AmateurRadio.com

Years ago, after I built my Elecraft K2 I had the idea that I would only use home-built radio equipment. However I found that it was no longer possible to buy a kit to build a 2m FM radio. This afternoon I visited a site mentioned by Tim, G4VXE in his latest blog posting and was intrigued to find that a Dutch group is working on a design for a VHF/UHF transceiver kit. Not only that, it is apparently being developed in consultation with Elecraft and is built into an Elecraft EC-1 (K2) enclosure!

The basic kit will be for an analogue FM transceiver with modules for 2m, 70cm and 23cm (it isn’t clear to me whether you must choose one of these bands or whether you can fit all of the modules.) But with the addition of another module it can also become a D-Star transceiver!

Now I have never made any secret of my dislike of D-Star, mainly due to the fact that one manufacturer has a monopoly on the provision of radios. But a home-brew D-Star transceiver that doesn’t require you to buy anything from Icom and would sit neatly alongside my K2 in a matching enclosure could just be the thing that makes me swallow my objections. Yes, it will still have an AMBE chip containing the proprietary codec. But most of my radios contain chips with proprietary firmware so I don’t think that’s a good enough reason for continuing to avoid D-Star.

Years ago, after I built my Elecraft K2 I had the idea that I would only use home-built radio equipment. However I found that it was no longer possible to buy a kit to build a 2m FM radio. This afternoon I visited a site mentioned by Tim, G4VXE in his latest blog posting and was intrigued to find that a Dutch group is working on a design for a VHF/UHF transceiver kit. Not only that, it is apparently being developed in consultation with Elecraft and is built into an Elecraft EC-1 (K2) enclosure!

The basic kit will be for an analogue FM transceiver with modules for 2m, 70cm and 23cm (it isn’t clear to me whether you must choose one of these bands or whether you can fit all of the modules.) But with the addition of another module it can also become a D-Star transceiver!

Now I have never made any secret of my dislike of D-Star, mainly due to the fact that one manufacturer has a monopoly on the provision of radios. But a home-brew D-Star transceiver that doesn’t require you to buy anything from Icom and would sit neatly alongside my K2 in a matching enclosure could just be the thing that makes me swallow my objections. Yes, it will still have an AMBE chip containing the proprietary codec. But most of my radios contain chips with proprietary firmware so I don’t think that’s a good enough reason for continuing to avoid D-Star.

I have just uploaded a new video to G4ILO’s YouTube channel showing how to set up the APRSISCE/32 software to connect with a GPS and a TNC or radio. In the video I actually set up a connection between the software and a Kenwood TH-D72 and you can see and hear packets being received by the radio.

I also cover how to set up a connection with a GPS and how to use the AGW Packet Engine which allows you to use a soundcard as a packet modem.

I have just uploaded a new video to G4ILO’s YouTube channel showing how to set up the APRSISCE/32 software to connect with a GPS and a TNC or radio. In the video I actually set up a connection between the software and a Kenwood TH-D72 and you can see and hear packets being received by the radio.

I also cover how to set up a connection with a GPS and how to use the AGW Packet Engine which allows you to use a soundcard as a packet modem.

I was looking around for some information on DSTAR repeaters and the alternatives to commercial equipment when I happened across the Dutch*Star site.The site is entitled ‘D-STAR for the rest of us’ and in the words from the introduction to the site is about ‘about making your own equipment for the D-STAR communications system for Amateur Radio operators, ranging from simple GMSK node adapters (“modems”) to complete transceivers, repeaters and so on’What particularly interested me was the WinDV software. It’s an alternative to the well tried and tested ‘DVAP Tool’ by Robin AA4RC. I have to add that DVAP Tool has always worked well for me but it’s always interesting and fun to try out new software.WinDV can be downloaded here Installation is very straightforward and really consists of unzipping the file.Configuration too was straightforward. The only ‘challenge’ was to find out what COM port the DVAP was resident on. My DVAP Tool configuration told me that. I plugged my callsign and the COM port (COM10, in my case) into the settings and the program came up.One thing that I liked about WinDV compared to DVAP Tool was the ability to connect to a reflector or repeater from the software – which is perhaps quicker than fiddling around in the menus on the E92 (in my case!). You can also configure WinDV to automatically connect to a particular reflector or repeater when it starts up which is a nice touch.The proof of the pudding is in the eating, so I connected the software to REF001C and switched my E92 on. Reflector traffic was audible as expected and I found that I was able to transmit as expected – I had a nice QSO with KJ6MOH in Austin, Texas.The software is described as beta, but on the basis of a few minutes ‘testing’ seems to work well, so if you have a DVAP, you may well be interested to try this software and see how you get on.

I was looking around for some information on DSTAR repeaters and the alternatives to commercial equipment when I happened across the Dutch*Star site.The site is entitled ‘D-STAR for the rest of us’ and in the words from the introduction to the site is about ‘about making your own equipment for the D-STAR communications system for Amateur Radio operators, ranging from simple GMSK node adapters (“modems”) to complete transceivers, repeaters and so on’What particularly interested me was the WinDV software. It’s an alternative to the well tried and tested ‘DVAP Tool’ by Robin AA4RC. I have to add that DVAP Tool has always worked well for me but it’s always interesting and fun to try out new software.WinDV can be downloaded here Installation is very straightforward and really consists of unzipping the file.Configuration too was straightforward. The only ‘challenge’ was to find out what COM port the DVAP was resident on. My DVAP Tool configuration told me that. I plugged my callsign and the COM port (COM10, in my case) into the settings and the program came up.One thing that I liked about WinDV compared to DVAP Tool was the ability to connect to a reflector or repeater from the software – which is perhaps quicker than fiddling around in the menus on the E92 (in my case!). You can also configure WinDV to automatically connect to a particular reflector or repeater when it starts up which is a nice touch.The proof of the pudding is in the eating, so I connected the software to REF001C and switched my E92 on. Reflector traffic was audible as expected and I found that I was able to transmit as expected – I had a nice QSO with KJ6MOH in Austin, Texas.The software is described as beta, but on the basis of a few minutes ‘testing’ seems to work well, so if you have a DVAP, you may well be interested to try this software and see how you get on.