Random Wire 97: July 5, 2024

Independence Day, new Dakota Lithium battery, the Digirig and Digirig Lite devices, a TNC by MFJ (photos), thoughts on encrypting radio traffic, and how I use APRS. Bonus: an AllStarLink sound clip!

Contents

1. Independence Day Edition

2. New LiFePO4 Battery

3. Digirig and Digirig Lite

4. New TNC Arrived

5. Encryption of Radio Traffic

6. How Do You Do APRS?

7. Notes

    7.1 YSF node card imaged

    7.2 Sound clip of AllStarLink

    7.3 Hillsboro Hops baseball

    7.4 LATE NEWS: AllStarLink announces ASL 3 Beta

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1. Independence Day Edition

This is the “morning after Independence Day” edition! Last night, we were quintessential Americans, attending the Hillsboro Hops baseball game and staying for the fireworks. This has nothing to do with radio except for appreciating our freedom to work and play with radio!

Photo by Brett Sayles: https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-showing-usa-flag-921259/

I ran across an interesting Reddit thread on the topic of the First Amendment and ham radio. The core question asked was:

“You're talking on the air, an unowned medium. It's literally like talking in person, except with technology that allows your voice to travel farther. But the government requires that you license yourself to exercise the right to speak in this way?”

I’m not going to try to summarize the hundreds of comments in that thread. If you’re interested in reading points of view about rights, privileges, a regulated society, and more, I commend the thread (linked above) to you. I found that the comments improved my perspective on this topic and enhanced my appreciation for the many privileges we enjoy as licensed amateur radio operators. In any case, it seems appropriate to reflect on our freedoms and privileges as we put another Independence Day in the log! To all the veterans in my life and the ones I have not yet met: thank you.

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2. New LiFePO4 Battery

I picked up a small LiFePO4 battery from Dakota Lithium recently, on sale for $69. I’m not sure I needed another small battery but I’m certain I’ll find a use for it. I have a spade-to-PowerPole adapter on order with PowerWerx, along with a PowerPole-to-OEM T adapter for my mobile radios.

LiFePO4 batteries

I have a smaller battery from an off brand. That 6 Ah battery weighs almost the same as the Dakota 10 Ah battery! Amazing.

And, as I noted last week, I clipped my Ten-Tec Scout 555 to it to give the radio a bit of needed exercise.

Ten-Tec Scout 555 clipped to Dakota 10 Ah battery

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3. Digirig and Digirig Lite

I have a Digirig Mobile device and it does work. It’s amazingly small, perhaps the size of a large thimble. It’s really quite amazing. I do like miniaturized devices and this one just blows my mind.

Digirig Mobile is very small

While reading Steve Stroh’s great Zero Retries newsletter, I discovered a new, less expensive, and simple Digirig: the Digirig Lite. This is definitely on my “to be acquired” list. I do love a small device and my experience with the Digirig Mobile device has been very positive. (And many thanks to Steve for once again surprising me with something new. It seems like every issue of Zero Retries surprises me!)

I don’t find the Digirig Lite listed on Amazon yet, but the Digirig Mobile is available there. I have a link to it on the Support page.

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4. New TNC Arrived

Speaking of terminal node controllers…I was about to purchase a new MFJ-1270X TNC-X device when the news about MFJ shutting down some manufacturing hit the air. As soon as I heard this, I went to the MFJ website only to discover that the 1270X was sold out. I’ve been keeping an eye out for any stock that was still available and found some for sale by Ham Radio Outlet. Boom. One more 1270X is coming to the shack! The one I already have is simple and simply rock solid. The Digirig Mobile works fine but I do like how less mysterious the 1270X TNC-X feels.

My uses cases are APRS and Winlink. We’ll see where this goes in the future. I have too many radios so I may as well put one of them to a productive use.

Here’s a photo gallery of the unboxing of the new 1270X:

Unboxing the MFJ-1270X TNC

For now, this TNC stays in the box, but I’m certain I’ll find a good use for it! I am not including an affiliate link on the support page because the price for this TNC on Amazon is too far off street prices for my comfort.

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5. Encryption of Radio Traffic

While going on my morning trip to get coffee about a week ago, I listened to an interesting conversation. I was listening to the W7RAT IRLP repeater in Portland when traffic from an East Coast reflector started booming in. It was a bunch of hams from New York and Massachusetts who seemed to know each other, and somehow, they got onto the topic of encryption of radio traffic by city, county, and state agencies.

Very interesting. It sounds like conversion from analog to encrypted radio is not cheap and the effective range of encrypted radios may be slightly less than unencrypted radios.

I’m of two minds on radio encryption. On the one hand, I get it — encrypting radio traffic provides additional safety for our public safety workers. The guys on the radio were talking about riots in 2020 and how some bad actors were listening in on cheap handie talkies, calling out certain officers in the police department by name. Implied in this conversation was those officers were being targeted. That’s not good.

On the other side of the coin is making sure we have the ability to hold such agencies accountable for their actions. If comms are hidden behind a veil, that becomes harder to do. I’m guessing that news media folks are a bit rankled by seeing comms that have traditionally been “in the clear” become encrypted.

I had a bad experience with a law enforcement officer in my youth where I was a victim but was treated as if I made up the story. Why? Probably because the perpetrator was a LEO. I was surprised that the judge leaned so heavily on the side of the LEO, but then again, my judgment was definitely biased because of the incident. That experience has left me pretty jaded. While I try to give law enforcement the benefit of the doubt, I’m very uncomfortable around armed officers I don’t know.

Nevertheless, I want our public safety folks to be as safe as they can be, so if encryption helps move the dial in that direction, I support it. (And related to my experience with a LEO, if location tracking was part of the encrypted radio system, that would create a data set that could help clear up statements that don’t agree.) To satisfy those who think they should have access to the communications, perhaps streaming the audio from general channels over a system like Broadcastify with a 10-minute delay would give them what they want. TAC channels? Encrypt them. I don’t see the need to overhear in real time what our public employees are doing to resolve a situation.

This particular topic probably strays slightly into the realm of politics and I really don’t want politics to invade this newsletter. Philosophically, radio ought to be open to all. Normally, I would not be supportive of encryption, but having worked in the public safety arena, I know there are times when being able to send and receive detailed information about a situation or a person is invaluable, and indeed, sometimes life saving. I support encryption when it enables public safety officials to do their job safely and effectively.

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6. How Do You Do APRS?

I’ve been an APRS fan since I first learned of it. My first handie talkie was a Yaesu VX-8 with the external GPS module. I got that radio to run APRS and to work satellites. (APRS is the Automatic Packet Reporting System.)

I still run APRS in my mobile rig. Even though my spouse and children are not licensed amateur radio operators, they can still track me via https://aprs.fi.

My morning coffee run on June 25, 2024

I also have APRS enabled on one of my AllStarLink nodes and on the hotspot I use for Yaesu System Fusion. AllStarLink node 588412 reports the position of the node:

AllStarLink node 588412

My Yaesu System Fusion hotspot also reports to APRS:

Hotspot with YSF reports position

I’ll be interested to learn what you use APRS for, and if you don’t, why not? Granted, it’s been around for a while so it may feel dated. However, that’s actually a strength because APRS is supported by a significant number of APRS digipeaters around the world. I use https://aprs.fi to see what is happening around me, and APRSDroid (on my phone) for messaging over APRS.

I have been thinking of adding a WX3in1 Plus device to my home network to bolster local capacity to the APRS network. I’m also noodling on how to build a low-power-consumption portable fill-in digipeater…perhaps something like Evan Pratten’s Building a cheap APRS digipeater!

I’m also looking at other implementations, including:

• Michael Martens’ Build an APRS Fill in Digipeater

• KE4MCL’s Solar Powered APRS Digipeater for Amateur Radio (note that QRZ.com redirects the query for KE4MCL to W4THM)

• Building APRS Digipeater with Raspberry Pi

I like how this one came together:

So how do YOU do APRS?

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7. Notes

7.1 YSF node card imaged

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I thought I’d better clone the microSD card in my Raspberry Pi 4 hotspot that I use for Yaesu System Fusion. While I could use it for other modes, I find it simpler to dedicate the hotspot to one system. I do also run APRS on it but the load from that is very light.

I used Win32DiskImager to make an image file of the system from the working microSD card. Then I burned the image to another microSD card, stuck that into the hotspot, and booted up. It’s working fine, and the original microSD is labeled and put away in my desk drawer, in case my friend Justin Case comes visiting again. I also have the image file stored on my file server so that I can burn a fresh image whenever I need to.

Note that I made the image file on Windows 11 Pro but on the Win32DiskImager page, it says it only goes up to Windows 10. I did have to reboot my computer after installing the program.

7.2 Sound clip of AllStarLink

One of my new goals is to include a sound clip of a mode in each issue.

This recording captured part of a youth net (as in: moderated by a youth) I overheard on my home AllStarLink station on June 28th at about 4:20 pm Pacific. The recording was made with a Zoom H4n Pro with audio captured in mono to save space. You’ll hear a variety of audio characteristics among the different participants, ranging from smooth, clear audio to a thoroughly broken transmission. I think one of the participants may have been using Echolink but I can’t be sure.

For those who have not used AllStarLink before, I hope this gives you some insight into the quality of audio you might experience in this mode.

7.3 Hillsboro Hops baseball

If I get time after the Hops game, I’ll post a few photos here for those who want to experience the moment through a few images. We had a great time. This is a small ballbark with only one tier of bleachers. You are close to the action. The Hillsboro Hops are a minor league affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Hillsboro Hops pitching against the Eugene Emeralds

After the game, we were treated to about 20 minutes of great fireworks.

Fireworks after the game

More available in this photo album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/qutWeWDhNNu1FqHa7

7.4 LATE NEWS: AllStarLink announces ASL 3 Beta

Hours after Random Wire 96 was published last week, AllStarLink announced the availability of ASL 3. This is presented as a Beta release. If you take a look at the online manual, this is a big step forward for ASL:

Supported Hardware & Software

• Any x86_64/amd64 hardware device

• Any emulated x86_64/amd64 virtual machine

• Any arm64-based device such as Raspberry Pi

• Any emulated arm64 virtual machine

• Debian 12

I welcome this big version change but I think it should come with a caution. Many of us will want to upgrade to the latest and greatest version which is now ASL 3 Beta. If your node is running fine, I suggest waiting a bit to see if undiscovered bugs or problems come to light, especially if your node is publicly accessible.

Despite my sense of caution, I must say well done to the AllStarLink folks. I feel like my financial support of AllStarLink is helping to make a difference. AllStarLink is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization so your donations may be tax deductible.

In next week’s issue, I’ll detail how I got ASL3 running in a virtual machine and configured to work with my Cisco SPA525G SIP phone on my desk. There are some significant changes with ASL3, particularly in the realm of configuring for use with SIP phones. Step one with a major upgrade like is a must: read the user manual!

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A special thank you to Jeff for buying me some coffees! I appreciate your support very much.

Thank you to all readers and subscribers, and 73 to all!

https://www.qrz.com/db/kj7t