China on a handheld

Wu, BG6RRN

Today was cold and frosty. I was sitting downstairs in the warm browing through my newly-arrived January 2013 RadCom. In the shack my K3 was listening for beacons, my K2 was being a Robust Packet APRS gateway on 30m and my TM-D710 was being the local VHF APRS gateway whilst the other side of this dual band radio was running my Echolink node and logged in to the IRELAND conference (Echolink's equivalent of D-Star's reflectors.)

The Baofeng UV-3R+ on the table burst into life and I heard Wu, BG6RRN making a call. No-one replied to him so I called back. And so I found myself having a chat about Chinese radio equipment with a Chinese radio amateur using a Chinese handheld!

Wu spoke pretty good English - better than my Chinese anyway! He asked what I thought about Chinese radio equipment and I replied as diplomatically as possible that I liked it because it was cheap but the quality control could sometimes be better. Wu was familiar with the UV-3R+ I was using to link into my Echolink node and said that they were very popular in China as well.

Wu told me that he has had an Icom IC-7000 transceiver for a month but had so far not made any European contacts. He has never tried PSK31 so I encouraged him to try it. I hope I'll hear him on the HF bands one day. Today's chat may not have been a proper radio QSO but I do enjoy the opportunities Echolink provides to talk with hams with whom I would not otherwise make contact.

Baofeng brothers

Back in February I bought a Baofeng UV-3R+. It came after an unusually long wait for products from China, in March. In that time, eBay vendors had begun advertising the new Baofeng UV-5R which had double the output power and a key-pad that could be used for DTMF. To add insult to injury the price of the 5R was less than I paid for the 3R+.

As the months passed the knowledge that the UV-5R could still be bought for an absurdly low price niggled away at me, until eventually I gave in and ordered one. Unlike its little brother the 5R got here in little more than a week. So now I have two Baofeng HTs. A ham can never have too many radios, especially at this price!

Baofeng UV-3R+ and UV-5R

After I sold my original UV-3R to make way for the Plus I had a few regrets. The original had the advantage of being lightweight and tiny. Although the Plus was only a few millimetres larger and a few grams heavier the difference felt more marked. It lacked the cuteness of the earlier model. But the drop-in desk charger was a nice standard accessory. The accessory port was the same as used by Kenwood and Wouxun, enabling some standardization. It is a nice little radio but functionally almost identical to the original 3R.

Baofeng UV-5R unboxed

The UV-5R is quite a big improvement over its little brother. It isn't a lot bigger or heavier than the 3R+ but the extra size and weight gains you double the output power (4W compared with 2W) and a keypad which supports both frequency entry and DTMF. The latter makes the radio much more useful on Echolink.

The 5R feels solid and well built like the 3R+. In fact it feels like a radio that cost three times the price. I think Baofeng has hurt sales of the basic handhelds made by the Japanese "big 3." Only rigs with ham radio specific extras like supporting D-Star or APRS will be able to justify a higher price. As neither of those things are useful for the typical Chinese business buyer of these radios I can't see Baofeng starting to compete in that area. So Yaesu, Icom and Kenwood can breathe a sigh of relief.

Other things I like about the UV-5R are:

• 4W maximum power out
• Alphanumeric names for memory channels
• Backlit keypad - a classy touch
• DTMF - ideal for Echolink
• Analogue volume control with proper on-off switch .

I like the way the display (and keypad) lights up when a signal breaks the squelch and stays lit for a few seconds after the signal has finished. If you have more than one handie in use this feature lets you know which radio received the call. My Wouxun also does that.

There are a lot of other things to like, such as the voice announcement (my ham rigs don't have that) and the fact that accessories and spare parts being really cheap. The same computer interface cable works with both Baofengs and the Wouxun. Headsets and speaker-mics work with two Kenwood radios as well.

Judging by the comments of some buyers in the user groups, "Baofeng quality" is still an oxymoron. You are taking a chance that the radio you receive will not have any faults. Sending the set back to Hong Kong But if you are prepared to take that risk (or pay a bit more and buy from a local dealer) then the Baofeng UV-5R is worth a lot more than you pay for it.

EchoLink or D-Star?

Over the last few days I have been running my EchoLink node #3098 connected into the IRELAND conference server. As I've been feeling a bit tired and lethargic recently it has been a way to pass the time listening to QSOs and making the occasional contact.

Apart from IRELAND there seems to be nowhere else on the EchoLink network where there is enough activity that you can guarantee something to listen to or that someone will reply if you call CQ. I know this is like talking of selling your soul to the Devil but would D-Star, which I have never experienced but which I gather has something called "reflectors", be any better from the point of view of making contacts with hams around the globe using a handheld?

Platform for progress

One of the things at the back of my mind when I was writing that the magic of ham radio wasn't in high technology was the feeling that anyone who got into the hobby out of a mania for high-tech toys was soon likely to be disappointed. I've seen it happen when people who are new to the hobby and don't yet know much about it get an enthusiasm for APRS or Echolink. They get disappointed that the network coverage is patchy or nonexistent compared to cellphone coverage because they don't realize that it depends on hams to provide the infrastructure and where there are few hams - or none interested in these particular aspects of the hobby - there are no repeaters and no gateways.

I've seen the same people criticize the latest VX-8, TH-D72 and Icom D-Star radios as being overpriced and unimpressive. They don't like the geeky "walkie talkie" look or the plain 1990s LCD display. They can't believe that APRS radios don't support predictive text entry like the cheapest mobile has for more than a decade. And why can't they have a colour screen and a scrolling map display?

It's easy to dismiss these criticisms as coming from people who don't understand that ham radio is a specialized niche market and that amateur HTs don't benefit from the economies of scale which allow vastly more R&D to be spent on a smartphone costing a similar amount of money. But then I realized that perhaps the critics had a valid case. Manufacturers of smartphones don't completely reinvent the wheel whenever they release a new model. They just design the hardware. But the hardware is a platform. On it runs a standard OS and various apps, a few of which may be customized to the manufacturer or phone but most of which are generic. Given that software development is one of the most time consuming and expensive parts of any new technology product development, wouldn't that be a huge saving?

Why can't top of the range hand-held radios use a similar hardware architecture to cellphones? Instead of a custom design the radio would be a computer running embedded Linux. The RF side could be SDR or it could use conventional technology - it wouldn't matter, that would simply depend on what is most cost effective and delivers the best battery endurance. But all the control functions, together with transmit and receive audio, would be accessible through an API to software. The user interface would be an app.

Since the radio is a computer the interface would be endlessly customizable and all kinds of things not possible with existing radios could be feasible. Instead of entering local repeater frequencies into memories you could install an app that gets your position from the built-in GPS and shows you the nearest repeaters. One click and you're listening on it.

Instead of a plain LCD display showing distance and bearing your APRS capable radio could show a full map display just like APRSISCE currently provides on Windows smartphones. You wouldn't need packet modem hardware in the radio because packet generation and decoding could be done in software. In fact there would be no such thing as an APRS capable radio. The platform would be the same - if you wanted APRS you would just install the APRS application. If you wanted Echolink you could add the Echolink application. If you wanted D-Star you could buy the D-Star app from Icom. If you wanted to work satellites then I'm sure someone would write an app that would keep track of where the satellites are and even control the radio frequencies taking account of doppler.

You could power this hypothetical next generation radio using cellphone battery packs, which are a lot cheaper than the custom battery packs for traditional ham radios. You could even use standard cellphone accessories.

So why won't this happen? I guess the reason for that is that Yaesu, Icom, Kenwood and the rest don't make cellphones. Their business is making radios that are intended to be as dumb as most of their users. Ham radio is just an offshoot. The market just isn't big enough to justify developing what for them would be a completely different and unique hardware platform. So I guess for the foreseeable future we'll be stuck with our geeky walkie talkies and the cool stuff will all be on cellphones.

EchoLink node

A week or so ago my application to operate a part time attended EchoLink node on the 2m band was granted. I didn't receive any notification of this, I just happened to check the relevant page of the RSGB Data Communications Committee website and noticed that my entry had turned black and an expiry date had been added.

G4ILO-L is EchoLink node number 3098 and operates on 145.2125MHz with a CTCSS Tone of 77.0Hz. As stated the authorization only allows the node to operate when I am on the premises. It uses the non-APRS side of my Kenwood TM-D710 so in practise it will also only operate when I don't want to operate on 2 metres myself. Therefore it is more likely to be on during the evening UK time than during the day.

The license only allows me to use 5W ERP. Due to my location in the RF black hole of Cockermouth the range will only be a few miles so the number of stations able to access it can probably be counted on the fingers of one hand. Most of the time I will be monitoring the node myself on one of my handhelds so if you call me after connecting there is a good chance I will reply.

I do intend to post a page on my website explaining to other stations in the area how to use it if they want to, but at the moment the number of things to do exceed the available time.

I have developed a script to post the status of the node to the APRS network so an easy way to see whether my node is running or not would be to look up EL-3098 at aprs.fi.

Experiences with Android

The Micro SD card I ordered arrived on Monday so I was eventually able to try installing the Google Android OS on my HTC Touch Pro. The delay turned out to be a benefit as I was able to take the advice of Eric SA5BKE who commented to my earlier post that he had found a better set of installation instructions to the ones I mentioned.

Still, as usual when I try to do anything with computers, if something can go wrong it will. First, the phone could not see the new SD Card. I had to format it with a utility from the SD Card Association. Then I messed up the screen calibration where you have to click, when prompted, on the corners of the screen, and wasted some time trying to recover from my mess-up. But eventually I was rewarded with the sight of the Android home screen on my HTC Touch Pro.

The effort was worthwhile. I really like the Android OS. It is so much better a smartphone operating system than Windows Mobile 6.1. You still feel that you are using a phone, not a Windows PC that has an annoyingly small screen. Making phone calls and sending text messages is really simple, as it should be. And once you have found out how the new OS is supposed to be used (since the download doesn't come with a user guide) it's easy to use.

I am a huge fan of Google - I have five GMail accounts and probably make hundreds of Google searches a week - and what I really like about Android is the way Google features are integrated into the OS. Until now I could never understand why people liked smartphones and would actually want to use them to answer email because my experience was based on trying to access GMail using one of the two awful web browsers on my Windows phone. But now I get a notification whenever a new email comes into any of my inboxes and I can either clear it or click on the email to read it in full or reply on a display designed to make full use of the small screen. I guess that's how other smartphones work if you have a corporate mail server running Microsoft Exchange, but I've never had one.

I was also very impressed with the Google search widget on one of the virtual desktops of the home screen. It had a microphone icon so, out of curiosity, I clicked it and was invited to speak. A moment later it typed what I had said into the search box and was performing a search on it. Fortunately I hadn't said something rude! I then had some fun composing emails and text messages without using the keyboard. Unfortunately the speech engine doesn't recognize words like "comma", "full stop" or "newline" as punctuation and formatting, nor does it recognize commands like "send." But I was very impressed with the accuracy with which it understood what I said - the last time I tried voice input was at least a decade ago on a PC and I found it ultimately frustrating.

One of the applications I was keen to try out was Navigation, Google's free satnav program based on Google Maps which is not available for Windows Mobile. I haven't had a chance to test it in the car, but it seems like the full works, with a text to speech engine that barks directions at you. The optional but probably rather unnecessary satellite view looks rather cool, though I was rather less impressed by the route it suggested from home to Keswick, south-east of here, which involved turning right at the end of the cul-de-sac and going north, then west for a mile to reach the A66 before going east, instead of turning left and heading east which would save best part of two miles. My old satnav does that too, but that's because the estate hadn't been completed when the maps were made and it believes the top of the estate is still a building site.

The Android Market contains thousands of apps that you can download, either free or for a modest charge. However, sorting the wheat from the chaff seems like one of those things life's too short for. It reminds me a bit of the early Windows "shareware" market when anyone who had taught themselves Visual Basic thought they would be the next Bill Gates by releasing some flaky software that did very little and usually crashed as soon as it experienced some condition the programmer hadn't thought of.

There seem to be very few ham radio applications, though, and almost no really good ones. I saw quite a few apps to do with Morse, giving the lie to the idea that code is dead, but nothing that looked worth trying. The only professional quality radio application I could find is the new EchoLink client for Android.

My feelings about this have mellowed a bit since I wrote about it just over a week ago. Last Friday just before dinner I received a call through my EchoLink node from Practical Wireless VHF columnist and fellow blogger Tim Kirby, G4VXE, who was on his way home from work by train and called me using the EchoLink client for his iPhone. Though we've exchanged blog comments a few times it was very pleasant to speak with Tim for the first time. This was a contact we would be unlikely to make over radio and certainly not in that particular situation. Only EchoLink made it possible.

In the interests of research I had a conversation with myself using the EchoTest server and found the audio quality to be just as good as when I use my Kenwood TH-F7E to make contacts via my RF node. However the cellphone client has one disappointing limitation. You can't make a direct connection using the cellular network. You have to use a communication option called "Relay" which only allows you to call other non-cellphone EchoLink users. It doesn't allow other EchoLink users to call you. It's a bit like having a radio and not being able to call CQ.

I was somewhat unimpressed by the Android APRS app, APRSdroid, not just in comparison with Lynn, KJ4ERJ's APRSISCE for Windows Mobile, but even with the iBCNU app for the iPhone. The user interface is basically a console window: you can see position packets going out, and if you wish you can see raw packets of other users within a selected radius of your location. There is no support for messaging at all in the present version.

Tracking doesn't seem to work very well either, unless you are also running another application such as Navigation that keeps the GPS on all the time. I think the problem is that the app tries to save power by turning on the GPS, waiting for a fix and then turning it off again until the next time interval. It didn't work too badly when the phone was sitting in its charger cradle on my desktop, but getting a GPS fix when you are moving can take a very long time. There is a need for a simple APRS tracking and messaging application for Android but this has a way to go before it gets there.

The HTC port of Android OS is not an official release and has quite a few bugs and things that are still To Be Done. I've had the phone lock up and fail to respond to anything and have had to pull the battery a few times. There is no support for the built-in camera and the battery charge indication is completely fictitious. It's also best not to use wi-fi as it warms up the phone and consumes a lot more power than under Windows Mobile.

Unlike most people I bought my HTC Touch Pro SIM-free and unlocked because I don't like to be tied to a network. As a consequence I'm not going to be offered an upgrade for no extra cost when my contract runs out. I need to keep the phone for a while but I'd be more than happy to dump Windows Mobile because as a phone it's too much hassle, even though it does allow me to run some pretty powerful applications. I hope that the issues with the HTC Android port will be resolved in order that it becomes stable enough and functional enough for me to use it on my phone all the time.

Barely making contact

I was reflecting on what I wrote yesterday about the EchoLink app for Android and why I find it and similar developments disturbing. I thought it was because it made me uneasy having to face the fact that the internet and a cellphone appears to make ham radio redundant by allowing us to make the same contacts so much more easily without using the ham bands at all. Then I had a blinding revelation. Ham radio is not about making contacts. It is about not making contacts, or making them only with luck and some difficulty.

I almost stumbled across this truth a few months ago after I sold my first VX-8R to do APRS on a smartphone using Lynn KJ4ERJ's excellent APRSISCE software. It worked far better than the 2m radio, allowing me to be tracked and exchange messages in places where there was no 2m signal. But I went back to using RF for precisely that reason. The smartphone didn't provide the interest of allowing me to see how VHF RF propagates around the local terrain. The disappointment of not being tracked as I slogged up the mountain was balanced by my surprise when a beacon was gated from a location I wouldn't have thought possible and the interest created in working out how it happened. There is also the technical challenge of finding ways to improve coverage and get a radio signal out of difficult locations, for which buying a smartphone is simply a cop-out.

When you look at other ham activities that remain popular or are even gaining in popularity it's obvious that the interest is not in how easy it is to make contacts, but how hard. DXing isn't about pressing the PTT and ticking another entity off the list a minute later, it's about what you have to do - buy equipment, improve your antennas, learn about propagation, develop operating skills, be patient - in order to achieve it. People boast about the DX they've worked, but what keeps them interested in DXing is the places they haven't worked and how hard it will be to work them. Dialling up a contact using an internet application has nothing to do with it.

Contesting isn't popular because it's easy to amass a winning score but because you need the best equipment, the best antennas and lots of skill to get even close. It isn't meant to be a level playing field. That's why many people dislike developments like reverse beacons and skimmers that take away some of the skill required.

QRP pursuits like WSPR or MEPT beaconing aren't about making contacts at all, but just about seeing how far a whiff of RF can go. The excitement isn't in being received by someone for the nth time, it's that first barely detectable trace on the screen of someone or somewhere new that makes you punch the air (if QRPers go in for such QRO expressions of emotion.)

The thing about VHF FM activity is that for the most part it isn't about the achievement of the contact at all. It's just about being able to converse with people. When I was first licensed, before mobile phones and inclusive call packages, chatting on 2m FM was actually the best and certainly the cheapest way of keeping in contact with my local ham friends. But things have changed over the last 35 years and I haven't been paying attention. I'm the dinosaur who wouldn't disclose his mobile number to the radio club database because I felt that if someone wanted to talk to me about radio they could wait until they can contact me on the radio. But I suspect that everyone else has moved on. If they want to speak with one of their ham buddies they pick up the phone. Which may partly explain why the VHF bands these days are almost dead. Or even the development of D-Star, which provides some of the convenience of calling someone on the phone without totally abandoning use of the ham bands.

In only a handful of pursuits like SOTA and WOTA where the point is to make a contact direct using radio is 2m FM still used in what I would call a traditional manner. People will struggle to hear their signal report even if the activator is right down in the noise and get a feeling of having accomplished something when they are successful.

So EchoLink on a smartphone really doesn't change anything. It already changed. Whether hams call one another on the phone using their phone number or their EchoLink node number really makes no difference. It has just been blinkered thinking on my part to have felt that if people hold ham radio licenses they ought to talk to each other using ham radio even if it isn't the most convenient way of doing so.

EchoLink on Android

An EchoLink app has recently been released for Android mobile phones. That makes two smartphone platforms - Android and iPhone - that can now be used to access EchoLink. Is this really a good idea?

Let me make it clear from the start: I like EchoLink. What I like about it is that it can be used to link repeaters in different parts of the country or the world, and even allows individual operators like myself to set up simplex voice nodes without the technical complications, expense and licensing issues of running a repeater, the aim being simply to get some interesting activity on what may otherwise be a more or less dead band.

I realize that contacts made using EchoLink are not traditional amateur radio point to point contacts, so I don't want to start up the old "it's not ham radio" argument again. But I don't think the point of most contacts made on VHF FM is that you worked direct and exchange QSLs afterwards. They are just conversations between hams. The fact that the transmission went most of the way over the internet is of no more significance than if you used a conventional repeater. However it does matter to me that radios are used at each end, otherwise it's internet chat not a radio contact in any shape or form. So far, that seems to be the case with most of the EchoLink contacts I have made, but for how long?

The trouble with EchoLink apps for smartphones is that they are VoIP apps pure and simple. They encourage the use of EchoLink as a VoIP chat mode. Smartphones are so popular now that I'm afraid this could become the dominant way of using the system. It could even replace ham radio handhelds. Users are going to ask themselves: Why bother carrying this goofy looking radio about when I can just use my phone? One more nail in the coffin of amateur radio?

Open digital voice codec released

David Rowe has released an early version of his low bit rate open source digital voice codec. Whilst this is certainly a significant achievement, I can't get very excited about it for two reasons. First, it is incompatible with the AMBE codec used by Icom in D-Star, so it is never going to be able to work with existing D-Star equipment and it is not all that likely that it will be incorporated in future versions. And second, I still don't see what benefits digital voice offers us as radio hams in the real world.

Digital audio gives you clear "fully quieting" audio up until the signal starts to be lost, when it quickly breaks up and you get nothing. Analogue audio experiences a gradual degradation as the signal gets weaker. Those who have used the two report that an analogue signal is usably copyable about 15 - 20% further out than a digital signal. I can understand that for some professional services nothing but clear copy will do. But we are amateurs who are supposed to be good at digging weak signals out of the noise. Is this really "progress", in the context of what ham radio is used for?

The other reason for my antipathy to digital voice is that I question whether we need another voice mode at a time when VHF analogue voice operation itself seems to be in decline. Surely it would be better to be making more use of existing technologies like Echolink to create more activity for users of existing equipment than to introduce new digital modes that will have an even smaller number of users. I've seen D-Star radios up for sale because the original purchaser found there was hardly anyone to talk to, and D-Star has now been around for several years. I don't see the availability of an open source digital voice codec changing that situation somehow.

Interference on 30m

I was in the shack making a few adjustments to the Echolink software configuration. The K3 was on 30m APRS with the speaker volume turned down to almost inaudible. Suddenly, at about 1410 UTC, I heard a buzzing type of interference. I looked at the TrueTTY waterfall and saw there were interference bars every 50Hz right across the screen, strong enough to prevent anything from being decoded.

50Hz is the mains frequency here in the UK. With a sinking feeling my immediate thought was that one of the neighbours had discovered a new way to make the HF bands unusable. Then I remembered that Lynn, KJ4ERJ had posted a screenshot of similar interference only the day before in an APRS forum. I checked back, and sure enough the interference Lynn had seen in Florida was exactly the same.

I don't know what it is, but I don't think even my neighbours are capable of generating interference that could be heard across the Atlantic. It's still going strong 30 minutes later. I haven't seen an HF band wiped out like this since the Woodpecker fell silent back in the '80s. Well, at least I've got Echolink!

Bill in VK

Regular readers of my blog may have detected a loss of interest in HF band operating over the last few months. I have got tired of listening to signals through the harsh noise that it is never possible completely to eliminate, I got bored with the sameness of contacts using PSK31 and I got angry at having to battle with the renegade ROS mode if I wanted to use Olivia or other digital modes. My hopes were set on Sporadic E on the VHF bands but this year's season has been disappointing with no major openings on 144MHz extending this far north as far as I am aware.

Most of my radio activity in recent weeks has been focussed on APRS, first on establishing a VHF gateway and in the last few days getting going on HF. As I haven't felt much like actually sitting at the radio making contacts this has proved to be a good way to make some use of my HF equipment, a mode of operation that doesn't constantly remind me of the limitations of using attic antennas from a poor and noisy location.

I recently set up my private Echolink node again. I now have a Kenwood TM-D710 transceiver, a dual band 2m/70cm rig with dual receivers, a built-in APRS TNC and support for Echolink. However I'm still using the FT-817 on low power into a dummy load for my Echolink node for now. Before I could run a public Echolink node I would need to buy a proper dual band antenna instead of the 2m Slim Jim I'm currently using and apply for a permit from Ofcom. I'd then lose the use of the Kenwood for local 2m contacts and WOTA chasing, while the number of stations that could actually access the node due to my poor location could be counted on the fingers of one hand. So despite its built-in support it doesn't seem worth using the Kenwood for Echolink.

The node was on yesterday afternoon and I was sitting downstairs in the conservatory with the TH-F7E having a contact with John G4LRS from near Sheffield. After I finished with John I was called by VK6FSBB (if I remember it correctly) a Foundation licensee from Australia called Bill. Bill called because he had heard that my home location was Cockermouth. He was originally from the Workington area (Maryport in fact, though he had lived in Flimby, Seaton and various other places in West Cumbria) but had moved to Australia 45 years ago. He had held a ham radio license for only eight months and I was the first contact he had ever made into this area.

Bill had played rugby for various local amateur teams and mentioned various employers he had worked for, though as an incomer to the area I didn't know any of them. When I tried to explain where exactly I lived, I realized that the town must have changed beyond recognition from the days when Bill knew it. Things like the A66 bypass simply weren't there.

I could have talked for longer, but dinner was nearly ready and Bill's hand-held was only just making it into whatever repeater he was using to access the Echolink network in Australia so sometimes he dropped out after a lot of loud hissing like an old analogue mobile phone call. It may not have been a direct contact on HF and it wouldn't count for any awards, but to be Bill's first contact back to the place of his birth after 45 years made this VK contact a special one by any standards, one to remember long after I've forgotten many humdrum HF QSOs.

Threat to APRS, Echolink, D-Star in New Zealand

Steve, GW7AAV, spotted a news item on the NZART web page which states that the authorities in New Zealand have become concerned about IRLP, D-Star, Echolink, APRS and similar modes as they do not appear to fit within the New Zealand license conditions. Their concerns include the use of unattended transmitters and unlicensed digipeaters for APRS and amateurs based overseas operating a NZ amateur station via the internet.

It's easy to forget that other countries don't have such liberal licensing conditions as we do in the UK, although I would point out that operating an Echolink, D-Star, IRLP or packet radio (including APRS) node is not within the standard license conditions here either - you are supposed to apply for special permission. I know there are many who feel that is a good thing, and even that internet linking is not amateur radio and should not be allowed anywhere in the world, at all, but my opinion is that prohibiting it devalues amateur radio.

This policy is probably one of the main reasons why the APRS RF network is broken for messaging as many people (myself included) who are unwilling or unable to comply with the requirements for obtaining permission avoid the problem by operating receive-only gateways. Consequently we have the situation where smartphone-based APRS using mobile internet connections are more useful than APRS over radio.

I certainly believe that the point of our hobby is to use radio wherever possible, but where the internet makes possible something that could not practically be achieved using RF alone I think that we should be permitted to use it.

Unsquelched

I did a quick lash-up of the UHF FM transmitter module I received a few days ago which I was planning to use in a low-power Echolink node, mainly just to see if it worked. It did, but I discovered a small snag. The audio output isn't squelched.

The Echolink software requires either normal squelched FM audio or a carrier operated squelch signal on one of the serial port control lines. As neither of those is provided I guess I am going to need to generate a squelch signal derived from noise. But as I am not knowledgeable enough about electronics to design my own circuit I am going to have to find one first. This appears easier said than done, though there seem to be a surprising number of patents on the subject.

It isn't an urgent problem as I'm not in any hurry to build this project. I'll probably have more enthusiasm for it once the gloomy autumn weather starts.

Better late than never?

Yesterday I was surprised to receive a package, by air mail, from Greece. It was the micro transceiver module I ordered at the beginning of April from Elcom Research. I was informed that it had been sent by registered air mail, but when it didn't turn up and further emails went unanswered I opened a dispute with PayPal which was judged in my favour and the money was returned to my account on May 21st.

What I received was just what you see in the picture (less the PL259-BNC adapter which was included in the picture for scale). No documentation, no indication as to what the connections to the 10-pin connector are, nothing. It is completely unusable as sent. What's more, the Elcom Research website I originally ordered it from now seems to be defunct. The only identification is the part number FC201SA on the circuit board. I typed that into Google and found that the module is an FC-201/SA Audio/Data RF Module manufactured by Friendcom in China. Google also turned up a PDF user manual on the Friendcom site, so I was able to download and print off that.

From the manual it appears that Friendcom would normally supply a cable for the 10-pin connector. I didn't receive one. Without it I will have to solder directly to the pins, because although it looks like a standard 0.1in PCB header connector it isn't. The pins have a spacing of about 1.8mm. I haven't been able to find a mating connector, though I admit I haven't looked at the professional parts suppliers as with minimum order quantities and so on it isn't economic to order a single connector from them anyway.

My intention with this module had been to make a micro-power Echolink hotspot. As I no longer expected to receive it I had moved on from that idea, but now it's here I guess I'll have to pay for it. I don't plan on doing anything with it until the autumn at least, as for me summer is not the time for constructional work.

QRP on Echolink

My gardener XYL Olga has been waiting for rain as eagerly as I have been hoping for a Sporadic-E opening on 2m and today she got what she hoped for. As I was shack-bound I decided to hook the IC-910H up to the computer.

A few days ago I noticed to my amazement that the accessory connector on the IC-910H is exactly the same as the one on the FT-817. I could have simply used the interface I used with the '817, except that I had shortened the serial cable to make it the same length as the audio cables when used with a USB to serial adapter. My new PC has two real serial ports one of which was earmarked for exactly this purpose so I had to make up a new, longer cable before I could get started.

On the audio side I needed to use a USB audio "dongle" as the on-board sound card is used by the K3. I already use a Daffodil USB sound adapter for the computer audio. The dongle I used for the IC-910H is an even cheaper, more basic one than the Daffodil and I had purchased it to make an interface for my Echolink node. It appears to be satisfactory for that. Hopefully it will also be good enough for 1200baud APRS packet using the AGWPE sound card software as well. I doubt that it would be good enough for any kind of weak signal work like WSPR, as I observed a few weeks ago that the Daffodil adapter could not reproduce my recordings of weak CW bounced off the Moon from Arecibo. But I don't plan on doing EME or even WSPR or PSK31 on VHF anyway.

I set up APRSIS32 with the AGWPE software so I will be able to run an APRS gateway again when not needing the VHF radio for any other purpose. This may be useful as there seems to be an increase in APRS activity in the area. As well as Colin 2E0XSD getting set up on RF I have tracked G1TGY driving around the area. I'm not sure if I have the audio levels correct as I haven't heard any APRS to see if I can decode it and APRSIS32 doesn't support transmit through AGWPE yet.

I also installed the Echolink software on the shack computer and set up my Echolink node / hotspot. This is a personal node operated under the remote control provisions of my license so it is a bit wasteful that I have to generate 5W or RF - the minimum the IC-910H will go down to - and then dissipate it all in a dummy load to stop it being heard outside my property boundary. However it is nice to have the node available again as my back is playing up a bit today and it enables me to do some ham radio from a reclining chair downstairs or even lying on the bed if I need to.

Whilst setting up Echolink I noticed a conference called *QRP* which I hadn't seen before. I see that several QRP bloggers have been trying Echolink recently so perhaps we could use this conference for an occasional get-together? I'll connect to *QRP* more often over the next few days to see what if anything goes on there.

Transceiver module no-show

A few weeks ago I set up an experimental low power EchoLink node for use as a personal EchoLink "hot spot" using my FT-817 and a dummy load. I planned to make a a dedicated transceiver / computer interface for this. I thought I found the ideal basis for the project in this UHF Micro Transceiver Module from Elcom Research, a Greek company that makes packet radio and APRS products. The transceiver runs on 5V and can be powered by a computer USB port.

Perhaps I should have been warned off by the fact that an enquiry made through the web form on the Elcom site went unanswered, but I went ahead and ordered the module on 9th April, paying online using PayPal. After a couple of weeks nothing had been received, so I sent an email enquiry and received a reply that it had been sent by air mail and should be with me by the end of the week or the beginning of the next one. This was during the flying hiatus caused by the Icelandic volcano, so I gave it a bit longer. However it is now a week after the week that the module should have been received at the beginning of, and a further email received no answer at all. It looks unlikely that I will receive the module at all, so I guess my only option is to initiate the PayPal disputes procedure.

Could D-Star destroy ham radio?

In a comment to an old posting about D-Star in G4VXE's blog, Lee N2LEE accuses me of being closed to new ideas. Does it matter that the AMBE codec is patented if it is the best one for the job, he asks? And how can you compare Echolink/IRLP to D-Star when D-Star is an digital end to end system with routing, linking and networking built in to the system so you can just enter someone's callsign and the network will find them automatically?

To me, ham radio is not and never has been about reliable point to point communication. Communication is just the end-product of a process of experimentation and construction, or a pastime (think contests, DXing) where the unreliability and unpredictability of it is what makes it a challenge.

D-Star's use of a proprietary codec closes that aspect of the system to experimentation. It doesn't even permit interested amateurs to look at the code and see how it works. This is contrary to the spirit of amateur radio and the openness that has facilitated most developments to date by letting one idea lead to another. But to be honest I'm not all that bothered about the issue because codec technology, whether proprietary or not, is a closed book to most. I am more concerned about the possibility that digital voice modes might one day make analogue modes obsolete so that building a simple phone transmitter using SSB, FM or AM becomes a pointless activity. Ham radio does not have to slavishly adopt new technology, especially if that technology forces more of us to become appliance operators by making simple rigs that anyone can build obsolete.

As for digital end to end routing, why do we need it? We already have a system that can do that. It is called the mobile phone network. I didn't get into ham radio in order to be able to do something ordinary people can already do. I want to be able to do things that they can't. The unpredictability of propagation and the uncertainty of who you might work on a given band at any time are what makes a ham radio contact more interesting and more of an accomplishment than making a phone call. D-Star may be very clever technology but what it delivers is not what ham radio is about.

If the time ever comes when I think to myself "why am I struggling to make this contact on 20m SSB or whatever when I could simply type the guy's call into my D-Star radio and have a comfortable chat" then that is the day I will give up the hobby for good. And I make no excuses for resisting the adoption of technologies that will bring that day closer.

EchoLink hotspot update

I just had a reply from the RSGB's ETCC regarding my NoV application. In a nutshell, applying for an NoV to use a 2m frequency for a personal short-range node is a non-starter as "it would be entirely inappropriate for RSGB to assign one of the scarce channels available within the 2M band for your personal use." However it is possible to use provisions already in the license for "remote control of your station" to operate on any frequency I choose, without an NoV. So I have asked them to withdraw my application.

As a holder of a full UK amateur radio license, there are apparently no restrictions on frequency or power that I can use for the remote control circuit (other, of course, than those that apply to normal amateur radio operation.) However the link has to be "adequately secure" to prevent unauthorized transmissions. Typically for a legal document, no specific guidance is given as to what "adequately secure" means from a technical point of view. Limiting the power - or, perhaps more importantly, the receiver sensitivity - so that it cannot receive anything other than my own transmissions might be good enough, but I certainly would not consider it adequate security for my WiFi network (though a few years ago, before everyone got WiFi equipment, I certainly used to.)

Using a transceiver that supports DCS like my FT-817 - as I am currently doing - might be considered acceptable, though it wouldn't take too long for someone to run through all the available codes and find out which one I am using. However I don't want to use the FT-817 for this forever, I'd prefer to find something cheap that I can dedicate to it, and most of the cheap ex-commercial radios don't support things like DCS. They also run too much power. So at the moment I'm not sure what the best long-term solution is.

I hate to admit it, but I can see that D-Star has the advantage here. Being digital, it knows who is calling in to the system. I presume that the DVAP Dongle has a facility to limit access to your own specific call, which would solve the security issue once and for all.

Perhaps I'm worrying too much about this. After all, the reason I'm doing this is because there is very little local VHF FM activity receivable from here. Which means the likelihood of anyone accessing my node, even if it was unsecured, is practically zero.

Postscript: I think I may have found the solution.

G4ILO-L EchoLink hotspot

If you're a regular reader of this blog you'll probably have observed my comments about the lack of activity on VHF hereabouts. Even though I can raise three 2m repeaters there is next to no activity on any of them. And although there are several active amateurs in West Cumbria most are "over the hill" from me so I never hear them.

Some time ago I thought about setting up an EchoLink node to make it possible to have some contacts on VHF. But when I realized how much trouble I would have to go to in order to get permission for this I went off the idea pretty fast.

My interest in this basic idea was rekindled when I read recently about the D-Star Digital Voice Access Point. Personally I'm not going to be interested in D-Star until the prices of compatible radios come down and you can buy them from other manufacturers than Icom. Besides, I like my little TH-F7E with its wideband AM/FM/SSB/CW receiver and don't want to change it for one that doesn't have that facility. But why shouldn't I set up a very low power EchoLink node for my personal use so I could make some contacts using my TH-F7E hand-held from round and about the house?

I put in an online application for a Notice of Variation (NoV) to my license to run an attended simplex node - which so far hasn't made any progress. However, fellow blogger Tim G4VXE writing about his experience with the DVAP mentioned that he made some quick enquiries via the RSGB's ETCC as to the legality of using the DVAP without an NoV and they were not concerned about DVAPs or hotspots as long as there is no third party traffic.

I presume that D-Star, being digital, knows who is calling in to the system so you can set it so only you have access. With EchoLink you can really only have security by obscurity, using low power, a poor antenna and an obscure frequency so that it won't pick up transmissions from anyone else. I'm not sure if this meets the official standards for not allowing third party traffic, but my enquiry to the ETCC has also gone unanswered (so far.) I got fed up with waiting and decided to go ahead.

I first tried EchoLink many years ago when it first was announced. At the time I had no way to access the system except direct from my computer. After making a few contacts that way I found that talking to hams without using any radio wasn't very interesting, so I didn't use it again.

Even though I am only using RF to make the link of a few metres to the radio connected to the computer, because I am using an actual radio it really feels like I am making a radio contact. I have set up the G4ILO-L node so that it doesn't allow connections from computer-connected users. There may be disadvantages to this and perhaps some will consider it a bit unsociable but I still feel that using amateur radio at each end of the link is an important distinction that differentiates EchoLink from internet chat. I can still join EchoLink conferences and conferences may include directly connected users so talking to people who aren't using a radio isn't completely ruled out.

I dare say there are some who will still consider that making contacts in this way isn't amateur radio. But the fact that my RF is not going directly from my radio to his is of no great importance as far as I am concerned. This isn't meant to be a way to explore propagation or work DX. It really isn't much different from using a repeater.

If I find that it is worthwhile keeping my EchoLink node running then it will create a couple of new radio projects to work on. I will need to make a new computer/radio interface and either build or modify a radio that I can dedicate to the link so that the equipment I am currently using for it can be released for other uses.

Because I signed up for EchoLink soon after it was announced I have a coveted low node ID number: 3098. I have swapped this number over to use for the link. The G4ILO-L node is running low power to a leaky dummy load so it can only be used to contact me. If you have access to the EchoLink network by radio, please give me a call. It would be great to talk to you.

Local hotspot

The Digital Voice Access Point (DVAP) Dongle is a small device now available in the US that plugs into a computer and lets you create your own low power (10mW) RF gateway to the D-Star network.

Leaving aside my dislike of D-Star (it is incompatible with existing radios and requires you to purchase an Icom radio to participate, which in my book makes it effectively a proprietary system) for a moment, as someone living in an area where you hardly ever hear any 2m FM activity I can see the attraction of something like this. It would allow one to make some internet-linked ham radio contacts from around the house using a hand-held.

A couple of years ago I started looking into the idea of setting up a low-powered personal EchoLink node, for similar reasons. I prefer EchoLink to D-Star for the simple reason that almost any existing FM radio can use it (as long as it has a DTMF keypad). EchoLink has been going for years and already has a critical mass of users, which is surely more important from the point of view of finding people to talk to than using some new and more state of the art system?

Unfortunately it appeared that in order to set up an EchoLink node I would need to apply for special permission, providing details of three people who could turn the equipment off on instructions from Ofcom, wait months for permission to be granted, etc., etc., which is way too much hassle. I don't think you are exempted from this procedure simply because the RF output power of the node is very low. Because of this restriction doubt if many people in the UK will be using the DVAP Dongle either.