TYT MD-380: Shmoocon Firetalks 2016 Video

I've been reading on this TYT MD-380 hacking stuff, but didn't catch that Travis Goodspeed is an East TN/Knoxville guy.

"Tablet" Problems

During the AFC Championship game, the Patriots had problems with their Microsoft Surface tablets. One of the commentators said they were going to use them with them with cables. So maybe it was wireless problems?  In any case, this is funny:

"They're having some trouble with their Microsoft Surface tablets." "You decide NOW to not call them iPads?" -- Microsoft execs, probably

— Andy Staples (@Andy_Staples) January 24, 2016

Baofeng UV-5RZ: The End

Guess we are done... Baofeng UV-5RZ. They've run out of letters, so no more radios. Sad face goes here.

Thanks to Nate for the link.

No Throat Mic - Not an operator

Image via reddit - love the comments.

TYT MD-380: Yahoo Group

The obligatory Yahoo Group for the TYT MD-380.

Free DMR Guide

Speaking of DMR radios, Matt has a link to a free DMR guide he really liked:

"Last night I downloaded and read a free 28-page PDF guide called the Amateur Radio Guide to Digital Mobile Radio by John Burningham W2XABavailable on the TRBO.org website. It made everything come together for me. If you’ve been interested in getting into DMR, download this and read it tonight. Well worth the hour it took!"

TYT MD-380: Updating Firmware

TYT MD-380 firmware update process.

TYT MD-380: Purchasing and Videos

I posted about being able to hack the TYT MD-380 and pointed to my Amazon link for purchasing. I forgot that my friends at BuyTwoWayRadios.com have them as well. (Remember modifying the radios may void your warranty, so don't expect them or anyone else to replace the radio if you brick it!)

The BuyTwoWayRadios site has a couple of videos about the MD-380:

TYT MD-380: Hacked!

At Hackaday:

"Every once in a great while, a piece of radio gear catches the attention of a prolific hardware guru and is reverse engineered. A few years ago, it was the RTL-SDR, and since then, software defined radios became the next big thing. Last weekend at Shmoocon, [Travis Goodspeed] presented his reverse engineering of the Tytera MD380 digital handheld radio. The hack has since been published in PoC||GTFO 0x10 (56MB PDF, mirrored) with all the gory details that turn a $140 radio into the first hardware scanner for digital mobile radio."

You can get the MD-380 from various Amazon sellers. I first posted about this radio in May of last year with a link to a review by VA3XPR.

Undercover Boss

I've had worse bosses...

The Peyton Mannings Win

Broncos have 6 drops. Their most drops in a game in the regular season was 3. pic.twitter.com/LvwFoTCZla

— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) January 17, 2016

Peyton Manning and Broncos WRs today ... pic.twitter.com/xtOdUj2nY8

— Steve Braband (@stevebraband) January 17, 2016

The Easy Way

It’s easy to spot a future programmer pic.twitter.com/dM22yBKwgI

— Bertrand Fan (@bertrandom) January 15, 2016

Amazon Prime is $73

You can get a year of Amazon Prime for $73 this week-end.

Complex, No Common Names with 50+ Characters

"Choose password" > 123bob "Password must not contain common names & must be complex with at least 50 characters" > gameofthrones "OK"

— Terry F (@daemonic3) June 4, 2014

Grant

I went down a rabbit hole for no real reason, but stumbled across this document [PDF] about neighborhood grants available in Knoxville. The reason I found it interesting is that the awards could be used for ham radio training. Under project examples, the text reads:

Crime and Public Safety
—
Projects which reduce crime and increase public safety, such as establishment of a neighborhood watch program; creative alley lighting; National Night Out activities; and crime prevention, fire safety and emergency preparedness programs (including First Aid, CPR and Ham Radio training)

The grant process is competitive, so I suspect that ham radio training might not be as compelling to some as a park or program to benefit seniors or children.

Tech Fatigue

People are getting tried of keeping up with all the changes or maybe most things are good enough.

In the last year, I went from an old 42 inch HDTV LCD to a new, thin Vizio 55-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart TV. I upgraded to an iPhone 6. I've had an old iPad Mini for years that I rarely use. I don't have a smart watch. I've had my Honeywell Wi-Fi thermostats for a while. I'm not really interested in a drone.
I might upgrade my Garmin GPS running watch or add a fitness band. I geek out over the data, so I'd like to have the heart rate and sleep information that something like the Garmin Vivosmart HR would provide.

How Things Work VideosMechanical

A bunch of great videos showing how various mechanical devices work.

Videos of every mechanism ever (via @YouTube) https://t.co/1m210PdEzq pic.twitter.com/wQD0AwvOrm

— James Lewis (@baldengineer) January 5, 2016

Star Trek Floppy Disks

Gene Roddenberry left behind 200 floppy disks and the data has been recovered. No one is saying what is on the disks, but I think we finally find out that Captain "Red" Janeway and Pavel Chekov are cousins.

Alinco DJ-X11

Mike's got a new favorite - Alinco DJ-X11:

"The Alinco DJ-X11 is a wide-band all mode portable that has IQ output so it can be used as a limited sound card based SDR and it also has the option to output base-band audio also known as a discriminator tap the can be used with any app that needs unfiltered audio (PDW, Unitrunker)."

Smart Mirror

This project looks like way too much work and buying a monitor for it makes it expensive, too - but I like the idea of a Smart Mirror.