Digital Voice on VHF/UHF is clearly here to stay. Even though the mainstream manufacturers are supporting it (their own version of it), it’s still fairly niche now. It will grow. But what’s it going to look like in the near future?

As things have developed, we have several walled gardens: D-STAR, DMR, P-25, C4FM (Yaesu System Fusion), and a little NXDN. As NW Digital’s John Hays K7VE has said in talks at several ham gatherings, they are “95% the same, and 100% incompatible.” They all rely on the same AMBE vocoder to encode and decode the digital voice, but they all package it differently.

I’ve been living in a bit of an alternate reality, thanks to shooting video at the ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conferences and at some of the more esoteric forums at Dayton and other hamfests. In that universe – actually more of a future than a present – we don’t have to choose which closed system we want to buy into. We don’t have to carry three or four handhelds around to cover all the modes, and hope our belt is strong enough to keep our pants up (and guaranteeing a feature spot on HamSexy). We can operate a single radio that can run all the DV modes, along with analog FM.

That radio doesn’t exist today, but it will.

Bruce Perens K6BP and Chris Testa KD2BMH have been working on a radio they eventually calledKatena, an SDR designed for any mode you could stuff into it (FM, SSB, various digital voice modes), but especially a version of FreeDV for VHF/UHF – a little different than the FreeDV used on HF. The radio would use the open source CODEC2 vocoder for FreeDV, and it could also use the AMBE chip (or derived software… Bruce has been looking into getting around AMBE patents) to do the other modes.

You can follow the progress of the Katena (originally called Whitebox – as opposed to black box, because it’s all open source) in various HamRadioNow videos, starting with Chris Testa’s initial presentation at the 2012 DCC in Atlanta. That’s Episode 44, A Practical Handheld SDR, on YouTube at https://youtu.be/YrbmlP1M1AI. I’ll list the string of videos that cover this topic at the end of this post.

Chris and Bruce have laid it all out there, so it’s a little painful to watch their talk at the 2016 Dayton Hamvention® where they admit defeat… temporarily. That’s in the newest episode, #262, at https://youtu.be/ZK_qLSKlqIY. Goodbye Katena, hello Phoenix.

Chris got as far as a 3rd generation prototype. But Chris isn’t an experienced RF engineer, and he discovered what a more seasoned RF guy might have known already, and probably from the same hard lessons. Wideband RF is very hard. As Bruce explains, making an SDR board that can transmit from DC to Daylight is possible (HackRF and others). But that doesn’t make it a transmitter. The RF it generates is dirty – it has harmonics, noise and spurs all over the place. It takes a lot of work, and filters, to clean that up. So making a radio that can transmit from, say 50 to 3000 MHz with reasonable power and good purity is a challenge. Chris’s design wasn’t up to the challenge, and he explains it in the forum.

They aren’t giving up, but they are going back to the drawing board to take advantage of newer technology (and that train isn’t going to slow down anytime soon). Bruce hopes for a prototype by the Orlando HamCation next February, but I wouldn’t hold him to that.

Meanwhile, Wireless Holdings has announced the DV4mobile, and listed some general specs on their web site. It’s pitched as a 20 Watt, 3-band mobile (144, 222 and 440) with FM plus “C4FM, D-Star, DMRplus, dPMR, P25 and NXDN (later via software update).” It will also include and LTE radio for connection to the cell network, and the software to let you keep using the digital modes through their networks the way you use the various dongles now. Wireless Holdings makes their own series of dongles for D-STAR, DMR, P-25 and Fusion, with varying capabilities. Their announcement doesn’t include FreeDV. Their development has been behind closed doors – they haven’t appeared at the DCC or given talks at hamfests.

Another company, Connect Systems, announced a multi-digital mode radio a couple years ago, and keeps pushing back the release date. They’ve been delivering popular FM/DMR radios (monoband, chose VHF or UHF).

So far, none of the big guys – ICOM, Yaesu, Kenwood or Alinco – have shown interest in making a radio that would do “the competition’s” modes. Kenwood, of course, has thrown in with ICOM on D-STAR, at least for one handheld coming out later this year. Alinco, the company that actually produced the firstdigital voice amateur radio (that went nowhere, but they did it), has yet to commit. Chinese companies are jumping on the DMR bandwagon, but none has produced either a D-STAR or Fusion radio.

The FreeDV radio is sort of a wild card. David Rowe VK5DGR, the ham who developed the free, open-source CODEC2, is working on a radio for FreeDV (and FM). He’s calling it the SM-2000. Bruce talks about it a little in the Dayton forum, and David has published some details on his blog, but it hasn’t crossed over to any kind of polished marketing. I found a recent video of David detailing it on YouTube: https://youtu.be/sg08zgiSFG8. It’s a fairly terrible video with bad audio (mic on camera in the back of the room, so full of reverb), but the information is worth the pain.

He begins with a review of the current FreeDV system for HF Digital Voice. The new VHF stuff starts about 5 minutes in. At about 12 minutes you’ll hear the most amazing comparison of FM and DV I’ve ever heard. The FM is too noisy to understand. The DV is solid. It turns the typical FM/DV comparison on its head. The rest is semi-deep technical stuff that hits my limit, but I get the broad strokes (and all the coughs and sneezes of the audience – I think I might catch a cold just from watching).

Bruce Perens has noted that any of the big or little manufacturers could implement FreeDV for free – it’s open source. FlexRadio has incorporated the HF version in their 6000 series. Nobody had expressed interest in the VHF version, yet. It’s pretty new. So David is developing a radio mostly as a demonstration project, but it will be something you can buy. It won’t be your main radio.

If FreeDV VHF catches on, it’ll be somewhat game changing. A bit narrower than D-STAR, it is also TDMA like DMR – it can switch between TX and RX rapidly. DMR uses that to put two ‘voice channels’ on one RF channel. David Rowe talks about building an on channel repeater that needs no duplexer. Paging Frequency Coordinators!

I would love to have a radio that can do all the digital voice modes. I would like to see what FreeDV could do to VHF/UHF operation, though I’m conflicted about the TDMA repeater concept. That could make repeaters so cheap and easy that everyone could do it… and they would! And the bands would be a mess. Part of the reason the frequency coordinators can more or less cap the number of repeaters in bands that are “full” is that repeaters are fairly difficult and expensive to build and maintain. But if David’s radios work well, that’s what’s gonna happen.

Index:

HRN 44 – Practical Handheld SDR, from the DCC https://youtu.be/YrbmlP1M1AI

HRN 149: What’s a Whitebox? https://youtu.be/WF9SK5f0NUM

HRN 193: Digital Voice is Exploding (maybe) (David Rowe interview) https://youtu.be/SmyVEwjhG_k

HRN 194: HT of the Future https://youtu.be/wq29i8gMm8c

HRN 226: K6BP – Open Hardware Challenges https://youtu.be/kE6mrwTCxus

HRN 238: ‘Front Panel’ (for the HT of the Future), from the DCC https://youtu.be/xHaYrDVYPO8

HRN 262: Digital Modes Now and for the Future https://youtu.be/ZK_qLSKlqIY

FreeDV SM2000 Presentation at Gippstech 2016 https://youtu.be/sg08zgiSFG8

Back from a month in Europe and we had a good time there. Two weeks in Sweden, touring in a motor home and the rest in my native the Netherlands, visiting family and filling our bellies with Dutch goodies like drop and kroketten.

If you have never been to Sweden then I heartily recommend you to visit it. Beautiful scenery with free camping wherever you like and wonderful people who have a very relaxed lifestyle. And they all speak English, too. We rented this motor home….

…and after two days of acclimatizing we parked it in the driveway of Rune and Heide, SM5COP and SM5NZG respectively. Rune was the first Swedish contact in my Taiwanese logbook and I had mailed him some questions before our trip, which he answered more than elaborately. We hadn’t planned to visit his part of Sweden, but the invitation to celebrate the midsommar festivities with them was more than worth the detour. Rune and Heide are such friendly and hospitable people and their guest book shows this abundantly. Rune took us fishing, swimming and rowing on the nearby lake and Heide showed us how her bees keep the honey flowing in (over 300 kg already, this year). Rune also gave us a tour of Strängnäs on the first hot day of the year in Sweden: 27 degrees Celsius. Coming from Taiwan we had less problems with it than Rune did, the poor guy.

We did little ham radio stuff as we were too busy with other fun things (and jet lagged), but I did admire the 40+ meter tower with mono-band antennas in his garden a lot. What a dedication went in to the building of this marvelous outfit, not at least because Rune and Heide moved to their present location especially to be able to do this. Can’t think of a more dedicated ham couple. Their shack features various TenTec rigs and a K3 line with scope and 500W amp. I tuned around a lot, heard some familiar calls from Asia, some from Field Day stations in the US and a lot of Italians. Ah, as if I never left Europe. The one and only QSO I made was with ON5DN and what a nice chat with Diane in Dutch it was.


Apart from the Taiwanese treats I also wanted to bring something special and personal, so I delved into my small key collection and parted with my Chinese DX20-1 straight key. A lot of SKCC contacts were made with this key, but in the hands of two experienced hams like Rune and Heide it would be of much better use.

After getting a lot of honey from Heide and some good advice from Rune we parted to experience more of amazing Sweden.

It was hot today, so Judy and I drove up to Sky Pond for a quick swim. I brought the KX3 and worked Sweden and Virginia.

The pond is pristine and in the middle of nowhere. As soon as we got there, I jumped in the water for a quick swim. Judy swam way out into the pond and I came back to shore and tossed a wire in a tree by the water. I set up the KX3 on 20 meters and tuned around. Boy… is propagation bad! But then… a station
coming out of the noise. 7S70AT.. what the heck is that? As luck would have it, he answered and we made the QSO. I pulled out my cell phone and checked the call… Sweden… a special event.

Then I went to 40 meters. Not many stations here either. But fortunately Ed KG4W in Virginia was just finishing up a QSO and we moved up 1 kHz and had a nice chat. He gave me a 579. I told him it was 84F and hot here today, and that I was swimming at the pond. He set me straight by explaining that it was 92F at his house… now, that’s hot!

After working Ed, I packed up and Judy and I drove home much refreshed. It’s amazing what a swim and a couple of QSOs will do on a hot day.

I have been a ham radio operator for most of my life, was a shortwave listener from my teens and still am, and of course was able to play in the CB craze that took place in the late 70’s and into the 80’s. High school was where I got my start at amateur radio and electronics. I am not an electronics technician, nor will I ever admit I am even close, but I am a guy who has had a blast and an addiction to ham radio, mostly QRP, CW and portable ops. Combine that with my addiction of outdoors, winter survival, canoeing, hunting and camping and those are some $eriou$ hobbie$. Oh and I cannot forget photography, heaven forbid..

In the radio hobby I like to play, test , trade , and swap gear all the time to use, if it is new I want it. Portable and low power gear and small antennas is where I like to be, but where am I going with this? I have owned, Heathkit, Swan, Kenwood, Icom, SGC, Yaesu, Hy-Gain, Tokyo, Index Labs, OHR, Alinco and more gear in the past as well as Elecraft whom I think I can throw in with the big boys as they have come the furthest out of the small guys.

Recently in the last few years I have been playing, testing, reviewing, been a beta tester, manual writer for a few of those in the Chinese market, (oh and lets not forget the European market as well, we are seeing rigs from Greece, Russia and all over). Among those is my friend Yimin who lives just outside of Toronto and is the owner of Youkits Canada. Yimin has tried his hardest to put out quality gear at a price that won’t break the bank. Some in kit form and others assembled, and still backs it up with support and returns, unlike some of the other builders out there.

On the market today we see Xiegu, Bofung, CRK Kits, BG2FX with his FX line of gear and others. I have had the Xiegu X1M, neat little rig but had many quirks. I have the X108G which has come light years ahead since it’s first days of life and still continues to get better, Xiegu also offers support, firmware upgrades and a return policy, they have gotten to be a fair size company.

What makes some of this Chinese gear look so good? Is it the fact that the price tags seem lower then the big guns on the market ? Does it stand up to quality control testing that the big guns do? Is it clean on transmit evading those spurious transmissions? These maybe some of the questions that get asked. For me it is just that I like new toys and like to play. Have I been burnt or disappointed? You can bet your bottom dollar I have, and many of my reviews and past blogs would tell you that. But I still like to play with this gear and see how it works. Dollar wise is another topic that is a hard one to stomach as most producers be it in China or other Countries sell in US$, so for me as a Canadian whose dollar is less, the exchange kills, and makes these radios no cheaper in the long run, tag on the fact that shipping from Canada is also very costly if I need to ship back to China, so how do you win?

Of all the radios that I was most disappointed wit it was the KN-920 that was built by I believe BA6BF and was sold via Aliexpress and a few other warehouse dealers. The KN-920 one weekend blew it’s finals burnt some of the PC board off. It was still under warranty but to ship back would have cost huge dollars. The builder send me 3 sets of finals to try replace with same result each and every time, the seller at Aliexpress was only concerned with the money he was going to lose if I was to get or return the item, at this point the consumer, customer or other meant $hit. I see on ebay they have a KN-850 now, I hope they learned something from it, but highly doubt it. Top that with no manuals, no instructions etc. Many of these builders do not speak English as is the case of BG2FX who builds the FX series of radios.

So why do we still buy or have a thirst for new gear? It is because we all want to play and not break the bank. Or in my case , that is it. I own a KX3 and just bought a KX2 for canoe trips, camping and more because it is self contained, small and does all bands and modes including digital , and also serves as a shortwave radio when out in the wilds.

So is all Chinese gear made the same ? I think not, some builders are using recycled products, out of tolerance products, solder that creates whiskers (both in part to lack of heat and the elements that make solder real , like tin and lead) and put together in their homes or offices and then put out into the market. Other builders like YouKits and Xiegu have put some thought into their builds and ideas and have actually looked at it from the consumer side, oh yea, there will be horror stories, but in my ham career I can tell you some about the big 4 as well in the past, mention IC-706 and see how many feathers have been ruffled and how long to get that beast right.

I need to add as a caveat that of all the portable Chinese radios that I have tried and do own, the HB1 series by Youkits is my favorite as a cw qrp rig. I own the MKII and MKIII and take those up North with me on a regular basis as they are also self contained with battery, light weight and cover the bands I use.

Just a quick intro to my YouTube Channel and look at a few of the rigs in action using the same antenna.

Have a great summer one and all, and don’t forget to practice your emergency plan, have a 72 emergency kit ready and stay safe on the road, lakes, fields or where ever you may be.

Again this is just my perspective.

Cheers

Fred Lesnick

VE3FAL

Thunder Bay, Ontario

Canada