With the number of assigned DMR ID:s on radioid.net going over 200.000 we are over the limit of the capacity for the Contact List on the older Anytone models. Anytone:s under estimation in design is not the first in history. Remember Bill Gates saying that no-one, ever, is going to need more than 640 kB RAM?
So we need to select which regions of DMR ID:s to incluide in our contact lists in our Anytone radios.
In addition to that it is a good idea to enable Talker Alias to sort of increase the chance of just not seeing a DMR ID in the display. Not all repeaters supports it though.
Make sure your own Radio ID Name is set in the form “CALLSIGN Name” (your callsign and first name separated with a space). Set your radio on a DMR channel, then MENU -> Settings -> Chan Set -> Radio ID -> select your ID -> Option -> Edit Name -> Confirm
MENU -> Talk Group -> Talker Alias -> Alias Tx Set -> On
MENU -> Talk Group -> Talker Alias -> Alias Rx Dis -> Contact First
https://media01.nerdia.net/uploads/talker_alias-scaled.jpg19202560Stefan Helanderhttps://media01.nerdia.net/uploads/nerdia-logo-340x156.pngStefan Helander2021-10-08 06:32:322021-10-08 06:32:33How to enable Talker Alias on Anytone AT-D878UV / AT-D578UV
Being an amateur radio operator (or HAM-radio operator) I need to use electronic devices with as low radio emissions as possible in order to keep a low noise level on the shortwave bands (or HF-bands). I found out that my Cisco RV160 router was one of the major sources of radio noise (RFI or Radio Frequency Interference) in my home. It turned out it was easily fixed as the culprit was not the router in itself, but it’s power supply.
The router runs on 12 volts DC (original power supply rated up to 1,5A) which is often available in the ham schack already. So in that case, get rid of the original power supply and hook up the router to your 12 volts DC supply in the shack. In my case, the router was located in another part of the house so I just replaced the power supply with another, transformer based power supply. In my case, a Mascot 6823, rated for 12 volts DC, 1A (intermittently up to 1,3A). Even though not the same amp rating as the original, it seems to be sufficient.
For what it is, I think the HyEndFed 5 band antenna works very well. The location where I am using it is my wife’s house so there has been some careful negotiations taking place. 🙂 If it was up to me, a 24 meter tower with several beam antennas in the top would be a reasonable choice. But since it was not my decision I had to go for something more low key, stealthy approach.
The property is about 30×36 meters with one high fur tree along one of the sides. A reasonable way of installing a wire antenna is between the roof of the house and the tree. Distance between them is about 26 meters. I wanted to work the HF bands, including 80 meters, but for 26 meters a multiband dipole was out of the question since 2 x 19 meter is too large. I used Google Maps in satellite view to measure the distance between the tree and the house where the other end of the antenna was going to be.
Using Google Maps to measure the distance between the tree and the house for my End Fed Half Wave antenna.
So I started to look into End Fed Half Wave antennas. This would be very practical as one of the end points of the antenna is on the house. My choice fell on HyEndFed 5-band MK3 for 10/15/20/40/80 meters as this antenna has a length of 23 meters.
The order and delivery was super smooth and quick but I was surprised by the 4% card fee HyEnd company charged. According to my dutch wife, this is very common practise in the Netherlands where HyEnd company is located, but I think they should reconsider this when going on an international market.
The product looks high quality and I ordered the one with mounting plate and strain relief option. The antenna is rated for 200 watts SSB but note, that for CW and digital modes, the limit is only 35 watts! If you want to run these modes, you might want to consider another antenna. On their website, the specifications only mention the SSB limits (“Max. Power : 200 watt PEP, SSB.”). I think they should also be clear about the CW and digital modes limits and mention them in the online specifications!
When delivered, the antenna only needs to be adjusted for the 80 meter band. As delivered it will be resonant at about 3550 kHz. Shortening the 80 meter part of the wire by 1 cm will raise the resonance frequency about 4 kHz. This is mentioned in the supplied installation papers. You should cut the antenna to make it resonant on the frequency where you plan to use it the most on 80 meters. It is also recommended to use an antenna tuner on 80 meters in order to be able to use the entire band.
The antenna ready for installation. Note: the spring is not included. It was added by me.
After making a temporary mount of the antenna at approximately 4 meters (later on it will slope from about 10 to 6 meters height), I tuned in on 20 meters, heard a station from Slovenia calling CQ. I got immediate response and a 59 report. Checking the output power on my radio, it was set to only 20 watts. Looks promising.
The wire is discrete so it is a perfect antenna for “stealthy” installations. The fact that my wife didn’t notice the antenna until after 2 days in place seems to proove this. 🙂
When the feeding point is above 2 meters over the ground, no grounding of the antenna is needed but you should put a wave trap on the coax line with at least 4,2 meters of coax between the antenna box and the wave trap.
But even though I used a wave trap I got problems with HF going into my PC making sparkling noices while transmitting on 80 meters outside the resonant frequency (using a matchbox). This was easy resolved by purchasing a 1,5 meter copper ground rod that I drove into the ground and grounded my radios as well as the chassie of the PC.
Note: Do not connect the ground nut on the antenna box and the radios/pc to the same ground rod simultaneusly. This will overlap the wave trap and you will get HF into the shack, onto your radios and PC.
I’ll add more to this article when it is in final position and when I have worked more QSO:s on it. So far it is looking good though.
EDIT: After writing this article, I decided to replace it with a 8 band EFHW antenna.
https://media01.nerdia.net/uploads/nerdia-logo-340x156.png00Stefan Helanderhttps://media01.nerdia.net/uploads/nerdia-logo-340x156.pngStefan Helander2021-08-01 10:41:252022-07-06 12:36:07My experience with HyEndFed 10/15/20/40/80 meter 5 band antenna MK3 End Fed Half Wave antenna
By connecting your amateur radio rig using a CAT/CI-V interface to Cloudlog you save a lot of work by getting frequency, mode etc directly from the rig into Cloudlog. This is how you do it using a Windows computer. The computer must be located where the radio is as it will be physically connected via the CAT/CI-V interface to the readio. Cloudlog is normally run on a web server on the Internet, i.e. not necessarily on the computer by the radio (hence the name, Cloudlog ;).
This is a very nice setup if you are running your station remotely. When logging into Cloudlog from a computer on your remote location, you can still get realtime frequency, mode etc from the radio into Cloudlog.
In Cloudlog, click on your callsign (at right in the menu) and go to API keys. Create a new API key and copy it.
Go to CloudLogCAT, find the latest release, download it and install it
Run CloudLogCAT and go to Settings -> CloudLog. Enter your Cloudlog website URL and API key from step 1 above. Click Save.
Go to Settings -> OmniRig. OmniRig window will now open. Select your radio, com port and speed. Save by clicking OK.
If all worked well, frequency, mode etc will be syncing to Cloudlog.
In Cloudlog, you can click on your callsign (at right) and select Hardware Interfaces. After a couple of seconds your OmniRig connection should show up.
You can now select this radio under Station / Radio when logging QSO:s.
https://media01.nerdia.net/uploads/nerdia-logo-340x156.png00Stefan Helanderhttps://media01.nerdia.net/uploads/nerdia-logo-340x156.pngStefan Helander2021-07-30 11:50:372021-07-30 12:00:29Connect ham radio rig to Cloudlog (Windows)
I lost my password to my Cloudlog and there is no “forgotten password” built in. I did not succeed by setting $config[‘use_auth’] = false so this is how I did it.
In the root directory of your Cloudlog installation, create a file called pw.php with the following content (edit the $password variable to the password you want in clear text):
Call Book Log 3 is a log book program for radio amateurs, hosted on a web server, based on PHP 7 and MySQL/mariaDB.
The database for the software is named ‘hamcallbook‘ by default but if you are going to host it on a server where you can’t choose the name of the database, like a web hosting company (“web hotel”) it will not install.
The solution is to simply edit the file setup2.php before starting the installation process. Search for all occurrences of ‘hamcallbook‘ and replace it with your database name.
After installing, edit the file dbconnect.php, find ‘hamcallbook‘ and replace it with your database name.
https://media01.nerdia.net/uploads/nerdia-logo-340x156.png00Stefan Helanderhttps://media01.nerdia.net/uploads/nerdia-logo-340x156.pngStefan Helander2019-12-20 10:34:492019-12-20 10:34:50Call Book Log 3 installation with custom database name
Launch Finder, go to Programs and run “Wine stable”
In the wine terminal window do cd Downloads wine ZelloSetup.exe
The Zello setup process will install Zello and launch it. The next time you want to run Zello, launch Finder, go to Programs and run “Wine stable” and enter wine C:\\Program\ Files\ \(x86\)\\Zello\\Zello.exe
https://media01.nerdia.net/uploads/Foto-2019-05-12-10-24-29.png1024768Stefan Helanderhttps://media01.nerdia.net/uploads/nerdia-logo-340x156.pngStefan Helander2019-05-12 09:42:072019-05-12 09:42:54How to run Zello on Mac OSX
The ICOM IC-706 series comes with a HM-103 microphone with a modular plug as the connector. The disadvantage with these connectors is that the lock pin easily breaks. Replacing the modular plug should be quite easy with a modular crimp tool. However there are some caveats. If you need the schematics of the microphone you find it here (download the instruction manual).
In the old connector you will see two black wires. After cutting the old connector and pealed off the outer skin of the cable you will discover that there is only one black wire. In addition to that, there is a red wire and a gold and silver shield.
Keep the old modular plug to see how the wires should be placed. Trim down the shield leaving just one or two single “straws” from it. The shield should go where the middle black wire is in the old connector (pin nr 5), between the white and the green. The red one is not used and should be cut off.
Getting the wires in the correct positions in the modular connector is a bit like building a ship in a bottle but with patience you will get it in place. Double check the wire colours against the old connector before you crimp it with the modular tool.
https://media01.nerdia.net/uploads/nerdia-logo-340x156.png00Stefan Helanderhttps://media01.nerdia.net/uploads/nerdia-logo-340x156.pngStefan Helander2010-08-23 07:46:102010-08-23 07:54:18Replacing the modular connector on HM-103
https://media01.nerdia.net/uploads/nerdia-logo-340x156.png00Stefan Helanderhttps://media01.nerdia.net/uploads/nerdia-logo-340x156.pngStefan Helander2010-03-14 01:21:052019-02-12 12:35:26Dilbert – the engineer and radio amateur
