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IT: As Seen By

In case you don’t reddit, an awesome summary of IT: pic.twitter.com/BRKHgfbG0w
— Nick Craver (@Nick_Craver) December 24, 2014

Merry Christmas!

One of my favorites and my usual Christmas post..

Adafruit and Heathkit

Adafruit looks at Heathkit:

"There are not as many people who know about Heathkit now, so when we saw a year ago that something new might be happening with the brand (again) we and many others got very excited. It’s puzzling as to what’s really going on though. 

Maybe our post about this will shed some light on this electronic history mystery which is Heathkit 2014. We hope we find out what the plans are for Heathkit, who owns it now, and if this legendary and loved brand is going to return to the educational electronic market."

Heathkit responds:

"Our friends at Adafruit Industries have been doing some sleuthing, and we agree- it's time for an update. Happily, there's plenty to report. 

Exciting things are happening in the Heathkit labs. We're pleased at the great feedback from our beta-testers on a range of quality products we've been actively developing. As you know, we had hoped to get several of these new products out for the Christmas market, but our team is creating so many new ideas that we've been slowed by the sheer work of creating patents (by law we must file them before we may sell our new products, or even advertise them). We remain hard at work, and as excited as ever to ship finished new products meeting Heathkit's high standards. 

Meanwhile, our team has been expanding. More top-notch technical advisors and advisors have joined the effort, and hand-picked interns have been learning the ropes while earning money for their college degrees. We've been carefully building supply chain relationships to keep quality high and prices low, and exploring exciting partnerships that we look forward to announcing. Our soldering irons remain hot, and are being put to good use. 

We know you're as eager as we are to see the newest Heathkit designs released. (Of course thousands of Heathkit® products are bought and sold each week-- we participate in this market ourselves, and monitor it closely). For any enthusiasts not yet on our Heathkit Insider email list, that list will be the first place that new product availability is announced. Head over to the FAQ section on our official website to learn how to join the mailing list and also to read the answers to Adafruit's questions about Heathkit intellectual property. We look forward to building out this FAQ section as more information becomes public. 

It's been an enormous amount of hard work, but our team has risen to the task. You can be confident that as true Heathkit devotees ourselves, we want nothing more than to honor the legendary name that's graced workbenches and homes for generations. We look forward to providing more news soon. 

Until next time,
The Heathkit Team"

Via reddit and reddit.

Misuta

And on the topic of names, Hans has spotted another name for the Baofeng now Pofung radios: Misuta:

"Two models are on display so far: the Misutā Samurai, and the Misutā Hero. Both are, of course, UV-5Rs, with reverse LCDs. Prices are about the same."

Xiegu X108: Better Update

From Fred (VE3FAL):

"Those who have already received the updated radio say it is like night and day between the first batch and the second. Audio on SSB is much cleaner and clearer and the over-driving of the front end has been fixed. AM is also much better sounding according to those using the radio. 

The firmware has been changed as well so the microphone buttons can be programmed by the end user to their choice and option for buttons on the microphone, as well a cw side-tone volume control has been added into the menu options."

And from Ed's Import Communications site:

"-this radio is out of stock- 

the factory is replacing all previously sold radios and stock should return in mid-December"

And also this:

"Xiegu is pronounced 'zee goo'"

Repeater Highway Sign

A nice idea, but I'd probably not catch the frequency as I drove by it. (And some on reddit think it is fake.)

As seen on CBS This Morning #hamradio pic.twitter.com/y9XutfIAOD
— Randy (@K7AGE) December 22, 2014

Xiegu X108: Second Batch

I've not kept up completely with the X108, but it looks like there were several problems with the first batch. Some (most? all?) of the sellers are working with their customers to replace the radios with new ones that have been updated with several fixes. Again, I've not stayed on top of it completely, but it does seem like satisfaction is growing with the owners.

If you want to check out the details, you can catch up in the X108 Yahoo Group.

TDXOne TD-Q3

A step in the right direction in my quest for a tiny 2M radio - except it is UHF - the TDXOne TD-Q3 (409Shop - $28.50 or Amazon - $38). Dimensions are 82 x 47 x 24 mm. The 409Shop says it can be expanded to 99 channels, but everything else says 16.

409Shop:

Model:	TD-Q3
Frequency Range:	UHF 440-480MHz
Channel capacity:	16(can be extened to 99)
Output power:	<=3W
Operating Voltage:	3.7V
Antenna:	Built-in aerial
Working Temperature:	-20°C—+50°C
Frequency Spacing:	12.5/25kHz
Battery capacity:	1800mAh
Color:	Blue
Dimension(Exclude antenna) :	82x47x24mm
Weight(Include Battery):	95g
Feature:
FM radio:		Yes
Emergency alarm:		Yes
Flashlight function:		Yes
Scan function:		Yes
Monitor function:		Yes
Key lock function:		Yes
Volume adjustment:		Yes
Low battery indication:		Yes
Voice purification function:		Yes
TOT(timer-out time) :		Yes
CTCSS/DCS:		38CTCSS/83DCS

Technology

On the one hand, you'd think they'd have something nicer. On the other, I appreciate a company being frugal.

Just visited the WOW! Cable offices. Their lobby setup includes a VHS player and a CRT television. #cuttingedge pic.twitter.com/tdKMOfqJ6C
— Lone Nut (@LoneNutVolFan) December 12, 2014