Rambling Onwards

The further adventures of an obsessed Ham. 

I’ve been dipping into the slush fund again. Two more DMR radios this time. First is a TYT MD9600 mobile radio. A used bargain from eBay again, I’ve upgraded the firmware and installed a codeplug which covers all UK repeaters. I’ve found that I can access GB7PE crime home so, for the moment it’s connected there on slot one, which is TG235 on the Phoenix DMR+ Network. 

The second purchase was a Radioddity/Baofeng RD-5R. Since upgrading the firmware on that one I find it’s utterly incompatible with the DMR network - they do work, but not if the firmware is upgraded. So, it sits on the shelf until the manufacturer issues a fix. 

Last Friday (4th May) I did a presentation and demonstration of Digital and Internet linked radio at my radio club, South Kesteven Amateur Radio Society. 

This went down really well with contacts being made on DMR, D-STAR, Fusion and Network radio. 

There were amazed faces when I made contact with Sid (G4RIO) on DMR whilst he was on holiday in France. That explained his absence from the meeting. 

With a little luck, hopefully I will have made believers of some of the more cynical amongst the members. The theme for my presentation was “Is it real radio?” I think I managed to establish that it was following several successful QSO’s. 

The Jumbospot arrived in timely fashion. It was assembled and working within half an hour, and now serves as my mobile hotspot, powered by a USB power bank and tethered to my mobile phone hotspot. After careful setting of the RX QRG, it works flawlessly and is continuing to behave itself, being used with my Hytera PD365 handheld - a great combination. 

The openSPOT also arrived and after a little time taken to understand the set up procedure, I’m astounded by the quality of this product and its superb performance. This has become my “go to” hotspot for shack use. 

The DVMega collection continues to perform without issues, thank goodness for Pi-Star software - easily the simplest and most effective means of digital communication via a hotspot. 

It’s the /P season again! Let’s see what can be achieved this year. Hopefully I’ll be out and about during the Summer. 

73 for now