installed on the virtual node 588411 (running Debian 12) and on my laptop named TomBook (running Windows 11 Pro). With Tailscale, you can use Taildrop to copy files from one system to another.
I discovered that Taildrop allows the use of wildcards, so I was able to transfer the several screenshots I captured on the VM while preparing this piece with just one line in a terminal window on 588411:
tailscale file cp *.png tombook:
That was a slick discovery!
3. Personal Observations on Podcasting
I used to avoid YouTube videos of people showing others how to do something. Now I don’t. I am finding it easier to find a very focused demonstration of what to do to fix or modify something by simply searching for videos on it.
And yet, amateur radio is an audio medium so I feel a bit more comfortable approaching it from the podcasting side instead of making videos. I suppose there may be times when I want to show something that I can’t describe with only words or photographs, but that seems unlikely at the moment.
3.1 Getting started: what is your why?
Why do you want to do a podcast? It’s important to know because it can be a lot of work. That means time taken from other things you might rather be doing. Without knowing your why, you may not stick with it if it begins to feel like a burden.
Do you want to teach? Video might be a better medium. However, audio and the written word can also be used very effectively.
Do you want to reach a certain age group? Audio cuts across most demographics, while video and written material seem a bit more segregated when it comes to reach certain audience segments.
Are you comfortable speaking into a microphone? Podcasting might be a great tool, but if you are just as comfortable in front of a camera, video might be right for you.
3.2 My whys
My why was simple: a desire to grow my community by reaching people who would rather listen to audio than read another email. I chose not to use video because (a) I’m not very comfortable in front of a camera and (b) video is more difficult to produce (i.e., less forgiving).
I did not appreciate audio as a medium until my aging mother lost most of her sight. An avid reader all her life, the dimming of her vision came as a major blow to her. Audio books became a lifeline for her, and as my wife and I were helping to care for her, we listened to some of the books, too. I found that I enjoyed hearing content at the narrator’s pace instead of at my reading speed. With the frequent long drives involved in my work, audio books became a staple for me.
Also, I wanted to grow my skill at narration, something I have always felt could improve. How to do that? Well, do more of it!
For these reasons, adding an audio component to my newsletter felt like a natural step for me.
3.3 The upsides
One upside is I get to explore a new medium. This is all new to me so I get to learn a lot, quickly. That is usually a lot of fun for me. I also get to hear feedback that helps me become a better speaker, something I very much want to do.
I anticipate that the podcast will allow me to reach more people and that may equate to some new subscribers. Or it might just be a value add for existing subscribers, but that’s a positive if it strengthens my subscription base.
3.4 The downsides
Producing audio takes more: more equipment, more effort, and more time. I went looking for information and didn’t find much that was clear and unequivocal. (Well, that’s not completely true. I found very clear guidance when a vendor wanted to pull me into their own walled garden of hardware and software!) And you know why? Because vendors want to sell their products and everyone’s situation is different.
I’m still at the point where I write out a script of sorts for each podcast and you can hear that in my spoken delivery. It’s not where I want to be but it is where I’m at now.
3.5 Equipment
Microphones
My point about the lack of clear guidance seemed especially true when it came to selecting microphones. Every source seemed to conflict and I finally began to recognize that there was no crystal clear, right-or-wrong answer because every situation truly is different. So I did what I usually do: I made mistakes and learned from them. If you have unlimited time and money, go for it. I don’t, so I tried to be a bit more judicious and economical in my experimentation.
An example is the Blue Yet Nano microphone. I have a Yeti microphone that I picked up at a thrift store, but the thing is simply huge on my small desk. It gets in my way. I liked the sound it captured but not how much real estate it consumed. Some people like the Blue Yeti Nano and some detest it — just like many microphones. Still, it wasn’t much money to try the Nano and I am finding it to be a hot little mic.
Therein lies one of the downsides of the Nano: it tends to pick up more than I want it to. It picks up more because it is a condenser microphone. It would benefit from being in a more controlled environment. I don’t have a sound studio, nor do I have space to create one. I might love it more if I had a quiet space, but I don’t.
I also tried some dynamic microphones because they are less sensitive than condenser mics and so they might be better in places where there are background sounds you don’t want recorded. My first episode was using a dynamic mic and a few people told me it sounded too quiet. My second episode was with the condenser mic and a few people complained about the hissy sounds in my speech. For the third podcast, I ended up recording into a Zoom H4n Pro handy recorder while sitting in my pickup truck. I’ve also picked up an Elgato Wave 3 mic and it seems hotter than the Nano! For this episode, I’ll try recording with the Elgato mic and if it is too noisy, I’ll revert to the Nano or the H4n.
As you can see, this is still an active area of experimentation for me. Once I settle on a few approaches, I can spend more on a better microphone as my daily driver.
(By the way, I fell down this rabbit hole because I was looking for a desk microphone I could use with my FTM-300DR radio that I’m using on my desk as a Portable Digital Node over WIRES-X. There were no obvious choices and so I started to learn more about kinds of microphones and which ones might work with my radio. Along the way, I discovered that even some worldwide microphone vendors were a little mixed up about what might work with the FTM-300DR!)
What will you record into?
I’m recording into my computer, except when I record into the Zoom H4n Pro. Any day now I’ll start recording through the computer to an external SSD to save my onboard storage space.
3.6 Hosting your podcast
This topic could easily consume an entire newsletter. I looked at many options over a few months and finally decided to keep it as simple as I could. Since Substack (the service that hosts the Random Wire newsletter) also offers podcast hosting, I chose to host at Substack.
You can find free podcast hosting and paid podcast hosting. I lean toward paid because the free versions often limit how much you can host, how long they’ll keep your podcast episodes online, and may include advertising of their own choice in your podcast. Paid hosting tends to give you more time with fewer or no ads.
But there is more, a whole lot more. Having your podcast hosted in one place doesn’t get your podcast “out there.” You need to distribute your podcast, as in: have others carry your podcast. I’m using Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, and Pocket Casts.
Promoting your podcast
You have a choice: promote your podcast, or not. Promotion means spreading the word. I’m using Facebook a little bit but mainly depending on my Random Wire newsletter subscribers to increase my podcast listeners. I have multiple social media accounts but I’m trying to stay away from those tools because I find some folks in the social media realm tend to be a bit more vocal without always exercising much discretion. I don’t really want a subscriber base that goes up and down a lot. I want subscribers willing to travel this train with me.
Make sure your amateur radio club knows you have a podcast. That is a great way to reach people who might not be able to attend club meetings. The spoken word connects with people in a way that the written word does not. That’s important, particularly when we have so many in our radio community who need those connections.
If your local school has a ham radio club or a STEM program (science, technology, engineering, math), it may not hurt to let them know you have a podcast. That gives the club advisor or a teacher the opportunity to review your material and consider using it in some lessons. You might even get invited to present a topic, and there are few better feelings that helping people learn about amateur radio!
OK, that’s enough. That was a shallow dive but if you’ve not thought about this before, it probably felt deep. Let’s call it “deep enough” and move on to another topic.
4. Introspection: The Random Wire is Evolving
If you’ve been with the Random Wire for a while, you’ve probably noticed that topics can be a bit, well, random! I started this writing experience by journaling. And then I started writing a runbook (that’s an information technology term) for my various radio platforms. A runbook, in nontechnical terms, is a collection of how-to recipes for common tasks. In my case, I wanted to document some of the tasks I found myself engaged in — things like installing AllStarLink on a Dell Wyse 3040 thin client machine, upgrading Debian on an ASL node, extending a node number, and more. That’s right: this all started for me with AllStarLink.
Along this two-year journey, subscriber numbers grew pretty steadily:
Meanwhile, my topics rambled along on a random walk, covering old gear, new equipment, making some deeper dives into digital modes, and resurfacing a few times on other topics, sometimes with actual RF-based radios. It’s been a bit of a dog’s breakfast, in my view. I’m not entirely happy with that, but at the same time, I have come to realize that a lot of hams have wide-ranging interests that are hard to present in a discrete set of topics contained in a focused, targeted newsletter. To this day, the Random Wire newsletter remains a somewhat messy collection of topics and observations.
Subscribers are great. But there are two problems with subscribers: first is not having any, and second is getting caught up in the subscriber numbers game. When you start a blog or newsletter, you are alone. You write the very first post and publish it and then…nothing happens. It takes other people. It takes partnerships and mutual support. It takes connecting with real humans to grow your subscriber base. But there is an inflection point in this process because you start to watch the subscriber numbers change with each issue of the blog or newsletter, and the watching ends up influencing what you choose to write about.
I’m trying not to do that. I’m trying to keep it all a bit messy and rambling, true to the title: the Random Wire. I’m thrilled to have more than 950 subscribers following my work. I’m actually astounded by this number. When I started, I thought maybe my little niche in our huge amateur radio universe might capture the interest of a hundred or two hams. It is growing beyond anything I expected. Color me continually surprised.
I’ve been told my writing exhausts people, as in: Tom, there is too much detail. I’ve been told I’m not writing about real radio, meaning: the content isn’t appealing to some folks. I’ve been told my topics have no order, and to that I say: true. I’m a mess, just like many of my radio friends are!
But as noted, subscribers do influence content and style. In response, I’ve written summaries instead of detailed recipes. Feedback: not enough detail. I rolled in a bit more about “real” radio, only to hear from some that this wasn’t the content they wanted. I’ve tried to organize a bit better by at least having a table of contents in each issue, and the feedback on that change has been: silence.
And yet…and yet…I feel the Random Wire evolving. It is certainly growing, but as I look back on the nearly 100 publications in two years, I see the content beginning to intersect more and more about radio and technology, where technology often means computers, routers, networking, etc. A confluence of big topics opens up an even wider universe of things to write about. I’d really like to stay anchored in amateur radio but I feel some pull toward ideas and products that are outside that limited realm.
I’m grappling with this tension as I think about the Random Wire this summer. Should I give in and expand my topics or should I try to stay more focused on my admittedly messy, random ideas and activities about amateur radio and tech? I’m more comfortable not changing but at the same time, I do want to expand my knowledge and interests. I truly do not know where this will lead. It’s a rambling journey, not a destination.
Let me also address paid subscriptions. I just don’t see that for the Random Wire, partly because my content is a jumble of ideas and partly because I want content to be free. I remember being an early amateur radio licensee and having that awful epiphany that everything cost more than I could afford. I lean more toward helping people get involved with amateur radio and trying some things that are new to them rather than dwelling on detailed analyses of circuits and antennas. The Random Wire, when it speaks to me, says: I need to be free to people.
At the same time, I’m spending a lot of time planning, buying equipment, writing about it, and thinking about what to capture next. It becomes a bit costly and so I now include affiliate links on my Support page as a no-obligation way to generate some revenue from this work. It’s not intended to provide much but every little bit helps with internet cost, website hosting, recording gear, and amateur radio equipment. It is always a humbling moment when I see that someone has bought me a coffee or purchased a product using one of my affiliate links. Thank you!
So the content has been changing a bit over time and there are completely optional ways to provide some financial support if you wish. Another evolution is the addition of a podcast which has been, and continues to be, quite an adventure. I have to say that creating a new podcast from scratch is an order of magnitude jump up from writing a blog or a newsletter. It takes more equipment, more time, more thought. The time required for editing is greater than you might imagine.
I’ve started my podcasting journey at the smallest and simplest level that I thought might yield good-quality audio results. This is unnerving work for me. I am stepping outside my comfort zone to try to become more comfortable with the process of verbalizing ideas in front of hundreds of other people. Have you seen hams that can’t quite bring themselves to make that first CQ call, or who shy away from actually transmitting CW? That is the kind of reticence I feel in front of the podcasting microphone. I am exercising that weakness to become more capable at this.
Just as with the written word, I really don’t know where the spoken word is going to go. I’d like to do some interviews. I plan to capture sound clips of various modes so people can hear what different modes sound like. I want to get clips of some of the best practices I hear on the radio and clips of some of the worst, without embarrassing the people speaking. I hope the podcast evolves in this direction.
All this is to say: I started without a plan and I still don’t have a plan, other than to enjoy my journey in amateur radio, learn a lot, and share what I’m learning with others. Your time is precious. So is mine. I don’t plan to write or record on things that have little value but I’m sure I will. Along the way, I’m also certain we’ll find topics where our interests overlap. I’m glad you’re on this journey with me and hope you’ll have a good time on the Random Wire train. Next stop: unknown!
Do feel free to leave a comment or contact me directly with your feedback. I value all feedback.
5.1 Raspberry Pi SBCs eligible for improved functionality
As long as we’re dwelling on tech, interesting news about Raspberry Pi single board computers (SBCs) came to light a few weeks ago. Check out these stories:
Available for every Pi ever made. This is interesting stuff for those of us who run several Raspberry Pi SBCs!
6. On the Bench
6.1 AllStarLink node fixins
I ordered up a Kenwood PC-1 phone patch from eBay for a potential sound interface build to connect to an AllStarLink node. This would be similar to the ANR-series devices by David Gleason NR9V but packed into a vintage case. This would go well with my existing desktop node speaker, a Heathkit HS-1661.
That node has AllStarLink running on a Dell Wyse 3040 thin client machine and one of the early ANR units by David for interfacing the microphone and the speaker with the ASL machine.
I’ve tried to do something like this before but fell down when it came to the very fine soldering required on the CM108 sound fob. This time, I’m rolling the dice and ordering a couple of CM108 devices that have been modified by someone else. I have all the other parts I’ll need. (Somewhere I even have a Raspberry Pi 2 W that I might be able to shoehorn into the Kenwood phone patch case…but that will mean cutting some holes in the back.)
6.2 New PC for running ASL in a VM
I can’t believe how inexpensive mini PCs have become. I got the Beelink Mini S12 Pro for $159. I installed VirtualBox on it and migrated a copy of my node 588411 to the mini PC. AllStarLink.org sees it and I can reach Allmon3 and AllScan on the new virtual machine. Next up will be reconfiguring this instance to access my ANR sound interface. Sometimes getting sound to move in and out of a VM can be problematic so this is very much a proof of concept. I’ll have more on this in issue 99 of the Random Wire Review next week!
6.3 Sound sample: Worldwide Friendship Net
On July 10, 2024, I recorded several minutes of the beginning of the Worldwide Friendship Net on the W7RAT repeater in Portland, Oregon. Most transmissions sound like they are via IRLP and Echolink, at least to me. Sound was captured on a Zoom H4n Pro handy recorder, handheld near the speaker of my Yaesu FTM-300DR radio in my pickup truck.
The purpose behind posting sound clips like this is to help subscribers experience other nets and other modes of radio.
Coming next week: C4FM audio from the Kansas City Wide network!
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