It’s Monday, and I’m just getting started on the Random Wire newsletter. Usually, I’m about 80% done with the first draft by Monday morning. Not so this week. I took some time this weekend for family instead of radio and that significantly reduced my Random Wire writing time. Then the week started with back-to-back meetings, leaving me with little energy to work on radio.

But without work, there would be less money for radio, so this is a tradeoff I’m willing to make. With that out of the way, let’s talk radio.

Announcing…ROTA-Radio

I’ve been waiting awhile to bring this to your attention. I hope it will bring a smile to your face (as it does to mine), and perhaps you’ll enjoy what Paul N4FTD shares. I do.

In Why ROTA? — Innovation Born of Necessity, Paul opens with his why:

In the amateur radio world, we talk a lot about “portable” or “mobile” operations. Usually, that implies a mountain top or a remote forest. But for me, the most important mobile operation happens within the 1/2-mile radius of my home in Southwest Florida.

ROTA (Recliners on the Air) is the realization that being a dedicated husband and caregiver doesn’t have to mean being “Off the Air.” It is a philosophy of balance—staying connected to the world while staying exactly where life needs me to be.

Caregiving for a spouse is where Paul and I bonded. I’m living that life, too, so I relate well to the challenges of balancing caregiving with being active on the air.

The other topic we connected on was remote operation of the Icom IC-7300. Turns out he’s already cracked that nut. See Recliners on the Air: Operating the Icom IC-7300 Over WiFi using SDR-Control and RS-BA1 for how he operates his IC-7300 from his recliner, while the radio happily runs out in the shack.

ROTA-Radio. Something many of us can relate to, or even something we do, but never described with a label. I hope you’ll get to know Paul and enjoy what he shares with us. At this stage of his radio blogging journey, he can use helpful feedback. Find ROTA-radio on WordPress.com at https://rotaradio.wordpress.com/.

Recreational: Listening to Classical Music and the ISS

Those two things don’t normally go together.

As I write this, I’m listening to a classical FM radio station located about 49 miles away “as the crow flies” and simultaneously listening to communications with the International Space Station. The ISS stream is available on AllStar node 516221. I note that not many hams are listening in at the moment:

What does it sound like? This one-minute audio capture shows even proficient radio operators occasionally double on their transmissions! This is node 516221 to my node 588418, retransmitted over RF to my BTECH UV-Pro handheld:

By the way, the BTECH UV-PRO has been a very solid radio for me and is one of just a few radios I always keep charged and readily available. I reported on it back in July 2025 in Random Wire 139. It remains available and is well-reviewed:

BTECH UV-PRO (TAN) IP67 Dual Band VHF/UHF Two-Way Radio | Bluetooth, GPS, APRS, USB-C, NOAA Alerts, Aviation RX, App Text Messaging (affiliate link)

The ISS is passing directly overhead as I type this, as shown on my HamClock OHB (Open Hamclock Backend):

There are other ways to listen, including with your handheld transceiver and online.

On EtherHam

• A reader asked for the Digital Radio News Gatherer script and a how-to guide. These are now provided in a single ZIP file available at the end of TechNote 15 — Upgrading the Digital Radio News Gatherer with Groq AI.

• New this week: TinySA Ultra vs. NanoVNA-H4: Different Tools, Better Together. I now have both units in hand. I’ll have more information on them next week. The EtherHam article reviews the use cases of the two devices.

Update on HF Watch

I really don’t know how useful this is, but I find it interesting, and it was a blast to build it. HF Watch has been running around the clock for 11 days. In that time, it has collected nearly five million data points! If you missed this last week, HF Watch runs on a Raspberry Pi 5.

This one-week average view clearly shows 20 meters is the most popular band in my grid square, followed by 40 meters. Activity on 20 meters kicks up in the morning hours, then picks up even more in the afternoon. The pattern for 40 meters is more subtle, showing some increase in the late evening (presumably as 20 meters fades out).

Is this surprising? Not at all, and that’s why I say I don’t know how useful it is. I was not surprised to see little activity on 6 meters and 10 meters. I did think I’d see more on 15 meters as that has been a very solid band for me.

Next Week

Next week I’ll have some hands-on reporting on the TinySA Ultra and NanoVNA-H4.

I’ll also share thoughts on one of the latest AllScan devices, the UCI80M (find this about 1/3 of the way down this page). This tiny device uses a Motorola M-1 speaker-mic. After only a few days of operating with the UCI80M, I already know it’s going to be one of my favorite AllStar node devices.

01 — M17 over RF with Your Phone and HT: Is This Viable?

An idea popped into my mind recently and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.

Many of us who use M17 are doing it over the internet using DroidStar or the MSeven iPad app. Connect, key up, talk. It’s easy and it works great. But what if you could do genuine M17 digital voice over RF, with your Android phone as the control head, using a radio you might already have sitting in the shack?

This is not a hypothetical. It’s a thing that exists right now.

The key pieces are: Mobilinkd's m17-kiss-ht Android app and their TNC4. If you've been in the APRS or packet world for any length of time, you know about Mobilinkd. They pioneered the modern Bluetooth TNC, a little matchbox-sized device that connects your radio to your phone wirelessly for packet operations. The TNC4 is their current model, and they've added M17's 4FSK modulation to its bag of tricks. The m17-kiss-ht app handles the Codec 2 voice encoding and M17 protocol on the phone side. With the app and the TNC, your Android phone becomes the PTT and voice processor, the TNC4 becomes the modem, and your radio becomes the transmitter.

That makes this real M17 digital voice, over the air, with no dedicated M17 radio required.

But there's a catch. M17 is picky about radio audio in a way that APRS simply isn't. You need flat, unfiltered audio plus very fast key-up. That rules out most budget HTs and many (most?) modern radios whose audio is tuned for voice, not data.

The M17 Foundation has a radio compatibility list and it's genuinely useful, but it's heavily weighted toward mobile radios and older commercial gear: Kenwood and Yaesu mobiles, some ICOM, and some Motorola commercial units. What's almost entirely missing is modern, data-capable handheld transceivers. And there are some obvious candidates that seem like they should work but simply haven't been publicly tested and written up.

The one confirmed HT success story involves the Quansheng UV-K5/K6, but that requires a hardware modification: capacitor swaps to extend the audio frequency response, plus custom firmware to get keying latency down to acceptable levels. The interesting question is whether a radio with a purpose-built 9600-baud data path might work without any modification at all.

Quansheng UV-K6 UV-K5(8) Walkie Talkie 5W Airband Radio Type C Charge UHF VHF DTMF FM Two Way Radio with NOAA Weather Alarm Function (affiliate link)

Take the Kenwood TH-D74A with a built-in 9600-baud TNC and a well-documented flat audio data port that many operators rely on for APRS and packet data. Does its audio path satisfy M17's stricter requirements? My guess: yes, because it's probably the same Kenwood data port architecture used in the TM-V71A and TM-D710 mobiles that are already confirmed on the compatibility list. Is the key-up fast enough when driven from an external TNC? Nobody appears to have tried it and reported back in any systematic way.

That's the opportunity here. If it works, this is M17 digital voice accessible to anyone with a capable HT, a TNC4, and an Android phone — no purpose-built M17 radio required. The app is developer-grade rather than ready for everyday use, the Bluetooth pairing on Android has some rough edges, and setup takes patience. The developer is candid that it's early-stage. But the concept is solid, the TNC4 is proven hardware, and the code is open source. What's missing is operators willing to put radios on the test bench and share what they find.

If you've got a 9600-baud capable radio — especially an HT with data port access — and a TNC4, you may be closer to an experimental M17 RF platform than you realize. Someone ought to try this.

Resources

• m17-kiss-ht source code: https://github.com/mobilinkd/m17-kiss-ht

• M17 Foundation radio compatibility list: M17 Foundation Wiki

• Mobilinkd TNC4: mobilinkd.com

02 — Gear: TinySA Ultra Spectrum Analyzer

I bought a TinySA Ultra spectrum analyzer from Radioddity. I’m happy with it, though I’m still figuring out the basics. What is detailed below draws more on specifications and reviews rather than deep personal experience. I’m still learning how to use this device.

If you don’t know what a spectrum analyzer does, you may want to start with my comparison of the TinySA Ultra spectrum analyzer and the NanoVNA-H4 vector network analyzer. Find this on EtherHam.com at: TinySA Ultra vs. NanoVNA-H4: Different Tools, Better Together

My RigExpert Stick 500 antenna analyzer is a wonderful piece of kit, but I wanted to make sure I was getting the full picture, so I added tiny spectrum analyzer to my bag of tools. The one I selected was from Radioddity:

TinySA Ultra Spectrum Analyzer | Antenna Analyzer | 100kHz-5.3GHz | PC Connectivity | 4.0” Touchscreen | 3000mAh Battery

(If you’re interested, there should be a 10% off coupon available, but I’ve also seen a 15% off promotion.)

This isn’t the cheapest version of this type of device, but two things sold me on spending a little bit more: my good history with Radioddity, and excellent reviews on their website for this device. I also appreciate the enclosure. Instead of a thin metal case with sharp edges and corners, the TinySA comes in a comfortable-to-hold plastic case. This unit also has some heft to it — more than I’ve felt with cheaper units — which inspires more confidence that this is a high-quality device.

The only thing it lacks is SMA-to-SO239 adapters for my antennas, but I have a couple of those so it’s not a big deal. I do worry, though, about my inexpensive adapters. It would be worth getting higher-quality adapters that won’t taint the readings on the analyzer.

The TinySA is subject to damage if overloaded, so I purchased a few attenuators to help protect the device:

AURSINC SMA Attenuator Kit, 10dB/20dB/30dB 3-Pack, SMA Male to Female RF Attenuator 2W 50 Ohm DC-6GHz in-Line Attenuators with Highly Linear Attenuation (affiliate link)

(You need really good light to see the 10dB, 20dB, and 30dB markings on these little things! The etched markings blend with the attenuator body.)

I also purchased a couple of adapters that should take some pressure off those small SMA connectors:

DHT Electronics Handheld Antenna Cable SMA Male to UHF SO-239 Female Connectors 6’‘ Pack of 2 for Amplifier (affiliate link)

TinySA Ultra: What It Actually Does (and Doesn’t)

The Radioddity TinySA Ultra is one of those rare tools that punches above its weight—small enough to toss in a go-kit, but capable enough to answer real RF questions when you’re away from the bench. It’s not a lab-grade instrument and it doesn’t pretend to be. But used within its limits, it’s remarkably useful.

Core Performance

Frequency Coverage (Two Personalities)

The TinySA Ultra is really two analyzers sharing a box:

• Low range: ~100 kHz to 800 MHz
  This is where it performs best — cleaner response, better dynamic range, more trustworthy measurements.

• High range (“Ultra mode”): ~800 MHz to ~5.3 GHz
  Coverage is impressive for the size, but performance drops off — more spurs, less accuracy, and more interpretation required.

Resolution Bandwidth (RBW)

• Down to ~200 Hz in the low range, which is genuinely useful for narrowband work

• Wider (and less precise) in Ultra mode

This is one of the quiet strengths of the Ultra—it can zoom in more than you might expect.

Input Limits (Read This Twice)

• Absolute maximum: +10 dBm

• In practice, keep signals well below 0 dBm

This device does not have a forgiving frontend. A hot signal straight off a transmitter will ruin your day…and your analyzer. A simple attenuator is cheap insurance.

Amplitude Accuracy

• Typically ±2 dB, assuming a decent calibration baseline

Good enough for field work, comparisons, and troubleshooting, but not for certification.

Hardware & Interface

Display & Controls

• 4.0-inch touchscreen, 320 × 240

• Functional, not fancy, but perfectly usable in the field

Power

• ~3000 mAh internal battery

• USB-C charging

• Long enough runtime for real work, not just demos

RF Connections

• Two SMA inputs:

  • Low range input

  • High range input

• Separate SMA output for signal generation

• Built-in 30 MHz reference output (CAL)

It’s a simple layout, but it keeps you honest about which range you’re using.

Signal Generation (Useful, with Caveats)

The Ultra can act as a basic signal source, which is handy, but this is not a substitute for a dedicated signal generator.

• Sine output: ~100 kHz to 800 MHz (clean and usable)

• Higher-frequency output: extends into GHz range, but expect more harmonics and less purity

• “Square wave” claims: take this with a grain of salt as the output is synthesized RF, not a true logic-level square wave

Where it does shine is as a tracking generator for:

• Filter tuning

• Passband visualization

• Quick-and-dirty characterization work

Calibration Reference

• Built-in temperature-stabilized 30 MHz oscillator

• Useful for:

  • Self-checks

  • Sanity-checking frequency accuracy

  • Feeding external gear in a pinch

Practical Reality Check

Fragility (Electrical, Not Mechanical)

The Ultra’s biggest weakness isn’t build quality—it’s overdrive sensitivity. Stay within limits and it’ll serve you well. Ignore them once, and you may be shopping for a replacement.

Portability (Where It Wins)

This is where the TinySA Ultra earns its keep:

• Field diagnostics

• Antenna and filter work

• Hunting interference sources

• Bench overflow when the “real” analyzer is tied up

It’s not a replacement for a full-size spectrum analyzer, but it’s often the tool you actually have with you that matters more than specs.

Bottom Line

The TinySA Ultra lives in that sweet spot between toy and tool.

Use the low range when you can, treat the high range as advisory, respect the input limits, and it will give you answers that would have required far more expensive gear not so long ago.

If you expect lab-grade precision, my guess is you’ll be disappointed. If you use it like a smart field instrument, you’ll probably wonder how you managed without it.

03 — SDR: NESDR Nano 2 Plus

I have a bit more to report about my tiny SDR dongle, the NESDR Nano 2 Plus.

NESDR Nano 2 Plus - Tiny Black RTL-SDR USB Set (RTL2832U & R820T2) with Ultra-Low Phase Noise 0.5PPM TCXO, MCX Antenna (affiliate link)

First, the price on Amazon has bumped up from $38.95 to $41.95. I don’t often see prices for these devices change so this caught me by surprise. I still see this as a great value.

Second, it runs warm. The cooling fins on top of my fanless PC are running 95-101°F and the NESDR Nano is just a hair under 101°F. That’s warmer than I’m used to feeling when I pluck a USB device out of a computer.

Third, the MCX antenna port surprised me…but only because I’m not very familiar with this configuration. First time around, I ordered the wrong adapter to connect it to my FM dipole antenna. What I needed was an MCX male end to go into the NESDR:

For my antenna wire, the other end of the adapter needed to be an SMA female connector. That’s what worked for me.

Once I connected the FM dipole with telescoping antennas to the NESDR, the signal strength jumped dramatically. In fact, I had to go into the SDR++ (pronounced “SDR Plus Plus”) app and reduce the gain. I now receive more stations, more clearly.

This was a simple thing. What improved the SDR for recreational listening was connecting it to a better FM antenna with an MCX Male to SMA Female adapter. To get the right adapter, I purchased a kit (because one can never have too many adapters):

TUOLNK SMA to MCX Connectors Kit Coaxial Adapter Male to Female for WiFi Antenna/Networks/WiFi Router/Coaxial Cable Gold-Plated MCX to SMA Coax Adapter Kit 4pcs (affiliate link)

It is working well. I’m listening to KING-FM Classical on my laptop located about 35 feet away from the NESDR. The NESDR device is feeding the signal over my home network and the SDR++ app on my laptop is getting that stream wirelessly from the network. Below is a two-minute capture of the audio stream.

The 66,000-watt KING-FM transmitter is located on Tiger Mountain, about 80 miles distant by road, or 49 miles “as the crow flies.”

I also bought some additional small antennas to help me explore other bands the SDR can access.

RaTLSnake M6 v2 - Premium 3-Antenna Bundle for NESDR, RTL-SDR, HackRF, and Other Software Defined Radios. Magnetic Whip Antenna Set Made with Low-Loss RG58 Cable for Radios with 50 Ohm SMA Connectors (affiliate link)

I already have this bundle at my Oregon QTH where I use the telescoping aerial antenna for capturing air band traffic. It connects directly to the RTL-SDR I use for this purpose.

04 — AI: Lumo Is Proton’s Privacy-First Alternative to ChatGPT and Other AI Chatbots

The company behind Proton VPN, Proton Mail and Proton Pass, has released an open-source AI chatbot that it says isn't trained on user data.

This is interesting: a ChatGPT-like AI from a privacy-focused company (Proton). Since I have a paid Proton account, this showed up in my Proton dashboard:

I’ve been testing Lumo with technical questions related to amateur radio. The results seem about on par with ChatGPT…maybe a little thinner on detail and background, but still pretty good.

If it’s close to what ChatGPT can do, what’s the point? Privacy. Lumo keeps conversations fully private with end-to-end encryption and no server logs. Nothing is stored or used for training, and even Proton can’t access your saved chats.

There is a free tier (see I Tried Proton’s Lumo AI, a Private Alternative to ChatGPT).

I believe that even though I’m a paid Proton user, I’m actually using Lumo’s free tier. There is a Lumo Plus option for $12.99/month but I have not signed up for that level of service, since I already subscribe to ChatGPT and Claude.

The one aspect you may not like about using the Lumo free plan is you have to create a Proton account. It’s free to create that account, just be sure to keep a record of how to log in. Why? Because Proton doesn’t keep a record of your authentication details so they can’t recover it for you.

05 — Proton Meet Introduced: Is It Right for You?

And speaking of privacy, if you are at all interested in meeting privacy, Proton Meet will be interesting.

Proton Meet Introduced

Proton introduced Proton Meet on April Fool’s Day — an odd choice. (Well, it was actually launched on March 31st, but I didn’t see it until April 1st. It felt like they might be fooling with us.) It was hard for me to take it seriously until some time had passed and I could see it was real.

Proton quietly launched Proton Meet on March 31, 2026, making it immediately available on web browsers, iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, and Linux. Unlike a limited beta, this was a full public release.

Do You Need a Proton Account?

No, and this is one of its most notable features. Anyone with a free Proton account can host calls with up to 50 participants for up to one hour. But if you don’t have an account, you can still host or join a call instantly with up to four people with no sign-up required. Zoom requires an account to host; Google Meet requires a Google account; Microsoft Teams needs a Microsoft account. Proton Meet needs nothing.

Limitations by Tier:

• No account (anonymous): Up to four participants, no sign-up required.

• Free Proton account: Up to 50 participants, calls limited to one hour.

• Meet Professional ($7.99/user/month): Unlimited meetings per day, calls up to 24 hours long, up to 100 participants, screen sharing, and meeting scheduling.

• Proton Workspace Premium ($20/month annually): Up to 250 participants.

How Does the Security Work?

Proton Meet uses Messaging Layer Security (MLS), an open-source end-to-end encryption protocol designed for real-time group communication that has been independently reviewed. All media and chats are encrypted on the client side, meaning Proton cannot access or process any unencrypted data from calls. MLS creates a cryptographic group with a shared epoch key that changes each time a participant joins or leaves, meaning new members cannot read previous messages, and those who have left cannot access future messages.

One Security Caveat Worth Noting

The main point of vulnerability is the meeting link itself. If the link is shared with someone who shouldn’t have it, that person could join the call. Proton suggests addressing this by locking the meeting once all expected participants are present, removing any unrecognized attendees, or rotating the link.

The Bigger Picture

Meet is the final piece of a puzzle Proton has been assembling for years. The company already offered encrypted email, calendar, cloud storage, collaborative documents, spreadsheets, a password manager, and a VPN. With Meet in the lineup, Proton Workspace now covers essentially everything Google Workspace does, except every layer is end-to-end encrypted. Being based in Switzerland should also keep it outside the reach of the US CLOUD Act, which is relevant for organizations with GDPR compliance concerns.

The Proton suite of services is not as polished as you’ll get with Google or Microsoft, but what you do get that other vendors can’t provide is a clear focus on your privacy.

06 — Website Drama

Bad Plugins

Sometimes a bit of software acquires some undesirable pieces, it gets pushed out as new installs and updates, and suddenly a new attack is taking place.

Such was the case with a bunch of plugins that were purchased and then infected. EtherHam.com had one of those plugins but I caught it very quickly and deleted it. I’ve scanned my files and the site is clean. I also had my web host do a deep, top-to-bottom scan, and that also came up clean.

Here’s the story: Someone Bought 30 WordPress Plugins and Planted a Backdoor in All of Them.

I have backups of the EtherHam site but did not need them. I monitor various WordPress-related sites for exactly this kind of information, so that I can respond swiftly and appropriately.

CDN Experiment Failed

I’m going to count my experiment for the past several months with a content delivery network (CDN) as a failure. I had hoped the CDN would offload some volume of content from the web host to the CDN servers spread around the world. It did exactly that for quite a while. No complaints.

Something changed, though, in the past couple of weeks. I suspect my web host blocked some of those servers. The hosting company does, after all, provide its own CDN system — for an additional fee. I was feeling pretty happy with Bunny.net’s CDN until requests for EtherHam web content failed to reach Bunny’s CDN servers.

I asked my web host to whitelist the Bunny CDN addresses. “Sorry, we can’t do that unless you upgrade your hosting account.” Wrong answer.

I’ve disabled Bunny and the site performance has smoothed out. I want to emphasize this was not a problem created by Bunny.net. I’ve been impressed with the quality of services they provide at very affordable prices.

07 — The Short Stack

Radio

• Pebble HF coming “early this summer” — I received this in an email a few days ago: “When will it be available? We are still planning on releasing the Pebble HF in ‘early summer’. We know that isn’t very specific, and we will give more specific details as we get closer.” You can get on the notification list by filling out the form at the bottom of the Pebble HF homepage.

DX

• DX Cluster - POTA, SOTA, DXpéditions, RBN, DXSpider — “Real-time amateur radio DX cluster — HF spots all bands, mode filters, DX expeditions, POTA, LoTW/eQSL integration. DXSpider node F1LED-2.”

Digital

• Pat Winlink client version 1.0.0 released — “Pat is a cross platform Winlink client written in Go. It runs on any modern operating system, including Linux, macOS and Windows. Pat provides both a modern GUI and a powerful command-line interface. Pat supports Winlink templates/forms and is open source and free.” See the project on GitHub and get versions from their GetPat website. (I gave Pat a try and think it has promise. It’s pretty spare right now, and you have to start it from the terminal which will put some people off.)

• Reviving Teletext for Ham Radio — “Hack the airwaves with some of the best tech of the 1980s.” The author vibe-coded an app to use teletext over RF.

SDR

• Scan the Invisible: RTL-SDR Wideband Signal Scanner — “Transform your RTL SDR dongle into a professional grade spectrum scanner that automatically detects, classifies, and tracks radio signal[s].”

Antenna

• OPEK OP-CTP2405 5 Section 24 ft Telescoping Carbon Fiber Mast available from HRO, but be aware that freight charges apply. If you’re near the Anaheim or Milwaukee store, they are in stock.

Remote Control

• Advantages to having radio control software — “Most controls you may need are just a mouse click away. There is no diving into radio menus to find something. Easy tuning with a mouse wheel, and the list goes on.”

Meshtastic

• Meshtastic vs Meshcore: Which One Should You Pick? — “If your goal is a broad, beginner-friendly, highly established off-grid messaging ecosystem, Meshtastic is usually the easier starting point. If you want a platform that leans heavily into a more security-focused, decentralised approach with a growing ecosystem and different workflow preferences, MeshCore may be the better fit.”

• Meshcore.io - Why The Split? — This is very fresh news about some drama in the Meshcore realm: “Since the internal split, we launched the meshcore.io site, as Andy controls the meshcore.co.uk site and original discord server. We’ve been left with little other recourse. And, since launching the site, Andy copied the look and feel (again, using Claude) even though we asked him not to.” I’m certain we have not heard the last about this.

LoRA

• Smart Forest & Water Quality Monitoring System Using LoRaWAN — Of great interest to me because of my natural resources conservation work out in the real world.

Recreational Listening

• How to Find and Add/Repair Missing Streams on Skytune Radios — This article caught my eye because the Ocean Digital WR-390 internet radio I use in my spouse’s room uses Skytune. The WR-390 model is no longer available on Amazon, but a smaller version is, and it looks just as good to me at $79.99: Ocean Digital WR-336M Wi-Fi Internet FM Radio, Bluetooth Speaker, Podcast, 2.4” Color Display, USB Playback, Dual Alarm Clock, Sleep Timer, Dimmer, Black (affiliate link)

08 —📋Digital Radio Digest

The weekly Digital Radio News Digest run found little of interest to report about DMR and D-STAR. I look at sources for news about DMR, D-STAR, YSF/C4FM/WiRES-X, M17, and VoIP Linking.

• WiRES-X: YSF/C4FM/WiRES-X has seen updates to WiRES-X 2.0, with discussions on what users should do with the update. Customizing options for WiRES-X are also available. Additionally, there are resources on solving WiRES-X ISP connection problems.

• M17: The M17 C++ library has been updated to match libm17 1.1.8, and the M17 spec has seen changes to descriptive words in Appendix A. The M17 tools have been updated to handle exceptions arising from invalid options and to fix Windows build issues.

• VoIP: VoIP Linking systems, such as AllStarLink, have experienced issues with connections and audio quality. Users have reported problems connecting to EchoLink nodes and Hamvoip nodes, and there have been issues with poor audio quality since the ASL3 update. The Trixie Appliance installation has also failed for some users.

You can get the raw information sources used for this report from EtherHam.com as a .txt file. Fair warning: there are 154 individual items listed!

09 —📡 Band Conditions This Week

• Solar Flux Index (SFI): 122.0 — Good — solid conditions on 10m through 20m

• K-Index (current): 1.0 — Quiet — excellent conditions

• K-Index (7-day max): 5.7 — Storm conditions — significant HF disruption

• A-Index: 9 — Unsettled (predicted)

• Sunspot Number: 85

• Active Solar Regions: 4

With an SFI of 122 and the K-index sitting at a calm 1, the higher bands are in good shape right now — 10, 15, and 20 meters should all be offering solid openings, and DX chasers will want to take advantage while conditions are cooperative. That said, it’s worth knowing this week wasn’t entirely smooth sailing; a max K-index of 5.7 means the ionosphere took a few punches from geomagnetic storming at some point in the past seven days, and with the predicted A-index still at 9, we’re not completely out of the woods yet. Enjoy the quiet window while it lasts, keep an eye on the forecasts, and don’t be surprised if conditions get a little bumpy again before the week is out.

Source: NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (swpc.noaa.gov). Generated: 2026-04-23 15:29 UTC (8:29 AM PDT Pacific Daylight Time, UTC−7).

10 — 📻 This Week in Radio History

April 20, 1920 — After World War I shut amateurs down, the bands began to come back to life in early 1920 as restrictions were lifted. By April, U.S. operators were getting back on the air, and experimentation picked up almost immediately. This was the era when spark began giving way to continuous wave (CW), and when a re-energized community started pushing the boundaries again, laying the groundwork for the more organized, international amateur radio movement that would follow.

April 21 17, 1970 — The crew of Apollo 13 made it home after a mission that went very wrong, very quickly. For anyone paying attention, it was a masterclass in problem-solving under pressure, with communication systems playing a central role. It’s a reminder that when things fall apart, the ability to adapt, improvise, and stay connected isn’t just useful: it’s everything. (The April 21 date came from ChatGPT; Claude caught the error.)

April 23, 1965 — Intelsat I (“Early Bird”) became the first commercial satellite in geostationary orbit. Suddenly, the idea of continuous, real-time global communication wasn’t theoretical anymore. For amateur radio, this was an early glimpse of a future that would eventually include OSCAR satellites and routine space-based contacts. “Worldwide” was starting to mean exactly that.

April 24, 1978 — The first NAVSTAR satellite went up, kicking off what would become the Global Positioning System. This system was not built for hams but was quickly adopted by them. Today, GPS quietly underpins a lot of what we do, from precise timing for digital modes like FT8 to APRS position reporting and satellite work. It’s one of those technologies that slipped into the background while becoming absolutely essential.

11 — QRT

Substack

There are a couple of features I like about Substack.

The first is being able to listen to someone’s text-only publication while I drive. The Substack app has a text-to-speech service built in and I use it frequently. Yes, it is a bit mechanical sounding but it works surprisingly well, allowing me to consume great content while I’m behind the wheel.

Second, the new Substack template capabilities are proving to be convenient. Instead of opening a previous issue and copying bits of the formatting pieces I want for the new issue, I can get them from saved templates. The signature block? It’s now a template. The orange divider? Template. The overall structure? Template. If you are a writer, having an easy way to craft a consistent newsletter is a boon because it means you can focus on your writing instead of getting distracted by formatting.

Next Week

For next week, I’ll have a report on the AllScan UCI80M, a tiny device that uses a Motorola M-1 speaker-microphone. Right out of the box, I was impressed by the simplicity of the device, the small size, and the great sound quality. I have it running on a Raspberry Pi 4. Because of the good audio, this is destined to become one of my favorite pieces of AllStar gear.

73, and remember to touch a radio every day!

It’s been another interesting week of working with Python and Claude. There’s a long piece on this at EtherHam.com titled Coding with Claude that describes two apps: the Lab Tracker and HF Watch. The Lab Tracker is a simple interface to keep track of the different machines on my network. HF Watch looks at amateur radio usage by band and time of day. Visit Coding with Claude: Lab Tracker and HF Watch for more.

Also new at EtherHam this week:

• TechNote 15 — Upgrading the Digital Radio News Gatherer with Groq AI

• TechNote 16 — A Practical Backup System for Vibe-Coded Projects on the Raspberry Pi 5

My CDN (content delivery network) has been having some trouble this week. A few EtherHam visitors have let me know that images were missing. The service provider is trying something to see if it will help with this, so if you have a moment, please jump over to EtherHam.com, browse a few articles, then let me know if images are missing or not loaded. Thank you.

PoC radios (push-to-talk over cellular) for amateurs will be the focus of the weekly Let’s Talk Digital net on America’s Kansas City Wide network next week. That will be Thursday evening, April 23, at 8 pm Central (6 pm Pacific). If you’re curious about PoC radios for hams, the Thursday net promises to be incredibly informative.

I did get a few evenings on the HF bands. Wednesday, I made a trip to Portland and drove through five little storm cells where the temperature dropped quickly and snow started sticking to the pavement and windshield. Translation: it’s a fairly normal spring in the Pacific Northwest — warm and sunny, cold and stormy, rinse and repeat.

01 WSJT-X 3.0 Upgrade Is Significant

Last week, a significant upgrade to WSJT-X was released.

Here’s a rundown of what changed from WSJT-X 2.x to 3.0, released April 8, 2026. (Find WSJT-X on SourceForge.) When you upgrade, it’s good practice to back up your WSJT-X.ini and log — your settings should migrate (mine did), but better safe than sorry.

The first thing you’ll notice is the user interface is crisper, more modern:

Also notice the blue-color box in the lower left corner that says “Receiving, Filters On.” More on filters in a moment.

What WSJT-X 3.0 is, architecturally

The jump from 2.7.0 to 3.0 reflects a genuine architectural step forward, consolidating features that had been circulating in the unofficial “Improved” branch and adding new ones that go well beyond cosmetic changes. If you were already running WSJT-X Improved by DG2YCB, much of this will look familiar. According to the WSJT-X 3.0 User Guide, the feature sets of WSJT-X and WSJT-X Improved have been merged, bringing the two programs into alignment.

Key Changes

Parallel FT8 Decoding — FT8 decoding now runs up to a dozen concurrent threads. On a modern multi-core machine, the practical effect is a faster and more complete decode list at the end of each 15-second period — particularly useful on busy DX frequencies where marginal signals compete for decode slots.

Full Duplex Operation — WSJT-X can now transmit and receive simultaneously, opening a legitimate path for satellite work where the audio source is the transponder downlink, and for monitoring your own transmitted signal via a WebSDR as the audio input. Until now, this required external workarounds or separate software.

Advanced Filtering System — The new filter system lets you suppress, highlight, or hide stations already worked on the current band, worked today, or worked yesterday — all configurable from File | Settings | Filters. The Filters menu lets you toggle categories on the fly during a session. For example, if you only want to see CQ calls from POTA stations, there’s a filter for that.

Smart Sequencing for All Modes — Wait and Reply, Wait and Call, and Wait and Pounce — previously available only in FT8 — now apply to all WSJT-X QSO modes, including JT4, JT9, JT65, FST4, FT4, MSK144, and Q65.

SWR/Power Monitoring and TX Protection — Transmission can be stopped automatically if reported SWR exceeds a configurable threshold (e.g., 2.5), depending on rig support via Hamlib or FLRig. Transmit power is displayed in real-time and works with most modern rigs.

EME Enhancements — EME operators get quick-access buttons for Echo mode and six popular Q65 sub-modes, easier dial frequency selection within EME sub-bands, and experimental decoding of sub-modes 15A, 15B, and 15C with EME delay.

Single-Click Band Buttons — Single-click band buttons can be enabled from the View menu for faster band switching.

Audible Alerts — Customizable sound alerts for specific message content are now built in.

TCI Support — Enhanced rig control and audio routing via the Transceiver Control Interface (TCI) is now included.

SuperFox / SuperHound Improvements — SuperHound operators can now activate Wait and Call for SuperFox callsigns, with warnings for frequency conflicts.

Advantages for the Modern Ham

For a DXer, the parallel decoding and advanced filters are the big wins — you’ll pull more call signs out of a pileup and spend less time visually parsing signals you’ve already worked. For satellite ops, full duplex is transformative, eliminating the need for separate software or audio routing workarounds. The SWR halt is a great safety feature if you run barefoot or switch antennas mid-session. And the unification of the Improved branch means you no longer need to choose between the official version and the community fork — you get the best of both in a stable, supported release.

02 Notable: Jim N1ADJ’s M17 Go Tools Project

A quietly ambitious project has been taking shape on GitHub. Jim N1ADJ’s M17 Go tools repository (github.com/jancona/m17) started as a messaging experiment and has grown into a multi-tool platform that hints at where M17 data communications could be headed.

I’m talking about m17-bridge, an experimental network service that bridges M17 SMS messages to and from Discord, IRC, and APRS-IS. It connects to hotspots and repeaters using the standard M17 internet protocol — meaning it looks just like a reflector to any compatible device. The clever part is how it uses M17’s familiar module letter system as a routing mechanism: instead of selecting Module A to reach one group of users and Module B to reach another, you’re selecting which external messaging platform your SMS traffic crosses into. Module A might bridge to a Discord channel, Module B to an IRC server, Module C to APRS-IS. From the radio operator’s perspective, it’s the same connect-and-talk experience you already know — but the destination is now a messaging platform that non-ham users access. When a GNSS-equipped radio sends position data, the bridge automatically forwards periodic position reports to APRS-IS as well.

Alongside the bridge, the project includes m17-gateway, which supports three hardware platforms (CC1200 Pi HAT, SX1255 Pi HAT, and MMDVM-compatible modems) and can function as either a hotspot or a full M17 repeater. It ships with full M17 feature support including voice, SMS, and GNSS position mapping. A companion GUI messaging client — cross-platform, built on the Fyne framework — rounds out the toolkit and suggests Jim has everyday usability in mind, not just developer experimentation.

What’s worth watching here is the project’s trajectory. M17’s packet mode has largely been underutilized — most operators think of M17 as a voice mode. This project is a serious attempt to change that, and the APRS integration in particular could give M17 text messaging a reach far beyond the M17 community itself. If m17-bridge matures and a public example node comes online as planned, it could become a model for how open digital radio modes integrate with the broader internet messaging ecosystem.

It is early days — but this project is worth keeping an eye on.

03 M17 Data Modes: The Sleeping Giant Wakes

Most M17 operators think of the protocol as a voice mode — and understandably so, since that’s where almost all the activity has been since 2019. But M17 was designed from the start to be a data protocol, too, and 2025-2026 is shaping up as the period when that side of the protocol gets some serious attention.

The spec’s reserved packet mode types tell the story: RAW, AX.25, APRS, 6LoWPAN, IPv4, SMS, and Winlink are all defined. What’s been missing isn’t the protocol foundation — it’s the tools, the experiments, and the community focus. That’s beginning to change.

The most concrete sign of progress is Jim N1ADJ’s m17-bridge, covered above. Bridging M17 SMS traffic to Discord, IRC, and APRS-IS is a real data mode application, running on real hardware, today. It’s a preview of what becomes possible when developers start giving M17’s packet mode the attention it deserves.

Further out, the IPv4 story is intriguing but still unfinished. M17 has native IP framing built into the spec and a protocol identifier for IPv4, but how to actually implement IP over M17 seems underspecified, making this is open territory for an ambitious developer. Meanwhile, the Open Research Institute selected M17 as the uplink protocol for their P4DX satellite transponder project, a serious technical endorsement that points toward M17 data modes eventually operating in space as well as on the ground.

None of this would be moving forward as confidently without a significant inflection point from mid-2025. In July of that year, the MMDVM project dropped M17 support, a decision that quickly affected Pi-Star and WPSD — the hotspot software platforms that tens of thousands of operators use. For M17 users running MMDVM-equipped hotspots, it looked like the rug had been pulled.

The M17 Foundation's response was immediate: fork the last WPSD codebase that still included M17 support and make it available to the community. WPSD-M17 is that fork — not actively developed, but preserved and functional, giving operators running MMDVM hotspots time to absorb the change without losing access to M17 overnight. More importantly, it bought the broader community breathing room to figure out what comes next. The answer, increasingly, is native M17 hardware and software that doesn't depend on MMDVM at all, as well as increasing support for MMDVM hardware.

In hindsight, what looked like a setback in July 2025 turns out to have been a catalyst. The M17 Project is building for independence and the data mode story is a big part of what that independence will enable.

I asked Steve Stroh N8GNJ of Zero Retries to look this piece over and he suggested these valuable additions which I am including verbatim below:

• Potentially, M17 has the best support for “file transfer” data of any of the Amateur Radio DV modes.

  • DMR has support for data, but it’s not specified with enough detail to enforce or incentivize data compatibility. The data implementation by Motorola and Hytera, for example, are usable, but only within those radio families - the Hytera data app cannot send data to a Motorola DMR radio, and vice versa.

  • P25 has very similar “support” for data as DMR.

  • D-Star supports data, but only as a stream with no packet framing. In addition, late in the life of D-Star, Icom supported DV Fast Data which allows the 3600 bps digital voice payload to also be used for data, but it’s supported only on the most recent D-Star radios.

  • System Fusion only supports data for transferring images; use for any other type of data transfer is blocked.

• Support for short messaging and position data and “APRS-like” short data vary widely in DMR, P25, D-Star, and SF.

• Because M17 didn’t have a profit motive guiding its development (soak the customer when they want to use data on their very expensive digital voice radios), they embraced and adapted the well-proven data technology of packet radio.

• M17 may well be the first “digital agnostic” (digital voice / messaging / position / block data) DEFAULT mode to be implemented in the new generation of Software Defined Radios that will debut with the LinHT, and I posit that the “LinMobile” will follow shortly thereafter.

Many thanks to Steve for strengthening this piece about M17. What an exciting time to be involved in this evolution of digital amateur radio!

04 Revision to the Digital Radio News Gatherer

My Digital Radio News Gatherer (more here and here) was taking 10 minutes or more to process 100 information sources on the Raspberry Pi 5. I asked Claude: how can we improve the performance? The answer? Offload the processing to Groq.

Gatherer version 2 now takes about 15 seconds to do what Ollama was doing on the Raspberry Pi 5 in 10 minutes. That is amazing.

While I was in tinkering, I also tightened up the prompts to help reduce the amount of AI hallucination in the generated summary. I also made sure I understand how to add additional news sources (and did add more sources).

Interested? Read about the upgrade at EtherHam.com.

05 Coding with Claude

I’ve been enjoying getting a helping hand from Claude. Most recently, I asked Claude to build a tracking system for my home lab machines. It looks simple, and it actually is simple…but it is also useful for me.

If you would like to dive into more detail, see the Coding with Claude article on EtherHam.com. If you looked at Coding with Claude early this week, that article grew bigger over the course of the week!

The Lab Tracker

The Lab Tracker uses Python and SQLite on a Raspberry Pi 5. It’s got machine names, descriptions, IP/URL, username, types of access, tags, notes (an informal change log), and a bit more. The search box is a live search with some JavaScript magic.

Claude documented a summary of the system, which is probably enough if you want to ask Claude to build something like this for you. I’ve posted the summary over at EtherHam.com.

HF Watch

In the wee hours of the morning last Sunday, I thought of an app I’d like to have available. A cursory search suggested it did not exist (but if you know of a service or system like what I’m about to describe, please do let me know).

I had a 30-minute session with Claude at 3:00 am to develop what I call HF Watch. Every 15 minutes, it pulls the number of contacts in my Maidenhead grid square for each amateur radio band. The source of the data is PSKReporter, using their published API.

By Thursday afternoon, HF Watch had pulled nearly two million points:

What does this mean? HF Watch shows when each band was most and least active. That is significant information, but it gets more interesting when I set a DX grid square to see when amateurs in a distant location are active, and on what bands. This is the kind of information that can help me schedule when to try to get some of those elusive DX contacts.

I also incorporated signal-to-noise values because knowing the signal quality is just as important as knowing when the most stations are active.

I’ve added information about HF Watch to the Coding With Claude piece at EtherHam.

I also installed Cockpit on the Raspberry Pi 5 and added the Pi 5 Hardware Monitor package from GitHub. This has been a helpful addition, allowing me to easily monitor loads and temperatures.

06 SDR Follow-Up

My RTL-SDR v4 dongle is being difficult. I can’t get Zadig to see it, which means my Windows 11 machine isn’t seeing it. I’ve moved it to different USB ports, I’ve uninstalled the driver and started over, and it’s just being darned difficult.

So I pulled my whimsical little SDR dongle out of the package and plugged it in, in place of the RTL-SDR. I wasn’t expecting much, but Zadig found it immediately. I installed the driver, then ran rtl_test.exe. The Windows system not only sees it but is reading data.

Then I started rtl_tcp.exe on the host machine:

rtl_tcp.exe -a 0.0.0.0

Finally, I opened SDR++ on my laptop in another room. I selected RTL-TCP as the device type, entered the IP address of the host machine, then tuned to 98.1 FM (KING-FM Classical)…and enjoyed a couple of hours of wonderfully clear music.

The audio stream is booming in. Radios at the lake house typically barely pick up KING-FM so I am delighted with this outcome. I’m pretty impressed with this little dongle and you can’t beat the price ($38.95).

NESDR Nano 2 Plus - Tiny Black RTL-SDR USB Set (RTL2832U & R820T2) with Ultra-Low Phase Noise 0.5PPM TCXO, MCX Antenna (affiliate link)

For recreational listening, this is a great value. The other aspect of this small dongle is it doesn’t put much stress on the computer’s USB port, compared to the longer, heavier RTL-SDR.

Speaking of SDR, this project sounds very interesting: BrowSDR: Turn Your HackRF or RTL-SDR Into a Browser-Based Remote WebSDR.

The real killer feature is remote access. Using WebRTC, you can share your locally connected SDR and access it from anywhere in the world through a browser with no server setup required.

07 Short Stack of Interesting Finds

Digital Radio

• You Mean There’s More to Digital Modes than Making Contacts on FT8? — “Today I’m going to discuss some different digital modes that serve a deeper purpose than making contacts. We’ll look at ways to pass messages, forms, and other data back and forth beyond simply a signal report.”

Antennas

• Build Your Own Linked PackTenna EFHW: A Complete Guide — “The linked PackTenna design allows for multiple configurations, enabling users to operate on different bands without needing separate antennas. By using a simple four-link system, you can create antennas ranging from 10 to 40 meters.”

AI

• After two months of Open WebUI updates, I’d pick it over ChatGPT’s interface for local LLMs — Of interest to me because I’m running Open WebUI on my Raspberry Pi 5! It’s slow on the Pi, but it’s local and costs me nothing but electricity.

• Working around Claude’s strict limits taught me how to use it properly — “Some of the frustration lies in how these limits work. While some tools base your usage quota on your queries, your usage limit in Claude is not just based on how many messages you send. The number of messages you send plays a role, but so do the size of your attached files, the current conversation length, which tools Claude is using (such as web search), which model you're using, and whether Claude is creating artifacts.”

Computing / Linux / Raspberry Pi

• PocketTerm35 – A Raspberry Pi 4/5-based handheld Linux terminal with 3.5-inch touch display and built-in keyboard — Included because who doesn’t like an interesting gadget?

• 10 Ways to Reuse Old Hardware with Raspberry Pi — “A Raspberry Pi is perfect for giving old hardware a second life. With the right setup, it can turn almost anything into a useful device, from a simple monitor to a full home server. It’s a practical way to reuse spare equipment.”

• What is NextDNS? — This caught my eye because I use NextDNS. “Think of NextDNS as a “Firewall in the Cloud.” It provides the same ad-blocking and tracking protection as a Pi-hole, but instead of running on a Raspberry Pi in your living room, it runs on a global network of high-performance servers.”

08📋Digital Radio Digest

My Digital Radio News Gatherer (DRNG) bot did not find much of interest this week, and some of the information is not entirely fresh. Some items are clearly misclassified, so don’t get too wound up if you see information about a mode in the wrong place.

I’ve added a download button so you can see the raw news sources I gathered, if you are so inclined. DRNG was run 2026-04-16 17:57 UTC

Executive Summary

Recent developments in amateur radio digital voice and VoIP linking modes include updates to M17, with the M17 Gateway now supporting three hardware platforms, including the SX1255 HAT. The M17 project has also seen updates to its C++ library, specification, and tools. Additionally, there have been updates to the OpenRTX firmware, including support for vibration motors and changes to audio processing. The DMR mode has seen updates to the MMDVM Host software, primarily focused on fixes for D-Star logging.

Per-Mode Breakdown

DMR

The DMR mode has seen updates to the MMDVM Host software, with a recent commit (2026-04-16) focused on fixes for D-Star logging. Another commit (2026-04-07) updated the documentation to reflect the current state of the software.

D-STAR

There is no recent information available for the D-STAR mode.

YSF/C4FM/WiRES-X

The YSF/C4FM/WiRES-X mode has seen updates, including the release of WiRES-X 2.0, which was discussed in a Random Wire article. HamOperator has also published articles on customizing WiRES-X and solving ISP connection problems. Additionally, a WXScheduler project is available for WiRES-X.

M17

The M17 mode has seen significant updates, including the M17 Gateway now supporting three hardware platforms, including the SX1255 HAT. The M17 project has also seen updates to its C++ library, specification, and tools. The gr-m17 repository has seen updates, including improved Codec 2 blocks. The OpenRTX firmware has also been updated with changes relevant to M17, including support for vibration motors and changes to audio processing.

VoIP Linking

There is no recent information available for the VoIP Linking mode.

Notable Firmware or Software Updates

• M17 Gateway (Go): updated to support three hardware platforms, including the SX1255 HAT

• M17 C++ library: updated to match libm17 1.1.8

• OpenRTX firmware: updated with support for vibration motors and changes to audio processing

• MMDVM Host: updated with fixes for D-Star logging and documentation updates

Cross-Mode Developments

There are no notable cross-mode developments in the collected items.

Download raw news sources, text format

09📡 Band Conditions This Week

• Solar Flux Index (SFI): 141.0 — Good — solid conditions on 10m through 20m

• K-Index (current): 1.0 — Quiet — excellent conditions

• K-Index (7-day max): 4.3 — Minor storm — HF disruption likely

• A-Index: 15 — Unsettled (predicted)

• Sunspot Number: 85

• Active Solar Regions: 5

Solar flux holding at 141 gives the higher HF bands a real boost right now, so if you haven’t spent time on 10, 12, or 15 meters lately, this is a good week to remedy that — DX contacts and long-haul paths should be quite productive while the K-index sits at a quiet 1.

That said, the week wasn’t entirely smooth sailing; the 7-day max Kp touched 4.3, meaning there were some unsettled stretches that likely rattled the higher bands and pushed aurora-sensitive paths around, so if your logbook looks thin from a few days ago, that’s probably why.

With the predicted A-index still running at 15, a little residual unsettledness may linger, but today’s conditions are about as good as it gets for chasing DX.

Source: NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (swpc.noaa.gov)

Generated: 2026-04-16 17:54 UTC

10 📻 This Week in Radio History

Notable events from April 13 through April 17, across the years.

1912 — Wireless in the Dark

In the early hours of April 15, 1912, the sinking of the RMS Titanic unfolded in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Aboard the ship, wireless operators Jack Phillips and Harold Bride tapped out distress calls — first CQD, then the newer SOS — as the scale of the disaster became clear. Those signals were picked up by the RMS Carpathia, which turned and ran hard through the night, ultimately rescuing more than 700 survivors.

Titanic didn’t just expose a tragedy — it exposed a system that wasn’t ready. Continuous radio watch wasn’t required. Distress handling wasn’t standardized. Critical warnings went unheard.

The aftermath led directly to the Radio Act of 1912, which brought structure to the airwaves: licensed operators, mandatory watches, and clear priority for distress traffic.

1925 — Hams Go Global

In April 1925, amateur radio operators from around the world gathered in Paris and did something ambitious: they organized.

The result was the International Amateur Radio Union, with Hiram Percy Maxim — co-founder of the ARRL — serving as its first president.

The mission was straightforward and urgent: give amateurs a unified voice in international spectrum negotiations, where commercial and government interests were already pressing in.

Nearly a century later, the IARU is still in that fight — protecting access, defending allocations, and making sure amateur radio remains more than just a historical footnote.

2000 — The Beginning of the End for Novice

On April 15, 2000, the Federal Communications Commission rolled out a sweeping overhaul of the amateur radio licensing system.

Six license classes were reduced to three. Testing was streamlined. The structure of entry into the hobby shifted.

The Novice license — once the on-ramp for generations of hams — wasn’t eliminated overnight, but this was the turning point. From here on, new operators largely entered through the Technician class, and the Novice began its quiet fade into history.

For decades, it had been the first signal for countless operators: limited privileges, simple exams, and just enough access to spark a lifelong pursuit.

It may be gone, but its imprint is everywhere — in the operators it created, and in the culture it helped build.

11 Signing Off

Vertical tabs

A pundit said to me: “You should be using vertical tabs in your web browser. It just works better.”

Instead of tabs across the top of the browser, vertical tabs are those same links positioned to the right or left side of the browser window. Making this change can give you more real estate (when you collapse the sidebar) for the content in front of you.

But it drove me nuts.

I tried it for about three days before I threw in the towel and reverted to tabs across the top of the browser. With normal tabs, the icons are larger. The lettering is larger. Yes, it consumes a bit more space in the browser, but I can actually see what those tabs say. I also have strong muscle memory about going to tabs across the top. I thought that three days would be long enough for me to start developing the habit of going to the sidebar, but I was wrong.

It’s true: vertical tabs use space better. Nevertheless, after trying that style, I chose to go back to what works nicely for me. I realized in this little experiment what a creature of habit I have become. I feel a bit more sane to not be fighting myself with every tab change.

Power bumps

I was in the middle of writing this issue when electrical power to the house started fluctuating. A steady rain is falling outside and it’s entirely possible that somewhere nearby, a tree fell on a power line or a vehicle hit a pole. I heard my uninterruptible power supply activate several times: click, click — click, click.

I don’t have everything on the UPS, just the most critical systems. My laptop has a battery so it doesn’t need the UPS. Some of my AllStar nodes have battery backup so they are not on the UPS. But other AllStar nodes, the cable modem, and the router are attached to the UPS.

CyberPower CP1000AVRLCD Intelligent LCD UPS Battery Backup and Surge Protector, 1000VA/600W, 9 Outlets, AVR, Mini-Tower, UL Certified (affiliate link)

Today, I’m very glad to have spent the money on this device!

EtherHam CDN hiccups

Several site visitors have reported missing images and content on the EtherHam.com site. The CDN company is trying something else so if you have a moment, please jump over to EtherHam.com, browse a few articles, and then let me know if any images are missing or can’t be loaded.

Icom IC-7300 MK2

I’ve been getting on the radio in the evening (rarely, early in the morning). My QRZ page shows the latest log entries. I’ve been working FT8 and slowly picking up more countries. It feels good to be more active on HF.

73, and remember to touch a radio every day!

I saw a bump in subscribers after getting some positive press in the always great Zero Retries newsletter, so I know some folks reading this issue are new to the Random Wire space.

First, if you are new here: welcome! In the words of Galatea in the movie Bicentennial Man (as near as I can remember): “you’re unique, I’m unique, we’re the same!” We’re all radio enthusiasts here. You are in good company.

Second, the name Random Wire is a play on words. As amateur radio enthusiasts, we’re aware of what a random wire antenna is. And many of us might remember when telegraphy involved sending a wire. Says Google:

In telegraphy, "sending a wire" meant transmitting a telegram—a short, urgent message sent via electrical signals along physical, long-distance wires.

I cover varying topics (that’s the random part) within the broad, squishy limits of two realms: amateur radio and technology. I try to cover important news, particularly in the digital radio space. (That content is the urgent wire part).

I also write about what I’m doing. Small projects, big projects. What went right and what went wrong. It’s all fair game. My station is a complex, ever-changing mix of old and new technology. Translation: things break and I get to learn more by fixing those problems.

You never know quite what you’ll get from week to week, because I rarely know what I’ll be writing about more than a few weeks ahead of time. I think of this as the charm of the Random Wire newsletter, but you may find it too unstructured and disorganized for your taste…and that’s okay. The Random Wire is published at 0500 hours Pacific time every Friday.

I hope the Random Wire will be a vehicle for conversations. I do post how-to articles called TechNotes, along with other long-form articles, at the Random Wire’s sister site: EtherHam.com. I think of the Random Wire as the newsletter for EtherHam.com. If you use computers in any way to enhance your amateur radio experience, then you are an EtherHam.

Finally, do join in. Leave a comment. Ask questions, help others by responding. We all learn and grow from our conversations. Write an article. Or just read the Random Wire when you have a few moments to relax. It’s all good here. Welcome.

Leave a comment

Listen to Artemis II and Mission Control

I wonder how many of us became interested in radio because of hearing live audio between Mission Control and astronauts in space? That’s what captured my imagination as a child.

If you have EchoLink, IRLP, or AllStar, you can listen to live audio. Go to https://space.rfnet.link/ for the details. If you’re reading this before 5 pm Pacific on Friday, April 10, you have time to catch the reentry and splashdown of Artemis II.

NASA’s Artemis II mission is scheduled to splash down off the coast of San Diego at approximately 8:07 p.m. EDT (5:07 p.m. PDT) on Friday, April 10.

WiRES-X 2.0 Is Here — and It’s Got Some Explaining to Do

If you’ve been putting off looking at WiRES-X lately, now is a good time to catch up. Yaesu released version 2.00 of the WiRES-X PC software earlier this year, and it’s a bigger deal than a typical point release.

This one changes things at the network level. If you’re a node operator running version 1.57, some of what follows is going to matter.

What Changed

Version 2.00 is closely tied to Yaesu’s new FTX-1 transceiver series. With recent firmware updates, the FTX-1 gains WiRES-X support using a different connection model: a direct USB-C link to the PC, with no HRI-200 required.

That’s a meaningful simplification—fewer boxes, fewer cables, and a much cleaner entry point for new node operators.

But that simplicity comes with a side effect: the network no longer behaves like a single, uniform environment.

The Backward Compatibility Wrinkle

Version 2.00 introduces updated networking behavior, and nodes on different versions don’t always communicate the same way.

If you want to run a room that still accepts connections from nodes on version 1.57 or earlier, you may need:

• A publicly reachable IP address (or properly configured port forwarding)

• UDP ports 46114, 46120, and 46122 open and mapped

This isn’t entirely new—but it does appear to be less forgiving than before. Nodes that “just worked” behind typical home routers may now require explicit configuration.

The failure mode is subtle: a node may connect successfully, yet fail to pass audio or control traffic reliably. That’s the kind of problem that looks like everything is working—until it isn’t.

The Firmware Cascade

Version 2.00 raises the floor on firmware requirements across much of the C4FM lineup.

Radios commonly affected include:

• FT5D

• FT3D

• FTM-510D

• FTM-500D

• FTM-300D

Each may require specific MAIN, SUB, and DSP versions to interoperate cleanly.

If you’re running a node, check everything in your chain before upgrading. Discovering a mismatch halfway through setup is a reliable way to turn a quick upgrade into a long evening.

What Should You Do?

Don’t rush this one. Instead:

• Read the release notes carefully

• Verify firmware across all radios in your setup

• Review your router configuration (especially port forwarding)

• Decide whether you need backward compatibility before upgrading

If you’re just a user connecting through someone else’s node, you’ll likely notice very little—as long as your local node operator has already done the work.

Bottom Line

WiRES-X 2.00 is a meaningful step forward.

• The USB-C node model is cleaner and more accessible

• The network behavior appears more structured (and possibly more reliable)

• But the transition introduces real-world friction, especially around NAT and legacy compatibility

There’s nothing unusual about this kind of evolution—but it does reward operators who understand what’s happening under the hood. And right now, that understanding matters.

Upgrade Checklist (Quick Reference)

Before you click “update,” run through this checklist:

☐ Confirm your use case
Are you running a room that needs to support older (1.57) nodes?

☐ Check radio firmware
Verify MAIN / SUB / DSP versions on every radio in your node chain.

☐ Review your network setup

• Do you have a publicly reachable IP (or working port forwarding)?

• Are UDP ports 46114, 46120, 46122 open and mapped correctly?

☐ Document your current setup
Screenshots and notes make rollback possible if needed.

☐ Plan for downtime
This is not a zero-risk upgrade—give yourself time to troubleshoot.

☐ Upgrade in stages (if possible)
Don’t change firmware, PC software, and network config all at once.

☐ Test both directions
Confirm you can both connect and pass audio/control reliably.

Switched HF Antenna to M0CV0 “Magitenna”

I’ve had this wire-plus-transformer antenna in a box for months and finally pulled it out and got it up in the air. The Magitenna is only 7.6 meters long and is said to operate from 6 to 40 meters.

The coax feedline acts as the counterpoise. I have the antenna earthed with a wire going to a stake in the ground. The antenna is strung on a flexible fiberglass mast that is tied off to the wood deck railing with a few pieces of nylon string. (The other wires in the photo are a much longer end-fed half wave antenna and the arborist line I used to pull it up to a branch.)

In my installation, the SWR on 6 meters is around 4:1 (as reported at very low power by my Icom IC-7300 MK2 radio) so unusable. However, when I added a large ferrite with five wraps of the coax, that changed the performance. The SWR dropped into the 2:1 range: acceptable. Apparently, the ferrite made the coax portion of the antenna system look shorter to the antenna.

SWR on 10 meters is perfect and on 12 meters it’s about 2.5:1 (usable). It’s 1:1 on 15 and nearly 1:1 on 20 and 40. On 17 meters, SWR is about 3.2:1. (But while I was testing on FT8 on 17 meters, W4EIS responded to my CQ. We logged that contact.) On 30 meters, SWR is 2.6:1.

As expected, SWR is high on 80 meters, around 4:1.

Overall, I’m pleased with this antenna. It is short enough that it works nicely with the telescoping fiberglass mast, and by putting some tension on the mast, the sections seem much less likely to collapse during a temporary deployment. Adding a big fat snap-on ferrite improved the SWR in the magic band (6 meters). If you are working POTA, SOTA, or emergency comms, this short antenna seems like a viable choice.

I ran across one problem. Two nights ago, my SWR on 17 meters was 1:1. Perfect. Last night, it was 3:1. Scratching my head a bit, I started checking connections, moving from the back of the radio to the antenna. The wing nut that secures the antenna wire to the balun (or is it an unun?) box was slightly loose, like half-a-turn loose. I tightened that finger tight and checked SWR. Back to 1:1. Whew.

Overall, I’m pleased with this compact antenna. Just earth it and make sure your connections are tight.

Speaking of antennas, I haven’t given up on the Painter Pole antenna. I ran across affordable delta loop antennas at https://www.ni4l.com/. To assess the quality and usability of delta loops at the lake house, I ordered the 10-meter version for $89. When you consider the price of wire and a balun, this is a good value. I anticipate mounting it to the painter pole but we’ll see. It will take a few weeks for the antenna to be constructed and delivered, and I’ll report on it then. Their 40-meter delta loop is $129.99. That sounds costly for some wire and a box, but that’s about the best I could do if I was sourcing wire and a 4:1 balun on my own. I’m really hoping the 10-meter loop works so I can consider adding the 40-meter or 20-meter loop to my kit.

Installed LLM on a Raspberry Pi

Let me start with a few statements to set the stage. Do I trust the exponential growth of artificial intelligences and associated technology? No. Do I want to be left behind? No. Do I think such tech can be useful? Yes.

But how does one figure out if AI can be helpful? Just try it.

I use ChatGPT for some things like creating graphics and diagrams. I use Claude for proofreading and helping with coding. This week, I took another step into the deeper end of the pool by installing Ollama on a Raspberry Pi 5 computer at home. Ollama is an LLM (Large Language Model) engine.

I’m using Ollama to drive what I call a Digital Radio News Gatherer. This service runs on the RPi 5. It reaches out weekly to various places on the internet to look for new information about DMR, D-STAR, YSF/C4FM/WiRES-X, and M17.

Interested? Head on over to EtherHam.com for Creating a Digital Radio News Gatherer Service.

Bluetooth Device Nag

I had some trouble with my home network last week. It was during a windstorm and — I’m guessing — a tree probably fell across a line somewhere. I live in an area with hordes of 200-foot-tall trees that are close to roads and power lines. Falling trees disrupting our power or internet is certainly not uncommon.

Once the network came back online, some of my home devices did not want to connect. Something had changed. I monkeyed with settings and restarted machines but there were still a few stubborn holdouts. Some of those difficult connections were actually Bluetooth connections between my Android phone and several devices. Out of frustration, I finally took the nuclear option route and reset all connections on my phone.

That resolved most of my issues, although I did have to then find all my Bluetooth earbuds that wanted to be connected. One Bluetooth connection, though, was nagging me every minute or so. It went on all night and by the next morning, I was ready to throw the offending device in the lake, if only I could figure out which device was the offender.

The problem with Bluetooth nags like this is they don’t tell you what device is trying to connect. It’s just “BLESmart_xyzxyzxyzxyzxyz.” I dug around for some advice and tried a few Bluetooth device finding apps. The one I found most helpful is called nRF Connect for Mobile. I downloaded and installed that app on my Android phone, and when I scanned for Bluetooth signals, it picked up several. The best part: for some devices, it showed the manufacturer’s name.

That proved to be the key. The name of the device that was nagging me was not tied to headphones or earbuds. Instead, it was the Bluetooth-equipped blood pressure cuff we use daily with my spouse. Once I paired that device with my phone, the nagging stopped. If you find yourself in a similar situation, give nRF Connect a try.

Installed Transceive on my iMac

$20 for an AllStarLink app seems a bit steep, except for one thing: Transceive works brilliantly. It’s Tuesday morning and I’ve been listening to a couple of nets this morning with a pair of nice Plantronics headphones. Very clean audio that doesn’t disturb anyone else in the room is a great thing.

Setup was a bit challenging for me. I followed the guides in the Transceive documentation but kept hitting speed bumps. First, my AllStarLink.org password wasn’t accepted, at least not at first. I think it finally stuck on the sixth try. Second, setting up a connection with any of my nodes that are WT enabled did not work. This should have worked, said the help docs, but it didn’t, at least not until I went to advanced settings and specified the IP address and port of the node. That makes sense for my nodes with non-standard ports, but the one with the standard port 4569 also failed until I explicitly configured Transceive with its IP and port number. I’ve reached out to the vendor for clarification on this.

Despite these hiccups, I have to say this is brilliant software. I am also using it in conjunction with the AllScan favorites management system. Transceive and AllScan work well together to select and connect to ASL nodes.

One cautionary note is that if you are running HamVoIP software and have updated to release 1.7, that update breaks Transceive. This is fixable with a few configuration changes on your HamVoIP node.

Bottom line: if you use a Mac and AllStarLink, this is an obvious and recommended choice.

Recommended: Documentally

Documentally, by Christian Payne G5DOC, takes you on a random walk through life, much akin to the way I write about radio. If you like being surprised, amused, thoughtful, and reflective, all in the context of a life lived in a different place, you’ll like Christian’s writing. I like it very much. It is one of the few Substacks I regularly follow. Do consider dropping by the Documentally Substack and getting to know Christian. His most recent release is Documentally #569: Make, Mend, Repeat. Recommended.

This past week, his observations about Substack as a publishing platform caught my eye. I’ve read his piece on Substack hosting several times. Christian echoes many of my misgivings about using Substack as a publishing medium. It’s a fine service but it isn’t the same as what it was just a few years ago. Substack continues to evolve in a more and more social direction, leaning more and more toward catching your immediate attention instead of enjoying a longer journey together.

Do drop by Christian’s Substack — Documentally — and give it a look.

Hams Over IP Change

Who has a HOIP phone and number? I do. It is linked to one of my AllStar nodes so I can participate in ASL conversations with my IP phone. The sound quality is excellent.

The Hams Over IP folks have implemented a change that may be meaningful to you if you have a HOIP number or if you are considering one. That change is: now you can see HOIP calls in real time. Jump to https://hamsoverip.com:411/ to see the live call dashboard.

I found my own HOIP connection to my ASL node 588418:

Want a YouTube look at it? Here you go:

Learn more about Hams Over IP at https://hamsoverip.com/.

As I was preparing this piece, I made sure my HOIP line was working properly…which means I discovered it wasn’t. I could no longer hear stations when I connected my phone to my AllStarLink node 588418.

It turns out it was a problem of my own making. The cause was a change I made because I didn’t understand how my private node number worked. HOIP support was great and got this all sorted for me in just a day. I’m listening to the W6EK Coffee Break Net on ASL 51018 over my Polycom VVX 401 SIP phone as I write this, and it sounds perfectly clear and wonderful.

Gear

A Case for the RigExpert Stick 500 Antenna Analyzer

Finally, a case for my RigExpert Stick 500! And very cost effective. I bought the beige version so I can find it in the bottom of a dark bag.

ProCase Toothbrush Travel Case for Oral-B/Oral-B Pro 1000 1500 5000 7000 7500 6000 9600/ Phlips Sonicare 4100 5100 1100 6100 5300 Oral-B iO Electric Toothbrush Portable Hard Container -Beige (affiliate link)

It adds some bulk but it also protects my investment. Normally $12.98, as I write this there is a coupon that drops the price to $8.95. It looks like this in use:

There is room for your USB-C cable (or several cables and a few adapters) in the net pocket. This is incredibly cheap insurance for a device I don’t want to damage.

Speaker-Mic for My M17 Radio

I’ve had good luck with my Commountain speaker-mics on some AllStar nodes, so I’m giving that brand a try with my Connect Systems CS7000-M17 PLUS radio.

commountain Speaker Mic Compatible for Motorola Radios APX-6000 XPR-7550e APX-8000 (7000 4000) XPR-7350e (7580e 7380e 7550 7350) APX6000 APX7000 APX8000 XPR7550 XPR7550e, Shoulder Microphone (affiliate link)

It seems to work acceptably. It fits nicely on the CS7000-M17 PLUS and receive audio sounds fine. I tested my transmit audio with the ECHO command, configured like this:

On the main M17 screen (while on your hotspot channel):

1. Press the # key on the keypad. This puts the radio into destination callsign entry mode. You should see the DST field become editable with a cursor.

2. Type ECHO using the keypad. This technique uses your hotspot for the ECHO test.

3. Confirm/save by pressing the OK key.

4. Key up (press PTT) and speak for up to 10 seconds, then release PTT. Within a second or two, you’ll hear your own voice played back through the speaker.

5. When testing is done, be sure to return the destination callsign to what it was before you started. On my radio, it is #ALL.

Getting Coax Past a Door

This device has worked acceptably for me. It’s not perfect, but I’m unwilling to drill holes in a perfectly good exterior wall.

Window Pass Through Flat Coaxial Cable SO239 UHF Female to UHF SO-239 Female Jack Adapter 12 inches

I have one going through the sliding glass door where it closes against the frame (but I will add that this is a very old slider and it doesn’t close tightly). I can leave it in place and still lock the slider. That’s handy. I’ve been using it for about a month and it has held up so far.

Short Stack from the Interwebs

Recent finds about various amateur radio and technology topics.

Radio, SDR

• Ham Radio Portable Operating Insights: Assembling a POTA Station on a Budget — “Remember, don’t wait for the perfect gear; that’ll keep you stuck at home. Just get out there, put that station on the air, and go activate something.”

• Parts Coming Together – QMX-Based Go-Kit — “Hoping to have everything ready to test, at least the basics, in the next week or so. Steve K9ZW”

• SmartSDR for iOS v7.0.113 Now Available — “SmartSDR is a full featured radio client that enables your iPad or iPhone to operate your FlexRadio device. It is fully compatible to SmartSDR v1, v2 (including SmartLink) and v3 (including MultiFlex and SmartControl).” Related: SmartSDR for MacOS version 2.9.113 Now Available

• WSJT-X 3.0 Stable Released: What’s New — “The first stable major release in years brings multi-thread FT8 decoding, Full Duplex, and much more to every operator…This is not a point release.”

• A Source for Old Time Radio: ROKiT Radio — “The Vintage ROKiT Radio is a ‘not for profit’ streaming radio platform bringing you the best shows from the ‘Golden Age’ of radio and beyond.” Direct link: https://rokitradio.com/

• Listening to Space: How to Follow Artemis II and the ISS by Radio — “Tools, frequencies, and public audio resources to monitor Artemis II and the ISS, for licensed ham radio operators and curious newcomers alike.” It was the space race that introduced me to the magic of radio!

Antennas

• HRWB 260 - Portable HF Antennas — The Ham Radio Workbench podcast is always worth my time. “In this episode we talk about portable HF antennas for POTA / SOTA / travel and general operating in the great outdoors ! The HRWB team is very active in portable operating. We all have our favorite antennas and provide advice for the ham radio operator new to portable operating.”

Gadgets

• Open HamClock Backend now Independent of Clear Sky Proxy Data — “We now have a publicly available OHB server which anyone using HamClock is welcome to use. Just point your HamClock to: ohb.hamclock.app:80”

• Old Amazon Kindles are getting cut off from the Kindle Store in a month — If you are like me, you still have a few old Kindle devices laying around. I’ve replaced the battery on two old Kindles, you know, the ones with the actual keyboard on the device. Looks like it’s time to retire them: “Amazon has just confirmed that Kindles released on or before 2012 are getting the plug pulled, and while you can still read books on them, you'll be cut off from the Amazon Store completely.” More here and here.

Computing, Artificial Intelligence

• I replaced PuTTY, Notepad++, and WinSCP with modern tools, and I wish I had sooner — This caught my eye because these are the very tools I’ve used for many years…and still do.

• Self-Host Your Own LLM on Raspberry Pi — I could have used this when I was getting Ollama running on my Raspberry Pi 5!

• I wasted years buying compressed air cans—this $20 electric duster changed everything — Sounds like a smarter way to blast some air into computing devices.

• The Pi Zero 2 W is the only Raspberry Pi that makes sense right now — “With the RAM apocalypse massively inflating the prices of computing hardware, the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W is the only device from the uber-popular SBC manufacturer that’s worth buying right now.”

• Ollama is still the easiest way to start local LLMs, but it’s the worst way to keep running them — This is interesting to me since I just installed Ollama on my Raspberry Pi 5. “Ollama's convenience comes at a cost, though, and once you understand what's happening under the hood, it's hard to justify using it over the alternatives. It's slower than it needs to be, it makes choices you can't easily override, and the project itself has been moving in a direction that should concern anyone who cares about open-source software.”

📋Digital Radio Digest

My Digital Radio News Gatherer bot did not find much of interest this week. I changed the AI model to a stronger, slower one, but it reported the same. That was disappointing but I know there will be occasional gaps in fresh news as progress continues on multiple fronts. We’ll see what next week brings!

📡 Band Conditions This Week

• Solar Flux Index (SFI): 142.0 — Good — solid conditions on 10m through 20m

• K-Index (current): 4.0 — Active — some HF degradation

• K-Index (7-day max): 6.7 — Storm conditions — significant HF disruption

• A-Index: 17 — Active (predicted)

• Sunspot Number: 85

• Active Solar Regions: 9

Heading into the weekend, solar flux at 142 is keeping the upper HF bands in solid shape — 10 through 20 meters should offer good DX opportunities when conditions cooperate, and with nine active solar regions on the disk, there’s plenty of fuel keeping things lively. That said, a current K-index of 4 means some HF degradation is in play right now, so polar and high-latitude paths may be unreliable and low-band operators might notice elevated noise. It’s worth mentioning that this wasn’t the smoothest week overall — that 7-day max K-index of 6.7 tells the story of at least one geomagnetic storm rolling through, so if your Thursday session felt like shouting into a pillow, now you know why.

Source: NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (swpc.noaa.gov)

Generated: 2026-04-10 02:01 UTC

📻 This Week in Radio History

Notable events from April 6 through April 10, across the years.

1914 — On April 6, 1914, Hiram Percy Maxim and Clarence Tuska founded the American Radio Relay League in Hartford, Connecticut. Maxim’s idea was simple: amateur operators, linked in a chain of relay stations, could pass messages across the country faster than the telegraph. The ARRL has since grown into the largest amateur radio organization in the world, representing U.S. hams at the FCC and ITU and publishing QST magazine since 1915.

1917 — On April 7, 1917 — the day after the U.S. declared war on Germany — the government ordered all amateur radio stations to cease operation immediately and either dismantle their antennas or seal their equipment. Thousands of hams went silent overnight. Many of those same operators went on to serve as military wireless specialists, and the skills they brought back from the front would help shape the postwar amateur radio boom.

1957 — Slow Scan Television (SSTV) was first described in QST in the mid-1950s, offering amateur operators a way to transmit still images over a standard voice bandwidth. Where fast-scan TV required megahertz of spectrum, SSTV squeezed a picture into just 3 kHz — narrow enough to fit on the HF bands. Hams have been swapping pictures over the air ever since, and today SSTV is even transmitted from the International Space Station.

Generated: 2026-04-09 15:49 UTC

Signing Off

Proxmox and RustDesk Server OSS

I’ve used Windows Remote Desktop for, well, eons. It has been a reliable way to remotely control another computer. I also use VNC servers and clients within my own network.

But I decided it was time to enter a more modern era by getting RustDesk running on my Proxmox server. The help I got from Hams Over IP was made easier by using RustDesk. That convinced me of the utility of this software.

It took minutes to install the open source server, about 30 minutes to configure it on several machines, and another hour to figure out why it didn’t work. (The cause? The public key string was missing the ending character.) Interestingly, the default admin login details don’t apply when you install to a Proxmox server.

Using iMac screen as monitor for Windows

I thought: why not try to use the big iMac screen as a second monitor for Windows? It turns out this was much more difficult than it ought to be. A primary barrier is my laptop running Windows 11. It’s not the Windows 11 part that is the problem, though. It’s the fact that the CPU is an ARM chip. That significantly limited my options.

Eventually, I landed on Duet. Well reviewed, looked like it should work. I signed up and installed the clients on the laptop and iMac. One could see the other, but that other machine couldn’t see anything. It turns out that the “starter plan” requires a wired connection. For wireless, one must upgrade.

Before doing that I pulled out a USB-C to USB-C cable and connected the devices. Boom, connected. Then I saw the low screen resolution on the iMac. My Windows machine, extended to the iMac screen, looks like someone used a low-quality magnifying glass to make everything bigger.

I could live with that. The fatal flaw is that password fields stopped working on the Windows machine. When I tried to authenticate, the characters were appearing in reverse order so authentication failed.

I’m going to cancel my subscription to Duet. It’s a nice idea and I wish it had worked, but if I can’t authenticate, it is next to useless for me. I can’t recommend this as a way to extend a Windows desktop to an iMac.

Zero Retries

It’s been difficult watching Steve and Tina Stroh go through tortured gyrations to try to migrate their Zero Retries newsletter from Substack to Ghost. It should have been a fairly seamless process, but there were surprising speed bumps at several steps on their journey.

This week, Steve announced Zero Retries is back on the Substack platform. I hope this reversion ends their frustrations and gives them more time to write and to plan the next Zero Retries Digital Conference.

I look forward to the Zero Retries newsletter every week. If you’re interested in cutting-edge news and opinions about digital radio systems, Zero Retries is a must.

Investigating Artificial Intelligence

As you’ve probably noticed in the last couple of issues of the Random Wire, I’m dabbling with artificial intelligence. Well, maybe that’s a little too soft. I’ve been falling down a rabbit hole called AI.

I spent so much time with ChatGPT I thought it would interesting to see how ChatGPT might describe me.

Version 1

You come across as a precision-driven problem solver with a tinkerer’s curiosity.

You’re the kind of person who doesn’t just accept “it works”—you want to know how, why, and what changed under the hood. Whether it’s smart plugs or radio software updates, you naturally zoom in on the details that most people skip, and you’re not satisfied until you can verify things with solid references.

There’s also a quiet builder/experimenter vibe: someone who likely enjoys connecting systems, optimizing setups, and making tech behave exactly the way it should (not just the way it defaults).

The catchy version of that is: “A detail-hunting tech sleuth who turns “good enough” into “fully understood.”

That’s nice but a little too vanilla for me, so I asked ChatGPT to take a second run at it.

Version 2

You have the energy of someone who opens a simple app… and 20 minutes later is knee-deep in firmware notes, changelogs, and obscure documentation that even the manufacturer forgot existed.

You don’t just use tech—you interrogate it. Like, “Oh, there’s a version 2.0? Interesting. What did you break, what did you fix, and where are the receipts?”

You’re probably the person who: (a) reads release notes for fun, (b) doesn’t trust anything without at least two solid sources, and (c) has at some point said, “That doesn’t sound right…” and then proven it.

Catchy tagline: “The kind of person who fact-checks the fact-checker.”

Closer, but there is a tiny bit of snark missing. The third try may have nailed it, though.

Version 3

You’re the kind of person who buys a “simple” smart plug and somehow turns it into a multi-hour investigation worthy of a federal grant.

Most people: “Cool, it turns on my lamp.”

You: “Interesting… but what protocol is it using, why does the firmware behave like that, and where is the official documentation from 2019 that contradicts this?”

You don’t fall down rabbit holes—you install lighting, label the tunnels, and publish a map.

I’m pretty sure you’ve never trusted a single release note in your life. If a company says “minor improvements,” you take that personally. Somewhere, a developer writes vague patch notes and feels a disturbance in the force because you just started digging.

You probably have: (a) at least one project that started as “quick setup” and became a full-blown research mission, (b) tabs open like “forum thread page 7 (archived)” and “PDF manual v1.3 FINAL_final2”, and (c) a deep, unspoken belief that most documentation is lying by omission.

Catchphrase: “If it works perfectly, you assume you missed something.”

Silly? Yes. Disturbingly accurate? Also yes!

As always, I wish you and yours health and happiness. I look forward to hearing about your radio activities, and particularly about what went right and about those learning moments we all have.

73, and remember to touch a radio every day!

What a week. I took a left turn from hardware and focused on software and firmware, including diving headfirst into Python scripting on some of my AllStarLink nodes. I was surprised that the scripts ran pretty well on a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W device. My node 578495 sports several new additions, including:

• Announces the time each hour, from 9 am to 8 pm.

• Amateur Radio Newsline is imported once a week and plays when I send *6 over DTMF to the node, or when I key up the microphone 4 times in less than 2.5 seconds.

• Local weather is available on demand with *7 DTMF.

• I can initiate a clean shutdown of the node with 5 microphone key-ups. This was probably the most useful modification I made.

But it wasn’t just scripting — I also added an uninterruptible power supply hat to node 578495. In short, it was a fun week of early morning and late evening work with Python and AllStarLink. I learned a lot.

So fair warning: if you don’t want to take a dive down the Python rabbit hole, don’t click the links about Amateur Radio on Your ASL3 Node in the next section!

It’s not all Python in this issue of the Random Wire. There is new content to enjoy, beginning in this issue. I did some antenna design work with an AI and also used an AI to help me un-brick a radio.

There’s a catch-up article section for those who have not followed M17 changes from about a year ago. I also added an uninterruptible power supply to a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W-powered AllStar node.

And of course, I close with the Short Stack of interesting internet finds. I hope you enjoy issue 176!

Python on My AllStarLink Nodes

I’ve been having too much fun with Python on my AllStarLink nodes. See these two very recent articles on EtherHam.com which go into a lot of detail about what I’ve been doing with Amateur Radio Newsline on a couple of my ASL nodes.

• Amateur Radio Newsline on Your ASL 3 Node

• Amateur Radio Newsline on Your ASL 3 Hub Node

Doing something like this isn’t really new, but using Python and the Asterisk Management Interface was, for me, a new way to do it.

Of interest to those of you who play with Python and Asterisk is this: I used the Asterisk Management Interface (AMI) to intercept commands sent to the nodes. In one case, I use microphone key-ups to trigger an action. In the other, I send a DTMF code but the AMI catches it. This was a lot of fun to figure out.

New Content in the Random Wire

Beginning in this issue, I’m also using my cloud node as a server platform to process some additional content for this newsletter. You’ll find this new content toward the bottom titled as:

• Radio Propagation Digest

• This Week in Radio History

After testing the Radio Propagation Digest for a few weeks, I’m finding it useful. I don’t want to wade through lots of content to try to figure out how propagation conditions are trending. I want a digest, so I’m sharing this product with you.

I’m pretty involved in the digital side of our hobby, but at the same time, I appreciate reminders of the great work that came before me. Thus, This Week in Radio History is designed to be a quick look into amateur radio’s past. I hope you find it as interesting as I do. This content is being generated by AI, and as with all such things, information should be verified if you are going to do something significant with it.

As an example of not just accepting what an AI does, I asked ChatGPT to help create some graphics for me. The first couple of images were okay — they had the required elements — but they lacked the style elements I had specified. When I asked ChatGPT to revise them to match the style I had included in the requirements, I started getting weird images about crypto, bookstores, and radio contesting. The output was so far outside the parameters I had set that I found it rather disturbing. I had to rein in the AI three times before I got an image I could use. It wasn’t exactly what I wanted, but I certainly did not want to keep trying to get the AI to follow my instructions for creating an image!

Painter Pole Antenna, Part 3

The painter pole adapter and VersaTee™ arrived from Buddipole. They fit and should work well as I play with a painter pole antenna build.

I also ordered a long telescopic whip antenna to go into the VersaTee™. However, it arrived without a terminating end on it. There is no way to extend the elements because they are stuck way down inside the antenna. I’ve reached out to Buddipole for some help with this.

In thinking about the amount of noise I’m picking up on my end-fed half wave wire antennas, I’m rethinking my design ideas. Now I’m considering an inverted delta loop for 40 meters. If I feed it with 450-ohm ladder line and put a 4:1 current balun on it, I should end up with good SWR readings and be able to use it on 10, 20, and 40 meters without a tuner. However, for portable use (like POTA), a 20-meter inverted delta loop would take up much less space.

I asked an AI (Claude) for some help designing an inverted delta loop antenna with my painter pole, using some assumptions I specified. Find that report on EtherHam.com in Inverted Delta Loop Design With AI.

The Five-Hour Radio Upgrade

Upgrading the Connect Systems CS7000-M17 PLUS radio went sideways for me in a big way. To be fair, I’m not sure what instructions I tried to follow, but therein lies part of the problem: I had difficulty finding a single set of cohesive, authoritative, all-in-one instructions for upgrading the radio.

Hours into this, I finally resorted to asking Claude for help, and at one point, I expressed my frustration to the AI. Claude replied:

You had every right to be frustrated today. That was a genuinely difficult process — poorly documented mode switching that bricked the radio, driver conflicts, BitLocker, a crashing computer with a broken zero key, and documentation pointing to files that return 404. Any of those alone would test someone’s patience. You stuck with it and got there. GPS coordinates showing live on your reflector is a great outcome for a very hard day’s work.

The positive outcome is my CS7000-M17 PLUS radio now transmits my location over M17, as shown in my M17-PNW reflector dashboard:

I thought about trying to write a tutorial on upgrading this radio, but honestly, I’m so confused by the several hours of work I did that I don’t think I can. Translation: I don’t remember what I did that worked. If you know of a clear tutorial, please do share it.

Catch Up with M17

Let’s catch you up with some significant happenings in the world of M17.

• m17-gateway 0.5.0 released (March 6) — A significant update was announced for the M17 Go tools project. The new release adds support for three hardware platforms: the CC1200 Pi HAT (original), the SX1255 Pi HAT (newly added), and MMDVM-compatible hotspots and modems. All three platforms now support the full M17 feature set including voice, SMS messaging, and GNSS-based station position mapping. Both the SX1255 and MMDVM platforms support full duplex operation, meaning they can be used as full M17 repeaters, not just hotspots. More at: m17-gateway now supports three hardware platforms including SX1255 HAT.

• LinHT hardware continues to advance A new LinHT image was uploaded on February 28 by Andreas OE3ANC, featuring updated repos, removal of gr-bokeh dependencies (making builds faster), updated raylib, and a changed default sample rate to 125k. PCBs and stencils for Rev A are in Czech Republic and ready for assembly, with Rev B still in the works. More at: LinHT – Yocto image update.

• Active GitHub development The M17 Project’s GitHub repositories show active commits through mid-March 2026, with updates to the SX1255 HAT hardware, LinHT utilities, Remote Radio Unit firmware, and the Raspberry Pi interface for digital voice modes. More at: M17 Project.

• One notable background item from mid-2025 worth knowing about: MMDVM dropped support for M17 in July 2025, which was a significant development for the ecosystem. WPSD was forked to temporarily continue support for M17 on MMDVM-equipped hotspots. The m17-gateway 0.5.0 release adding MMDVM-compatible hardware support appears to be part of the community’s response to that. More at: MMDVM Project Drops Support for M17 Mode.

As long as I’m dwelling for a moment on M17, you might be interested in how it compares to some other common digital modes. I crafted this side-by-side summary with the help of Claude:

Note: DMR, D-Star, and System Fusion all use the proprietary AMBE+2 codec (DVSI). M17 uses Codec2, a fully open-source alternative developed by David Rowe. All four modes require a valid amateur radio license to transmit.

UPS Hat on a Raspberry Pi Zero 2W

This proved to be too long of a write-up for the Random Wire newsletter, so I’ve published it at EtherHam.com: UPS Hat on a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W

Is this a useful modification to a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W? Yes, it definitely is. This project should have gone smoothly but, as is my way, it didn’t. The things that might trip you up are explained in the article.

One of the great benefits is after shutting down the node, I can slide the UPS switch to the “off” position to completely sever power to the node. Starting the node amounts to simply sliding that switch to the “on” position. No more plugging and unplugging the microUSB cable on the Raspberry Pi. That’s handy.

EtherHam Updates

What an interesting couple of weeks over at EtherHam.com. Interesting how? The site has been getting attacked by bad actors trying to log in as me. I deleted that identity and created a new one that is more obscure than my name. (To all you IT security folks, yes, I know: security through obscurity doesn’t work. Except it actually is helping in this case, because now I can trigger lockouts based on the invalid user name.) I have multiple security layers in place on the website that are working well together.

I added the Contest Calendar’s 8-day contest calendar feed to the EtherHam Mega Feed. The Contest Calendar is an amazing site, chock full of information. If you enjoy contesting, or maybe you are thinking about checking out some contests, head over to Contest Calendar by Bruce WA7BNM at https://www.contestcalendar.com/.

For accessibility, I also enabled a Listen to this service that will read a post to you. It’s a button at the top of each post that looks like this:

I have to say, though: it’s really not all that great. I selected a male UK voice because the US male voice was way too boomy. When I listen, I hear the endings of sentences running right into the beginning of following sentences. Listening to long blocks of code being read back to you is about as boring as it gets. However, for some of us, if we can listen and read at the same time, it helps with comprehension and retention. There are also some of us who need or prefer to hear it, rather than read it. I’m going to give this a try and see which way the comments lean: pro or con. If it’s important to you, please weigh in.

Short Stack

Here it is, the Short Stack of interesting items from the interwebs.

Radio

• Could JS8Call Become a Gateway for Resilient Communication Networks? — “Unlike many traditional digital modes, JS8Call is designed specifically for structured messaging, not just contacts…JS8Call fills the long-range messaging gap between local mesh systems and global communication.”

SDR

• Rundown and Ranking of SDR Radios for Amateurs — A comparative guide to SDR hardware specifically for the amateur market. Essential reading if you’re choosing your first or next SDR. Included are some comments identifying two SDR radios missed in the original review.

• OpenWebRX web-based SDR receiver — “OpenWebRX is a multi-user SDR receiver that can be operated from any web browser without the need for any additional client software. It is the ideal solution to provide access to the HF spectrum at your location of choice to a wide audience. All you need is a computer, an SDR device and network access.”

• SIGINT: Relying on CW Capture with your SDR — Julian OH8STN explores using SDR for CW signal capture in off-grid scenarios — a practical intersection of digital tools and traditional operating.

• Scott recommends the new Echo Global SDR iOS App — “Echo provides connectivity to over 2,000 remote SDR receivers (KiwiSDR, OpenWebRX, WebSDR, and FM DX), accessible by multiple search capabilities including a world map display, offline frequency library, station logging, and, owing to its native iOS development, features full background audio for uninterrupted listening. The iOS version supports both iPhone and iPad. More information is available at https://echosdr.com.”

Mesh / Off Grid / Lora

• Introducing an AREDN Chat Client — New chat functionality for the AREDN mesh network ecosystem. A notable development for anyone building or operating RF-based data networks.

• GhostNet and the Future of Off-Grid Communication: From Concept to Architecture — An ambitious conceptual piece on building resilient off-grid communication architectures using amateur radio digital modes.

• T-Display-P4 devkit with ESP32-P4, ESP32-C6, and SX1262 LoRa transceiver — New hardware combining a capable MCU with a LoRa transceiver in a compact form factor — interesting for digital experimenters building portable nodes.

IP / Computing

• IP400 Project Marks Halfway Point — Progress update on the IP400 project, which aims to bring IP networking to amateur radio infrastructure. Worth watching.

Newsletters

• Zero Retries — Steve Stroh’s weekly newsletter is consistently the best single digest of what’s moving in the amateur digital radio space. If you read only one newsletter, make it this one.

• Random Wire 175 — Last week’s issue touched on WiRES-X, AllStarLink 3, the Icom IC-7300 MK2, M17, and more — a broad sweep of the digital voice landscape in one place.

• Amateur Radio Weekly — Also recommended is Amateur Radio Weekly. It always has a variety of interesting finds and is one of the few weekly items I look forward to receiving. For even more, check out the daily edition at https://daily.hamweekly.com/.

📡 Band Conditions This Week

New this week is a summary of HF band conditions. This digest was generated on Wednesday, April 1, 2026. On Thursday, conditions were changing. The K-Index has bumped up to 3.0 (unsettled, minor degradation possible), the A-Index is 27 (active), and the Sunspot Number has increased to 59.

• Solar Flux Index (SFI): 113.0 — Moderate — reliable HF propagation

• K-Index: 2.0 — Quiet — good conditions

• A-Index: 14 — Unsettled

• Sunspot Number: 44

• Active Solar Regions: 297

Solar activity is sitting in a comfortable middle ground this week, with an SFI of 113 and a relatively calm K-index of 2, meaning the higher HF bands are worth your time — 17, 15, and even 10 meters should be showing some life for DX, particularly during your daylight hours. The A-index of 14 is slightly elevated, so don’t be surprised if propagation feels a little unsettled at times, but nothing severe enough to keep you off the air. If you’ve been waiting for a good window to chase some DX or work some long-haul contacts, conditions are decent enough to reward the patient operator.

Source of data: NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center

Generated: 2026-04-01 17:02 UTC

📻 This Week in Radio History

Also new this week is a look back at radio history.

Notable events from March 27 through April 3, across the years:

1933 — On April 1st, the Amateur Radio Relay League officially moved its headquarters from Hartford to Newington, Connecticut, where it has remained ever since. What started as a relay network connecting operators across the country had grown into an organization substantial enough to need a real home, and Newington became that anchor. If you’ve ever made the pilgrimage to visit the ARRL or toured the W1AW station, you’re walking ground the organization has called its own for nearly a century.

1964 — On March 27th, the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in North America — a magnitude 9.2 — struck Alaska on Good Friday, devastating Anchorage, Valdez, and the surrounding region. The tsunami that followed reached as far south as Oregon. When the shaking stopped, virtually every conventional communication system in the state had failed. What filled the void was amateur radio. Hams across Alaska — Anchorage reportedly had more licensed operators per capita than anywhere else in the country at the time — took up posts at critical locations around the city and became the primary link between stricken communities and the outside world. Their work was significant enough that the USPS issued a commemorative 5-cent Amateur Radio stamp later that year, with the first-day ceremony held in Anchorage. The Alaska-Pacific Emergency Preparedness Net, established in the earthquake's aftermath, still operates today on 14.292 MHz — a living legacy of that Good Friday response.

1973 — On March 30th, the last regularly scheduled commercial transatlantic radiotelegraph service wound down, closing a chapter that stretched back to the earliest days of wireless. Those point-to-point Morse circuits had carried everything from stock prices to wartime dispatches, and their operators were among the most skilled in the world. It’s a quiet reminder that the code skills hams still practice today once formed the backbone of global communications.

Signing Off…

I had a busy weekend, working on the UPS hat for the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W and then taking a day to pop down to Portland to take care of things at the Oregon QTH. After that, I got pulled into the rabbit hole called Python coding. On Tuesday, after checking into our local 10-meter net, I tried to work FT8 for a little bit but band conditions that evening weren’t good. However, I had sporadic luck on 20 meters via the polar route, perhaps reflecting increased ionization of the atmosphere.

Meanwhile, the local weather here on Planet Earth has been unsettled: sunny one day, big fat raindrops the next. It’s spring in the Pacific Northwest so this is to be expected.

I’ve been experiencing really overwhelming noise on 10 meters, and in talking about this with a local ham, I’m going to take a look at my battery chargers. He mentioned that his Ryobi-brand charger was emitting a lot of noise so I’m going to unplug all of my charging devices and see if that makes a difference.

As always, I wish you and yours health and happiness. I look forward to hearing about your radio activities, and particularly about what went right and about those learning moments we all have.

73, and remember to touch a radio every day!

Random Wire 174 published at 5:00 am Pacific last Friday. RW 174 opened with a mention of the update available to take WiRES-X from version 1.57 to version 2.0, but noted only one Yaesu-hosted instance that supported this as an official release.

Later that day, Yaesu posted a WiRES-X 2.0 webinar online, announcing and describing this significant software update. It’s an odd way to release information to a community of users (release it, publish update instructions, but don’t tell anyone until later) that feels like it was not well thought out or orchestrated.

The webinar video is about 45 minutes long, providing a thorough review of the major differences between the releases, including changes, limitations, and more. While I would have preferred to embed the video here as a convenience to you, Yaesu seems to have disabled embedding. Why? I have no idea. The link worked for a day and then the video was pulled and a replacement video was published. Note that it, too, won’t embed, so click the “Watch on YouTube” link to get to it. (Maybe this will have changed by the time RW 175 goes to press.)

A major change in WiRES-X 2.0 is it allows room owners to mute (or boot) individual users from the room. This desirable feature was requested by WiRES-X room owners.

An important consideration in deciding whether to update to version 2.0 is that the updated software requires IPv6 addressing. We’re all familiar with IPv4 addressing (you know, formats like 192.168.0.12). IPv6 is different and not all internet service providers (ISPs) provide IPv6 addresses to their customers. If you don’t have IPv6 and your ISP won’t provide it, don’t upgrade to WiRES-X 2.0, because it won’t work for you.

My provider at the lake house does not provide IPv6 addresses. My TP-Link Deco router (affiliate link) does support IPv6 addresses, but without the ISP supporting them, IPv6 is not available to me. If you are running a WiRES-X system and are thinking about upgrading to 2.0, it will be worth your time to track down whether your ISP provides IPv6 addressing.

This story continues to evolve. For example, this popup appeared on Tuesday when I visited the America’s Kansas City Wide Network home page:

KCWide has reverted to the 1.57 release of Wires-X due to problems in 2.0. Unfortunately, those who have updated their home Wires-X nodes to 2.0 will no [sic] be able to see KCWide. The only solution is to reinstall 1.57. Note that these issues do not affect those connecting via YSF, DStar, DMR, etc.

What does this mean? It means we haven’t heard the last of this update and what happens if you install it.

On Wednesday, I noticed this brief article: Yaesu Screws Up Wires-X. Steve K9ZW is more direct and succinct than I am.

Speaking of WiRES-X…

I still need to get my FT-5D working on WiRES-X. I found a YouTube that provides great guidance on this:

This gives me hope I’ll finally break through the mysterious barrier that has prevented this from working.

TechNote 13 — Using Python and Three Microphone Key-Ups to Safely Shut down an ASL3 Node

I got frustrated with one of my tiny nodes because to shut it down properly, I had to either log into the Cockpit interface with a browser or open an SSH session with PuTTY. I went looking for another way to accomplish a clean shut down with a minimum of fuss. My solution? A Python script that listens for three quick microphone key-ups. Learn more in TechNote 13 — Using Python and Three Microphone Key-Ups to Safely Shut Down an ASL3 Node.

Icom IC-7300 MK2 Transceiver

Microphone connector

One of the nicest things about the new radio is very much a trivial thing, but I like it: pressing the round 8-pin microphone connector to the microphone port is silky smooth. It’s not supposed to feel like that! On all of my older radios, doing this is not smooth. The older radios all take a bit of fidgeting to get everything lined up just right, and then some conscious effort is required to actually make the connection. With the 7300 MK2, it’s like using a brand new, nonstick frying pan: slick, smooth, easy. Sometimes it’s the little things.

Desktop microphone, part 2

The W2ENY adapter and foot switch arrived. I haven’t had much time to play with them, other than to hook things up once to make sure the physical connections work.

As I’ve thought about my need to operate the radio quietly in the same room as my wife, the very affordable W2ENY headset sounds like a great option. I ordered one for the Icom IC-7300 MK2 radio. It won’t arrive before this issue goes to press, but I’ll show it in a future issue of the Random Wire.

VARA

I bought a license for VARA and installed it on my amateur radio computer, the Panasonic Toughbook CF-54 MK2. Then I installed Winlink Express. After testing Winlink over a telnet connection to make sure it would work, I configured it for the IC-7300 MK2. It looks like it worked. Now I just need to find someone I can try messaging with Winlink on HF.

Winlink.org has helpful guidance on configuring an IC-7300 transceiver (PDF format).

Pebble HF Kit

“An ultra-affordable HF radio for anyone.” This intersects with the Random Wire because digital modes will be supported with an adapter.

Pebble HF is an ultra-affordable, ultra-portable HF radio kit for anyone to get into HF amateur radio. Easy to build says the website, 5W output with 12V input, built-in CW key and microphone. Technical details are available on GitHub.

Pebble HF is coming spring or early summer 2026, for under $50.

Is it another QCX hack? I don’t really care. AI explanation of a QCX hack:

A QCX radio hack is a modification, most commonly known as the uSDX project, that transforms the QRP Labs QCX—a 5W CW (Morse code) transceiver kit—into an Arduino-powered all-mode (SSB) transceiver. This popular hack enables voice communication on a radio originally designed only for Morse code, typically involving firmware changes and minor hardware tweaks.

The price is great and the rig, if it works acceptably well, would make a great portable device. I signed up. This would be a fantastic kit to build and then throw into a rucksack with some wire.

This news was also picked up on QRPer: Pebble HF: An Ultra-Affordable QRP Radio Kit with Big Potential!

D75Link Bridges Voice to D-STAR Reflectors

Fabian VE4ELB is working on a command-line D-STAR reflector client for the Kenwood TH-D75 radio that runs on a Mac or Linux.

A D-STAR reflector client for the Kenwood TH-D75 radio. Connects via Bluetooth to the radio in DV Gateway Mode and bridges voice to D-STAR reflectors (REF, XRF, DCS) over the internet. The radio handles all audio encoding and decoding with its built-in AMBE chip. d75link bridges the radio’s MMDVM serial protocol over Bluetooth to reflector UDP packets, with a retro command center terminal interface.

Fabian wrote:

I’ve been working on a custom Linux/macOS command-line tool that connects the Kenwood TH-D75 over Bluetooth to use your computer as a portable hotspot. It’s currently in alpha, but it’s working great for getting on the reflectors without extra hardware.

Painter Pole Antenna Project, Part 2

Before I embark on a DX Commander-like build using a painter pole, I needed to find an adapter for the top of the painter pole. It turns out that Buddipole makes just such a thing (hat tip to Jim K0RGI for this lead). (How did I forget about the world-famous Buddipole?) It takes a couple of pieces to accomplish my goal:

• The Buddipole Center Tee Adapter mates to the top of a standard painter pole and terminates with 1/2” pipe threads. Made of Delrin, it should be durable.

• The VersaTee™ has standard 1/2” pipe threads on the bottom and has standard 3/8” x 24 threaded mounts on top, so it will accept standard whips and hamsticks. It also has wire attachment points for the feed line and counterpoise.

• To this, I added a Long Telescopic Whip which will allow me to extend the pole-plus-whip to about 34-feet. That should work with a tuner for multiple bands between 10 and 40 meters in a base-fed configuration. I think it will still need at least a 1:1 unun.

Those items are making their way to me from Buddipole.

Two Inexpensive SDR Devices

I tried two software-defined radio (SDR) devices. Both were quite affordable.

RTL-SDR Blog V4 R828D RTL2832U 1PPM TCXO HF Bias Tee SMA Software Defined Radio with Dipole Antenna Kit (this is an affiliate link)

That is a complete kit with everything you need except the software. See/hear a one-minute video and learn more on EtherHam.com.

This next device is simply the tiniest SDR dongle I’ve seen so far, so it piqued my curiosity. Would it actually work? Only one way to find out!

NESDR Nano 2 Plus - Tiny Black RTL-SDR USB Set (RTL2832U & R820T2) with Ultra-Low Phase Noise 0.5PPM TCXO, MCX Antenna (this is an affiliate link)

I spent a few hours with the RTL-SDRv4 device…and some of that time was quite frustrating. I do have it set up and running.

Now about the frustrating bits. RTL-SDR requires a special driver for some SDR software applications. That driver is not signed so my Windows 11 machine blocked it. I turned off “secure boot” on my laptop to try to get past this problem, and while that should have worked, it didn’t. Part of the problem is undoubtedly because my CPU is an ARM chip, not an Intel or AMD chip.

What this means is I can’t run the SDR app and direclty access the RTL-SDR device on my ARM-based Windows laptop. (Well, to be more exacting: I can run the app but I can’t access the RTL-SDR dongle.) Instead, I’m running it on a spare mini PC and streaming it over my home network. I was listening to a classical FM station earlier today on my Windows laptop, and now I’m streaming that station to my iMac. Nice.

M17

MSeven M17 app tutorial

I was asked if I knew of a tutorial for the MSeven app for iOS devices. I did not find anything like that so I asked Claude to help me make one. Claude produced it in moments, formatted in HTML. I asked Claude to reformat it in DokuWiki syntax and that only took a few moments. After reviewing the output and modifying a few items, I posted the result at: https://m17.etherham.com/resources/mseven-tutorial. Let me know what you think of it!

History of M17

During the M17 net on Saturday morning on America’s Kansas City Wide Network via M17 reflector M17-KCW module A, Jeff AE5ME recited some of the history of M17. I wondered if Claude knew about this, so I asked. The results are very interesting and available at https://m17.etherham.com/about/history.

What is Claude? Here’s the Google AI explanation:

Claude is a next-generation AI assistant developed by Anthropic, designed to be safe, accurate, and secure, often excelling in creative writing, coding, and complex analysis. It is a large language model (LLM) known for its large context window, allowing it to process long documents.

One note about ChatGPT and Claude. ChatGPT can create graphics and remembers what you were working on. You can go back to ChatGPT tomorrow or next week and it will have context for the continuation of your work. Claude doesn’t d graphics remembers nothing from your previous session...but I’ve had better luck with the information Claude has provided, especially on technical topics. I’ve had to learn to ask for a detailed summary at the end of an important session so I can upload that to Claude when I want to resume work.

Are You Still Running AllStarLink 2?

This surfaced for me as I worked on TechNote 11: Automatically Connecting/Disconnecting an ASL 3 Node. As I dug around, I came to realize that many hub nodes (AllStar nodes that are used to connect many nodes at the same time) are still running the previous version of AllStarLink.

For those folks, I want to be sure you know that the wiki for AllStarLink 2 is no longer available!

If you are still running ASL 2, please don’t panic. The old wiki content is still available in PDF format at this link: https://wiki.allstarlink.org/archive/. I will say that digging through PDF files is not as easy as using the wiki, but at least that resource has been preserved.

For ASL 3, the new manual is available at https://allstarlink.github.io/

Raspberry Pi 500+

Thank you to Steve Stroh N8GNJ, maestro of the Zero Retries newsletter, for sharing a link to Jeff Geerling’s interesting video on the Raspberry Pi 500+ keyboard computer. It was a fun and interesting video because (a) I have an RPi 400 keyboard computer and (b) the RPi 500 and 500+ models offer much more capability. I’ll confess here that the 400 keyboard didn’t really float my boat, but the 500 and 500+ models do sound much more capable.

I never would have thought to try eGPU with the 500+, but Jeff makes it work.

Pretty amazing stuff.

Computer: Upgrading the Surface Pro 4 to Windows 11 Pro

Background

I have a Windows Surface Pro 4 computer. You know, the one that is a tablet with a cover that doubles as a keyboard. You’ve probably seen it on newscasts and sports shows where the computer in front of the media personality has a stand that angles out from the back of the screen. That was most likely a Surface Pro machine.

Mine sports an i5 CPU, 8 GB of RAM, and 256 GB of storage. This is enough to run Windows 11, but my machine is stuck at Windows 10 because the TPM (Trusted Platform Module) chip does not meet Microsoft’s requirements for Windows 11. (Snark: Hey Microsoft, that seems as if it was a bit short-sighted, don’t you think?)

AI explanation of why the Surface Pro 4 isn’t eligible for Windows 11:

The Microsoft Surface Pro 4 cannot officially upgrade to Windows 11 because its Intel 6th Generation processor is not on the supported list, and it lacks the mandatory TPM 2.0 security requirement. Microsoft restricts Windows 11 to devices with newer hardware (post-2017) to ensure security and stability.

The rest of this gets technical, so I’ve posted the full article on EtherHam.com as a TechNote if you’d like to learn more.

Opinion: Do the Terms YL and OM Reflect Patriarchy or Affectionate Jargon?

Is it time for our amateur radio community to reconsider the use of gendered terms in our hobby? I think the answer is yes.

The terminology

What are the terms I’m talking about?

• YL (”Young Lady”) — used to refer to any female amateur radio operator, regardless of age

• OM (”Old Man”) — used to refer to any male amateur radio operator, regardless of age

• XYL (”Ex-Young Lady”) — traditionally used to refer to a ham’s wife (originally meaning a woman who was a licensed ham before marriage, later used more loosely)

Do these terms reflect patriarchal norms?

It’s hard not to recognize the asymmetry in these terms. “OM” suggests experience and respect, in that “old man” is, in many cultures, a term of wisdom and seniority.

“YL” seems to emphasize youth and femininity, suggesting that women in the hobby are defined by their gender and age instead of their standing in amateur radio. There is no equivalent “OW” (Old Woman) term for experienced female operators.

The term “XYL” is particularly telling as it frames a woman’s identity relative to her marital relationship with a male ham. There is no male equivalent to XYL.

Or is this situation more nuanced?

These terms originated as early Morse Code telegraphy culture became established. This was a time when brevity was everything. The terms were likely not coined with malicious intent. “OM” wasn’t really meant to convey wisdom — it was just shorthand.

Many female hams today use and embrace YL as a badge of community identity. There are active YL-focused clubs and nets around the world. Within the amateur radio community, the term often functions as neutral, affectionate jargon rather than as a means of exclusion.

Or are they both patriarchal and friendly jargon?

The shorthand terms do reflect the patriarchal norms of the era when they were first coined. That is, I think, historically accurate. The asymmetry in how men and women are labeled — and the XYL framing in particular — reflect a time when women’s roles were defined largely in relation to men.

Do those terms perpetuate those norms today? That seems more debatable. Language can outlive the attitudes that shaped it, and communities can reclaim or redefine terms. There are two audiences to consider: those inside the amateur radio community, and those outside the community. I’m concerned that those outside the community may leap to the conclusion that YL and XYL are demeaning to women.

I don’t have any suggestions that would serve as gender-neutral replacements for these gendered terms.

I also did not find much published on this point.

Previously published content

Amateur Radio the gender imbalances in Ham radio, and why I will no longer use the term YL

This 2016 blog post by a female operator directly addresses the gender dynamics of the term YL and states plainly that it contributes to women feeling like they don’t fully belong in the hobby. She argues the terms originated nearly a century ago and reflect social norms that are no longer acceptable, and notes that amateur radio is roughly 15% women in the USA.

But thinking about it, one obvious example of this to me is the fact that in Ham radio we still commonly use YL, ie "young lady," to refer to all women regardless of age. I will freely admit that this didn't annoy me much when I was a young woman, but by now I am 30 years old and am going to have a doctorate in astrophysics by the end of the year (hopefully). And being called a YL is starting to feel really patronizing and condescending to me, in a way related to calling a grown man "boy." It definitely has been said to me many times in a way that does not make me feel like just another Ham radio operator.

YL coined by ARRL in 1920

Historical context: The term YL was coined in 1920 by the ARRL. The reasoning for the term is telling — it reveals the creators were aware of the asymmetry but chose youth over experience in labeling female radio amateurs:

The term YL was coined in 1920 by the American Radio Relay League for young ladies of all ages, as “OM will not fit and OL would certainly be most inapplicable.”

ARRL documented that XYL is for unlicensed women

An ARRL publication on women’s participation in amateur radio notes that XYL is the term for unlicensed women, usually wives of male operators. No critical analysis of the term is included in that publication.

Published academic studies?

No formal academic or peer-reviewed analyses of the use of these terms seem to exist. Specifically, I was looking for publications through the lens of gender studies and linguistics.

Conclusion

It seems to me that we are at a point where a cultural realignment might benefit the hobby. We don’t need to classify women in the frame of their relationship to men. Continuing to do so may contribute to limited interest and participation by women in our community of licensed radio amateurs.

This is akin to the renaming of blackboards and whiteboards, where for some of us, this just didn’t matter, but for others, it mattered a great deal.

I’m sure some folks will read this and think I’m being too politically correct. My response is: I have daughters and I want them to have as many opportunities for growth, self-fulfillment, and success as I have enjoyed. That’s not possible when we embed terms that subtly — and sometimes not so subtly — cast women in terms of their relationship with men.

I do think we have arrived here innocently. These are terms that have been part of amateur radio culture since the telegraphy days. However, just because we use such terms without harmful intent does not mean they are not harmful.

As I continue to explore the art, science, and community of amateur radio, I have come to know men who are great operators…and some who are not. I know women who are great operators…and some who are not. The level of proficiency and helpfulness of fellow hams are the important points for me, not their gender. If using gendered terms effectively reduces engagement of potential amateurs, we should consider finding other labels.

Short Stack

And now for the part you’ve been waiting for: the short stack of interesting internet finds. Quoted content in the Short Stack is shown in italics.

ARRL

• It seems the ARRL has entered the modern era! ARRL Introduces New LIVE Online Course for Ham Radio Licensing was publicized in November of last year and I missed it. It’s nice to see the League move forward.

Radio

• Click-to-Tune for POTA. This is pretty cool. HamDash now has CAT control associated with the POTA map. Visit the site and click the POTA selection.

• Elevate Your POTA Experience with the Icom IC-7300 MK2. “This article delves into an activation featuring the Icom IC-7300 MK2 transceiver, evaluating its performance in various aspects essential for portable operations.”

• HRWB 259 - Making CW Keys with Aaron from Modern Morse. I’m only about halfway through this episode but I can tell it’s a great one. “Modern Morse keys are popular for POTA, SOTA, travel and anytime you want a portable high quality CW key. Aaron shares his journey through the design and manufacturing process for making his keys.”

• See Which Shortwave Stations Are Broadcasting Right Now. “World Radio Map is a free web application that answers that question with an interactive Google Map, showing you real-time shortwave broadcasting activity around the globe.” Source: The SWLing Post

• N7YG Digital Engine. “This program was specifically designed to function as a companion to the suite of N3FJP software and provide the users with a simple digital modem with a floating waterfall that can reside on the same screen as the logging software…Now includes support for PSK Reporter, EXTFSK, TinyFSK and K1EL Winkey FSK.”

• Guess I need to use this – N1MM Logger. “If you go back enough years perhaps N1MM was a bit more of a learning curve than I wanted to take on. With time I’d like to think N1MM and I both got better suited to working with each other.”

• Building A $50 SDR With 20 MHz Bandwidth. “Although the RTL-SDR is cheap, accessible, and capable enough for many projects, it does have some important limitations. In particular, its bandwidth is limited to about 3.2 MHz, and the price of SDRs tends to scale rapidly with bandwidth. [Anders Nielsen], however, is building a modular SDR with a target price of $50 USD, and has already reached a bandwidth of almost 20 MHz.”

• SDR vs. HDR — Are analog hams Troglodytes, stuck in a rut, resistant to change, and all that? Since I touched on software-defined radio several times in this issue of the Random Wire, this Solder Smoke post is on point. It rounds out the context around SDR. I’m not sure what is really meant by HDR in the Solder Smoke post, but the content is informative.

• Amateur Radio Weekly – Issue 413. Always a good read.

• Advice on Being the Best Elmer You Can Be. “I implore you to lay down the daggers of self-righteousness and insult and take up the mantle of encouragement. Your life and our hobby will be better for it.”

Meshtastic

• Bridging Meshtastic to SMS/RCS. “We’ve built a Meshtastic ↔ Android SMS/RCS gateway, and it’s already proving to be both useful—and honestly, pretty fun.”

Antennas

• The REZ Antennas XForm Transformer proves its worth. Michael KB9VBR writes: “REZ Antennas raises the bar on small delta loops with the introduction of their XForm 4:1 transformer. Part of the Scout XF modular antenna system, this transformer adds a variety of nonresonant antenna options to the already versatile system.”

• Lumped-Constant Loaded Dipole Antenna. Catchy name for the antenna? Perhaps. Looks like a trapped dipole to me. “This electrically shortened dipole is similar in appearance to a trap dipole except the ‘traps’ consist of coils only, causing the antenna to operate not unlike two mobile inductively loaded whips, mounted horizontally base-to-base.”

Computing

• DietPi just made it easy to host your own Google Photos on a Raspberry Pi. “DietPi v10.2 introduces Immich, the open-source and self-hosted Google Photos alternative, as a new package in the software library.”

• HAM-Toolbox version 1.8.0 released. “HAM-Toolbox provides a variety of useful Tools to help you operating your HAM-Radio…ranging from activity monitoring Tools like DX-Cluster and PSK-Reporter, to Tools helping you with resource information like Bandplan, Glossar, AWG and many more Tools.” For Mac/iOS

  systems.

• 7 settings I change after installing Ubuntu. “Every time I install Ubuntu, whether it's a fresh setup or an upgrade—I follow a checklist of tweaks I immediately apply. It's a set of changes I always make to ensure the system feels comfortable, familiar, and efficient for me.”

• The Best Laptops for Older Adults. Despite the clickbait title, reliable, easy laptops are good for all ages.

Geekery

I don’t know what else to call some of these edge case items that most hams won’t be interested in…but some of us will!

• Ampisu is a compact pocket-sized USB lab power supply with SCPI and web control (Crowdfunding). “…Ampisu [is] a compact, pocket-friendly, and isolated three-output lab power supply designed to fit in a pocket and include features of a typical full-sized power supply.”

Networking

• What The FCC’s Router Ban Could Mean for You. “The U.S. government is banning the importation of new routers made overseas, meaning consumers will no longer be able to purchase devices from many popular manufacturers.”

EtherHam Store

The sweatshirt arrived from the EtherHam Store and I see I placed the logo too low on the chest. I suppose I could add a callsign above the logo. That might work.

The logo actually looks a bit better in person than the image suggests.

I normally wear a men’s medium size. In this case, I ordered a large and it is comfortably loose. I think the sizing is accurate. This is a Champion-brand sweatshirt with a smooth, double-thick hood. The body and sleeves are fleeced inside.

Signing Off

Why do I close with the same phrase every week?

I believe that seeing and touching a radio brings it into the now, imprinting it in your consciousness. If your radio is stuck in a box or a closet, it’s likely to stay there, unused. If your radio is where you see it every day, you are much more likely to fire it up and get on the air. I like to keep a radio nearby because it reminds me — even in my most frustrated moments — that I can always connect to a community of supportive, helpful people. Radio has been, and continues to be, a great way to take a break from things that may not be going as well as I might wish. Radio grounds me (yes, pun intended)!

Radio is about science, but there is also art involved. A beautiful PCB layout, a vintage device restored or upcycled with modern features, an elegant homebrew system…all have an artistic element. Where there is art, there is also community. This surfaces when we share our appreciation for particular builds and creations.

I’m all for STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) but somewhere, somehow, we lost sight of the inspiration and energy art provides. I’m a fan of STEM, but I’m a bigger fan of STEAM: science, technology, engineering, arts, and math. Artistic endeavors connect the other elements to us as humans and to our shared membership in a wider community.

With that, it’s time to tie a ribbon around this issue. 73, and remember to touch a radio every day!

New WIRES-X Software Release Available?

I’m hearing that WIRES-X software has moved to version 2.0 and there are some incompatibilities with nodes running the previous version. I’m finding this information on social media. What I’m not finding are official announcements or press releases from Yaesu on this change.

The most reliable verification of this update is the instructions released by Yaesu on March 17, 2026. See the PDF file on the Yaesu website which briefly describes how to update WIRES-X to version 2.0. The entirety of that PDF is this single page:

Should you update your WIRES-X software now? I don’t have strong advice, other than my general information technology rule of thumb: unless it is a critical patch, upgrade slowly. Translation: let someone else be on the cutting edge of finding and solving problems!

If you have more information on this software upgrade and what it means, please do share it.

New TechNote: Automatically Connecting/Disconnecting an ASL Node

TechNote 11: Automatically Connecting/Disconnecting an ASL 3 Node contains detailed scripts/commands for a Debian 13 server running AllStarLink 3. Please note that some commands in the TechNote will not work correctly if you are running AllStarLink 2.

This long TechNote will be of interest if you run AllStarLink 3 and want to automate the process of connecting and disconnecting regularly to a particular node.

What is a bash script? See the footnote1.

I am testing this publicly on my “node in the cloud” AllStar node 57945, which you can check at https://kj7t.net/allscan/. To make sure I don’t interfere with node 55915 and any nodes connected to/through it, I’m making my automatic connection in listen-only (monitor) mode.

And since I fiddled with my ASL node 57945, I changed how I track changes. I was capturing notes in a simple text file and serving that from the 57495 web root. However, I decided to use Markdown to keep the notes.

What is Markdown? See the footnote2

The web server doesn’t automatically parse Markdown files so I installed pandoc to convert CHANGELOG.md to CHANGELOG.html. See the result at https://kj7t.net/CHANGELOG.html. It’s easier to read than a straight text file.

What Are Those Strange Sounds?

SIGIDWIKI (Signal Identification Guide) has hundreds of sound samples (and the spectrum displays of sources) for all the bands you might listen to. If you are hearing something strange, SIGIDWIKI is the place to go.

Here’s a graphical representation of what is covered there. Hearing strange sounds? Visit SIGIDWIKI!

Also:

Check out Artemis 3, the main companion app to this guide! Artemis 3 gives you all known reference signals in an easy to access offline format, with improved sorting and filters and offline audio samples and waterfalls.

Artemis 3 is available for the operating systems you are likely using:

More Exploring: the Icom IC-7300MK2

Interfacing a Desktop Mic on the IC-7300MK2

I bought a new microphone for my computer and then wondered: can I interface this with the Icom IC-7300MK2? The answer is that I should be able to. The adapter from W2ENY had not arrived by the time this issue of the Random Wire went to press.

The microphone:

MAONO PD200W Hybrid Wireless Podcast Microphone for PC, Dynamic XLR USB Mic with Desktop Stand, Software, Noise Cancellation, for Vocal Recording, Streaming, Content Creation, Home Studio, Voiceover (affiliate link)

I will say the MAONO PD200W is a pretty large microphone for the budget end of the spectrum. Once I had the sound profile to a place I liked, it sounded good. I’ve been using it via a USB connection and also via a wireless connection with my laptop computer. No complaints heard from anyone on Teams and Zoom calls!

I contacted Bob W2ENY to see if he could make me an XLR-to-Icom cable so I could try to interface the radio with the IC-7300MK2 radio. The 7300MK2 has an 8-pin round connector. Turns out Bob also sells a foot switch that works with his adapter. This would be very helpful when I want to transmit from my portable desk.

The XLR connection on the microphone is standard, so the XLR pinout should be:

• Pin 1 — Ground (shield)

• Pin 2 — Audio positive (hot, +)

• Pin 3 — Audio negative (cold, −)

However, it’s a dynamic microphone so Bob says it will need a DC blocking capacitor as Icom “has bias voltage on pin 1 that would short to ground.” I ordered the adapter and a footswitch for $80, remitted through PayPal. Find Bob’s store at https://w2eny.com/. I noted that he also has some great looking compact headsets available so I’m thinking a headset is in my future.

Remote software for the IC-7300MK2

I found these remote control solutions for the Icom IC-7300 and IC-7300MK2 transceivers:

• RS-BA1 Version2 IP REMOTE CONTROL SOFTWARE — From Icom, “RSBA1 allows users to operate their ham shack with only an IP connection.”

• Win4IcomSuite for Icom Radios — “Win4IcomSuite is a comprehensive control package for the Icom IC-7100, IC-7300, IC-7610, IC-7600, IC-7700, IC-7850/51, IC-9700, IC-7760, IC-705 with more radios to follow.”

• wfview — “wfview is a program developed by amateur radio enthusiasts to control modern Icom and Kenwood ham radios. wfview is free and open source software.”

• IC 7300 Remote Control Software — “This post is about how to remote control the IC 7300 with Simple Ham Radio Remote (SimpleHRR) Software and a Raspberry Pi.”

• SDR-Control for Icom — “Software Defined Radio Client for Icom Transceivers” (for iPhone, iPad, and macOS).

• Ham Radio Deluxe — See IC-7300 USB Setup Configuration for more information.

• RemAud - Low Latency & Low Bandwidth Amateur Radio VoIP Software — For remote audio.

• flrig - rig control program, cooperates with fldigi — Often used with RemAud, according to Reddit and Facebook users.

I had some interesting moments with wfview. I installed it, configured it, and could see the program’s version of the 7300MK2 display. I could control the frequency. But I could not get any audio into the computer — it was all going through the radio speakers. The next morning, I reset back to my saved FT8 configuration but WSJT-X no longer heard the radio. Uh oh.

I took a shortcut and asked ClaudeAI for some help. In a couple of minutes, Claude steered me to the USB AF Out setting which was set much too low. I set it back to 50%. Still no signal reaching WSJT-X. Claude suggested that the wfview program had taken control of the codec and not released it. I uninstalled wfview, restarted WSJT-X, and suddently WSJT-X could hear the radio again. However, this time it was too hot, so I turned the USB AF Out down to 30%. Perfect.

Shielded USB cable with chokes

I finally found a good quality, heavy duty, shielded USB cable with RF chokes (ferrites) installed on each end:

Digirig 2M Shielded USB-C to USB-C Cable with Ferrites (affiliate link)

I confess I bought more than one because I always seem to be hunting for a good, shielded USB-C data cable. My primary use case is to connect the Icom IC-7300MK2 to my Toughbook computer. Currently, I’m using a pretty typical USB cable with ferrites I added, but I think the Digirig cable will give me better service. If nothing else, it feels thicker and the cable-plug join feels very solid. I like these USB-C cables.

Digital voice with FreeDV

FreeDV uses Codec 2, the same codec as M17! I wanted to try FreeDV with the Icom IC-7300MK2 this week but ran out of time.

FreeDV is a suite of digital voice modes for HF radio. Our flagship mode is the Radio Autoencoder (RADE). You can run RADE using a free GUI application for Windows, Linux and macOS that allows any SSB radio to be used for high quality digital voice.

The reasons for FreeDV seem compelling to me. This is probably not a surprise, given that one of my primary interests is the intersection of the analog and digital realms.

Amateur Radio is transitioning from analog to digital, much as it transitioned from AM to SSB in the 1950s and 1960s. How would you feel if one or two companies owned the patents for SSB, then forced you to use their technology, made it illegal to experiment with or even understand the technology, and insisted you stay locked to it for the next 100 years? That’s exactly what was happening with digital voice. But now, hams are in control of their technology again!

FreeDV is unique as it uses 100% Open Source Software, including the speech codec. No secrets, nothing proprietary! FreeDV represents a path for 21st-century Amateur Radio where Hams are free to experiment and innovate rather than a future locked into a single manufacturer’s closed technology.

Trying FreeDV with the 7300MK2 is on my to do list.

Receive-only loop antenna for the 7300MK2

I’m having a horrible time trying to hear much of anything on 10 meters. This is true with the Yaesu FT-450D and the new Icom IC-7300MK2. There is something about the lake house and its environs that is not conducive to the 10M band.

I dug an old MLA-30 antenna out of a box to try as a receive-only antenna. The 7300MK2 has SMA ports on the back for a receive-only antenna so I had nothing to lose but a few minutes of time.

This is the exact model I used:

MLA-30 Loop Antenna Active Receiving Antenna 100kHz - 30MHz for Short Wave Radio (affiliate link)

I hope you won’t laugh too hard at the next photo. I didn’t want to invest a lot of time creating a strong mount for this lightweight antenna, so I improvised with a columnar cardboard box. It worked fine indoors and I had it outside for a few hours between rain showers.

It actually did pick up stations during last night’s 10-meter net. I tried rotating it to various orientations without much effect on 10 meters. I worked very nicely on 15 meters where I could hear QSOs very clearly. For the 10-meter net, I ended up using the end fed half wave antenna, though, as it was catching more RF, which also means it was picking up all the RFI around me. I turned the RF (Radio Frequency) knob way down and the AF (Audio Frequency, aka volume) knob up to for best clarity of received audio. (The RF control is used to adjust receiver sensitivity, reducing noise by decreasing gain when turned counter-clockwise.)

So the MLA-30 antenna does work. It deserves a better mounting system so I’ll work on that in the near future. I think I’ll dig out one of my SDR dongles and try the loop antenna with the SDR. That might work nicely with an SDR application on my laptop.

Portable HF antenna idea

You might have noticed that the cardboard shown with the loop antenna was the packaging for a painter pole. I bought a 24-foot painter pole. What I’m thinking is making an inexpensive version of a DX Commander antenna. I’ll need to fabricate a cap that screws to the painter pole threads with a mount for a telescoping whip. I need to get to at least 33 feet in length.

And then since this strong and light pole is actually conductive, I’ll need to make standoffs for the vertical wire for each band. Even if I get those wires two or three inches from the pole, there is likely to be some detuning going on, and that means I should start with the wires too long and trim them to the best standing wave ratio (SWR).

What is SWR? See the footnote3

I envision using some pieces of kitchen cutting boards made of polypropylene as standoffs…maybe a rectangular strip with a hole drilled in the middle for the painter pole, and smaller holes for the antenna elements.

I’ll need what, a 1:1 unun at the base of the antenna? It should work like a fan dipole where the frequency you are on flows through the resonant element, so all elements can connect to the single unun.

What is an unun? See the footnote4

And then I’ll need some kind of ground mount (or maybe one that I can slide into my tow hitch receiver) that will hold the 24-foot painter pole.

I don’t have this drawn up. Right now, the image lives in my head. First challenge: figuring out a cap with painter pole threads, something I can install an antenna mount on and robust enough to handle a telescoping aerial antenna in the wind.

Using M17 Without a Radio

How many ways are there to connect to an M17 reflector without owning an M17-capable radio? It turns out there are several software options for getting on M17 reflectors using just a computer, phone, or tablet. Here’s the rundown of what I’ve uncovered.

DroidStar — This is, perhaps, the most popular option. DroidStar is a multimode digital voice client that runs on Windows, Linux, MacOS, Android, and by jumping through a few hoops, probably iOS. (I say probably because I’ve not tried this and most of the advice I found is no more recent than 2023.) It connects directly to reflectors over the internet using just your microphone and speaker(s). For iOS, DroidStar-DMR is a fork of DroidStar that adds some features and is reportedly easier to install on iOS. DroidStar is the go-to solution for most operators and works well on a phone while driving.

M17 Web Client — Listening via the M17 Web Client is probably the easiest way to get started as there is nothing to install. The M17 Web Client is a beta application that enables receiving and transmitting M17 over reflectors from your web browser, making it very easy to get on the air without having to have any special equipment or software installed. Find it at https://m17project.org. Check out the streaming examples at https://stream.m17.app/ (and I note that the Kansas City Wide network is also available if you scroll down the streaming page a bit).

mvoice — The Linux desktop client mvoice is the original M17 client for Linux, featuring Ham-DHT support and direct routing. This is more of a power-user tool but it does have full TX/RX capability.

SDRangel — If you are an SDR hardware user, SDRangel supports both transmission and reception of M17 and runs on both Windows and Linux, working with PlutoSDR, HackRF, and other SDRs. This requires SDR hardware but not a traditional radio.

Practical recommendation: DroidStar on Android is the easiest full TX/RX option and takes about five minutes to set up. The reflector used by the M17 team is M17-M17, module C — there is a net every Friday at 17:00 UTC (10:00 am where I live) where you can ask questions and test your setup.

If you are an iOS user, the easiest path forward without a radio is the MSeven app from the Apple App Store. (I run this on an iPad Mini and it works very well.)

In this brief summary, I did not include information about M17 hotspots since these generally also require a radio.

EtherHam Store

I added a hoodie and a tumbler to the EtherHam store and then ordered one of each. The tumbler arrived yesterday and I have to say it looks very nice.

Your purchases help support the cost of web hosting, domain name registration, email, and more.

Switched My Open Source Audio Editor

I changed my audio editor from Audacity to Tenacity. Both are open source programs but Tenacity seems, well, purer. For example, Tenacity doesn’t “phone home” with data about your installation. The Tenacity interface is so similar to the Audacity front end that operating it won’t feel like something new.

Short Stack

Interesting items from the interwebs.

Radio

• FT0 Free and Open Source Digital Mode — I hope we all recognize this is satire. FT0 is not real. I laughed when I read this and hope you will find it amusing, too.

• Beginning to Build with Tubes — “There are a number of reasons to pursue tube-based projects. Vacuum tube technology is accessible; the principles on which tubes operate are straightforward. Tube circuits generally require a reasonable number of other parts.”

• Testing a $100 “Fishball” Pluto+ PlutoSDR Clone — “Over on YouTube, TheGmr140 has uploaded a video reviewing a Pluto+ clone SDR that he picked up for around US$100. He refers to it by its community nickname, the ‘Fishball’, a name that appears to be used for Pluto+ clones sold specifically by HamGeek and OpenSourceSDR Lab…”

• Native Linux Client for FlexRadio Transceivers – AetherSDR announced — “Free, open-source Linux (and macOS via homebrew) client for FlexRadio…It’s called AetherSDR — fully open-source (GPLv3), built with Qt6/C++, and built around the Flex API protocol natively. No Wine, no VMs.”

• The HF Vertical Antenna: Its Pros & Cons — “This article first breaks down what a typical quarter‑wave base vertical really costs you in buried radial losses and vertically polarized noise pickup, and what changes when you lift the vertical antenna system with a counterpoise or a ground‑plane style install.”

• The G3LZR Tribander : The charm of the Impossible Antenna — How about a compact homebrew antenna for 10, 15, and 20 meters? “Developed in the 1970s by the genius of Fred Caton (VK2ABQ) and perfected by his friend Ted Womack (G3LZR), this unique tribander defies conventional element spacing. While a standard Yagi can occupy several meters of space, the G3LZR, as evidenced by its shape, folds in on itself using a unique concept: Voltage Feedback.”

• NewTechHams Are My Hope For The Future of Amateur Radio — Steve Stroh N8GNJ with Zero Retries begins like this: “I received an email from a longtime Zero Retries reader that was some good food for thought.” I find Steve’s writing to always be thoughtful, often challenging me to think about where I stand.

• Portable Ham Radios: Your Emergency Lifeline — The author recommends five portable radios. Only one (Motorola Talkabout FRS radio) makes any sense.

• How to Stop Electromagnetic Interference: Why a Magnetic Receive Loop Wins — “…modern-era neighborhood electronics turned HF reception into mayhem until I switched to a small active magnetic loop built for high signal-to-noise ratio. Here’s why that design works, how to aim it to null interference, and what changed the moment I put it on the air.”

• Low Noise Multi-band HF Antenna for Small Gardens — Explore a historic, compact antenna design optimized for limited spaces and reduced background noise in this YouTube video. This guide covers the construction of a delta loop that utilizes harmonics for multi-band operation. Learn how to implement this solution for improved performance in challenging environments.

Artificial intelligence

• I finally started using Claude and I should have sooner — This echoes my own experience with using Claude. “Most AI tools feel like a calculator – precise, but cold. You put data in, you get a result, and then you spend ten minutes sounding like a person. When I finally started using Claude, that problem disappeared. The outputs feel more human, the reasoning is sharper, and for the first time, I’m spending less time engineering my prompts and more time actually creating.”

Computing

• My $150 mini PC runs 12 Docker containers and hasn’t broken a sweat — If you’ve been focused on Raspberry Pi devices instead of mini PCs, this article might change your mind. “Recently, I picked up a mini PC that ran me just about $150, runs Linux headless and sits in a corner in my study. More importantly, it's currently hosting over 12 Docker containers that handle everything from media management to backups and network tools with ample headroom to grow.”

• GIMP 3.2 gives Photoshop another run for its money, with new editing tools and interface improvements — Yeah, I use GIMP instead of Photoshop. “GIMP has been one of the most popular alternatives to Adobe Photoshop over the years, even though it still has some lingering usability problems. The latest GIMP 3.2 update is fixing some of those issues, along with a few other new features.”

Signing Off

Programming Cable for Connect Systems M17 Radios

I couldn’t find my special programming cable for my CS7000-M17 PLUS handheld M17 and DMR radio, so I went searching on the Connect Systems website. Nope, such a cable was missing. After reaching out to Connect Systems support, they added the programming cable to their online store. If you have such a radio and can’t find your cable, here’s the link (and it’s affordable at just $10): https://www.csi-radios.com/cs760-761-programming-cable/

Finally got some snow

It’s not much snow, but still: it’s snow! It’s not winter to me unless we get at least one snowfall. I remember a lot more snow in my childhood, but now snow has become an unusual occurrence in my neck of the woods.

The old boat has been sadly neglected since my wife’s medical incidents occurred almost a year ago. I got the old Westerbeke 13 diesel engine started but had to refresh myself on the procedure by cracking open the manual. Oh yes: run the electric fuel pump for 15-30 seconds to purge air and load the lines, and hold in the glow plug for a bit (the length of time dependent on ambient temperature). When I followed the steps, the engine clattered to life and thumped along quite nicely. As Monday dawned, I motored her to the boatyard dock for haul out and bottom paint.

There is more about the boat and other activities in Inside EtherHam: March 2026.

73 to all, and remember to touch a radio every day!

It seems a bit shocking that the Random Wire is scratching an itch for more than 2,000 people. I started this as a way to help me remember what I was doing, and then I was encouraged to share those thoughts with others. I’m no expert — far from it. But I like learning and look forward to picking up new knowledge every day. That kind of curiosity seems pervasive within our great hobby of hobbies: amateur radio.

I am thankful for all subscribers. But we also share an identity: you and I are EtherHams. I know this because (a) the Random Wire is the newsletter for EtherHam.com, and (b) we all use the internet and computing in some fashion in our amateur radio activities. I don’t know a ham who does not use the internet in some fashion. I conclude that we are all EtherHams.

Those two things — learning new things and working on a computer-based radio system — came together this week. I spent a lot of time this week rebuilding my M17 reflector. Translation: most of my content this week is about that work! However, that long story isn’t shared in this newsletter. Instead, I documented my work in a detailed TechNote at EtherHam.com: TechNote 10: Installing an M17 Reflector on a Cloud Server. If you’ve been wondering what goes into standing up an M17 reflector, or maybe thinking about building one yourself, check out my step-by-step notes. You can see the finished dashboard for my M17-PNW reflector running at http://m17pnw.net/.

I also got some operating time with my new Icom IC-7300MK2 HF transceiver. I need more time to develop stronger views on the radio, but so far, it is working pretty well for me. The 10-meter band is incredibly noisy at the lake house, but I’ve been doing well on 15, 20, and 40 meters using an end-fed half wave antenna, with a little bit of 30-meter activity as well. More on that in a bit.

I hope you find something interesting in Random Wire issue 173. As always, please do let me know how you are doing, what questions or stories you have about amateur radio, and topics you may be interested in.

Here’s a question for you that goes beyond your job title or other short, dry descriptor: if you had a free day to do anything you want, what would that look like? For many of us, the answer would be: play on the radio!

I Suppose…

As I reflect on readers of this newsletter, I suppose that some have no idea what I’m writing about. This was made clearer for me after receiving a poignant note from a subscriber who told me her father had been a ham, and while she enjoyed the newsletter, she didn’t really know what I was talking about.

That’s a failure on my part. I’ve assumed that radio amateurs were my subscribers, but clearly, not all subscribers are licensed hams. I’ll try to develop the habit of providing better background information and context in future pieces.

It will also help me to share that foundational information as I will learn more, too. In this issue, you’ll find two footnotes to help provide background for a couple of items.

M17 Reflector Rebuilt

An updated version of mrefd — a system for running an M17 reflector — was released. My implementation (https://m17pnw.net/) had not been updated for months so I thought it would be a good idea to proceed with an update. However, I had previously chosen to use a Go-based dashboard and that system couldn’t be rolled back, so I destroyed (erased) the server and started over. Unfortunately, it did not go well, at least not immediately.

For background, see footnote 1: What is an M17 reflector?1

First, I started with a fresh install of Debian 12. I hit a bump when trying to enable FastCGI on the web server. After fighting that for a while, I destroyed that server and installed Debian 13. I encountered errors while trying to install packages. Turns out Debian 13 dropped the libopendht-dev library that mrefd needs. I had not previously realized this.

So: back to Debian 12. I think all in all, I installed seven Debian servers with mrefd. I could not get them to work. (To be clearer: mrefd was working but the web-based dashboard was not.) After spending hours with the hosting company tech support team, I finally decided to restore my backup of my previously working reflector. After running updates on the server, updating DNS, and checking firewalls, I initiated the mrefd instance.

But even though the previous version was running fine, I couldn’t let go of trying to figure out how to get the newer version installed. The short version of this story is I did figure it out. If you want the details, read TechNote: Installing an M17 Reflector on a Cloud Server.

You can see the M17-PNW reflector dashboard at https://m17pnw.net. I encourage M17 users to connect to the M17-PNW reflector to make sure it works! The new location feature is not working for me. I can’t tell if I misconfigured mrefd (possible) or if my iPad app (MSeven) is not reporting my location (likely, as the app privacy note for the app says no data is collected, and my iPad Mini does not have GPS on board). Thanks in advance for your help.

Antenna in the Tree & FT8

I picked up an end-fed half wave antenna and pulled the end up to a branch about 50 feet up the tall fir tree beside the house so I could work more HF stations.

For background, see footnote 2: What is an end-fed half wave antenna?2

JYR4010-400W End Fed Half Wave Antenna for Ham Radio 400W Shortwave Radio Antenna 4 Band 10m 15m 20m 40m Long Wire Antenna 1:64 Balun No Tuning Great for POTA/SOTA (affiliate link)

This off-brand antenna is working okay. I tested it quickly on 10, 15, 20, and 40 meters. There was a lot of activity on the bands so I was able to listen to quite a few stations.

Speaking of antennas, I enjoyed this YouTube presentation of six newer antennas by Jason at Ham Radio 2.0 (I missed this when it came out in July 2025):

How did I get the EFHW wire up the tree? I have not finished my pneumatic launcher so I used an arborist slingshot. It shot a 15-ounce bag up about 50 feet, almost high enough.

Slingshot Arborist Throw Line Rope Launcher Sling Shot for Adults

I’ve since ordered a slightly lighter bag because the 15-ounce one is just a little too heavy to really get to the height I need. When I pulled my EFHW antenna into the tree, it didn’t go quite as far as it should have. I’m hoping the 11-ounce bag and a little more stretch on the slingshot will get me the height I need (just 10 more feet!)…once it stops pouring down cold winter rain!

Performance of the antenna improved when I added about 25 feet of stranded wire to the ground terminal on the EFHW balun. I connected that wire to a metal stake driven into the ground.

To test, I got FT8 going with 20 watts on the IC-7300MK2. For the WSJT-X and GridTracker programs, I’m using an old Panasonic CF-54 TOUGHBOOK running Windows 11 Pro. This worked great, once I got the programs configured and connected to my QRZ.com logbook.

I’m now designating this computer as my field computer for amateur radio. You can see what it looks like at this Amazon link:

Panasonic Toughbook 54, CF-54 MK3, Intel Core i5-7300U, 14.0 Inch HD, 512GB SSD, 16GB, Wi-Fi, TPM, Backlit Keyboard, Webcam, Windows 11 Pro (Renewed) (affiliate link)

Mine is the MK2 model. The MK1 model had a VGA port, which was replaced with an HDMI port in the MK2 and MK3 models.

Getting FT8 running on the IC-7300MK2 was an adventure because none of the directions I found online in YouTube videos and web pages worked. The gist I shared last week came close. I was able to figure out most of the settings from the gist, even though many of the descriptors for various settings did not exactly match the IC-7300MK2 radio.

Then I couldn’t identify the right COM port on the computer. I had downloaded the Silicon Labs driver from Icom, installed it, and rebooted my computer. The COM port was supposed to be identified by the Silicon Labs moniker. No COM port said anything about Silicon Labs, not even in the COM port properties. To figure this out, I finally uninstalled the driver, rebooted, and took a screenshot of the COM ports found by the Windows Device Manager. Then I installed the driver, rebooted, and compared the new, longer list against the screenshot. Two new COM ports showed up, saying just COM6 and COM7. I chose COM7 and that worked.

I thought it would be easier to get FT8 set up and operating on the IC-7300MK2. It wasn’t particularly simple. When I find some spare time, I’ll document all my settings in case it helps someone else. What I did do, once I got the radio working properly, was stick an SD card into radio and save a copy of the working configuration. That will make it much easier to get back to a working config if I change the settings later.

On Sunday, I spent some time working FT8 stations on 10, 15, 20, 30, and 40 meters. I picked up two new countries: Belize and South Africa. I guess the system is working! (The yellow star in the right column means the contact is confirmed.)

Now to figure out how to switch the radio to phone (phone means voice for those unfamiliar with amateur radio lingo) so I can try to participate in Tuesday night’s 10 meter net! It turns out this was easy: press USB-D [D for data] on the touchscreen, select SSB, and the radio switched out of data mode to USB [upper side band] on 10 meters. I was stumped for a few minutes because I had forgotten this new radio actually has a touchscreen. Clearly, I’m not used to this newer technology!

I also learned something new about FT8. I use it to help identify which directions my antenna are strong, and where it is less strong. Looking at locations of stations I contact, I learn more geography. But the new thing I learned is: I can play radio without disturbing my wife while she watches a movie or rests. FT8 is a great activity for people who can’t make unwelcome radio noise in their environment.

Another HamClock? Try HamDash!

I ran across another version of a HamClock. This one is an app served over the web and it is chock full of information of interest to amateur radio operators.

There are several screens available via horizontal tabs across the top of the app window. You’ve got one-click access to the band plan for the United States, WebSDR, contests, weather and safety info (if you allow it to know your location), shortwave stations, amateur radio stations, a live map, and DX spots. Be sure to scroll down because on some tabs, there is a lot more information provided below the fold.

Truly, there is a lot of content provided. Find it at https://hamdash.app/.

Changed My VPN Provider

I have been using NordVPN for several years. NordVPN has almost always worked perfectly for me on my computers and phones. I have no complaints. Well, no complaints until the renewal price showed up in my email: $149.88 for a year of service. Ouch.

So I went shopping. I looked at a few larger providers like Mullvad (cheaper than NordVPN, good reputation, but didn’t work well for me a few years ago when I tried it) and SurfShark (probably the budget choice here). The service I settled on was ProtonVPN as part of a package that includes the ProtonMail account I already have. Price: $119.88 for a year of the Proton Unlimited plan (monthly plan also available). This package includes:

• 500 GB storage

• 1 user

• 15 extra email addresses

• Support for 3 custom email domains

• Unlimited folders and labels

• Unlimited hide-my-email aliases

• Dedicated customer support

• Ultra fast and private VPN

• Encrypted password manager

• Encrypted cloud storage for photos and documents

• Advanced account protection

For me, the custom email domains may come in handy as EtherHam continues to expand and if my new publishing LLC grows legs.

I signed up and installed ProtonMail and ProtonVPN on my laptop. And then I ran into a wall: ProtonVPN blocked access to some of my work and hobby sites. My first thought was: I made a mistake in selecting ProtonVPN. The solution, according to various help articles, was to implement “split tunneling.” This is a way to bypass the restrictions enforced by VPN. I tried that by specifying one browser application as excluded from the VPN.

Split tunneling worked perfectly, until it didn’t. All was well until the next morning when suddenly, I couldn’t connect to anything through the browser I had excluded from the VPN. That was a problem because through that browser, I access my GMail, maintain websites, and write this newsletter.

Somewhere in the NordVPN instructions it must explain the solution, but I didn’t find it there. Instead, ClaudeAI helped me figure this out. When using split tunneling in ProtonVPN, you must start the VPN before you open the browser. If you already have the browser open (as I did) before ProtonVPN starts, it will include the browser in the encrypted VPN tunnel it creates.

So I closed my browser, restarted the VPN, and then opened my browser. That worked perfectly. Now I just need to make this a habit and all will be well. Does this apply to other VPNs? It didn’t work that way with NordVPN, so I don’t know if this is usual or unusual.

If you’d like to try Proton, please consider using my affiliate link: https://pr.tn/ref/163BX2DJ

Short Stack

• LinHT-hw: Open-source, Linux-based, SDR handheld transceiver — If you are into open source and amateur radio, this project will be very interesting. Get more information in last week’s Zero Retries. LinHT is an open-source handheld software-defined radio (SDR) transceiver built around a modern Linux System-on-Module and a true IQ RF front-end.

  • True SDR: IQ baseband access, not FM-only

  • Linux-first: no microcontroller firmware lock-in

  • No FPGA: easier development, lower entry barrier

  • Open everything: hardware, software, toolchains

  • Hackable handheld: not just another black box walkie-talkie

• Revolutionize Your POTA Experience with Potacat Software — Potacat was specifically developed to streamline the workflow for POTA operators, helping them effectively log contacts, track park activations, and maintain organization while operating in various environments. By focusing on the needs of portable ham radio enthusiasts, Potacat offers a user-friendly interface that simplifies the logging process.

• HRWB 258 - Morse Code Bug Emulator with Don WB9CYY and Bob WO6W — In this episode we meet Don WB9CYY and Bob WO6W. Both avid CW operators with a love of the old style mechanical "bug" radio telegraph keys. Feeling that the existing CW paddles and keyers sent code that was too highly accurate and lacked any sort of personality, they came up with a very novel way make a modern paddle sound like a bug.

• Digitenna Review: The Ultimate Portable HF Antenna — The Digitenna multi-band portable antenna by DigiRig offers amateur radio operators a practical solution for field operations, POTA, SOTA, and emergency communications. This compact HF antenna is designed for those seeking reliable performance across multiple bands, including 10m, 15m, 20m, and 40m.

• This tiny radio lets me send texts without Wi-Fi or cell service — Do you ever wish you had a way to message people long-distance without the need for cell networks or a Wi-Fi connection, or even satellites? You're going to want to hear about a tiny, cheap radio I bought and connected to my smartphone.

• The Best USB Microphones for Musicians and Podcasters — I could have used this information when I was experimenting with microphones! I just ordered this well-reviewed dynamic mic and will let you know how it performs: MAONO PD200W Hybrid Wireless Podcast Microphone for PC, Dynamic XLR USB Mic with Desktop Stand, Software, Noise Cancellation, for Vocal Recording, Streaming, Content Creation, Home Studio, Voiceover (affiliate link)

• Ham Radio Portable Insights: POTA QRP Fun — Operating QRP can be more of a challenge during rough band conditions, but it’s a breeze during good conditions. The easiest way to get started in QRP is to use the equipment you already own and just reduce the power level. Most HF transceivers produced in the last 50 years have the means to reduce the power to QRP levels.

• You too can build this awesome ISS tracker with a Raspberry Pi — Over on the Raspberry Pi subreddit, user fil1983 made a thread to show off their ISS tracker. It combines a 3D-printed shell, a screen, a Raspberry Pi 3b, and an API to track the space station's location to create something that'd look good on anyone's shelf.

Signing Off

As I write this, the Pacific Northwest, USA, is getting hit with an atmospheric river. I’m in the sun room with four skylights overhead and the big, fat raindrops (some of them coming off the tall Douglas fir tree beside the house) striking them makes quite the racket during big storms. This isn’t a PNW drizzle: it’s a steady, heavy rain.

This event will dump a lot of snow in the mountains. We desperately need that snow for summer irrigation of farms and orchards, but all too often, these end-of-winter snows melt quickly in the spring. The pattern I’ve seen for years is a late winter deluge followed by a significant warm-up period where most of the new snow melts off. I hope that is not the case this time. In western Washington and Oregon, the National Weather Service has issued flood warnings in several areas. (By the way, the new HamDash app will show those warnings to you in your area under the Weather and Safety tab.)

Spring is springing. Daffodils are blooming and the branches of willows and maples and dogwoods are getting brighter as the spring sap begins to flow. I can see buds about the size of my thumbnail on the native Dogwood tree outside the window. I do enjoy watching winter retire and new life burst forth as spring wakes up.

What I’m saying is there is much in my life to appreciate, even if my shoes are often soggy from the rain!

Among the things I appreciate are my amateur radio friends. Two such friends are in the forefront of my mind this week: Steve Stroh N8GNJ and Tina Stroh KD7WSF. They have finally overcome most of the challenges they faced in transitioning the Zero Retries newsletter to their new address and service: https://www.zeroretries.radio/. If you haven’t subscribed to the Zero Retries newsletter, you’re missing content that is always on the cutting edge of what is happening in the digital radio realm. Zero Retries is Random Wire Recommended.

It was not a clear, easy road for them. Steve and Tina are the “Energizer bunnies” in my ham radio universe, constantly unearthing great content for the Zero Retries newsletter. They are also preparing to deliver their second annual Zero Retries Digital Conference. Along the way, they have been extremely supportive as I traveled my own bumpy road. I appreciate them very much.

Similarly, the radio amateurs I talk with almost daily are great people, always ready to lend a helping hand. When I mentioned having some trouble with my antenna on 10 meters, one of them said: I have an extra antenna, come get it. I hope we can find ways to keep the ham spirit alive as new generations of people join our very large family of licensed amateurs.

Like any family, there are a few members we may like a little less, but for the most part, our community is an amazing body of people who care about each other. We don’t talk about it much, but I see it every time something goes wrong in a big way…and sometimes in the little things people do for each other. I like being a part of this community. I hope you do, too.

73 to all, and remember to touch a radio every day!

Support Random Wire℠ & EtherHam℠

You Might Be an EtherHam…

What is an EtherHam, you ask? Well…

• If you have a radio with D-STAR, YSF/C4FM, DMR, NXDN, or M17…you might be an EtherHam!

• If you bought or built a hotspot to get on digital modes or AllStar…you might be an EtherHam!

• If you know about WSJT-X and HamClock…you might be an EtherHam!

• If you use FT8, FT4, or other computer-driven digital modes…you might be an EtherHam!

• If your operating requires accurate time synchronization…you might be an EtherHam!

• If you log contacts automatically over the internet…you might be an EtherHam!

I’ll stop there. I think the point is clear: to some extent, we are all EtherHams. Each of us is using the internet in many ways to amplify our own amateur radio capabilities and experiences!

EtherHam Store Additions

Thank you to the folks who gave the EtherHam Store a try last week! Please let me know if the quality of your items met your expectations.

I received my hat and found the quality to be pretty good. You can see photos and learn more at https://etherham.com/etherham-store-more-items/.

On the Bench

Computing

Screen sharing of iMac desktop (and a note about POTA/SOTA)

I do most of my work from my Windows 11 laptop but there are times when I want or need to work with my big iMac. To do that, I get up, walk across the room, log in, and do my thing. This will sound obvious when I say it, but the epiphany I had a few days ago was sudden in the “slap my forehead” kind of way: why not remotely access the iMac from my laptop? Turns out that was simple by allowing screen sharing on the iMac and accessing it through RealVNC Viewer on my Windows laptop.

Definitely a head-slapping moment. It’s obvious when you pause for a split second to think about it. I had not paused to have that thought so I was just doing what I knew worked: get up, walk to the machine, log in, do my work.

I suspect there are many things in our computer and radio activities that we do simply because they worked before, so we don’t think about how we could be more efficient. This is where the POTA and SOTA operators seem to excel. They think through the configuration and setup of their portable station, then they put their design and preparation into practice. What works they keep. What doesn’t work, they change. In a real SHTF scenario, I think it’s the POTA and SOTA ops who are going to carry the day!

Set up TV as HamClock display

When we’re not watching television in my wife’s room, I use her TV for my HamClock. For this, I use a USB-C-to-HDMI cable and extend my display to the television.

However, stretching that cable across some open space isn’t the best thing to do, especially with so many other folks entering her room. I’m going to try a wireless HDMI adapter pair (transmitter on my computer, receiver plugged into the TV). Fingers crossed. The intersection with amateur radio? The Icom IC-7300MK2 has an HDMI port on it, so if the wireless approach works, I can try sending my radio screen to the big screen.

New Radio: Icom IC-7300MK2

I’ve been acquiring old, previously loved transceivers. I really enjoy the rigs from the hybrid transceiver era, where much of the radio is solid state but there are still tube finals. If you’ve never “dipped the plate,” you’re missing something special.

My selection: Icom IC-7300MK2

This time, I’m going with a modern Icom IC-7300MK2 radio. This is the latest version of the very popular Icom IC-7300 transceiver. If you don’t need the improvements in the MK2 model like an Ethernet port, CW decoding, and more, there are some screaming good deals on the original IC-7300. For example, the latest price I saw at Ham Radio Outlet for the original IC-7300 was just $989.95 at HRO.

I can’t afford a FlexRadio. It’s hard to say that because I’m so attracted to this new way of transceiving. No reading between the lines here: yes, I would love a FlexRadio. However, I could barely afford the IC-7300MK2. It’s the best option within my price range. I really think this may well be the last great radio I purchase in my lifetime.

I spent more on the MK2 model because I do want the Ethernet port to support remote operation. That could mean putting the radio in the basement and running it from my desk upstairs, or even from my QTH in Portland, Oregon. That is a really attractive option.

I have a couple of external sound card devices that I had previously used for FT8, but it turns out the IC-7300 has a built-in sound card. I don’t need those external devices to do FT8 on the IC-7300. If you happen to have a radio with a built-in sound card, here is a great guide to getting FT8 running with it. It is focused on the IC-7300 but is broadly applicable to other radios:

• Setting up and operating FT8 on an Icom IC-7300 (PDF)

• For a regular web page guide, try WSJT-X FT8 and the Icom 7300 the Easy Way! by K0PIR.

• And if you like a simple, bullet-point list, check out Icom IC-7300 FT8 Setup Guide (Firmware 1.4) – Complete WSJT-X Configuration.

This is going to require that I set up a better antenna. I’ll certainly have more to report as the IC-7300MK2 becomes part of my daily operating station.

The unboxing

The radio arrived the day before this issue of the Random Wire was scheduled to publish. I had just enough time to unbox it and I share those photos below. I haven’t powered it up yet.

Double boxed

The radio arrived from HRO Portland with the Icom box inside a larger box. I’m not bothering to show that larger box, but here is the radio box before popping the lid:

What’s under the lid?

Under the manual

The radio in its wrapping

Finally, the radio

You’ll see dust on the face of the radio. I chose not to clean this up before taking the photo. This is exactly how it came out of the box. I would have preferred to not see any dust or debris, but I think this is a minimal amount. I’ll use a little bit of canned air and a dry brush to clear the dust.

Added: carrying strap

Technically, this is called the ICOM Transceiver Carrying Handles MB-123. The package contains the handle and ends, plus the feet to protect the other side of the radio. Hiding (if you’re not looking closely — I wasn’t) are also clear vinyl pieces that fit under each end piece. The photo below of the installed handle lacks those vinyl pieces. I corrected my error later. I also scribbled over my thumb because nobody needs to see my thumbprint.

Below is the rear panel of the radio. This is where three things sold me on the MK2 model: an Ethernet port (important for an EtherHam!), an HDMI port, and a USB-C port. I’ve circled those in red:

Obviously, there is a lot more to this radio than those three ports, but the presence of these connectors was the deciding factor when I compared the original IC-7300 (which is discounted right now, and a great deal) against the IC-7300MK2. This presents options, like remote control over an IP connection and sending the radio display to a big monitor or TV screen.

I hope to get the radio connected and powered up this weekend. Maybe I’ll get FT8 running. Fingers crossed.

HamClock Lives On

With Elwood (the creator of HamClock) now SK, HamClock is set to stop functioning in June 2026. Fortunately, several alternatives and workarounds exist for those looking to continue using similar features. Here’s a summary based on my experience and research…

It’s unfortunate not only that we lost Elwood Downey WB0OEW (SK), but also the manner in which he left us. I didn’t know him personally but I am still filled with sadness over this. I don’t really know how to describe what I’m feeling, but I suspect that there are others in our radio community who have similar confused feelings about it.

What a loss to our community, of course, but I also think about his friends and family who have been very directly impacted. I am glad that our community tends to be filled with gracious, compassionate individuals. We see these characteristics emerge when something awful happens. Usually, it’s a major storm event or disaster. This time, it was a singular event that touched many of us in the amateur radio community.

One fortunate outcome is worth noting. Elwood’s pioneering work to develop the HamClock over years of toil is not going to be lost. Not only is the original HamClock still able to run, but the loss of Elwood has sparked considerable work on HamClock variations.

No matter which system you choose to use, I hope you will remember and appreciate all that Elwood did for our community every time you look at whatever version of a hamclock you use. For me, I wish him peace and send him my thanks for his great contributions to amateur radio.

New Portable Antenna

I’m trying an interesting portable antenna system, the “Portable Laser-Engraved GRA-7350TC HF Antenna” for 3.5 MHz to 50 MHz. Read about it and see some photos over at EtherHam: https://etherham.com/new-portable-antenna/

Top 10 Most Interesting Amateur Radio Items

The 10 most interesting amateur radio items in my EtherHam mega feed:

1. Fifty Things You Can Do with a Software Defined Radio (Onno VK6FLAB, via Amateur Radio Weekly #410, Feb 28) A GitHub project building GNU Radio flowgraphs for 50 distinct SDR use cases. An outstanding practical reference for anyone wanting to go deeper with SDR beyond simple shortwave listening.

2. futureGEO Continues to be a Topic of Discussion (Amateur Radio Daily, Feb 27) AMSAT’s push for a geostationary ham satellite is gaining serious momentum — with a workshop now planned at HAM RADIO 2026 in Friedrichshafen and an ESA presentation at Bochum Space Day. The potential successor to QO-100 is very much alive.

3. It’s Time for a Field Kit Inspection! (QRPer, Feb 27) Thomas K4SWL lays out his thorough biannual field kit audit process, covering everything from self-contained rig cases (KX2, IC-705, MTR-3B) to backpack inspections and first-aid kit expiry checks — a timely and practical read as spring POTA/SOTA season approaches.

4. KX2 Battery Capacity When Charged from Different Voltage Sources (AE5X, via Amateur Radio Weekly #410, Feb 28) A careful experiment measuring how charging voltage affects usable capacity in the Elecraft KX2’s internal battery — genuinely useful data for portable operators who charge from solar panels or lower-voltage sources.

5. Philip’s 2026 Field Radio Survey from the Facebook POTA Group (QRPer, Feb 18) A 1,181-vote survey of what radios POTA operators are actually using in 2026. The Yaesu FT-891 and Xiegu G90 remain the top two — but several newcomers like the FTX-1F are making inroads. Great community data.

6. Hams Help Forecasters with Real-Time Data on Northeast Blizzard (Nerfd.net, Feb 27) Amateur operators provided real-time weather and conditions data to forecasters during a major Northeast US blizzard — a timely EmComm story showing the value hams bring in a crisis.

7. Ham Radio Manifesto: From Utility to Creativity (F4JXQ, via Amateur Radio Weekly #410, Feb 28) A thought-provoking opinion piece arguing that ham radio’s traditional framing around emergency communication is no longer enough to attract technically-minded newcomers, and proposing a more creativity-centered identity for the hobby.

8. Zero Retries Digital Conference 2026 Announced (Amateur Radio Daily, Feb 18) The Zero Retries Digital Conference (ZRDC) is confirmed for October 2026, the day before Pacificon, in the same venue. A focused event for hams into digital voice and data modes — worth putting on the calendar now.

9. Community HamClock Backend Server Now Available (Amateur Radio Daily, Feb 24) Inovato and N0LSR Design have stood up a free public OHB server so HamClock users no longer need to run their own backend to keep the clock’s features running indefinitely — a practical win for the many hams who use HamClock in the shack.

10. United States Bunkers on the Air (USBOTA) Joins WWBOTA (via Amateur Radio Weekly #410, Feb 28) USBOTA has officially joined the Worldwide Bunkers on the Air program, opening up a whole new category of portable activations for US operators — bunkers, fortifications, and Cold War-era structures are now fair game for award-chasing alongside POTA and SOTA.

I asked the ClaudeAI a few questions about these selections and Claude added this observation:

A note on coverage: The digital voice and packet space is unusually newsletter-heavy — Zero Retries and Random Wire/EtherHam together cover probably 60% of what’s happening. The best strategy is to subscribe to those two as anchors, then add EvoHam (digital voice) and OH8STN (HF packet/digital) for depth. SuperPacket.org, which was the historic home of advanced packet content, went offline when Typepad shut down in September 2025; its author Steve Stroh N8GNJ now publishes exclusively via Zero Retries.

The Random Wire and EtherHam are in very fine company.

Short Stack: Interesting Finds

Zero Retries Digital Conference 2026 Announced

From Amateur Radio Daily:

Zero Retries Digital Conference (ZRDC) will return for a second year on Friday, October 16, 2026. This year's conference will take place in Sam Ramon, California, USA at the Roundhouse Conference Center. Pacificon 2026 will take place the same weekend in the same city, just down the street from ZRDC.

Simple D-STAR Transceiver Uses Inexpensive Hardware

[Yeckel] recently put the finishing touches on an ambitious implementation of a simple D-STAR (Digital Smart Technologies for Amateur Radio) transceiver using some very accessible and affordable hardware. The project is D-StarBeacon, and [Yeckel] shows it working on a LilyGO TTGO T-Beam, an ESP32-based development board that includes a SX1278 radio module and GPS receiver. It even serves a web interface for easy configuration.

The Last of the Hybrids - Kenwood TS-830S

I thoroughly enjoyed this article. For one, I’m a fan of Kenwood rigs, especially the hybrid transceivers. The way the author describes his journey through an old TS-830S brought back great memories of my first HF radio: a Kenwood TS-520S. If you’re a fan of the old hybrid radios, or if you are just curious about them, this is a good read.

Listen To Ham Radio Online

Over 400 websites allow you to listen to ham radio online. There are two main "flavors" of technology offering this free service: WebSDR and OpenWebRX.

I actually disagree. I think there are four main flavors: WebSDR, KiwiSDR, OpenWebRX, and RTL-SDR/Airspy. What’s most important is there are many ways to listen to radio over the internet without actually having to own and operate a radio!

HamClock lives on

With Elwood (the creator of HamClock) now SK, HamClock is set to stop functioning in June 2026. Fortunately, several alternatives and workarounds exist for those looking to continue using similar features.

Propagation: The Holy Cluster

I’ve been remiss in not mentioning The Holy Cluster that helps you identify and track DX stations. Unfortunately, I’m getting a server error when I try to access the site, but hopefully, that will be resolved by the time this issue of the Random Wire goes to press.

New Book Release: Digital Networking for Ham Radio

I was very pleased that EtherHam (ARRL called it a club!) helped sponsor this publication.

ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio®’s new book, Digital Networking for Ham Radio, a practical, hands-on guide to designing and implementing high-speed data networks for amateur radio stations, is now shipping.

This $27 ESP32 kit lets you send texts without Wi-Fi or cell service

If you’re like me, you want to be able to stay in contact with people no matter what the state of the internet or any other telecommunications is. I found a way to do that, and all you need is an affordable ESP32 kit.

M17: LinHT boards have arrived!

Exciting news for those of us interested in M17! The M17 Project has received a set of three Rev B boards. They will be tested in the coming days. Find the details here. The CC1200/MMDVM installer script is here.

M17: m17-gateway now supports three hardware platforms including SX1255 HAT

m17-gateway now supports three different modem/hardware platforms:

• CC1200 Pi HAT — the original supported hardware

• SX1255 Pi HAT — newly supported this month

• MMDVM-compatible hotspots and modems — for those who already have MMDVM hardware

The internet is disappearing, so I repurposed an old laptop to save it

This is about installing ArchiveBox so you can build your own, locally controlled Wayback Machine-like archive. Interesting in a very geeky way.

Earbuds: Nothing Ear

I’m beginning to realize I have a bit of an itch when it comes to earbuds and headphones. For whatever reason, my ears are very sensitive to physical pressure and to buds with edges that feel like they are cutting into my ears. While I usually prefer to wear headphones, they can get awfully hot and sweaty after a few hours. I also now have to remain aware of my surroundings to provide the best care for my wife.

Enter the Nothing Ear open ear headphones:

Nothing Ear(Open) Lightweight Open Ear Headphones with Adjustable Earhooks, Multipoint Connection Bluetooth Earbuds with Clear Voice Technology for AI Calls, IP54, Fast Charging, ChatGPT Supported (affiliate link)

These have proven to be quite comfortable for long periods of time. They connect to my smartphone and to my laptop, making it easy to do Zoom calls and take phone calls. The sound quality is open and clear. Just as important, my transmitted audio through the Nothing Ear headphones is just as crisp and clear as when I use my Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones…for a whole lot less money. (I got my Sony headphones at Costco through a special sale price that was much lower than the Amazon price!)

Sony WH-1000XM5 Premium Noise Canceling Headphones, Auto NC Optimizer, 30-Hour Battery, Alexa Voice Control, Black (affiliate link)

The Nothing Ear and Sony devices are the best two headphones I have in my too-large collection of such things. When I need to isolate so I can really focus on a meeting, I grab the Sony cans. The rest of the time, I find myself reaching first for the Nothing Ear headphones.

Signing Off

Time got away from me this week. At work, I’m preparing for our next board meeting, writing letters to our congressional delegation, and working with my team to coordinate our approach when we send some of our people to Washington D.C. to meet with various officials. It’s a rather intense time!

At home, we are trying to adjust to a shift to hospice care for my wife. Hospice care means working to make her more comfortable. We no longer have her doctor (who we like) as her primary care physician: we use the hospice doctor instead. We no longer use our medical insurance company’s pharmacy. We get multiple visits each week and unfortunately, the hospice folks don’t really do a good job of setting up appointments. We’re still trying to figure out who will show up when. Things are a bit unsettled at home.

I had a long day trip on Thursday, the day I would normally be tying a ribbon around this issue of the Random Wire. I left the house around 4:00 am for an early morning meeting with a conservation district about 120 miles away. They always have a great meeting at a cafe on a golf course, with good coffee and hot plates of various breakfast choices. After that, I popped down to Portland to pick up mail, check on the Oregon QTH, then skedaddled back to the lake house. (And when I got home in the late afternoon, the new Icom IC-7300MK2 box was waiting for me.) The best part of the trip? Hearing America’s Kansas City Wide network over the WA7BND repeater. I got a lot of good listening in while driving through Vancouver and Portland.

I also did a thing this past week: I formed a publishing house for the book I’m working on. This is going to take several months of late night work, but I’m excited to finally be launching an effort to get 34 years of conservation experience out of my head. It has been brewing for a couple of years but I was having trouble crafting a detailed, well-organized outline. ChatGPT took my notes and helped me generate a very detailed table of contents. However, the tone from ChatGPT seemed colder than my natural voice, so I gave ClaudeAI a try. Oh, much better! I purchased a Pro subscription. Claude will be helpful, not only with the manuscript project, but also with my amateur radio and coding projects.

Fortunately, when it all gets to be too much, I always have amateur radio friends to visit with and gear to fiddle with. Radio (people and gear), for me, is very therapeutic. I appreciate being able to lose myself for a while in radio.

I wish you well and look forward to hearing your ideas and questions about amateur radio and the internet.

73 to all, and remember to touch a radio every day!

• Seasonal propagation and an online propagation chart that updates every 15 minutes.

• Acquired: an exciting new BTECH DA-7X2 DMR/Analog Dual-Receive HT…with a secret.

• New: the EtherHam Store.

• Looking inside a SHARI Node.

• A cover and cables for the AIOC (All-in-One Cable).

• New: backend for legacy HamClocks now available.

• Mysterious: my laptop lost audio output.

• Short Stack: content from the interwebs.

• Signing off (I talk about our local 10-meter net).

Seasonal Propagation

I asked ChatGPT about the seasonality of HF propagation. I’ve put the summarized response in italics to make it clearer this is a quote.

Great question — and since you’re KJ7T up in the Pacific Northwest, February and March are actually pretty interesting months for propagation.

February–March typically offers:

• Best remaining low-band season

• Excellent 40m DX

• Strong, lengthening 20m openings

• Reawakening 15m

• Increasing 10m F2 opportunities

• Great gray-line paths to Asia/Pacific

Propagation is about to get interesting again, KJ7T.

Here is the link to the full response from ChatGPT, if you’re interested: https://chatgpt.com/s/t_69974ff89ce88191a4d37d4da50e75c3

(I’ll confess that I did bump up to a paid account on ChatGPT. I have found it helpful as I prepared testimony for various bills being considered by the Washington State Legislature. I gave it my draft testimony and asked the AI to make it more impactful, and to give me three minute, two minute, and one minute versions. It did that in a few seconds, compared to me taking an hour or more to get similar results.)

On the subject of propagation, I also ran across an easy-to-use propagation chart for the ham bands. It is called Hamradio SNR Overview:

This is a fairly convenient way to do a quick check on propagation. I’m in Zone 03, so I just look at that line and scan across to see which bands are open.

Acquired: BTECH DA-7X2 DMR/Analog HT

Influencing my decision to make this acquisition was this great review: Product Review: BTECH DA-7X2. I bought the DA-7X2 radio, the speaker-mic for it, and an extra programming cable. Keep reading to discover a great secret about this radio!

For radio details and specs, I refer you to the aforementioned review. What I have for you today is first impressions.

The first thing I noticed was an easily readable display (I don’t need my reading glasses) and big buttons. For some of us, this is exactly the kind of configuration we need. On the thumb side of the radio in the photo above is a large PTT button and two smaller buttons (PF1 and PF2) that are user configurable. Pro tip: If you are going to be regularly switching the mode on your radio, configure a button to make that change as easy as a single button push.

The DA-7X2 has some heft to it. It feels like a real radio. The large battery has curved edges so the radio nestles nicely into the palm of your hand. Although the plastic body feels a little slick — despite subtle stippling — the side buttons and the speaker-mic cover have rubbery-feeling flexible skins that help provide sufficient grip.

This is a DMR radio, and that means you need a codeplug to operate it in DMR mode. The BTECH UV-Pro HT has an app and Bluetooth, so programming the UV-Pro is most easily done through the app. The DA-7X2 does not have an app. Instead, it uses the more traditional approach of software installed on your computer. A USB-A to K-1 speaker-mic cable is used to read data from the radio and write new data to the radio.

Of course, it’s not just a DMR radio — it also does analog FM. What you may not know is this radio has a secret: you can configure it for NXDN mode. To get there, you install the BETA firmware package to the radio. Once you reboot the radio and read it into the programming software, you’ll see “NX” in the left column. That is where NXDN settings are configured.

Think about this for a moment. For $300, you get a good quality dual-receive VHF/UHF handheld transceiver with GPS that does DMR and analog out of the box. With fresher firmware, the radio will also do NXDN.

BTECH DA-7X2 Dual Band DMR Digital + Analog Handheld Radio, True Dual Receive VHF/UHF, 7W Peak, AM Airband (108–136) + FM Broadcast RX, Cross-Band Repeater, Recording, Advanced Audio (affiliate link)

I was so excited by this prospect that I bought the radio, in part to make absolutely sure NXDN is available with the firmware upgrade. Yes, it is.

I’ve only had the radio a few days. It’s going to take me a couple of weeks to get comfortable with it. My usual test of usability with a radio is to see if I can get it working without reading the manual. That’s a heavier lift with a DMR radio, but if you’ve ever used a DMR radio before, this radio won’t feel very intimidating. The manual is well written and detailed.

The BTECH DA-7X2 is likely to see more enhancements as development is active right now for this platform. I can hardly wait to see what’s coming.

The killler feature? It isn’t dual receive, cross-band repeat, or dual band capability. To me, it’s the ability to upgrade the radio to use NXDN. That is a big win and it makes this an obvious choice if you are interested in the NXDN radio space.

New: The EtherHam Store

Subscriptions? No. Voluntary purchases to support EtherHam? Yes! The new EtherHam online store is now open with just a few items. Find it at: https://etherham.printful.me/

I’ve ordered one hat (yes, from my own store) to check the quality. I want to feel the fabric, look at the stitching, and examine the printing. Will the packaging be appropriate? How long will it really take to print, package, and ship the product? Fingers crossed.

Regarding timing, I ordered the hat on February 20th and it was shipped on the 26th. That doesn’t seem too bad for a custom printed one-off order.

I’ve also added a couple of mugs and a second hat. I’ll check the quality of those items later.

The EtherHam Store is my alternative to subscriptions. Purchases are voluntary, not required. That’s the way I like it. If you find value in the Random Wire newsletter and the EtherHam website, consider buying something to lend some support. Your suggestions are always welcome!

Looking Inside a SHARI Node

I’m helping a friend do some experimentation and this week, we’re looking at whether his software will run on a SHARI AllStar node. I have a couple of SHARI devices, but the only one with me at the Lake House is a Kits4Hams SHARI PiZero UHF.

This experiment will involve loading up a microSD card, and that means taking the working card out. The microSD card on the SHARI PiZero is buried inside the case. Below, you’ll see inside the device as I work on accessing the microSD card.

First, I removed two screws on the end plate with the antenna. With those screws removed, the two boards inside slide out together.

Below, you see the smaller Raspberry Pi Zero board mounted on the larger SHARI board. There’s not much to this very small, portable device.

Separating the Pi Zero from the SHARI board involved removing one screw and wiggling the Pi to pull the GPIO pins out of the mating block on the SHARI. (Note: some SHARI nodes use a USB interface but this one uses the GPIO pins on the Pi.)

You can see the microSD card on the underside of the Pi. It says a lot about Kits4Hams that they used a high-quality microSD card. That is not what I’ve found with a few other vendors.

After that, I wiggled the microSD card from its slot. While I had it out, I used Win32DiskImager to make an image of the working card and then transferred the image to my Synology NAS box in Portland. I’ll use a new microSD card for the experiment and then (probably) put the original card back into the node.

I will add that the Kits4Hams SHARI PiZero node has been a flawless performer for me. It is small enough to slip easily into a bag when traveling and it takes up little space on your desk or shelf. The node is complete — all you need is an analog HT and an internet connection. In my travel kit, I added a microUSB-to-Ethernet adapter that plugs into my travel router when I’m in a hotel.

Kits4Hams configured the node so that when it arrived, all I had to do was plug it in. It immediately connected to my wireless network. I have operated it 24x7 for two years without any hiccups or overheating. You can also purchase this device as a kit.

Mortty

Also advertised through Kits4Hams: an interesting little CW and RTTY keyer called Mortty.

Mortty v5 is a full-featured, inexpensive, hardware solution for precision CW and RTTY keying…Compare Mortty to the competition: Twice the Features, 1/2 the Price!

AIOC Cover and Cables

I purchased an AIOC cover and cables from NA6D. Here’s how the cover goes on. It comes in two pieces. The AIOC snaps into the part without the NA6D marking.

The AIOC fits exactly. Note the channels at the base of the speaker mic pins. The cover fits into those channels.

The two halves then snap together, making a durable cover that helps protect the AIOC from damage. I feel a lot less trepidation about pulling the AIOC out of the radio when I have the cover on.

The speaker-mic extension cable allows the AIOC to be used without directly inserting it into your radio. The USB-C to USB-C data cable connects to your computing device.

Next, I need to find some time to connect this to a radio and begin to learn how it works.

Backend for Legacy HamClock Now Available

Option 1: hamclock.com

Find several ways of linking your Inovato Quadra HamClock to the new HamClock.com server over at https://hamclock.com/.

It works. I used this easy method of specifying the hamclock.com server in my HamClock:

Here is my HamClock running off the new hamclock.com backend:

The next day, I saw that the system was having problems. I was missing data in my HamClock:

Apparently, the connection broke. Either the server overloaded or the connection bandwidth exceeded some limit.

This seems to be fixed. The hamclock.com backend seems to be stable and has been working properly for me.

Option 2: Open Hamclock Backend

However — and this is a big however — not all may be as it seems. There is a lot happening in the HamClock space. Yesterday, I received a message from Udo N0LSR regarding the Open Hamclock Backend (“ready for prime time” he says) and problems others have experienced using the hamclock.com backend:

N0LSR Design is supporting and promoting the Open HamClock Backend (OHB) project. We found that this is the most stable and advanced solution and is ready for prime time.

A word of caution, there are other solutions, like “hamclock.com” which is heavily promoting themselves on social media. But there are a lot of reports that devices are locking up and will require a full factory reset to come back. I therefore caution not to use the hamclock.com server solution and rather go with OHB.

I will have new images on my website for both Quadras and the HK1RBOX as free downloads in the next couple days.

I’m not trying to feed the dragon here. Please use your best judgment in choosing a service that helps you continue using your legacy HamClock. Me? I’ve switched to OHB and it looks fine:

Mysterious: My Laptop Lost Sound

Very odd and time consuming to resolve this was. I don’t know how I fixed it but it is working again.

My Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 with an ARM CPU lost audio output over the built-in speakers. All of my headphones worked fine. The onboard speakers did not. As I investigated, I kept running into “output device not found.”

Needless to say, this was a problem. The Laptop 7 is my daily driver. I couldn’t do a Zoom or Teams or WebEx meeting over the speakers — the only way it worked was if I wore headphones.

I ran through the built-in troubleshooter several times without any success. I thought: perhaps I should restore to an earlier restore point. But as I dug around a bit, I decided the cleaner solution would be to reinstall Windows 11, keeping all my apps and settings intact. That was an overnight process.

I had high hopes the next morning when I looked at the laptop but no, still no audio from the laptop speakers. I went to the Device Manager and there I saw the drivers for the onboard audio. None of them reported a problem; all said they were working normally and had the latest driver installed.

Then I downloaded from Microsoft a special diagnostic tool for the Microsoft Surface laptop series. After going through all of the tests with my fingers crossed, still no audio.

I rebooted a few times. No joy.

Finally, I went to my Bluetooth devices and deleted every audio device in the list, then rebooted. This time, when the laptop booted, my onboard audio was working again.

What in the world? Perhaps one of my Bluetooth headphones or speakers had taken over the onboard audio, but that doesn’t really make sense because they are different devices with different drivers. I’ll have to pay close attention as I add a few of those devices back to the laptop. I have not run into this before.

Short Stack: Content from the Interwebs

This where the “random” in Random Wire really comes into play!

CHIRP-next: new release February 20

This has the latest and greatest set of features and fixes. This is the only version of CHIRP that is actively maintained. All users should be running the latest version of CHIRP.

Short Ham Antennas For HF With Linear Loading

You may have heard that short ham antennas are not as efficient, nor as effective as a "full length" half-wave dipole, regardless of the configuration chosen. Good news! I describe in this article the only exception I know of ... that actually works!

Here’s every cool tech thing the AI RAM crunch is ruining

To illustrate exactly how AI is sucking the life out of consumer electronics, here’s a running list of every device that’s being affected by the RAM crunch.

All About Ferrite

Black, brittle, and heavy are all characteristics of ferrites — a family of ceramic materials made from oxides of metals like iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn), and nickel (Ni). You have encountered ferrites as magnets and inductor cores and those odd lumps at the ends of cables. First created in 1930, they have since become important materials in the electronics and RF world. They have a high permeability…but don’t conduct electricity very well at all. However, these properties make them ideal for a variety of uses in electronics.

The Quantum Apocalypse Is Coming. Be Very Afraid

I don’t have access to the complete article, but the title is chilling enough. Basically: quantum computing is going to make all of our passwords, crypto keys, and similar “secure” measures much more susceptible to hacking. Things you believe to be secret and safe won’t be. Yes, this is a Chicken Little “the sky is falling” clickbait title, but still, that doesn’t mean it’s wrong!

Someone made their own Moltclaw personal assistant with a Raspberry Pi Zero 2W

I confess that to me, this looks like good, geeky fun.

Over on the Raspberry Pi subreddit, user bastivkl posted their new OpenClaw assistant that runs off a Raspberry Pi Zero 2W. It combined the SBC with a PiSugar WhisPlay board and an optional PiSugar battery to create it. Once it's all built, you can talk to OpenClaw with a button press

Recommended: The Repeater e-Zine

If you like good amateur radio content written by hams, check out The Repeater by K9CAN. In particular, the February 2026 issue contained a great article about the AllScan UCI120 device by David Gleason NR9V. Good stuff.

Environment Canada to permanently shut down VHF Weatheradio (and Hello Weather) on March 16, 2026

This news has been making the rounds, but if you haven’t seen it yet, here it is. Note that this affects Weatheradio in Canada:

Starting March 16, 2026, Weatheradio and Hello Weather services will be permanently disconnected. You can get radio marine forecasts via the Canadian Coast Guard. For your local weather forecasts and alerts, visit the interactive weather map or download the WeatherCAN app.

HamClock Launcher version 1.2 released

Apple users, here is a HamClock solution for you. Two DMGs are available: one for Intel Macs and one for Apple Silicon (M-series).

Hubert, KF0VWD has released HamClock Launcher – a macOS desktop app that makes it simple to run and monitor the HamClock web application on a Mac. It is distributed as a self-contained .app with everything included: the HamClock web binaries and all required libraries. No developer tools, MacPorts, XQuartz, or other prerequisites are needed.

I tried this on my big Intel iMac. There is but one configuration screen. I used ohb.hamclock.app:80 for the backend server:

The HamClock looks great on my Apple iMac screen:

“It’s A Bit Culty”: People Are Calling Out The Hobbies That Can Totally Take Over Your Life, And I Agree With A Few Of These

I fully thought amateur radio would be one of the listed hobbies. It feels like it ought to be!

Meshtastic Does More Than Simple Communication

For all you Meshtasticos:

Meshtastic has been experiencing a bit of a renaissance lately, as the off-grid, long-range radio text messaging protocol gains a ton of new users. It’s been used to create mesh networks in cities, during disasters and protests, in small groups while hiking or camping, and for search and rescue operations. Although it’s connected plenty of people together in all of these ways, [GreatScott!] wanted to put it to work connecting some computing resources instead. He has a garden shed that’s too far for WiFi, so Meshtastic was used to connect it instead.

M17: Updating firmware on Connect Systems CS7000 M17 Plus HT Radio

Here is a helpful video on updating the firmware in your Connect Systems M17 radio.

In Search of a Discord Replacement

This is a pretty thorough documentation of alternatives to Discord, including some services I’ve never heard of:

My review and analysis is only for the communities I help run, and while I think the requirements are similar for most communities currently on Discord, they may not hold for everyone. There are three types of communities I participate in and help run…

I avoided powerline Ethernet for years. My apartment’s sliding glass door changed my mind

I smiled at the title because I, too, avoided Powerline Ethernet. That is, I avoided it until my sister needed better internet in her unattached garage. Powerline Ethernet to the rescue! Not perfect, but it works. Sometimes that is good enough.

Signing Off

It’s been a tough week at work. Washington’s Legislature released proposed state budgets. For the most part, my community did well, but there are a few really strange changes, where “strange” means they don’t make sense. We’re trying to get clarification but because of the time crunch (it’s a short legislative session), budget writers are heavily tasked we may not get a response.

This week, I participated in a very pleasant HF net on 10 meters. The host was Gary AC7VA who lives just a few miles from me. To participate, I slapped together a quick station for the pickup truck consisting of:

• Kenwood TS-50S transceiver

• A big LiFePO4 battery with 10 AWG wire, inline blade fuses, and PowerPole connectors

• Shark Mini Hamstick for 10M and a tri-mag mount for the top of the truck cab

• Rig Expert Stick 500 antenna analyzer

The part that took the longest was tuning the hamstick for 28.450 MHz. It was pretty finicky and the lowest SWR I was able to achieve in the dark was 1.9:1.

Surprisingly, I was heard by all stations except one and I could hear all stations clearly. However, it felt to me like the TS-50S wasn’t really putting out 100 watts. Given the proximity to other stations, my signal should have been heard better. There is a known problem with this radio where using the radio at full power for too long can crack the PA solder joints, resulting in reduced output power. I think it’s time to open up the radio and take a look!

Next time, I’ll try to use my Yaesu FT-450D or the FT-891D. Eventually, I’ll get an end-fed halfwave up in the tall Douglas fir tree just outside the window. I’m still working on the pneumatic launcher to accomplish that task.

This net and other information are included in the helpful brochure published by the Mason County Amateur Radio Club at https://mc-arc.org.

73 to all, and remember to touch a radio every day!

If you are new here, this newsletter has the word “random” in it because the content may touch on a variety of amateur radio and technology topics. There is no plan. I track a large number of websites and groups so I can harvest interesting, useful tidbits for you. I also experiment with various digital and internet-connected radio devices and systems.

Some content is shared via this newsletter and some is published at my sister site, EtherHam.com. Essentially, you can follow EtherHam by subscribing to this Random Wire newsletter.

Thank you for subscribing. The Random Wire is a free service to the amateur radio community and I intend to keep it that way. Please share the newsletter with others. I also value feedback so please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts!

New on EtherHam

• ThinkCentre M75n is a Different Tiny PC. This machine is suitable for a small radio-less AllStar node. With expandable storage, it presents many possibilities. To stress it, I loaded Debian 13 in a virtual machine running on a Debian 13 host.

• Multiple Digital Voice Modes on Android with the DVstick 30. High-quality digital voice modes on your Android phone. Which modes? XLX, DCS, REF, XRF, DMR, DM+, YSF, FCS, NXD. Amazing.

• Inside EtherHam: February 2026. This is a new, semi-regular column about what is happening behind the curtain at EtherHam.

How About the ThumbDV™ AMBE Vocoder?

It turns out there is an alternative to the DVstick 30 and it is available in my neck of the woods on San Juan Island! Bryan Hoyer K7UDR has a shop that sells the ThumbDV. This is a DVSI AMBE3000 Digital Voice Vocoder in a USB-stick format. At first glance, it looks an awful lot like the DVstick 30 but a closer examination of the board reveals differences.

Bryan tells me the ThumbDV occasionally goes on sale, so if you’re interested in this device it might be worth watching his shop page.

Bryan notes that he supplies hardware only. Software is available from other sources, including:

• BlueDV by David, PA7LIM (DSTAR, DMR, & Yaesu Fusion, and runs on Android & Windows)

• Buster by Anna, NH6Z (DSTAR on MacOS, available in the App Store)

• AMBEServer (allows network access to your ThumbDV™)

MSeven-M17 App for iPad

I tested MSeven on my iPad Mini where it is working great. It should also work on an iPhone (although your phone must be running iOS 26.0 or newer — my phone is too old). Here’s the description in the Apple App Store:

Find the app at: https://apps.apple.com/ph/app/mseven-m17/id6754467137

Here are a few screenshots from my implementation on my iPad Mini:

This is brilliant software. My iPad Mini is my traveling notes device, plus Kindle Reader, plus email, and more. Now I’ll also have M17 whenever I want. One of the best features is the ability to go hands-free over Bluetooth in my vehicle. Wow!

Tried an HF Rig in the Pickup Truck

Last weekend, I grabbed my big LiFePO4 battery, the new-to-me Kenwood TS-680S HF transceiver, microphone, power cord, antenna analyzer (Rig Expert Stick 500), and 10-20-40 whip on a tri-mag mount and headed for the pickup truck. Ten minutes later, I was on the air.

The TS-680S is a fairly basic radio. I listened to several QSOs on 10, 20, and 40 meters. There were also a couple of contest stations active on 20 meters. I did key up the transceiver several times to make sure it was operating. I’ll try it again on 10 meters this week when we have a local 10-meter net.

The antenna analyzer showed an SWR on 10 meters (28.350 MHz) of 1.13, 1.35 on 20 meters, and 1.43 on 40 meters. Those values are plenty good enough for a loaded whip on a magnetic mount on top of the cab.

My antenna is a bit of an oddball choice that I picked up a few years ago:

GRA-750B Wideband Receive Antenna (7–50 MHz) – Compact Foldable Antenna for SDR, Scanner, Military & Broadcast Monitoring – Low-Power TX Support (30–50 MHz) (affiliate link)

Interestingly, when I bought the antenna, the description was different. It didn’t stress it was designed primarily for receiving. I have transmitted with it before, but never more than about 20 watts.

When I discovered the transmit power limitation of this antenna, I ordered some hamsticks. I can put 100 watts into a hamstick on top of the truck cab without worrying about cooking the antenna. It may not be the best choice, but it will be an easy antenna when I just want to slap the mag-mount on top of the cab and work some stations.

I ordered a tri-mag mount with the 3/8”x24 connection needed for the hamstick antenna:

Tram 269 Triple 5” Magnet CB Antenna Mount (affiliate link)

And just in case I have to try to use my existing tri-mag mount, I added an adapter to the order:

Anina Gum Drop CB Antenna Stud - 3/8''x24 Thread SO-239 Connector Compatible with Wilson Firestik 102 (affiliate link)

The adapter arrived on Thursday and looks like this:

Once the hamsticks arrive, I’ll try this configuration with a couple of other HF transceivers, too. I have my trusty Yaesu FT-450D with me and it may become my “go to” for a portable rig. My FT-891 transceiver is in storage.

Time to Renew ARRL

Every time I get an ARRL renewal notice, I pause and wonder: is it worth it to me? I’m not the only one who has asked this question. It’s that time again, and again I find myself wondering whether it’s worth the cost. Losing the print version of QST magazine hurt. I looked forward to getting the magazine and poring over it while my spouse slept. It’s harder to do that with an online magazine.

Obviously, I’m not an ARRL Life Member.

Last year at this time, I was convinced that the ARRL was so stuck in traditional radio that the expanding world of digital voice and data was leaving the ARRL behind. I don’t feel that way nearly as much this year. It feels like the ARRL is waking up to the digital radio and radio-over-internet evolution that is going on in amateur radio.

I also understand that the ARRL educates and advocates for amateur radio. They are our voice in Washington, DC. That hits home for me because the nonprofit association I run is the voice of our members in Olympia, WA. No matter how much we do, there are always members who believe we don’t do enough. Would I counsel them to stop being members? No, I would recommend they make sure their ideas and concerns are shared with association leadership, and to stay the course because without their support and ideas, there is no impetus for change. In other words, be part of the solution by working for the changes you want to see.

I think I just convinced myself to renew my ARRL membership again. (Yes, I renewed, and I paid for QST in print. Fingers crossed the quality remains high.) How do you feel about your ARRL membership? I know I’m not alone in wondering how our fellow hams feel about this.

Leave a comment

New-to-Me NXDN Radio Arrived in the Shack

The first NXDN radio I picked up on eBay was a mistake. It turned out that radio will not work in the 70cm amateur radio band. This time, I picked up one that does cover the UHF band. It is a Kenwood NX-3320-K UHF 400-520 MHz Digital Portable Radio that will do NXDN, DMR, or analog FM.

I got a good deal on this used unit in pretty good shape. The only damage is the microphone cover. I’m sure I can source a replacement. (Yes —> The speaker-mic cap is $1.45 from Kenwood.)

However, what I’ve learned as I entered the NXDN universe is it isn’t necessarily the radio that makes NXDN so expensive: it is the licensed programming software. I’ll be saving my pennies toward the special CPS for this model line.

Did I need another radio? Certainly not. But I want to learn more about NXDN and fortunately, there are a few other hams in the area also interested in this mode. If I can get it programmed to a couple of my hotspot frequencies, I can use it in and around the house.

By the way, I wasn’t quite sure how to release the battery from the radio. Never fear, the interwebs had the answer:

Short Stack

FT2: New Ultra-Fast Digital Mode Tested on HF

A new and highly experimental digital mode called FT2 has just entered its first on-air testing phase. On February 16, 2026 at 22:47 UTC, a small group of Italian radio amateurs reported the first successful signal exchanges using a modified WSJT-X codebase aimed at one goal: extreme-speed QSOs.

New MeshPhone extension added to Sunflower Net

This information comes to us courtesy of Lloyd KC5FM.

Thanks to K5GLH, a Christmas present for Sunflower Net appeared this week There is NOW a NEW verified MESH phone extension 5728803 for the service ... after connecting, dial *99 to talk and # to listen.

There are multiple ways to access the Sunflower Net, including:

• AllStar 38848

• Echolink KC5FM-R 906281

• DMR TGIF 31207

• P25 31207

• DSTAR XLXOKL C

• Yaesu Fusion 31207

• M17-SUN module A

• Hams Over IP 15154 (Dial *99 to talk # to Unkey)

• AmateurWire 30415154 (Dial *99 to talk # to Unkey)

• NZSIP 57715154 (Dial *99 to talk # to Unkey)

• MESH Phone 5728803 (Dial *99 to talk # to Unkey)

ESP32-APRS Tracker / iGate / Digi

I like this project:

The ESP32-APRS Tracker is an all new APRS Tracker meant for the 21st century. We started with the powerful ESP32 WROOM module and built the platform on it's vast array of built-in peripherals. Adding a high quality, fast locking GPS, sensors and other devices, we have created a small form factor, feature rich APRS Tracker/Digipeater/iGate/Modem that will fit your APRS operating needs.

DRAWS: Digital Radio Amateur WorkStation

DRAWS is a Raspberry Pi 3/4 hat that supports digital packet modes. That doesn’t do justice to all this device will do. It will support DIREWOLF 1200/9600, APRS, WinLink, FLDIGI, WSJT-X, and JS8Call. I think it will support software available in the magnificent HamPi project (see the HamPi wiki for more information).

You can get the board plus cables, or a full kit with case (made by C4Labs) and GPS antenna. For those of us of a digital persuasion, this is a very interesting project. For more information, please visit the NW DIGITAL RADIO support page.

Antenna Trailing Wire

Maybe you are looking for some very strong antenna wire? If so, Surplus Sales of Nebraska has you covered:

This is the most incredible copperweld antenna wire…originally used on an aircraft as a trailing antenna…The cable has three groups of seven strands woven together then twisted into one cable 0.162-inch in diameter. This weave makes the cable much more flexible and easy to handle than a 6 AWG solid copperweld would be. Extremely heavy copper plating allowed for wear and tear as an antenna and gives you a lifetime of durability in the elements.

Science says your Kindle might be better for sleep than a paperback

Yes. I read at night with an e-reader. I rarely make it more than 10 pages or so before I’m asleep.

Review of GEEKOM A5 Pro 2026 Edition (AMD Ryzen 5 7530U) mini PC – Part 1: specifications, unboxing, and teardown

Ever been curious what is inside a modern, good quality, mini PC? Here you go. This is a nicely presented and illustrated review.

How to limit ssh with UFW

Not sure how I missed this, but since I do use the Uncomplicated Firewall (UFW), I’ve implemented this on three Linux servers. Limiting SSH attempts is an easy way to reduce impact on a server.

…limiting a service using UFW will refuse connections from IP addresses that attempt to log in or connect more than 6 times in 30 seconds. This UFW feature is very useful against brute force attacks.

Crowdfunding: World’s First 60W Pocket Cloud: Backup Fast, Charge Faster

I made a pledge for one of these. I try to buy cell phones with a microSD slot because on most phones, the onboard storage is just too limited. This device purports to give you an external microSD port plus pass through charging. It’s not expensive so it’s worth a spin of the Kickstarter roulette wheel, at least to me.

Node 55915: Connect With the Ham Radio Workbench Team

Last week, I made a pitch for folks to connect to AllStar node 55915 which the Ham Radio Workbench team is using. It’s gratifying to see more stations linking to 55915:

This week, I heard Eric Guth 4Z1UG of QSO Today fame on node 55915. Later, George KJ6VU responded to a question about AllStar and repeaters. I have to say it is really, really nice to hear such conversations get going on 55915.

What is beginning to crystallize in my mind is that node 55915 could become a Ham Radio Watering Hole (HRWH) where experts, pundits, makers, and operators come together. At some point, such a group of people create their own gravity that draws others in!

Yesterday, I played with some bash scripts to automate connecting my AllStar “node in the cloud” node 57945 to 55915. I think the simplest way to do this is to check if 57945 is already connected, and if not, make the connection. Then run a second script with cron to disconnect at a later time. ChatGPT’s suggested bash script did not work but with a bit of hacking, it seems fine.

This NASA Probe Flew Closer to the Sun Than Ever Before, Here’s What It Discovered!

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has completed a historic milestone by traveling closer to the Sun than any spacecraft before it. The groundbreaking data it has collected is offering new insights into the solar wind, a stream of charged particles that constantly flows from the Sun and impacts the entire solar system.

RAID 5 is a trap for home servers: How to build a NAS with mismatched hard drives

I include this only because about 20 years ago, I had a big server with an array of disks in a RAID 5 configuration. Over a weekend, that array lost not one but two drives. I was unable to rebuild the array and had not backed it up. Big lesson learned.

Wi-Fi routers are expected to explode in price due to RAM shortage

If you were thinking about upgrading to a new router, this is your moment. And it sounds like this is not just a passing moment: RAM and storage shortages are expected to last for years and “RAMmageddon” Has Collapsed Every Major Tech Market as Executives Brace for a ‘Product Winter’ That Could Last Until the End of the Decade. Published yesterday: The RAM shortage is coming for everything you care about.

I think you can expect used computers and related devices to continue to climb in price in response to rising RAM and chip costs.

Last: New EtherHam Logos

Congratulations! You made it to the end of the newsletter! I saved the (hopefully) best for last: new EtherHam logos. I appreciate any feedback.

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Closing

I’m through the worst part of our legislative session: supporting and defeating proposed legislation. With this session being a short 60-day sprint, changes were occurring minute-by-minute over the past three weeks. I’m glad to put that part of session in my rearview mirror. The next battle is getting financial support for the good work of my association members. That is going to be a very heavy lift this year because of a significant mismatch between state revenues and spending.

The Superbowl was very interesting. My spouse watched it intently. At this level of performance, who wins and who loses often boils down to which team has a good or bad day. This time, my home team had a good day and their opponent had a bad day. The final score probably does not reflect how closely matched the teams were. In my mind, both teams deserve to be viewed as winners just by surviving the season-long competition to arrive at this culmination of an intense football season.

As I write this, I’m disappointed. The weather forecast called for a few inches of snow but it appears this is not going to happen. We have food, fuel in the vehicles, and plenty of thick comforters. I’m sure my friends in eastern North America are shaking their heads at my disappointment, and probably wishing some of the snow and cold they’ve had would instead be hitting the west coast!

73 to all and remember to touch a radio every day.

As reported this week on Bleeping Computer on February 5: Newsletter platform Substack notifies users of data breach. Lifehacker then picked up the story and added some additional information on February 6: This Substack Data Breach May Have Compromised Nearly 700,000 User Records.

I did not get notified on any address I use to subscribe to the Random Wire, so I am assuming that Random Wire subscribers were not affected. Without more information from Substack, I have no way of really knowing.

If your information was part of the tranche of data taken, there should be a notice from Substack CEO Chris Best in your inbox. Allegedly, no credentials or financial information were taken and the hole is patched. I share this just in case you were part of the breach. Check your inbox, folks!

ChatGPT Caricatures

Say what you will about AI, the ChatGPT caricatures floating around on social media are actually rather fun. I loaded one up with my two websites, my AllStar “node in the cloud”, and my M17 server. In real life, I don’t look nearly as good as the fellow in the caricature. Nevertheless, I think the graphic is not bad. It might be fun to make a QSL card this way.

The intersection of privacy and AI is, of course, a concern, but since I choose to be published on the internet, I accept that some amount of information about me is already irretrievably “out there.”

A more interesting thought is developing an AI engine dedicated to amateur radio. There exists a treasure trove of amateur radio information at DLARC (Digital Library of Amateur Radio & Communications). At minimum, a dedicated AI would provide radio-focused search on steroids. At best, we’d see synthesized answers to questions asked by hams, founded on decades of published research and experimentation. Maybe this is already underway. I sure hope so. It would be a positive, productive way to utilize AI to benefit our hobby and the people who enjoy it and benefit from it. It would also honor all those pioneers, makers, and scientists who came before us in this hobby.

By the way, if you’ve never visited the DLARC, it’s worth some time. From their home page:

The Digital Library of Amateur Radio and Communications is a library of materials and collections related to amateur radio and early communications. The DLARC is funded by a significant grant from Amateur Radio Digital Communications, a private foundation, to create a digital library that documents, preserves, and provides open access to the history of this community.

Looking for an old two-tube transmitter design? You’ll find it there, and much, much more. Fair warning: once you dive in, it may be a while before you come up for air!

Connect to the Ham Radio Workbench AllStar Node

Yesterday morning, I was listening to the latest Ham Radio Workbench podcast. This is always an enjoyable indulgence for me. I love the learning and the joyful spirit of the regulars on the show. It’s long, but I find it perfect for my drives between Olympia, Washington and Portland, Oregon.

I’ve always been fascinated (and truthfully, a bit intimidated) by vacuum tubes, aka thermatrons. This HRWB episode sounded perfect for taking my mind places I had hitherto found too overwhelming: HRWB 256 - Tube Gear with Grayson Evans KJ7UM. It’s a very interesting conversation. I recommend it if you have any interest in radios that glow in the dark.

During the conversation, when George KJ6VU spoke of the several ways you can connect with the HRWB team and with other listeners, he mentioned that their AllStar node is underutilized. He’d like to see their node get used more. I’m going to make a point of connecting to node 55915 more often. That will also give me a good way to continue testing my Ampersand-ASL Server platform (node 578499).

This item is high up in the Random Wire list today as an encouragement to spend some time “hanging out at the water cooler” with the great HRWB folks on AllStar node 55915.

There aren’t a lot of folks connected to node 55915 as I type this, but I’m sure that will change as HRWB 256 is heard by more hams over the next few weeks.

DVstick 30 and BlueDV

The EtherHam tag line is Amateur Radio Over Internet. Meet the DVMEGA DVstick 30, a device that certainly meets that short description. This little device is the size of a USB thumbdrive. Paired with BlueDV software, you get DMR, D-STAR, Fusion, and NXDN digital voice modes on your computer. Use your computer, microphone, and speakers or headphones for audio I/O. It’s pretty amazing that you can get so much capability in such a small device for just $110.

With a minimal amount of fiddling, I got the DVstick 30 working on my Surface Laptop 7. This laptop uses an ARM CPU, not an Intel chip, so some programs don’t work. Fortunately, BlueDV does work on my not-entirely-usual laptop!

If you’d prefer a video walkthrough, Andreas M0FXB has an excellent 11-minute YouTube on the DVstick 30. I recommend it.

I had trouble with my IEMs (in-ear monitors) plugged into the TRRS headphone port on the laptop. The microphone worked but the earbuds weren’t detected. I switched to a pair of Sony WH-1000XM5 Bluetooth headphones. After restarting BlueDV, it detected those headphones and I was able to select the phones and the microphone. Here is my test of that configuration:

In that test, I’m connected to a Yaesu System Fusion parrot (notice it says so in one of the bottom message boxes). My transmitted audio is a little thin with the Bluetooth headphones. Here’s what it sounds like with the IEM boom microphone:

I have not yet put the DVMEGA DVstick 30 inside my DVMEGA Cast device. Having used it “as is” with BlueDV on the laptop, I’m not sure I want to. This thumbdrive-sized device would be very easy to travel with.

The sound is…well, it’s digital. It’s fine, really, but there is a digital flavor to it that I detect. Is it disturbing enough to not use it? Not at all. The conversations are very clear and understandable. It’s really quite amazing that such a small device can do so much.

Wishes

The boxes at the bottom of the application screen are all the same color. It would be handy if the actively linked system was shown in a different color. This is a minor point.

In my hotspots, when I link to a YSF reflector, it takes a bit of time for linking to occur. I know it has happened because the screens change. Once I’m returned to my hotspot dashboard, I can see what I am linked to. In BlueDV, nothing noticeably changes. I don’t see anything except the info box at the bottom of the BlueDV screen. Does it really link up that fast? I guess it does. That is pretty amazing.

Another wish (and this is not unique to BlueDV) is for an AGC (automatic gain control or audio leveling circuit) on the Rx side. This isn’t like an FM repeater where low audio is brought up and loud audio levels are brought down. With the DVswitch 30/BlueDV combo, overmodulated signals blast through without any level correction. Listening over headphones can be a bit painful when an overly loud station suddenly blasts through. If you’re listening to a net with some overly loud stations, keep your mouse near your computer volume control.

The program crashes or freezes from time to time for me (which could be due to my non-Intel CPU, I suppose), but restarting it resolves the problem.

And I wish M17 was included in the package. That would really make this complete for me. I do realize there is a bit of irony in this particular wish, since M17 is open source and the DVstick 30 is based on the proprietary AMBE vocoder chip.

Please don’t get me wrong: this is a great bit of hardware and software. BlueDV is quite usable and useful. It is a keeper and will stay on my computer. I’m liking it a lot.

Learn More

• How to setup BlueDV on Windows

• DVMEGA DVstick 30 is $110 at GigaParts

As I get more experience with this device, I’ll clean up and amplify this note and post that content at EtherHam.com.

BAOFENG UV-5R Mini: First Impressions

Well, I did it: I bought a Baofeng radio. At one time, I swore I wouldn’t, but I guess I’m the proof you should never say never.

Actually, I purchased two Baofeng UV-5R Mini radios for the princely sum of $35. Yes, you read that right: $35 for a pair of radios. (I note that when I wrote this, the price was $34.99. Yesterday, the price was $37.45.) Here’s the link:

BAOFENG UV-5R Mini Ham Radio Long Range Handheld Two Way Radio, Bluetooth APP Programming Walkie Talkies 2 Pack, 999CH One-Key Copy Frequency, NOAA Weather, USB-C Charging(Green) (affiliate link)

I also got some shorter antennas for $10. The stock antennas are too long for such a compact little radio.

Eightwood Two Way Radio Antenna 6in, VHF/UHF Dual Band SMA Female Flexible Handheld Ham Radio Antenna 2-Pack for Baofeng Walkie Talkie UV-5R UV-82 Yaesu FT-65 (affilliate link)

These things are small. They are about the size of an FRS radio but feel a little more solid in the hand. They don’t have the same high-quality feel that a Yaesu or Icom HT has, but it’s not bad. I wear a medium men’s glove and this radio snuggles right into my palm (please excuse my winter dry skin):

There are two transmit buttons: A and B. The top of the display is VFO-A and the bottom is VFO-B.

Attaching the battery for the first time isn’t completely obvious. You place it on the back of the radio, almost in it’s final position, then slide it upward firmly. I did this with one thumb. The battery clicks into place. The USB-C charging port is on the back of the battery:

This radio is kind of programmable through the keypad, but I did not immediately find an easy way to add CTCSS codes that way. To do that, I went to the Android “Ola” app. This app is only rated 1.7 stars in the Google Play Store and I can see why: it is a bit clunky. It does work, but only if you adapt to its idiosyncrasies.

What do I mean by that? The moment you realize you have to repeat the pairing of the radio each time you want to program it through the app, you’ll probably roll your eyes like I did and wonder why someone thought this was the way to do it. You have to pair the radio to your smartphone. First, you have to enable this on the radio (Menu —> Wireless Cps —> On). Then open your Bluetooth settings on your phone and attempt to pair it there, but it will tell you it must be paired in the app. Open the app, select your device, then pair it. Then select your device in Devices. Now tap the Plans selection, select your device again, and finally you are at the screen where you can start configuring the radio.

Once you write your setup to the radio, it turns off the Wireless Cps on the radio (sometimes…for me, most of the time) and you get to go through the whole pairing process again to make a change. It works, but it is clunky. I will say the app is better than I expected but still not as polished as it should be. It works. Maybe that’s enough.

Is there a clone function? Not that I’ve found. But it’s easy to accomplish the same thing using the app. Set up one radio the way you like it and save that configuration. Then pair the second radio to your phone and write the saved configuration to the second radio. Now you have two identically programmed radios.

What about audio quality? It’s not as clean as most of my radios. My BTECH UV-Pro sounds cleaner. All of my Yaesu HTs sound cleaner. But those other radios cost a whole lot more than the UV-5R Mini. Interestingly, one UV-5R Mini has more fuzz in the signal than the other. However, both receive audio that is plenty clear enough.

Despite these shortcomings, the UV-5R Mini is a keeper. I do love a small radio. This one is small enough to slip into a shirt or coat pocket. If I drop it or lose it, I’m not going to be nearly as unhappy as if I lost one of my Yaesu HTs. With a short antenna, it’s perfect for walking around town with a couple of local repeaters programmed in.

The radio came with a 15-inch antenna. I purchased a shorter 6.5-inch antenna. Even that was slightly too long in my chest pocket so I got a 2-inch stubby. The stubby antenna works fine around the house for staying in touch with one of my AllStar nodes. With the stubby antenna, this radio disappears in a pocket.

I’m hoping to try the All In One Cable (AIOC) with the Mini. If you plan to use it for data, check out a great video by KM6LYW.

UPDATE: The AIOC device arrived the night before RW 169 published. I can confirm it first perfectly in the speaker-mic ports on the UV-5R Mini. I haven’t had time to actually use the AIOC, so this will get picked up in a future issue.

More: BTECH DA-7X2

My posting about the BTECH DA-7X2 radio last week was timely. See this review that came to my attention the very next day: https://www.miklor.com/COM/Review_DA7X2.php

It’s a great review. One aspect I’m interested in is the “True Dual Receive” feature but unfortunately, that wasn’t included in the review.

I did not realize that a future firmware upgrade may add NXDN to this device. If true, this is very exciting. That would make this a must have radio for me. I’m finding the big cost of NXDN isn’t the radio but the licensed programming software. If the DA-7X2 eventually includes NXDN and the software supports programming it, that will be a killer feature.

As an aside, I cranked up my BTECH UV-PRO radio and opened the BTECH app on my phone. It prompted that a new firmware upgrade was available. I pushed the button and 15 minutes later, my radio was refreshed and running. I didn’t lose any of my saved settings. This is pretty amazing for those of us who came from the era where each radio had a special cable and special software just for that device. Today, with a nicely built app and a wireless connection instead of a cable? It’s the equivalent of a ham radio easy button. If programming and updating the DA-7X2 is as easy, this will be a big winner for BTECH and for radio amateurs.

By the way, I can confirm that the AIOC does not fit the BTECH UV-PRO. On the UV-PRO, the speaker-mic ports are opposite what you see with “standard” K-1 ports, and they are much closer together. I looked for, but did not find, an image that showed the difference so I grabbed my tan-colored BTECH UV-PRO and the green-and-black UV-5R Mini and snapped a photo.

If you want to use an AIOC with the UV-PRO (or any other K-1 device), you will need an adapter cable:

BTECH GMRS-PRO/UV-PRO K1 Adapter Cable for Enhanced Accessory Compatibility - Integration and Backward Compatibility with K1 Accessories (affiliate link)

It’s good to know that option exists.

ORICO M.2 Magnetic Docking Station

I’ll be the first to admit this is a gadget that I probably didn’t need, but since it brought several interfaces into one small, portable device — plus storage — it looked worth trying. I want to back up my photos offline, plus I’d like to have a second device with all of my digital music.

Essential details

This is the ORICO M.2 Magnetic Docking Station. I’ve installed a 1 TB M.2 NVMe drive (2230 size) and formatted it as exFAT so that my Linux systems can also read the contents. The input is a USB-C port, and the power input (if needed) is a 100-watt PD USB-C port. Output interfaces are:

• One USB-A port

• One USB-C port

• One HDMI port

• One 3.5mm headphone/microphone port

It comes with a short USB-C to C cable. Dimensions are 64x64x12 mm, or 2.5 inches square and less than 1/2 inch thick. The base has a magnetic ring embedded in it and the device comes with a matching metal ring with a 3M adhesive backing.

Also included are a couple of adhesive thermal conducting pads to bridge the air gap between the NVMe drive and the metal case. Clearly, thermal management means radiating excess heat through the case. I used one pad on the drive.

ORICO 10Gbps Magnetic M.2 Docking Station, 6-in-1 USB C HUB & M.2 2230 NVMe Enclosure with HDMI 4K@60Hz, AUX, 100W PD Pass-Through Charging for iPhone/MacBook/iPad MG5 (affiliate link)

Disassembly / assembly

Disassembly required removing one small Philips-head screw. The plastic base fits inside the metal case top very snugly. I had to use a thin knife blade to start the process of separating the two pieces. Reassembly is simple: snap the top on the base and put the one screw back in. Done.

Crucial P310 1TB M.2 2230 SSD, PCIe Gen4 NVMe, Up to 7,100MB/s, Internal Solid State Drive, Ideal for Steam Deck, ASUS ROG Ally, MSI Claw, Mini PCs & Ultrabooks - CT1000P310SSD2 (affiliate link)

What am I thinking? I could put all my photos on this device. I could put all of my digital music on this thing, and when powered by a USB-C adapter or power bank, I could listen over my IEMs (in-ear monitors).

Testing file transfers

I downloaded an entire OneDrive instance to see how swiftly that would go. I tried to download all of my Google Photos content but the device got quite warm. I noticed that the transfer rate slowed after 28 GB of data was transferred so I assume it self-throttled due to heat. In fact, it got so warm I ordered an infrared thermometer gun.

The gun I purchased has big letters, easy for me to see. The backlight stays on until the device automatically powers down after 90 seconds. You can set the mode to show the minimum, maximum, or average temperature in the lower pane of the screen. One gripe: the plastic body of the thermo-gun is hard and a bit slippery.

TempPro TP450 2 Laser Temperature Gun for Cooking, 16:1 D:S Ratio Infrared Thermometer Gun for Pizza Oven, Laser Thermometer Gun with Adjustable Emissivity Temp Gun -58 to 1022℉ (Previously ThermoPro) (affiliate link)

The gun showed that moving a 10 GB file to the ORICO elevated the temperature from 77°F to 100°F. I think it’s designed to do exactly this.

I did another test involving copying a folder with 282 GB of content (a mix of large and small files) and pasting it to the ORICO device. That started at 7:32 AM with a surface temperature of 70°F. The time estimate for copying and pasting that amount of data says three hours and 30 minutes…but such estimates are notoriously inaccurate, so we’ll see (a) if the process completes and (b) how long it actually takes.

At 8:53 am the transfer was 55% complete. The surface temperature in the center of the ORICO case was 92°F. Eventually, it froze at 89% completion with 25 GB of content left to go. I canceled the copy-and-paste, let the device rest a few minutes, then started over. Time: 10:45 AM.

That went nowhere. I canceled that process, rebooted, and then opened PowerShell and started Robocopy at 11:05 AM. The top of the ORICO case was 83.5°F as the Robocopy routine started.

robocopy "C:\Downloads archive" "P:\Downloads archive" /E /Z /ZB /R:5 /W:5 /MT:16

Monitoring in the PowerShell window, I could see plenty of activity. Also, I could feel the ORICO case getting warmer. Fingers crossed. Watching the Task Manager, I see disk I/O ranging from a high of about 54 MB/s for larger files (megabytes in size) all the way down to 20 MB/s when there are lots of small files and even 10 MB/s for tiny files.

Then I got busy and noticed at 11:45 that the process was completed. I felt the case: room temperature. I checked the size of the folder on the ORICO drive. Looks like the entire folder got copied. I’m confident enough this is true that I then deleted this nearly 300 GB archive from my laptop drive. Recovering some space on my primary drive will be welcome.

It would undoubtedly have gone faster if I had formatted the NVMe drive in NTFS format. Since I used exFAT, it is slower. But wait just a moment: I am assuming this speed difference is true. Is it true? No. Google’s search AI says I’m wrong:

NTFS and exFAT offer similar read/write speeds for most users, though NTFS generally provides slightly better performance and reliability on internal Windows drives due to journaling, while exFAT is faster on flash storage. On USB 3.0, exFAT may offer up to 9% faster speeds for medium files, while NTFS is more efficient with smaller, numerous files.

That is interesting. I’m using a USB-C to USB-C data cable to connect the laptop and the ORICO device.

Other

The ORICO device magnetically adheres gently to my Surface Laptop 7 behind the display. I’m always knocking USB thumbdrives off my work surface so having a storage device stuck to the laptop is rather handy.

I used the adhesive ring on the back of my Android phone case and the ORICO stuck to it very firmly, so firmly it would be unlikely to become dislodged in my bag when I’m traveling. An unexpected benefit: with the ORICO stuck to the back of my phone, it allows the phone to sit on it’s side in landscape format, just right for watching videos on the small screen. Later, I removed the metal ring because I found it got hot when I charged my phone with a wireless charger.

With the prices for RAM and solid-state storage rising, I think this will end my storage experimentation for a while. However, this might be the time to build out my mass storage capability with spinning hard drives.

Short Stack

If you want more than what I’ve shared in the Short Stack, be sure to visit the EtherHam mega-feed at https://etherham.com/feeds/ and dig through more than 50 RSS feeds all pulled into one big date-sorted collection.

Hamcation sales

SharkRF

Get your brand new M1KE and openSPOT4 Pro with 10% off at shop.sharkrf.com.
Shipping to the US is now tariff-free!

Ham Radio Outlet

Some great deals available at https://www.hamradio.com/onsale.cfm, including these radios: IC-2730A, ID-52A, IC-7300, FTM-510DR, TH-D75A (great price), TX-500.

MMDVM radio chip going end of life?

This surfaced last night during the Let’s Talk Digital Net on America’s Kansas City Wide network.

As the ADF7021 gets closer to end of life we have been working with ZUM Radio to evaluate a new option.

It is my understanding that the ADF7021 is the radio chip used in MMDVM-based hotspots. Please let us know if you have more intel about this. Sounds like there is no replacement for the ADF7021 as of yet, but don’t throw your hotspots in the bin quite yet since no EOL date has been announced.

By the way, if you are interested in digital radio modes, you should listen to the Let’s Talk Digital Net on Thursday evenings. It’s always interesting, usually humorous, and always enjoyable.

Elecraft items available at Schulman Auction

I was cruising through the latest Schulman Auction catalog when I noticed an Elecraft K2 radio, a K3, an amp, a panadapter, and a 6M transverter all up for auction. If you’re an Elecraft fan, the auction is open for nearly a week.

FreeDV v2.2.1 has been released

FreeDV is a suite of digital voice modes for HF radio. Their flagship mode is the Radio Autoencoder (RADE). You can run RADE using a free GUI application for Windows, Linux and OSX that allows any SSB radio to be used for high quality digital voice.

Galaxy by IK6QRH - Best Utilities for Ham Radio

There are several useful amateur radio programs available in the Galaxy!

Beelink ME Pro 2-bay Intel N95/N150 NAS and mini PC supports 5GbE networking, up to 3x M.2 MVMe SSDs

Looking to build your own compact NAS (network attached storage) box? This seems like an ideal platform.

Beelink ME Pro is a compact 2-bay hybrid NAS and Windows 11 mini PC built around Intel N95 (Alder Lake-N) or N150 (Twin Lake) SoC, and equipped with two 3.5-/2.5-inch SATA bays and three M.2 2280 NVMe slots for storage. It also features a “DIY drawer” design that lets users swap the motherboard for upgrades.

If the Beelink is too expensive…

If the Beelink is a bit too expensive for your wallet, consider the GMKtec NucBox G9 Mini PC Intel® Twin Lake N150 Dual-system 4-bay NAS.

This portable antenna crushed four ham radio bands in the park

But there is one one end fed half wave antenna that I’ve found to not only be one of the easiest to set up and tear down, but also consistently the best in operation and on air performance. That’s the Spooltenna end fed halfwave.

Explore the Stratosphere with a DIY Pico Balloon, a Tiny Ham-Radio Transmitter Lets You Track a Balloon Globally

Amazingly, the global tracking of the balloon’s telemetry is done without satellites. Instead, pico balloonists take advantage of an amateur-radio network called WSPR (Weak Signal Propagation Reporter), a protocol developed by a rather famous ham-radio enthusiast—Joseph Hooton Taylor Jr., one of the two scientists awarded the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering binary pulsars.

AC6V Amateur Radio & DX Reference Guide

How did I miss this? I caught this in the always excellent Zero Retries newsletter. Frankly, I’m amazed at the depth of this particular resource.

The KM6LYW Radio DigiPi Project: A Comprehensive Guide

This is an excellent resource.

This comprehensive guide explores the DigiPi Project, its functionalities, hardware requirements, software configurations, and community resources, providing a detailed roadmap for both enthusiasts and newcomers in the amateur radio community.

HamClock Happenings

There is a lot of activity in the HamClock space.

OHB - OpenHamClock Backend

This project aims to create a substitute for the sunsetting HamClock backend server. It is moving along very quickly. If you have a HamClock, this will be worth watching.

OpenHamClock installation script

This just appeared this week: an installation script if you want to install OpenHamClock on your Linux system. Read about it on University of Stuff and find the script on GitHub.

HamClock announcement coming

About a week ago, the founder of Inovato said this in response to a comment about HamClock dying:

Maybe that is the OpenHamClock noted above. Or perhaps it is the OpenHamClock Backend. Whatever it is, it will likely be welcomed by lots of folks who are very comfortable with the look and feel of their HamClock.

HamTab

Another HamClock-like variant with a clean look. Not bad:

Need a spare or travel router?

Amazon has a 44% off deal on a solid travel router, price $38.97. Wow! I have one. It works fine. I paid more for mine than this. I don’t know if it will still be available come Friday morning when RW 169 publishes. Bear in mind that this is a WiFi 6 router, not the newer WiFi 7, but that is probably fine for most uses.

TP-Link Ultra-Portable Wi-Fi 6 AX1500 Travel Router TL-WR1502X | Easy Public WiFi Sharing | Hotel/RV/Travel Approved | Phone WiFi Tether | USB C Powered | Multi-Mode | Tether App | Durable Design (affiliate link)

I’m thinking of putting all my IoT (Internet of Things) devices on a separate router. It would be easy to do with this device. However, what I will most likely do is move them all to a guest network to help separate them from my main network segment. That approach isn’t as good as setting up a separate VLAN for IoT devices but it would certainly be easier. (Why do this? Because IoT devices don’t seem to get the security upgrades that our computers get, making them potentially more vulnerable to unwanted intrusions by bad actors. Translation: they could become the entry point to your network. Set the guest network to 2.4 GHz since most IoT devices don’t use the 5 GHz band.)

Used office PCs are the new Raspberry Pi (at half the price)

I’ve been saying this for some time now: used small/mini PCs are quite a deal compared to Raspberry Pi platforms. Nice to see How To Geek agrees with me!

Light-based Ising computer runs at room temperature and stays stable for hours

I’ll bet crypto miners are salivating at the idea of computing at the speed of light using COTS (Commercial, Off The Shelf) components. Wow.

A team of researchers at Queen's University has developed a powerful new kind of computing machine that uses light to take on complex problems such as protein folding (for drug discovery) and number partitioning (for cryptography). Built from off-the-shelf components, it also operates at room temperature and remains remarkably stable while performing billions of operations per second.

Experts Warn The Internet Will Go Down In A Big Way — And You’d Better Be Ready

This one is for the preppers. You know who you are. What’s that old saying? “Most people don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan.” This is for you.

Maybe start by downloading Wikipedia. However, be careful after you click the first Download button because the next one makes you think you’re downloading Wikipedia, but if you click it, you’ll actually download an antivirus program. The Wikipedia download link is in smaller letters below that button. On Windows, the downloaded executable file actually installs a desktop version of Wikipedia. It looks like this on my computer:

It is searchable and fast. The download is also available in the Microsoft Store at https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9wzdncrfhwm4

Downloadable Wikipedia is not limited to Windows:

You can also download the mobile version of the online encyclopedia for Android and iOS. And Windows 10/11 users can also download a specific version of the app for their computer (desktop or laptop). The apps allow you to read any article and connect to your Wikipedia account.

Another available domain name

As I was writing the piece at the top of this newsletter about hanging out on the Ham Radio Workbench AllStar node 55915, I thought: I wonder if anyone has registered Ham Hangout as a domain name? It turns out that hamhangout.com is available at a non-premium price. Makes me wish I had unlimited funds. Someone could really build an identity and service around this fun domain name.

I looked at few synonyms for hangout. You could try hamhome.com but be prepared for sticker shock: this is considered a premium domain name. And hamhq.com is available at a much lower — but still premium — price. Finally, here’s a hangout-themed domain at a normal price point: hamhaunt.com.

I hope those domain names spark some ideas for you!

Not Radio

NOCO Boost Jump Starter

Our little Chevrolet had an unfortunate encounter with a deer in the evening darkness. The driver was blinded by the bright headlights of an oncoming car while navigating a curve. The deer walked into the road just after the other car went by. Full braking minimized damage and the deer scampered off, but repairs ended up being about $4,000.

When we drove the car home from the collision center, it would not start again. I pulled out my smart charger that said the battery voltage was 8.7 VDC. Not good. Could be the alternator wasn’t charging, or a bad connection, or the battery was dying fast. I put it on the charger overnight. The next morning, it said FULL at about 14 VDC. When we tried to start the car, all we got was “click click click.”

Turns out there is a technical service bulletin on this exact issue that suggests the collision center may have painted or clear coated the grounding stud, or manipulated the ground cable which is known to be weak. I tried charging and starting the car again but still: click click click. Sigh.

So I made an appointment with the dealer and called a tow truck. I explained that I had been unable to start the car and the sound it made. The driver pulled out a NOCO-brand booster, hooked up it, and 20 seconds later, started the car.

I was dumbfounded. I thought charging the battery was the best way forward. Apparently, a lightweight battery booster was all I needed. I ordered one for our vehicles the same day. I looked at several brands but kept coming back to the good ratings of the NOCO devices. I bought one of their smaller units in the newer “Boost X” configuration (affiliate link):

NOCO Boost X GBX45: 1250A UltraSafe Jump Starter – 12V Lithium Battery Booster Pack, Portable Jump Box, Power Bank & Jumper Cables - for 6.5L Gas and 4.0L Diesel Engines

I can use it as a power bank in a pinch. It has an LED light so I can see what I’m doing if I use it in the dark. I’m not recommending it but will say that the tow truck driver said it has started many cars that wouldn’t otherwise start. The model he used was smaller than the one I bought. That was good enough for me to make the purchase.

Will I need it again? I hope not. But I imagine scenarios like being in a park doing POTA and ending up with a dead battery…or someone else has that happen to them. Being prepared to be of service to others is its own reward, and if it also means I’m prepared to get myself out of a jam, that’s even better.

Windows: Apps Won’t Open

I’ll report more in a future issue on an interesting little platform I’m trying out, a “Lenovo ThinkCenter M75n AMD Ryzen 3 Pro 3300U 2.1 Ghz 8GB 256GB NVMe WINPRO11.”

Really? A Ryzen 3 CPU will run Windows 11 Pro? To figure that out, I’d have to boot it up and see how it performed. But when I first booted it, I thought the machine was broken. Nothing I clicked would open. I typed commands into the start box and still nothing. I couldn’t run Windows Update, couldn’t manage my user settings, couldn’t do much of anything. I thought the thing was possessed.

As I sat and stared at it, and stared some more, I got to wondering: does this thing think there are two displays present? That was about the only thing I could think of that might fit the symptoms I was seeing…or rather, not seeing! I typed in “Terminal” (which of course, did not visibly open but I could see it in the taskbar), then held the Shift key and right-clicked on the icon in the taskbar, then selected Move. I couldn’t see the mouse cursor but I assumed it was showing up on the phantom monitor. I moved the mouse over a bit, then left-clicked and dragged the invisible window to the right. Nothing.

Well, I did that about a dozen times before I finally got lucky and saw the edge of the PowerShell app appear on the left side of the screen. Once I got PowerShell in front of me, I typed in DisplayService.exe /clone. That allowed me to see what was going on, so then: DisplayService.exe /internal. That brought everything to the physical screen I had in front of me. After that it was smooth sailing, but for a while there I was sure something was deeply wrong with this computer!

I’ll have more on this platform later. For now, I’m just glad to be able to boot up and see what I’m doing!

Closing

Thank you for taking this journey with me. I don’t think I’ll ever run out of things to think about, poke at, try to break, wonder at, learn from, and enjoy in amateur radio. It is truly a lifelong hobby.

Also, a big thank you to all who have ordered items using my affiliate links. It doesn’t cost you any more and the tiny commissions Amazon grants me are enough to keep my Random Wire and EtherHam activities going. It truly helps and I appreciate the support.

Lest you think affiliate links are particularly lucrative, they are not. For calendar year 2025, my affiliate links generated about $21 a month in gross revenue. That’s enough to keep a few domain names alive, renew the EtherHam website, and purchase a couple of cheap plugins to help improve the usability and security of the website. Someday, I hope to be able to fund more investments in radio and software so that I can share more hands-on information about amateur radio over internet.

73 to all, and remember to touch a radio every day!

• Happy Friday

• More About Amp-ASL Server (EtherHam)

• Backing up Windows 11 Pro (EtherHam)

• AIOC: All-in-One Cable

• New / Not New Handheld Radio: FT-70DR

• BTECH DA-7X2 Digital & Analog Dual Band Two-Way Radio

• For Space Weather Fans

• OpenHamClock

• Difference in btop Display on Debian

• Time to Put up a Wire

• Short Stack

• Other

• Closing

Happy Friday

One of the nice things about publishing on Substack is it produces a pseudo podcast with a computer-generated voice reading my words. This is through the Substack app on my Android phone. I do find this handy when I’m driving as I can listen to my newsletter (and others, too). Hearing it makes it easier to find confusing sentences and wrong or missing words. And like so many of us, I’d rather not hear my own voice. I rather like the computer voice!

It’s Thursday afternoon as I start to tie a ribbon around Random Wire issue 168. I just learned that a bill my association is concerned about is scheduled for a hearing tomorrow at 10:30. We are scrambling to line up folks to testify, prepare talking points and testimony, and get people there. Yes, we were surprised by how swiftly this legislation is moving. What this means is if I misspell a word or two in this issue, please excuse me. I am suddenly and unexpectedly being pulled away from this newsletter.

You know what they say (and I am paraphrasing): Life Happens!

More About Amp-ASL Server

I continue to fiddle with this interesting project. What did I do this week? Tried to add a WiFi adapter to the Dell 3040, swapped the speaker-mic, and tried my Heil K-1 headset.

I do have this node running. It is AllStar node 578499.

Learn more about More About Amp-ASL Server on the EtherHam.com site. Although I’m not prepared to report on it, I hear that Ampersand-ASL Server has some improvements surfacing any day now.

Backing up Windows 11 Pro

I’m looking for suggestions for open source backup software that will allow me to create an image of my entire Windows system and will allow me to also do full or partial backups. Those two things could be solved by two programs, not one.

For now, I’m using Macrium Reflect. I don’t really like it, but it is working.

Read more about this in Backing up Windows 11 Pro.

AIOC: All-in-One Cable

I’ve waited long enough. It was time to order an AIOC device, so I did. It is probably arriving today so too late to include much about it in this issue of the Random Wire.

First, though: what is an AIOC? “The Ham Radio All-in-one cable (AIOC) is a small PCB attachment for a popular series of radio transceivers which adds a USB-attached audio interface and virtual TTY port for programming and the push-to-talk function.”

See also:

• The All In One Cable thingy – AIOC by G1LRO

• AIOC Cable Review - Should You Buy One? by Direbox

• Introducing the Ham Radio All-in-One Cable (AIOC): The Ultimate Multi-Purpose Interface for Your Radios! by Hamradio.my

For official information:

• Frequently Asked Questions page by NA6D

• AIOC Getting Started page by NA6D

• GitHub page on the AIOC

Works with:

• Winlink and VARA FM

• APRS with Direwolf

• AllStarLink (ASL3)

• APRSDroid

• WoAD: “Bringing the functionality of Winlink to your Android device”

• Chirp

I’m looking forward to trying this. It’s not new, just new to me.

New / Not New Handheld Radio: FT-70DR

I needed another C4FM handheld but didn’t want to spend a ton of money. Lately, I’ve heard several people on Kansas City Wide nets share that they were using the Yaesu FT-70DR radio. Most of those transmissions sounded pretty good, so I ordered one from HRO in Portland for $169.95 (the $20 discount has since expired). Two days later, it arrived. (Don’t buy it on Amazon. It is overpriced there.)

I already have my Raspberry Pi 4 hotspot set to Yaesu System Fusion on 431.250 MHz. I charged the FT-70DR battery, turned on the radio, entered my call sign through the keypad, and entered the hotspot frequency. Boom, I was immediately hearing conversations. Later, I tested my audio with a parrot and it sounded good.

Now for the true confession: I already have a FT-70DR that I acquired a few years ago but that first unit doesn’t sound good. It doesn’t sound nearly as nice as the new radio. I don’t know why. While I’m not completely happy about the first radio, I’m pretty tickled with the second one.

I live in a wet place, so weather resistance in a handheld radio is important. The FT-70DR is IP54 rated, providing protection against dust and splashing water. It is considered splashproof and ruggedized but it is not submersible. That works for me.

And surprise! I was really pleased when I figured out how to store separate transmit and receive frequencies in one memory in my Yaesu FT-5DR. Surely the FT-70DR won’t do this, too, right? I found it in the Advanced manual. Yes, it will. In my mind, this means the FT-70DR is the budget choice if you want to get on C4FM. The sound quality is good, it’s a durable and reliable radio, and it has some of the features of the much more expensive FT-5DR. Nobody I know with an FT-70DR wishes they had not acquired it.

BTECH DA-7X2 Digital & Analog Dual Band Two-Way Radio

I confess that I think I like this radio. No, I don’t have one in hand, but if it’s anything like the BTECH UV-PRO (affiliate link) I do have, the quality will be quite acceptable to me. What is so attractive? Dual-band, digital (DMR) and analog, air band, and dual receive. That translates to me as usable with a full-duplex AllStar node and with my hotspots. It would be a great radio to travel with.

Here is BTECH’s blog announcement of the radio: BTECH introduces the DA-7X2. True Dual Receive. True VFO. Built to evolve. And here is the BTECH online shop listing: https://baofengtech.com/product/da-7x2/

Amazon has it available for very fast delivery at the same price as the BTECH store:

BTECH DA-7X2 Dual Band DMR Digital + Analog Handheld Radio, True Dual Receive VHF/UHF, 7W Peak, AM Airband (108–136) + FM Broadcast RX, Cross-Band Repeater, Recording, Advanced Audio (affiliate link)

I am very, very tempted.

For Space Weather Fans

The Live Solar Events page is a great resource, and is part of the G7IZU Radio Reflection Detection website. If you want to include some of the G7IZU screens in your HamDashboard, please take note of G7IZU’s request:

NOTICE: Please do not link my map images directly into dashboards etc. My web hosting will not handle the load of hundreds of simultaneous connections!

For HamDashboard, take a look at a variety of user-submitted examples. I could use the Vancouver BC example with very few changes for my neck of the woods. Want a video with instructions? KM4ACK has a good one:

I have a HamDashboard running on my node-in-the-cloud server just to see if it would overload the system. It does present significantly more load when it runs, with CPU usage jumping to 15% and disk I/O spiking. Let me know if you want to see what it looks like and I’ll send you the link. I don’t want to actually publish the link because I don’t want my ASL node 57945 system to get hammered!

OpenHamClock

By now you’ve probably become aware that HamClock will sunset in June and several projects are emerging as potential replacements. One that looks usable right now is OpenHamClock.

Here’s what that looks like on my laptop screen:

This is a young project that shows a lot of promise. If you like HamClock, you’ll want to monitor OpenHamClock.

Differences in btop Display on Debian

In the process of looking at my HamDashboard instance, I installed btop on my server. Unfortunately, something is wrong with the fonts in my Debian 12 terminal. This is interesting because my other Debian installations don’t have this problem.

For example, below is the btop display in the cloud server terminal. This is a Debian 12 server and the terminal is the one provided through the Vultr.com dashboard.

And here is btop running locally on a Dell Wyse 3040 under Debian 13, viewed in the terminal via an SSH connection:

I made sure that the contents of /etc/default/console-setup for the cloud server were identical to the same file on the 3040. I also made the language settings in /etc/default/locale the same. I forced a font cache refresh on the cloud server (fc-cache -r). The two outputs remain different. I wonder if it is simply a difference in terminal apps. That is probably it. The 3040 uses a Bourne shell; I don’t know what the cloud server uses but it must be different.

And…yes, that is the difference. Usually, I use the terminal on the Vultr cloud server that is provided in the hosting dashboard. But if I use PuTTY on my laptop to SSH to the cloud server, btop looks normal:

This is an oddity with the Vultr server hosting system. As long as I can work around it (and I can), it’s no big deal. I really wanted you to see how helpful the btop display is when you are looking at what is running on your Linux machine and the loads your programs are presenting.

Time to Put up a Wire

I need to finish my pneumatic launcher. It is a kit by JARC (Joplin Amateur Radio Club) called the Mark-2 Pneumatic Launcher. I’ve finished the mechanical assembly but I still have a bit more soldering to do on the switch before I can use it.

Outside the lake house are two Douglas Fir trees growing close together. The property line goes right between them. The taller tree is more than 150 feet tall and is on my aunts property. Our tree is about 100 feet tall and that should be plenty for what I have in mind.

I flew the drone a few days ago to be able to show you the trees and the proximity to the house. I set the camera at zero degrees (pointing out at the horizon) and checked the altitude when the tops of the trees were centered in my control screen.

The one-minute video is posted on Flickr: https://flic.kr/p/2rVe8NF

Short Stack

• Ham Radio Isn’t Growing and it’s All Your Fault. The curmudgeon in me had to smile when I read this post. “Having exhausted all those notions about what’s “wrong” with ham radio we now arrive at the conclusion du jour – we simply aren’t very friendly people. And they could be on to something. After decades of being told that the hobby is dying and we are the problem, after all the self-flagellation from it being all our own fault, we’ve become a pretty damned grumpy lot.” (Thank you to Amateur Radio Weekly for publishing this link.)

• Winter Field Day 2026 Reflections: Is Ham Radio Relevant For Emergency Communications And Prepping? Interesting perspective. “This amateur radio EmComm system need not serve an agency, rather be a parallel, free-standing, inclusive and accessible, publicly available, ham-led service meant to disseminate information, provide comfort and support, and overall reduce panic. A calmer public is a safer public.” (Thank you to Amateur Radio Weekly for publishing this link.)

• open-hamclock-backend Aims to Keep HamClock Ticking. “A group of ham radio operators have stepped up to keep HamClock operating beyond it’s scheduled sunset in June. An open source replacement for the backend processes required to keep the popular HamClock project alive is well underway.” (Found on Amateur Radio Daily.)

• 9M2PJU APRS Web Messenger. I tested it and it works. All you need is your call sign, your APRS pass code, and an internet-connected browser. (I’m running it while I work on this newsletter.)

Other

KeePass password manager

I use KeePass (and variants on different operating systems) for password management. I have to use a manager because I have so many passwords for work, home, amateur radio, and more. There are too many passwords to remember, and if I make them simple enough to remember, they aren’t very strong.

However, the font size in KeePass is quite small. I just found where to change that setting: Tools —> Options —> Interface (2). I bumped up the size of the fonts and now they are much easier to read.

Looking for a ham radio domain name?

This one was available on February 4th at a normal (not premium) price: rxandtx.com.

Or how about amateurqso.com. It’s available, too. Finally, a short one, also at a normal price: weqso.com.

There’s no better time than right now to claim and build an amateur radio identity!

I broke Zorin OS

I wasn’t really thinking about it when I booted up my old MacBook Air that runs Zorin 18 Pro, opened a terminal, and ran sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y. The results looked…odd. It looked like a kernel file was removed. So then I ran the built-in software updater and it was not happy. OK, I’ll reboot. Ah no: a kernel panic. I actually did delete the kernel.

I downloaded a fresh .iso file, burned it to a USB thumb drive with balenaEtcher, and plugged that into the MacBook Air. Holding down the Option key, I powered up, selected the USB thumb drive as the boot media, and began answering questions. Yes, I reinstalled the whole thing. No reason not to.

Closing

The early morning (6:00 am) conversation on the repeater a few days ago was very interesting, as always. I learned that one of my ham friends grew up in a mining town in Idaho. I worked for five years for a mining company based in that area so I am familiar with his hometown. As we talked, I grew a bit nostalgic, remembering how interesting it was to be going down a vertical shaft into the earth every day and seeing rocks no human had ever seen before. I miss that. What I don’t miss is the sense of being a professional transient. As a geologist, I was rarely in one place for more than a handful of years. That worked fine until we started a family and then that lifestyle no longer worked for us.

It’s been a very interesting couple of weeks in space and on Planet Earth. We saw an incredible coronal mass ejection (CME) event on the Sun that affected conditions down here on Terra. Locally, we experienced the coldest days in some time in the Pacific Northwest. With the high humidity of our maritime climate, there were several days where freezing fog made driving treacherous due to the formation of black ice. Our family and friends in the central part of the United States saw much colder temperatures and snow…sometimes substantial amounts of snow. I worried about them from afar.

Radio has become as interesting as mining and geology for me. It certainly allows me to pursue my interest in a way that doesn’t disrupt my work and personal lives, except when I choose to do so. There are so many aspects to amateur radio that I know I’ll never be able to touch all the areas I find fascinating. “Amateur radio” is such an all-encompassing term for a plethora of topics that range from circuit design to solar weather. It truly is a hobby of hobbies.

This is real life, not radio life. Most of the time, I just don’t have time to put up an HF antenna and crank up one of my HF transceivers. (Well, let me be more truthful: I don’t make the time to do these things.) I’m beginning to think I should just put a mobile HF station in my truck (Honda Ridgeline) since I spend so much time in it! The more I think about that, the more attractive that approach sounds, especially if I could get on 6, 10, and 20 meters from the truck. I’ll have to dig out my FT-891 rig and stare at it a bit to see if this is something I really want to commit to. I think it would be worth the time and investment to add this capability, and since I travel frequently, I’m sure I would find some time to operate. The current solar cycle may be on the wane but I’ll bet I still have at least a year of good 6 meter and 10 meter propagation to enjoy. The next solar cycle isn’t too far off: ”Solar Cycle 26 is expected to begin some time between January 2029 and December 2032.”

What a great time to be a radio amateur!

73 to all, and remember to touch a radio every day!

If you haven’t heard, there is sad news and a brewing crisis in the HamClock realm.

The crisis is an end-of-life notice for HamClock. My guess is the software “phones home” to do things like DX spotting and that system (translation: that server) is going to go dark. But that is a guess on my part. You might find more information in an active Reddit conversation by the time this issue publishes.

The sad news is — and I don’t have independent confirmation, but from all I hear, this is true — Elwood Downey WB0OEW has become a silent key. At this point, I just don’t know what to make of this.

HamClock availability and alternatives

As I write this, I see that the HamClock bundle is still shown for sale on the N0LSR store. This is, of course, the hardware layer. It’s worth watching that space.

Meanwhile, you might be interested in evaluating the Gray Line HamClock available through the Gray Line HamClock Users Group on Facebook. This has a 21-day free trial before payment is required. For those interested in a possible alternative to the HamClock software package, you may wish to follow this interesting GitHub project: https://github.com/Aaediwen/AaediHAM. Simon’s World Map is also a contender for a HamClock that runs on Windows 7, 8, 10, and 11: https://www.sdr-radio.com/world-map.

You might also want to take a look at Ham Dashboard. The demo site is at https://va3hdl.github.io/hamdash/

I’m sure there are many other projects underway or soon to be starting to find a solid replace for HamClock. Of course, there is always the venerable GeoChron!

Elwood Downey will be missed

The followed was pulled from multiple sources. I hope it is accurate. I have not found an obituary yet. Even where it may not be accurate, it is clear that Downey was a remarkable contributor to engineering, science, and amateur radio.

Elwood Downey WB0OEW is remembered for his generous contributions to open-source scientific software. He was a distinguished engineering alumnus of Purdue University.

HamClock was created via his ClearSky Institute, becoming a staple for amateur radio operators around the world.

Downey developed XEphem, a legendary ephemeris and planetarium program for Unix-like systems, which also served as the foundation for the PyEphem Python library.

He specialized in telescope control systems and astronomical instrumentation, working with various major observatories and the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory.

Topics in issue 167

• Correction

• M17 Poll

• Ampersand-ASL: Installed and Working

• New PoC Radio

• Droidstar and DVSwitch Mobile: Thoughts

• What Is Really Happening in Belarus?

• DVStick 30 and DVMega Cast

• DVMega Cast DG-ID

• Video with V30 microSD Card

• NVMe Drive Cloned and Replaced

• Short Stack

• Reflections and Appreciation

Correction

In my note last week about Ronald Barlow KJ7T(SK), I carried some information from his obituary into the Random Wire without cross-checking it. Reader Chuck (thank you!) offered the following helpful correction:

BellSouth didn’t become Qwest (with a “w”). BellSouth, one of the seven Baby Bells formed in the 1980s, was eventually merged back into AT&T. Another Baby Bell was US West, which renamed itself Qwest and eventually became part of CenturyLink which renamed itself Lumen.

You might think: well, does this really matter? I think it does. The Bell family of companies was huge. I have several peers who worked for a Bell organization and I’ll bet many Random Wire subscribers worked for, or knew someone who worked for, one of the Bells. Out of respect, I’m pleased to publish the correction because it amplifies a bit of history that many of us share, either directly or by association with friends or family.

M17 Poll

Last week, I asked folks to weigh in on the M17 protocol. As of Wednesday of this week, I found 74 responses:

The questions and submissions are not completely visible in the survey summary so I’m listing all of those below. The items included in the survey are:

• M17 is an open source project

• M17 is a digital voice protocol

• M17 works with existing hardware

• M17 doesn't require a centralized user database

• M17 supports packet modes like APRS and AX.25

• The voice codec used in M17 is open source, unlike other digital modes

• I don’t know enough about M17 to have an opinion

User-submitted items include:

• Manufacturer agnostic

• You can also send and receive digital data with it

• M17 is a ham-focused protocol, not a repurposed commercial one

• Encryption because it is legal in Canada and Amateur Radio is a hobby of experimenters

• 日本の場合、M17免許はLinHT etcが必要。価格がUS$100 to $200で入手希望。 (Google translates this for me to: In Japan, the M17 license requires LinHT etc. I would like to purchase it for US$100 to $200.)

• I am sysop M17-FRA

• I don’t know enough about M17 to have an opinion about the other choices

• It has the potential to be extended such as the experiment of adding cryptographic signatures for authenticating transmissions

• My issue is not supporting TDMA, it would be great to have a TDMA replacement for DMR

I found these responses very interesting. The three most popular responses were:

• M17 is an open source project (87.8% of respondents selected this)

• The voice codec used in M17 is open source, unlike other digital modes (82.4% of respondents)

• M17 is a digital voice protocol (66.2% of respondents)

Thank you to all who have participated. The survey will remain open for one more week at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5DJ3l4DOdKA9Z2teZB7WNAGi8K-R-LySG-odWwXVh6b0B5g/viewform?usp=header

If you have observations or thoughts about M17, please leave a comment.

Leave a comment

Ampersand-ASL: Installed and Working

TL;DR — Ampersand-ASL is a lightweight system for AllStarLink that does not use Asterisk. It also supports high-quality 16Kbps audio. While this is a young project, it holds a lot of promise for compact, high-fidelity ASL nodes. I installed it on a Dell 3040 thin client computer and it works!

I was curious about a fairly new AllStar project that doesn’t use Asterisk. (Both AllStarLink and HamVOIP use Asterisk.) The new project is called Ampersand-ASL by Bruce MacKinnon KC1FSZ. Find it on GitHub at https://github.com/Ampersand-ASL/amp-server/tree/main

To do this, you need an AllStarLink node number. I chose to extend one of my nodes with an NNX number, creating node number 578499. I set my router to forward the UDP port I chose for the Amp-ASL Server to a Dell Wyse 3040 thin client running Debian 13. The audio interface is an AllScan UCI90 and a Kenwood KMC-45D K-1 speaker-mic.

This is a very promising project. I’m looking forward to following it as it evolves.

Read more on EtherHam in Ampersand-ASL: Installed and Working

New PoC Radio

This arrived the same day issue 166 was published:

Uniwa F400 Network Radio 4G LTE Rugged Phone Android 15 PTT Walkie Talkie Unlocked PoC Radio 4.0 inch Touch Screen Support Zello and Real PTT (affiliate link)

I’m sure when you look at the pictures at that Amazon link, you’ll say: that’s not a radio, that’s a phone! It sure looks like a phone. It takes a SIM card for cellular access and also connects through WiFi. Running Android 15 with a reasonably large 4-inch IPS touch screen, it could easily be mistaken for a cell phone. And you know why? Because it is a phone. It’s a phone with a big PTT button on the side.

The first thing I noted when I opened the box was the power adapter has a type C plug (“Europlug”). That won’t work. Fortunately, the adapter outputs through a USB-C port, so a US-style USB-C adapter was all I needed.

Next, the phone wasn’t charging. Probably some plastic over the battery terminals, I thought. Sure enough, some tape covered the battery contacts. Once I removed the tape and plugged the phone into a PD (power delivery) USB-C charger, the screen showed a charging battery and a red LED lit up on top of the device.

It also has a camera, making the comparison to a cell phone even more evident.

I pulled my Google Fi data-only SIM card from an old iPhone and slipped it into the F400. That did not work. The F400 is a 4G phone and the data SIM works with 5G. When I contacted Google Fi support, I was told it wasn’t backward compatible with 4G networks. Well darn it.

I’m still trying to figure out how to get the large, left-side PTT button to work with Droidstar and with DVSwitch Mobile. Until I can get the PTT working right, this is really nothing more than a cheap cell phone on which I’ve installed Droidstar and DVSwitch. You could do that with your real cell phone (and I do have those apps on my Samsung Galaxy phone).

That being said, it is nice to not have to use my real cell phone for digital voice. Now if I could only get the PTT button mapped to the Tx button in the apps…

Droidstar and DVSwitch Mobile: Thoughts

Speaking of Droidstar and DVSwitch, I poked at both of these apps a bit this week. I’m liking one more than the other and I describe these thoughts on the EtherHam site in Droidstar and DVSwitch Mobile: Thoughts

What Is Really Happening in Belarus?

The bit I shared last week about the alleged persecution of amateur radio operators in Belarus stirred up a bit of a hornet’s nest. I got comments (sent directly to me) about there being only one source of this information, making it suspect. A Google search with this phrase — are amateur radio operators being arrested in Belarus? — yielded multiple stories. I can’t tell if all of those publications are basing their content on a single source or on multiple sources.

I heard from one respected amateur who appears to have valid confirmation of this information. I’ve also heard the ARRL believes the story has significant inaccuracies and will be publishing something about that.

Bottom line: who knows what to believe? I don’t think I’ve believed a single source since I listened to Walter Cronkite on television.

Interestingly, I lost more subscribers this week than in any other week since I started publishing the Random Wire. Was that because I included something that sounded political? I don’t know. A few days later, I saw that I also gained more subscribers than any other week. I don’t know what to make of that. I appreciate my community of subscribers and always welcome your feedback.

DVStick 30 and DVMega Cast

I’m going to try a DVStick 30 AMBE USB stick in two ways: installed in my DVMega Cast and attached to a USB port on my PC. We’ll see how this goes. My DVMega Cast receive audio is fine but my transmit audio is often not great. Maybe using the AMBE stick will help.

Resources:

• DVStick 30: https://www.dvmega.nl/dvstick30/

• DVStick 30 at GigaParts: https://www.gigaparts.com/dvmega-dvstick-30.html

• BlueDV software: https://software.pa7lim.nl/

• DVMega Cast Upgrade Manual: https://www.dvmega.nl/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Manual-Cast-Radio-Upgrade-v1.pdf

• DVMega Cast: https://www.dvmega.nl/dvmega/

I’ll update you once I receive the AMBE stick (it’s back ordered) and get it installed.

DVMega Cast DG-ID

Speaking of the DVMeta Cast, here’s a quick note for amateurs with a DVMega Cast device. How do you set the DG-ID for a particular reflector? It is not obvious. It’s not in the software. Here’s how: touch the DG-ID numbers on the DVMega Cast screen. Then backspace to remove the two-digit number and use the keypad on the screen to enter the two-digit DG-ID.

I found this doesn’t actually “take” until I key the microphone once.

I hope this helps someone.

Video with V30 microSD Card

I tried a V30 microSD card in my Potensic ATOM 2 drone to see if the video it captured was smooth. Yes! The video linked below begins by looking straight down at me, standing on the front deck, controlling the drone. The height above ground is about 85 meters. Then I rotate the camera up, and in the resulting view of the lake, you are looking southward, toward the inlet to the lake. As I pan left to right, the Olympic Mountains to the west dominate the skyline. The video ends looking northward toward the outlet of the lake.

Here’s the video: https://www.flickr.com/photos/204104041@N02/55059095183/

Is the V30 microSD card any better than a “normal” card? I don’t know. What I do know is it performed well. I’ll keep testing.

NVMe Drive Cloned and Replaced

I spent about five hours on this project. The NVMe drive in my Dell OptiPlex 7050 SFF work computer was not doing well. I ordered a replacement and decided to clone the still-working-but-ailing drive to the new one. Thea actual cloning process with the two 1 TB drives took about three hours. During that time, there wasn’t much I could do so I listened to a few nets with Droidstar on my cell phone.

Read the story and view the images: NVMe Drive Cloned and Replaced.

Short Stack

My source for many of the items in the Short Stack is my “mega feed” at https://etherham.com/feeds/. I track more than 50 information sources, bringing their RSS feeds into a big, date-sorted collection of feeds. I’m happy to add more, so if you know of a great source of radio or technology information, please let me know.

• I wanted to buy more NVMe storage in 2026, but I’m doing this instead. This article was published on January 28th and I had to chuckle because I bought a couple of large-capacity hard drives on January 27th. (Great minds and all that!) One hard drive is going into my work computer to hold backups and the other is going into an external enclosure with a USB-C connection. I’ll let you know how the external enclosure works. I’m hoping the USB-C connection makes it relatively speedy.

• This Highly Rated Wi-Fi 6E Mesh System Is $150 Off Right Now. This is the same mesh system I installed at my sister’s vacation home. It is working very well.

• Stop buying full-size desktops: Why I’m finally switching to a Mini PC. Mini PCs are becoming more popular. I’ve even heard the Ham Radio Workbench crew talk about using them instead of Raspberry Pi single-board computers. For the dollars spent, you get more of everything, compared to an RPi. I love my RPi’s, but I also use mini PC’s for some applications.

• This one free app solved all my Windows 11 lag and stutter. This is clever. I’ve actually bought new computers simply because my video and audio did not work as smoothly as I wanted on an existing computer. If you have that problem, this might save you from the expense of buying a new PC.

• I ditched my favorite to-do app for a Linux terminal—here’s what surprised me. I’m trying it. This lightweight terminal app works and the learning curve is not steep. This might be a keeper.

Reflections and Appreciation

Music on my Android phone

During a recent drive, I got tired of listening to audio books so I switched to some music. I’m enjoying the Poweramp app on my Android phone because when I change songs, it fades from one piece to the next. Some other players make an abrupt change which can be jarring. Poweramp is, well, more graceful in how it handles the audio. I also think my music sounds better played through this app.

I was listening to an old Chicago album and really noticing the superb drumming of Danny Seraphine. I could pick up some big band influences and heard some great jazz licks. Seraphine did a great job with his fills, something lesser drummers don’t do well. I thought I picked up some hints of one of my favorite drummers, Steve Gadd. When I looked at Seraphine’s Wikipedia page, I noted that Gadd is listed as one of the drummers who influenced his development. Seraphine‘s fills resembled Gadd’s, except Gadd tends to use more cymbals.

Testifying

This was another week where I testified at a Washington State legislative hearing. Being a bit of an introvert, these are not experiences I look forward to. However, I owe it to my Association members to deliver the very best performance possible, so I prepare my comments (and prepare for questions) and do my best. One never knows how much time a committee chair will grant for testimony, so I usually prepare testimony for a five-minute chunk of time, three minutes, two minutes, and one minute. The last few years, most committee chairs have limited speakers to two or three minutes. This time, I got one minute. That’s not much time to make key points and back them up with data. I’m always in awe of my associates who can sit at the microphone with no notes and extemporize for just the right amount of time, sounding relaxed and natural. That is an amazing skill.

What a great time to be a ham

And finally: what a great time to be an amateur radio operator! We are in the midst of an intersection of sets: “classic” radio and new technologies. Of course, we’ve been here before. I say that thinking about the transition from tubes to transistors. I’m certain quite a few Random Wire subscribers lived through that time and remember the back-and-forth among the amateur radio community. I asked an AI engine about it:

The transition from tubes ("boat anchors") to transistors (solid-state) in the amateur radio community during the 1960s and 1970s was a mixed, multi-year evolution characterized by skepticism regarding performance, appreciation for new portability, and a reliance on "hybrid" technology before fully embracing solid-state. While transistors offered lower power consumption, smaller size, and instant-on capability, early models were criticized for poor heat handling and limited power output compared to vacuum tubes.

We’re in a similar boat now with analog vs. digital radio modes and platforms. Firmware upgrades are shifting from downloading and installing a package to simply tapping an upgrade button on a connected device. Radio hardware is shifting from hardwired circuits to circuits defined and controlled in software. Wired headsets vs. Bluetooth devices. Radios connected to WiFi and the internet. Digital data transfer instead of analog modulation and demodulation. Terminal node controllers that operate in software instead of as a separate hardware device. Virtual sound cards. Even the AIOC — the All In One Cable — that let’s you use an analog HT radio for digital data and AllStar.

I don’t know where our hobby is going but it is clear that it is evolving rapidly. If you want to build and use a tube-powered transceiver, you can still do that. If you want to experiment with cutting edge technology, you can do that. Pick something in the hobby that interests you and you can likely spend a lifetime learning and enjoying. This is simply a great time to be a ham.

73 to all, and remember to touch a radio (with or without tubes) every day!

• Overview

• Correction to Issue 165

• Mayday from Belarus

• M17 Poll

• HamClock 4.22 Released This Week

• The M1KE Worked When HF Wouldn’t

• AllStar Node 57945 and IAX

• Putting Your AllStar Node on the 44Net

• Projects On The Bench

• New Meshtastic Device

• Who Had KJ7T Before Me?

• Random Wire Short Stack

• Not Radio

  • Potensic ATOM 2 Drone: First Flights

  • Need a catchy domain name?

  • Animation of worlds largest Ice Age floods

  • Orca whales in Puget Sound (map)

  • An AI-generated comment on EtherHam?

  • EtherHam domain branding

• Zero Retries Moving To Ghost, Random Wire Isn’t

• Closing

Overview

Issue 166 opens with a correction to information provided in issue 165 and closes with a note about Zero Retries. The great Zero Retries newsletter is moving to a different system. As of today, you should be able to reach the new site at https://www.zeroretries.radio/.

Right after the correction is a short piece I find incredibly disturbing: MAYDAY from the airwaves: Belarus begins a death penalty purge of radio amateurs. Find more information below.

What is most important to you when it comes to the M17 protocol? There’s a simple poll available below so we can learn from each other.

I’m getting familiar with a new drone that is not made by the big dog in the recreational drone space. Related, I’m trying a V30-rated microSD card which is supposed to provide hiccup-free video recording. I’m also trying an “airdrop device” to see if my little drone can lift some monofilament line over a tree.

HamClock 4.22 was released this week. I installed it on my home instance of HamClock.

I have a list of projects waiting for my time and attention. I did get started on one of the items this week but then managed to brick the new Meshtastic device. It is unknown at this time whether I permanently bricked it.

How about a guide to putting your AllStar node on the 44Net service? Got that. I also have a tidbit about DMR (digital mobile radio).

Who had your callsign before you? I honor the silent key who had KJ7T before me.

A long Short Stack section is presented this week. (Yes, I recognize the oxymoron in that sentence and am happy about it.) A small digital-to-audio converter (DAC) is noted and I’m using it with a pair of IEMs (in-ear monitors). There is also a note about selecting DNS providers, and as a consequence of reading that content, I switched my home DNS to Quad9.

Then there are some Not Radio items, including a note about the EtherHam brand.

Finally, learn about the move being made today by Zero Retries.

Correction!

Let’s start this issue with a necessary correction. In issue 165, I wrote about the new AllScan UCI200 device, but inadvertently called it the UCI120 in several places. That has been corrected online. Apologies to David NR9V of AllScan for that error.

MAYDAY from the Airwaves: Belarus Begins a Death Penalty Purge of Radio Amateurs

Thank you to Ria Jairam N2RJ for bringing this disturbing news forward in her Substack, Ria’s Ham Shack. The article is on Medium, titled MAYDAY from the airwaves: Belarus begins a death penalty purge of radio amateurs.

I try very hard not to touch on politics, but purging radio amateurs from an entire country is simply unacceptable. If you are in a country at war with another country, I can understand suppressing the use of amateur radio, but it makes no sense to me to actually incarcerate amateurs out of fear they might say something wrong.

But logic does not exist in a state ruled by technical savages. To them, the fact that you can solder an antenna, track a weather satellite, or understand the physics of wave propagation makes you an existential threat. If this crackdown had reached me when I was still active in the country, my own call sign would have certainly placed me in front of a firing squad.

Chilling? Yes. Now that I’m ingesting the information, I just don’t know what to do with it. It is not sitting comfortably.

M17 Poll

What is most important to you when it comes to the M17 protocol? It will be informative to all of us to see what folks are thinking.

Unfortunately, Substack polls are basic, binary-choice affairs, with a question, then options for this-or-that responses. I don’t find any capability to add additional questions, or to configure the responses to be more, i.e., this-and-that instead of this-or-that. Such polls are extremely limiting.

Below is a link to a Google Form configured as a poll. It does not collect your email address. One poll per person. After submitting your responses, you’ll get a link to see a summary of previously submitted responses. And of course, I’ll publish a final summary in a few weeks.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5DJ3l4DOdKA9Z2teZB7WNAGi8K-R-LySG-odWwXVh6b0B5g/viewform?usp=header

Thank you for weighing in on M17!

By the way, does anyone know how to send text over M17 with Droidstar? When connected to an M17 reflector, there is an SMS field at the bottom of the Logs screen. I sent a test text over my M17-PNW reflector, but I find no guidance on how to do this, or what to do with this. I wonder if all other stations connected to the reflector potentially receive such a message. Or perhaps there is an addressing protocol I’m unaware of.

HamClock 4.22 Released

I discovered this when I ran updates on my HamClock system. It turns out that HamClock 4.22 was released on January 17th, just a few days ago. Post-installation, my system is working fine.

To install, first I SSH’d into my HamClock box (the default login is user = root and password = 1n0v@t0 [those are zeroes]) and ran sudo apt update, then sudo apt upgrade -y.

Once the operating system was upgraded, I clicked the lock icon:

And then selected Restart HamClock:

When HamClock restarted, I was presented with a question about whether I wanted to upgrade to v. 4.22. I proceeded with the upgrade. The HamClock has been stable since then.

The M1KE Worked When HF Wouldn’t

The amazing CME (coronal mass ejection) this week was likely something that thrilled radio amateurs who are interested in space weather, and perhaps upset some hams who lost access to HF bands. I found the event fascinating and used my HamClock to watch the changing intensity of the solar storm.

And it was an intense event as shown in the graph from SpaceWeatherLivecom:

(What is Kp? “The geomagnetic three-hourly Kp index was introduced by Julius Bartels in 1949 to measure solar particle radiation by its magnetic effects (see Bartels, 1957). Today Kp is an important measure for the energy input from the solar wind to Earth and it is used by space weather services in near real-time.”)

During my morning drive for coffee a few days ago, I heard folks on the local C4FM/WIRES-X system complaining about dead HF bands. One of the net participants was a ham vacationing in Mexico and using his M1KE to talk with us. That was the moment I realized that internet-connected radio can support communications when other systems fail.

What’s that ARRL tag line about amateur radio in emergencies? When All Else Fails^®. In this case, it was HF that failed, but internet-connected digital radio did not break. A few years ago, a common sentiment seemed to be that internet-connected radio was more of a novelty than something reliable and useful. The reality is that in an emergency, we need to use whatever works to get and give information, not just what we prefer to use.

The M1KE can certainly be a valid, valuable tool in a situation where HF bands are closed and you need to communicate over long distances. Personally, I try to not depend on any single technology because I abhor single points of failure. Having multiple tools that work differently to support meaningful information transfer in an emergency is how we can be resilient and effective when other systems break.

AllStar Node 57945 and IAX

I’ve been helping a radio amateur who is trying to get Droidstar to connect to his AllStar node. To do that, I offered up a connection to my “node in the cloud” AllStar node 57945. This also gave me an excuse to touch my Droidstar and DVSwitch Mobile settings for node 57945 before a new PoC (Push-to-talk over Cellular) device arrives.

Node 57945 runs on a Vultr.com server in Seattle. You can access the AllScan favorites dashboard at https://kj7t.net.

This system runs ASL on Debian 12, per the Vultr dashboard:

It is a bit surprising to me how often I use my “node in the cloud” instead of a local instance. I often add one of my ASL nodes at home when I want to use a handheld radio to connect. I also use DVSwitch Mobile and Droidstar through node 57945 when I’m traveling. I expect I’ll do even more of that with the new PoC device arriving soon.

When I connect with Droidstar, AllScan shows my link as an EchoLink connection: