Alinco = AnyTone

Hans points out that Alinco is rebranding Anytone radios.

While the looks are still typical Alinco, inside it’s another story. The Alinco DR-138 and DR-438, two mono-band radios, are incarnations of the AnyTone AT-588 mono-band radios. The ‘all new’ DR-638 dual-band radio is an incarnation of the AnyTone AT-5888.

As I was posting this, I was going to add the Alinco label/tag and realized I had never used it before. Funny that I've made it four years without using it and now I add it because of Anytone.

TYT TH-9800: Version 2

Grapevine Amateur Radio sent out an e-mail about the updated TYT TH-9800 Quad band mobile. They have it for $279.99:

"We received a brand new shipment 2 days ago and have already sold several of these updated radios. This is the latest version of the TH-9800 Quad Bander, which contains a new PCB board and has the most up-to-date firmware."

I wish there was a little more detail in the message.

Because it is more likely?

Sex or space?

Organizational Announcement

Effective April 1, 2015, I will be splitting the website in to two blogs - Brick and O'Lore. I think this will better serve my customers. Plus all the cool kids are doing it.

Slow iOS 8 Adoption

If users are slow to adopt iOS 8 because of disk space issues, then maybe Apple will stop making 16 GB devices and go to 32 GB as the smallest. I know that flies in the face of their strategy to push everyone to iCloud, but 16 GB is definitely on the smallish size these days.

TYT DM-UVF10

Another day, another flavor... TYT DM-UVF10. Some posts about the DM-UFV10 mention GPS.

"DM-UVF10,a dualdisplay, dual standby two-way radio,adopts high-technology and novel designDM-UVF10 adopts humanism design,making it smart in shape, advanced in function and flexible in operation,with function of DTMF, voice scrambler and voice compander,will satisfy you and can hardly tear yourself away from it. More fantastic function,DM-UVF10 will take you to enjoy them"

• Digital dual-band

• dual display, dual standby

• VOX function

• Voice scrambler

• FM radio

Tethercell

I can't come up with a single application for this that would make me buy a Tethercell. I still think it is a cool idea.

Remove the AA battery.
Put a AAA battery in the Tethercell.
Place the Tethercell in the device.
Install the app.
Profit!


Via Uncrate

Baofeng UV-5R: Bugs

If you are having problems with your UV-5R where the receiver is muted, check out Miklor and the BuyTwoWayRadios pages for some common problems and fixes.

From the Miklor page, the affected radios are:

Some newer radios with N5R-20 and N5R-30 firmware.
This is a current firmware that will ship with ALL UV5R series radios. This includes all UV5R, RA, GT-3, BFF8, F8HP, etc.

The Stick

The last few months, I've developed some calf cramps during my runs. I tried using my big foam roller to work them out, but there is either too little pressure, too much pressure (if I cross my legs), or I can't hold myself up long enough to work out the cramp.

Many of my runner friends had recommended The Stick as a good tool to focus on a muscle area. I don't know why I didn't listen to them sooner! This thing is a miracle worker. I got mine at Runner's Market here in Knoxville. They recommended the firmer one saying it would last longer. (They had several versions of The Stick sitting around and the flexible ones were in much worse shape.) You can apply as much pressure as you are comfortable with and just roll it over the sore muscle 25-30 times. I've gotten immediate relief and had fewer problems since I started using it.

(I'll get my usual million dollar kick-back if you order one from Amazon, but I want to mention I am not otherwise getting compensated for making these glowing/gushing statements about The Stick. Sorry for the commercial, but I just like it that much!)

MatchStick

Mozilla announced Matchstick, a $25 Firefox OS HDMI dongle, to compete with Chromecast.

Via Slashdot.org