Top 10 and Best/Worse of 2014

409Shop's Top 10 Most Popular Baofeng models:


For those who don't want to watch the video:

10. BF5301
9. BF-A58
8. UV-B6
7. BFQ19
6. UV-82
5. BFUV89
4. A-52
3. BF-888S
2. UV-3R+Plus
1. UV-5R

The only surprise for me is the UV-3R+Plus coming in at #2.


And Hans has his best and worst of 2014 here.

New Kicks

I cheated on my Asics when I could no longer get the GT-2170. I tried a pair of Brooks Ravenna 5, but took them back after a single run. I then moved to a Saucony Guide 7. It became obvious from my wear patterns that I no longer pronate like I did when I started running. My foot strike has changed dramatically. So now, I'm back to Asics - this time in the Gel-Nimbus 15.

Retevis RT-B6

You never know where these things will show up... I was helping with a class and noticed a radio sitting on the counter.

The labels on the radio and the charger don't match. I turned it on for a quick picture and then popped the battery off.

I want to see if there are others scattered around the building. If I had to guess, someone bought something like this 10 pack for emergency communications. I'm betting they think they just bought some walkie-talkies.

HT of the Future

HT of the Future at Orlando:

"On February 14, Bruce Perens K6BP will be demonstrating the handheld transceiver of the future at the Orlando Hamcation.

He will be speaking on Saturday, Feb. 14 from 12:30 to 1:30 in the "Lakeside Pavilion with Hamcation Inflatable Portable Shelters (HIPS)". 

Bruce will demonstrate the current Whitebox Bravo board, and will show and discuss the PCB 3D renderings and schematics of the Whitebox Charley (third generation) which is about to go to a prototype manufacturing run. He hopes to sell this version."

At github:

"A cross between a smart phone and a software defined radio with an Open Hardware & Software license. Built to set the Internet FREE from it's bondage to wires."

Via reddit

Hytera TC-320: Mini-Review

David (K7DB) likes the Hytera TC-320:

"On 1/29/2015 you blogged about a TDXOne TD-Q7 UHF radio. 

For some time I've been using another small UHF radio that has delivered flawless performance and is put together very well. It's a Hytera TC-320. (Yep, the same Hytera that makes the DMR radios.) It's FCC Part 90 certificated. 

I purchased it from a U.S. dealer for $92 delivered, and I think it might even be available cheaper (and also quite a bit more expensive -- so shop around). Programming s/w is available from your dealer for free. A special version of software is needed to program 5 kHz deviation -- that can also be provided free by the dealer. 

The dealer actually has a bunch of these radios that he rents out... so you can imagine how much wear and tear they might get being used for short-term events where the users probably couldn't care less about taking care of the radios. In fact, the manufacturer specs claim it will survive a 1.5 meter (about 5 foot) drop, and there is a U.S. warranty and repair facility in Florida. 

These are 16 channel 2-watt radios, so they might not meet everyone's needs... but they are extremely rugged and reliable, and I'm happy with mine. Comes with 1700 mAh battery. Draws about 34 mA on squelched receive, 1000 mA on 2 W transmit, about 500 mA on 0.5 W transmit, and typically 170 to 280 mA on receive (depending on volume). 

The radio has a neat feature (although in practice a use for it won't come up so often for amateurs) where many groups, each with its own subaudible tone, can share a small number of channels. The radio will scan for traffic with the group's tone, and on transmit -- if no channel is being used with that tone -- will go to an unused channel. In essence, this is a simple trunking system. I think this feature would be useful for a commercial community repeater service with lots of groups and a few repeaters. 

Since this is a commercial radio, most dealers include programming in their quoted price. For amateurs, it's best to tell the dealer he can skip the programming, and ask him to throw in a programming cable instead."

Patching

I like this quote:

“You can’t patch people. They want to be helpful. So train them.” @swordshieldsec #knoxcybersummit
— Clarisntwrks (@ClarisNtwrks) February 5, 2015

VeroTelecom Interview

Over at reddit an interview with Mindy of VeroTelecom:

"Q: From my research on VeroTelecom it seems the majority of your business is the professional two way radio market (rugged, heavy duty radios). What made VeroTelecom decide to focus on the Amateur radio market with such a specific radio? 

A: Vero Telecom has focused on the radio market for over 10 years, no matter for professional radio market or amateur radio market. However, for this long time, we did not have a representative product for the Amateur radio market. So we spent 3 years developing the VR-6600Pro. And we hope it will be a successful beginning in to the Amateur market. 

Q: With such an Amateur specific radio (APRS, GPS, multi color, etc) is VeroTelecom planning on a significant percentage of their business to be Amateur related? 

A: In the future, Vero Telecom will more focus on Amateur radio market, say 80% or more."

More at the link.

Raspberry Pi 2 and Windows 10

There is a new Raspberry Pi... the Raspberry Pi 2:

"Let’s get the good stuff out of the way above the fold. Raspberry Pi 2 is now on sale for $35 (the same price as the existing Model B+), featuring:

• A 900MHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 CPU (~6x performance)

• 1GB LPDDR2 SDRAM (2x memory)

• Complete compatibility with Raspberry Pi 1

Because it has an ARMv7 processor, it can run the full range of ARM GNU/Linux distributions, including Snappy Ubuntu Core, as well as Microsoft Windows 10."

And the really interesting part:

"Windows 10 

For the last six months we’ve been working closely with Microsoft to bring the forthcoming Windows 10 to Raspberry Pi 2. Microsoft will have much more to share over the coming months. The Raspberry Pi 2-compatible version of Windows 10 will be available free of charge to makers.

Visit WindowsOnDevices.com today to join the Windows Developer Program for IoT and receive updates as they become available."

Green Power Supplies

Recycle!

Computer supplies converted to 12vdc 20a running great as station DC power source. pic.twitter.com/gIuwFQGxDS
— Dave Hockaday (@WB4IUY) January 22, 2015

Binary

No offense to your dots and dashes, Mr. Morse, but how much can you ever do with just a binary code? #hamradio pic.twitter.com/C9r17KBFxi
— wa1gov (@wa1gov) January 31, 2015

Via LA3ZA