AmateurRadio.com

As I have written in my other blog, I am currently in a period of recuperation from my brain surgery prior to beginning treatment to try to stop the cancer. I’m feeling better every day, if still rather weak and living as if in a dream – in part no doubt due to my difficulty in sleeping.

Since I can’t go anywhere much – we sold the car to a neighbour yesterday – I need things to keep me amused here, so inevitably I am once again becoming more interested in my radios. But I do have a different outlook on the hobby now. The computer gives me a headache in more than small doses so digital modes are out for the time being, as is the APRS gateway. The simple approach to ham radio now seems far more appealing. Perhaps I’ll even spend some time trying to improve my CW.

I managed to set up my Kenwood TM-D710 as a digipeater and it can be heard and gated by Mark MM1MPB’s station at Annan, Scotland. So my weather station G4ILO-5 and my Kenwood handheld TH-D72 G4ILO-7 still appear on the map and I can do limited messaging via the keypad on the handheld.

This burst of activity is only a sign of recovering from the operation (and of coming to terms with the fact of my mortality) not of beating the cancer. The treatment will not begin for a couple of weeks or so and I have been reliably informed that it may make me feel so tired that I won’t feel much like blogging or radio. So my main intention during these next couple of weeks is to try to enjoy them as much as possible.

According to Bob Bruninga WB4APR, Kenwood announced an update to the TM-D710 firmware at Dayton. The changes are:

– INTERRUPT ALWAYS: always displays information about every packet received on screen for a few seconds, not just packets from new stations.

– INFINITE: extends the above to retain the information about the last heard packet on screen.

– MY PACKET: now displays the actual digi path used when your own packet is digipeated so you don’t just see that it was digipeated you can see which digipeater.

– TOP button: LIST display inserts new entries at the top so no need to scroll down.

– HEADING/UP: you can toggle the compass rose to North-UP or Heading
UP.

– PREVIEW of PHRASES: When selecting phrases you can see a preview of
first 9 bytes.

– READ/REPLY keys come up when a message is flashed on the front panel

– OVERLAYS: You can now select overlay characters on any symbol

– TOTAL hops can be set as low as 0 instead of 1.

– Auto-Powerup-Time set (if GPS is connected and is locked)

The update also contains some bug fixes. It does not include support for item-in-message or any other previously unsupported APRS features. 🙁

At this time the update is not yet available for download from Kenwood’s website.

According to Bob Bruninga WB4APR, Kenwood announced an update to the TM-D710 firmware at Dayton. The changes are:

– INTERRUPT ALWAYS: always displays information about every packet received on screen for a few seconds, not just packets from new stations.

– INFINITE: extends the above to retain the information about the last heard packet on screen.

– MY PACKET: now displays the actual digi path used when your own packet is digipeated so you don’t just see that it was digipeated you can see which digipeater.

– TOP button: LIST display inserts new entries at the top so no need to scroll down.

– HEADING/UP: you can toggle the compass rose to North-UP or Heading
UP.

– PREVIEW of PHRASES: When selecting phrases you can see a preview of
first 9 bytes.

– READ/REPLY keys come up when a message is flashed on the front panel

– OVERLAYS: You can now select overlay characters on any symbol

– TOTAL hops can be set as low as 0 instead of 1.

– Auto-Powerup-Time set (if GPS is connected and is locked)

The update also contains some bug fixes. It does not include support for item-in-message or any other previously unsupported APRS features. 🙁

At this time the update is not yet available for download from Kenwood’s website.

The object on the left of the picture is a 9600mAh external back-up battery for MP3 players, mobile phones and other 5V devices. I bought it on eBay (where else?) for $55.99 including shipping with the intention of using it to power my HTC Touch Pro smartphone so that it could run all day using GPS and internet connected apps like the APRS client APRSISCE. Previously I hadn’t been able to make much use of such applications when out and about on foot because if I was away from a power supply for more than a couple of hours the end result was a dead battery and a phone that could not be used to make phone calls.

The product arrived after a couple of weeks wait rather poorly packed in a jiffy bag containing the battery back-up unit, a 5V USB charger with the usual two-prong fold-out mains plug, and a USB cable with coiled lead and interchangeable power connectors. There was no box, nor any instructions so I had to figure things out for myself. Clearly the DC IN port was meant for the charger, the USB socket marked DC OUT was the output and the slide switch next to it turned the output on and off. The four LEDs showed the battery state for a few seconds after the POWER button to the left of it was pressed, and the charging state whilst charging.

There was no cable for charging, so I presumed I had to use the USB lead supplied for output and one of the interchangeable connectors. One of them did fit, though not very well, poorly enough in fact that it pulled out of the socket if there was the slightest tension on the coiled cable.

I started charging the power pack. Two lights lit up on the charger and the charge status showed two of the four LEDs lit. Next time I looked at it all the LEDs were off. Surely the batteries could not have charged so quickly? Eventually I measured the output from the charger and found it was about 0.25V. Clearly the charger had failed.

I sent an email to the eBay seller who was anxious enough about the possibility of receiving negative feedback to immediately promise to send a replacement. Meanwhile I found that the charger which came with my HTC phone had a USB output so I charged the battery pack with that. With hindsight that was rather foolhardy and I ought to have attempted to measure the current drawn first, but I got away with it. Though rated at 1.0 Amp output the HTC charger got fairly warm, but eventually the charge level reached full and the charger got cold again so I assume that it finished charging and the pack was fully charged.

The charger that came with the battery pack is labelled as an “MP3 Power Supply” and the output is rated at: DC 200mA +/- 30mA. Even the 1500mAh battery in the little Baofeng radio takes more than 400mA on charge. I managed to find a cable that would enable me to charge the battery pack from my workbench variable metered power supply and even when the battery pack is only half discharged it is drawing a current of almost 800mA. So I think the charger supplied simply blew up! I’m just hoping the eBay seller will provide a more adequate charger as a replacement. Sure, I can use my existing HTC phone charger. It may even be more convenient than having separate chargers for the two devices. But it would be nice to receive what one paid for.

By the way, if you ever wondered what is inside those Chinese wall-wart power supplies, how come they are so light, here are some pictures of the innards of the one that failed.

The answer, it seems, is not much. Call me old fashioned, but I’m just a bit apprehensive about having just a handful of components between my equipment and the 230V mains!

It’s a pity that this problem has occurred because I would have liked to have been able to recommend this battery pack to other users of APRSISCE on Windows Mobile. My initial test on the workbench suggest that this battery pack is more than capable of powering the phone with GPS and mobile data connection active during a day’s outing. The battery pack itself seems well made and I would guess that it is probably supplied by its Chinese manufacturer in a nice box with instructions and an adequately rated charger. The trouble in this case would seem to be caused by a cheapskate eBay seller.

The object on the left of the picture is a 9600mAh external back-up battery for MP3 players, mobile phones and other 5V devices. I bought it on eBay (where else?) for $55.99 including shipping with the intention of using it to power my HTC Touch Pro smartphone so that it could run all day using GPS and internet connected apps like the APRS client APRSISCE. Previously I hadn’t been able to make much use of such applications when out and about on foot because if I was away from a power supply for more than a couple of hours the end result was a dead battery and a phone that could not be used to make phone calls.

The product arrived after a couple of weeks wait rather poorly packed in a jiffy bag containing the battery back-up unit, a 5V USB charger with the usual two-prong fold-out mains plug, and a USB cable with coiled lead and interchangeable power connectors. There was no box, nor any instructions so I had to figure things out for myself. Clearly the DC IN port was meant for the charger, the USB socket marked DC OUT was the output and the slide switch next to it turned the output on and off. The four LEDs showed the battery state for a few seconds after the POWER button to the left of it was pressed, and the charging state whilst charging.

There was no cable for charging, so I presumed I had to use the USB lead supplied for output and one of the interchangeable connectors. One of them did fit, though not very well, poorly enough in fact that it pulled out of the socket if there was the slightest tension on the coiled cable.

I started charging the power pack. Two lights lit up on the charger and the charge status showed two of the four LEDs lit. Next time I looked at it all the LEDs were off. Surely the batteries could not have charged so quickly? Eventually I measured the output from the charger and found it was about 0.25V. Clearly the charger had failed.

I sent an email to the eBay seller who was anxious enough about the possibility of receiving negative feedback to immediately promise to send a replacement. Meanwhile I found that the charger which came with my HTC phone had a USB output so I charged the battery pack with that. With hindsight that was rather foolhardy and I ought to have attempted to measure the current drawn first, but I got away with it. Though rated at 1.0 Amp output the HTC charger got fairly warm, but eventually the charge level reached full and the charger got cold again so I assume that it finished charging and the pack was fully charged.

The charger that came with the battery pack is labelled as an “MP3 Power Supply” and the output is rated at: DC 200mA +/- 30mA. Even the 1500mAh battery in the little Baofeng radio takes more than 400mA on charge. I managed to find a cable that would enable me to charge the battery pack from my workbench variable metered power supply and even when the battery pack is only half discharged it is drawing a current of almost 800mA. So I think the charger supplied simply blew up! I’m just hoping the eBay seller will provide a more adequate charger as a replacement. Sure, I can use my existing HTC phone charger. It may even be more convenient than having separate chargers for the two devices. But it would be nice to receive what one paid for.

By the way, if you ever wondered what is inside those Chinese wall-wart power supplies, how come they are so light, here are some pictures of the innards of the one that failed.

The answer, it seems, is not much. Call me old fashioned, but I’m just a bit apprehensive about having just a handful of components between my equipment and the 230V mains!

It’s a pity that this problem has occurred because I would have liked to have been able to recommend this battery pack to other users of APRSISCE on Windows Mobile. My initial test on the workbench suggest that this battery pack is more than capable of powering the phone with GPS and mobile data connection active during a day’s outing. The battery pack itself seems well made and I would guess that it is probably supplied by its Chinese manufacturer in a nice box with instructions and an adequately rated charger. The trouble in this case would seem to be caused by a cheapskate eBay seller.

I have just uploaded a new video to G4ILO’s YouTube channel showing how to set up the APRSISCE/32 software to connect with a GPS and a TNC or radio. In the video I actually set up a connection between the software and a Kenwood TH-D72 and you can see and hear packets being received by the radio.

I also cover how to set up a connection with a GPS and how to use the AGW Packet Engine which allows you to use a soundcard as a packet modem.

I have just uploaded a new video to G4ILO’s YouTube channel showing how to set up the APRSISCE/32 software to connect with a GPS and a TNC or radio. In the video I actually set up a connection between the software and a Kenwood TH-D72 and you can see and hear packets being received by the radio.

I also cover how to set up a connection with a GPS and how to use the AGW Packet Engine which allows you to use a soundcard as a packet modem.