Steve you've really put the right words together! Your writing talent is shining with this issue. The 'bits of advice' bullets are particular gems. May I share them with members of our club, Paul Bunyan ARC?
Uncle - I'll talk about that in next week's issue, but I was asked a number of times if M17 was at Hamvention and the answer was no, for a number of reasons.
There seems to be some other ones out there now too. So far I'm very excited!
Hot tip on the BCM-220s - I fired off an email to Bridgecom sales right after reading this. The DB15 connector is a little weird but pigtails seem easily available from Amazon. A PCB that converted it to the ubiquitous 6 pin "packet port" would be cool.
Wow! Talk about service haha! I see you're even credited on one of the images. Honestly I should have looked there - I use a DRA card often with an older Kenwood dual band. Argent Data has some good adapters for old Motorola stuff too that I've used. Thanks Steve!
Justin - No coincidence :-) I've been following the BCM-220 for years now as it was the only mono band 222-225 MHz radio with a (factory) flat audio connection after Alinco discontinued the DR-235 series. I mentioned that the BCM-220 was a good fit for data use to Kevin Custer W3KKC at Masters Communications and less than a week later he sent me the prototype to try out. Another great place for radio data adapters is RPC Electronics - https://rpc-electronics.com - pull down the Data/Power Products menu.
Bookmarked! I assume I'll hear back from Bridgecom sales on Tuesday and I'll let you know what they say. I told them in my email about the effort to revive ham use of 219 MHz. My goal in doing so was to try to see if they'd be open to a barebones rig based on the BCM-220 that would only do data. I'm sure it wouldn't sell in quantity but it might be our best chance to get something off the shelf.
My order for two of those converter PCBs has been placed!
We're just a few miles apart in our normal lives, so perhaps we could meet up in our little corner of the world. I don't get out to the islands very much of late because of the ferry chaos, but perhaps when you're transiting back and forth we could arrange a meetup. Failing that, there's the ZRDC in September.
Steve you've really put the right words together! Your writing talent is shining with this issue. The 'bits of advice' bullets are particular gems. May I share them with members of our club, Paul Bunyan ARC?
John - Thanks for the kind words. I explicitly grant sharing permission in each issue. Read to the end.
Fantastic summary of Hamvention! A 5 gallon bucket dump from the firehose I'm sure.
Eric - Yeah, Hamvention is a firehose of information, no matter how narrow one's focus.
Any M17 mentions at Hamvention?
Uncle - I'll talk about that in next week's issue, but I was asked a number of times if M17 was at Hamvention and the answer was no, for a number of reasons.
Steve this is the video I was talking about for the D750:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a5WMQ5B1D8
There seems to be some other ones out there now too. So far I'm very excited!
Hot tip on the BCM-220s - I fired off an email to Bridgecom sales right after reading this. The DB15 connector is a little weird but pigtails seem easily available from Amazon. A PCB that converted it to the ubiquitous 6 pin "packet port" would be cool.
Justin - Thanks for the pointer to the video. I'll guess that was the interview I failed to get.
As for an easy adapter for the odd high density D connector, you're looking for this:
https://masterscommunications.com/products/radio-adapter/bcm6/bcm6.html
You're welcome! :-)
Wow! Talk about service haha! I see you're even credited on one of the images. Honestly I should have looked there - I use a DRA card often with an older Kenwood dual band. Argent Data has some good adapters for old Motorola stuff too that I've used. Thanks Steve!
Justin - No coincidence :-) I've been following the BCM-220 for years now as it was the only mono band 222-225 MHz radio with a (factory) flat audio connection after Alinco discontinued the DR-235 series. I mentioned that the BCM-220 was a good fit for data use to Kevin Custer W3KKC at Masters Communications and less than a week later he sent me the prototype to try out. Another great place for radio data adapters is RPC Electronics - https://rpc-electronics.com - pull down the Data/Power Products menu.
Bookmarked! I assume I'll hear back from Bridgecom sales on Tuesday and I'll let you know what they say. I told them in my email about the effort to revive ham use of 219 MHz. My goal in doing so was to try to see if they'd be open to a barebones rig based on the BCM-220 that would only do data. I'm sure it wouldn't sell in quantity but it might be our best chance to get something off the shelf.
My order for two of those converter PCBs has been placed!
Hi Steve, I saw you walk by the TAPR/HamSCI tables (and at the AMSAT / TAPR dinner), sorry we didn't get a chance to chat...
The QDX does fine as-is for almost all use-cases, but if you want to reference-lock it Turn Island Systems can help.
Here's the presentation I gave on Friday morning, about SDR receiver dynamic range optimization and the WSPRSONDE:
https://turnislandsystems.com/hamvention-presentation/
Paul - Thanks for the link to the presentation.
We're just a few miles apart in our normal lives, so perhaps we could meet up in our little corner of the world. I don't get out to the islands very much of late because of the ferry chaos, but perhaps when you're transiting back and forth we could arrange a meetup. Failing that, there's the ZRDC in September.