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Yaesu has been in the news recently for the digital salvo they fired over the bow of the D-STAR ship.  In theory I think this is a great move, and others are praising Yaesu’s announcement.  My concerns with D-STAR’s proprietary AMBE vocoder algorithm and hardware, the essentially one vendor market for D-STAR equipment (Icom), and the relatively dated and unscalable D-STAR protocol are no secret to anyone who reads this blog regularly.  But looking at the Yaesu digital voice whitepaper, it’s somewhat a half-baked initiative, in my opinion, where Yaesu has a new hammer and everything looks like a nail.

Most of the paper focuses on the modulation technique of D-STAR, GMSK, and pits it against Yaesu’s (errr….. Motorola’s)  C4FM.  While better RF and data throughput performance can be had with better modulation techniques, the big issue with D-STAR isn’t its modulation technique, it’s the layer two protocol.  Yaesu doesn’t even mention its layer two protocol and network that would presumably be used, Wires II.

Yaesu’s case for C4FM superiority beyond it being used in commercial networks falls flat.  In the paper there are specifications of selected D-STAR and C4FM radios compared, with some highlighted parameters.  There’s also a graph comparing various modulation techinques, but the big takeaway is D-STAR has a rate of 4800 baud versus 9600 baud for C4FM.  I’ve used the somewhat archiac term of baud rather than kpbs intentionally to illustrate just how lame the comparison is.  Furthermore, while D-STAR is clearly in the crosshairs of Yaesu, there is no mention of D-STAR’s 128kbs data mode or how Yaesu’s solution beats that data rate.

All in all this whitepaper and initiative which some are praising appears to me to be a rather sophomoric effort, and one more concerned with selling retreaded commercial rigs in amateur radio.  Aligning amateur standards with commercial ones isn’t a bad thing especially when secondhand commercial gear can be re-purposed for amateur use, but there needs to be other compelling reasons to adopt a commercial modulation technique. Even with the best layer one modulation technique, if the layer two protocol and the supporting network is badly designed the digital voice standard is doomed for failure.  Yaesu needs to be making a case for its system by explaining the entire network, how it is open and non-proprietary, and how it will scale in the future.  I hope Yaesu does successfully launch a competing digital voice solution, and I hope organizations like ARRL and RSGB get involved and insure that the standard is consistent with the spirit of amateur radio.  Unfortunately to me this new initiative looks like another D-STAR in the making.

(D-STAR is a registered trademark of Icom Incorporated.)

What would a blog be without the traditional year-in-review-and-here-are-my-New-Year’s-resolutions post?  For a general overview of amateur radio in 2011, Jeff, KE9V, has a rather excellent summary over at KE9V.net worth reading.  From a personal standpoint, it was a year that I spent less time on the air and more time tinkering with stuff.

Much of my activity was centered around the Arduino CW Keyer.  I’m especially proud of the Winkey emulation mode which enables interfacing to many logging and contest programs and the PS2 Keyboard code.  It’s been really satisfying to hear from folks, especially DX, who are using the code in their shacks.

Another project was the Yaesu Rotator Controller Emulator which interfaces most any rotator (not just Yaesus) to a computer for control via a terminal session or logging/contest program.  It’s cool to be running Ham Radio Deluxe and just point-and-click to where you want to go and have the beam rotate automagically.  Yea, I’m amused by simple things.

One of my 2011 resolutions was to do Summits On the Air or SOTA in a big way.  I ended up doing only three SOTAxpeditions, but I’m finding outdoor operation much more interesting than sitting in a shack trying to bang out cookie-cutter QSOs.

I tried Weak Signal Propagation Reporter or WSPR.  It’s an interesting novelty, but I’m not sure it will hold my interest for long.

My blogging suffered a bit.  Quality over quantity has always been my goal and my post drafts folder continues to be littered with unfinished posts, half-baked ideas, and posts that never saw the light of day because I felt they were too controversial or critical for the intended tone of this blog.

My summary of 2011 wouldn’t be complete without acknowledging the influence of G4ILO on my daily thought.  Julian’s announcement of a statistically-incurable brain tumor was a shock to all of us here in the amateur radio blogosphere, myself included.  His writings in both his amateur radio blog and One Foot In The Grave have helped me remember what is really important in life and how valuable our time is.  Now that I’m in my forties I’m realizing I need to start figuring out how to better spend my finite time here and do rather than just dream.  Julian, I wish you the best for you and Olga in 2012, and know that your insights have helped this radio artisan.

So what’s on the roadmap for 2012?

Many more SOTA expeditions and outdoor operating in general.  I’ve been talking for years about doing a spring Appalachian Trail overnight expedition.  Time to just get some friends together and do it.

VHF Contest Mountaintopping.  This goes along with the outdoor operation theme.  Just do it.

Arduino CW Keyer.  I may add more features in 2012, like LCD display support and CW decoding, but I’m probably going to focus my efforts on facilitating community efforts to build complete units.  Oscar, DJ0MY, who has been helpful in suggesting and testing keyer functionality has recently been working on an “open source” design PC board and an enclosure.  Perhaps kitting would be the next logical step.

Build an Az-El satellite antenna array using cheap homebrew yagis and a homebrew Frankenstein rotator setup with my Arduino rotator interface.  That should make the neighbors wonder what I’m doing.

Develop the RadioCubeCache idea further and see where that goes.

Build an Arduino-based automatic antenna tuner.  This one has been on my list for awhile.  Like the keyer I think I can build something as good as commercial offerings and offer it to the community.

Try JT6M, JT65, and all the JT modes.  I think this is going to be the bulk of my home on-the-air time in the new year.

Anyway, thanks for reading and have a Happy New Year!

There is a small airport – one grass runway and a single windsock – a few miles from my home (and ham radio station) here in Glade Park.  According to Google Maps (see graphic bel0w) this airport – Pinyon Airport – lies 5.586-km away as the crow, and presumably Piper, flies.  I’ve seen a small propeller plane land here after passing rather low over my house on approach.  A concern seeing as how I’ll be building ham radio antenna towers later this year.

I checked the FAA “TOWAIR” Website and plugged in the coordinates of my first likely tower location – 39.013949 N, 108.744371 W – and got the response “Structure does not require registration.”  Nevertheless I’ll be registering my towers with the Federal Aviation Administration so they appear in a NOA (Notice To Airmen) and appear on FAA maps.  I’ll also try to find out how owns the aircraft mentioned above and politely suggest they find a new approach or fly a bit higher.

Bill

I am an entrepreneur (cofounder of 6 companies including Enigma Records, Restless Records, Enigma Digital, Bigger Picture Group and InnovAntennas), former music business executive (president of Rykodisc, SVP/GM of EMI Music’s Astralwerks and Caroline divisions, SVP/GM at Live Nation Artists, plus the aforementioned record labels I cofounded), amateur radio operator (currently callsign AA7XT, former callsigns include NT1Y, AA6TT and KC6EDP), family man (happily married to Christine since 1992, we have a rambunctious 8-year old daughter – are there any other kind? – and assorted pets), triathlete (3-time Ironman finisher) and cycling fanatic, early stage investor in tech companies, and owner of an Earthship house in Glade Park, Colorado.

This Blog will focus on amateur radio, Glade Park, Colorado and Earthship topics.  Amateur radio has been a passion since I started SWL-ing (Short Wave Listening) in 1969 on a Zenith Trans-Oceanic transistor radio and hamming in 1970 when I passed the novice license exam, and Earthships, well, because we live in one and sustainable living is an interesting topic.  I will be writing about Glade Park, Colorado – where we moved in 2011 – because it is a fascinating place in so many different ways.

Radio recently became more than a hobby to me when I became a partner in InnovAntennas with company founder Justin Johnson (whose amateur callsign is G0KSC).  InnovAntennas is based in Canvey Island, England and I run the North American office here in Grand Junction, CO.  InnovAntennas designs and manufactures extraordinary high-performance antennas for amateur, military and commercial use from HF up through UHF frequencies.

My perspective on sustainable living will take a different line from much of what I read about sustainable living which tends to have a political undercurrent if not an avowed political stance.  I’m not that political a person to begin with – haven’t occupied much of anything lately except my Aeron chair, the driver’s seat of my diesel GMC Sierra 2500 truck, and my Bianchi road bike seat and I’m in favor of things that work whether from the right or left – and my interest in Earthships stems from (a) general admiration of well-engineered things and (b) affinity for not sending more money to utility companies than I absolutely have to.  If I save the earth a little by living the way I do, well, hey, why not?

Bill

The final hours before the actual opening of orders for the new Elecraft KX3 saw a mix of bizarre behaviours on the KX3 email list from impatient petulance and other weirdly strange attention seeking. They were a tiny minority in a sea of patient fans happy with the frequent updates from the Elecraft team. In the end when they started taking orders it wasn’t really a surprise. And Elecraft met their December deadline and kept some holiday suspense to the end.

On Halloween Steve Weber KD1JV has announced to the AT-Sprint Yahoogroup he’s considering planning to take orders online for the ATS-4B at 11:11:11 AM, EDT on the 11th November, 2011. Clearly a time and date not to be forgotten. Shipping would follow close behind then. One exciting aspect of this latest ATS-4B version is the planned integrated CW/PSK decoder on a daughter board, planned for a January release.

And the other hotly awaited item for the QRP and HFpack crew, the new Elecraft KX3 is now likely not to start shipping until the new year, 2012 I presume. An apparently hastily written update indicates “KX3 estimated ordering date (Winter 2001) and shipping date (January)”.

UPDATE: We’re getting closer. On 2 November this has been updated to “KX3 estimated ordering date (Nov/Dec 2011) and shipping date (Late January)” [my emphasis].

I’m dreaming of an expensive Christmas.

The FCC has released a second Report and Order, affirming its rules for Broadband Over Powerline (BPL).  The document is available here.  It’s quite a lengthy mind-numbing read, but skimming through it, it appears the FCC has rejected changes to its previous findings over the past several years.  Undoubtedly ARRL will have much reporting and analysis over the next few days.  

After eight years of trying to take hold, Internet access BPL has for all intents and purposes become a dead technology, not even being mentioned in recent FCC broadband reports.  The BPL industry has been attempting to make inroads into so-called Smart Grid technology which will upgrade and automate electrical distribution networks.  I haven’t been following this industry closely, but last I had looked they didn’t appear to be having much success.  However the love affair with BPL at the FCC, and the OET in particular, lives on.