Author: Zachary Kascak

Solar Eclipse 2024

Today’s post will be a little unusual as I wanted to take some time to talk about the solar eclipse that we experienced here today. Northeast Ohio was under the path of the eclipse and I couldn’t miss an opportunity to see an event like this as we will be in 2444.

I took some vacation today and packed up the truck this morning and headed out to Waverly Place Park in Lorain, OH. I got a decent parking spot and set up my camera gear and my radio gear.

I had intended to test out my new AnyTone AT-5555N II 10M radio. But when I went to hook it up to my battery I realized that I had forgotten to attach the spade connectors to the battery cable and was unable to test it. I was able to test the new Quad Band Antenna I had purchased.

With my trusty AnyTone AT-778UV hooked up I was able to reach the North Coast Amateur Radio Club 2M repeater in Brunswick, OH, about 24 miles to the southeast and it sounded very clear on my end. I was also able to make three contacts before the eclipse started on 146.52MHz as well.

The eclipse finally can and the pictures from before and after the totality were not as clear as I would have liked due to some light thin clouds. But I get some very nice pictures of the totality.

I had seen a partial eclipse before, but never a total eclipse. It was extremely beautiful. All together I would consider today to be a very successful day and I hope to one day get to see another total eclipse.

TIDRADIO TD-H8 HAM (2nd Generation) Review

**This is not a sponsored product review. I purchased the product myself and it is my honest opinion.**

A few weeks ago I was catching up on some amateur radio content on YouTube and noticed that there was a new radio (well they revised the software) was getting some decent reviews. I opened up amazon and checked out the TIDRADIO TD-H8 HAM*, and picked one up in clear. Being Amazon it arrived fast and I dove in.

Specs

TIDRADIO TD-H8 HAM

General
Frequency Range144-148MHz & 420-450 MHz (TX)
136-174MHz & 400-512 MHz (RX)
Memory Channels200
Operating VoltageDC 7.4V ± 10%
Battery Capacity2500mAh (Li-Ion)
Frequency Stability± 2.5ppm
Operating Temperature-20°C (-4°F) to 50°C (122°F)
Mode of OperationSimplex
Antenna Impedance50Ω
Transmitter Part
RF Output Power≤10W
FM Modulation11K0F3E @ 12.5KHz
Adjacent Channel Power60dB @ 12.5KHz
Transmission Current≤ 1500mA
Receiver Part
Receive Sensitivity0.25µV (12dB SINAD)
Adjacent Channel Selectivity≥ 55dB @ 12.5KHz
Intermodulation and Rejection≥ 55dB @ 12.5 KHz
Conducted Spurious Emissions≤ -57dB @ 12.5KHz
Rated Audio Power Output1W @ 16Ω
Receive Current≤ 380mA
Rated Audio Distortion≤ 5%
As reported in the included user manual

Included in the box you get all the usual goodies you would expect, radio, antenna, battery, charger, power brick, cable, clip, wrist strap and manual.

Review

First impressions. The TD-H8 HAM feels good in your hands. I has a good amount of weight to it fits well in my giant hands. I love the look of the clear plastic case, I have loved electronics in clear plastic cases since I was a kid. The screen is nice and bright. There is a USB-C charging port on the battery which is extremely convenient .

The sound of the radio is pretty good considering that it is in the $50ish price range.

The bad though comes from the fact that the port for the headphone/data connector is pretty deep into the case. This requires you to have to manually hold most cables pressed into the radio to work. A bit of an annoyance but not a good reason to not buy a handheld. Another minor issue is that I have not been able to get the radio to charge from my USB-C PD power bricks that I use with my computers and other devices. The radio also has built in bluetooth for programming, a very good idea but the execution is poor. It requires you to use the Odmaster app which is so bad I will not even link to it. You have to program one channel at a time and its leaves a bad taste in my mouth from an IT security standpoint.

The only thing that I cannot do is a proper test to see if the output is spectrally pure. But others have been able to test the spectral purity of these radios.

The TIDRADIO TD-H8 HAM is a nice improvement over the ever popular BAOFENG UV-5R and has become the radio that lives in the center console of my truck and goes with me when I am not at home.

*Affiliate link, I may make a small commission if you use this link to buy the radio.

The “El Cheapo” Laptop is Back!

What I am dubbing as the “El Cheapo” laptop is back in stock at Micro Center. It is the Evolve III Maestro 11.6″ Laptop. While the price has gone up to $79.99, at least in the Cleveland market. Even at that price it is still a steal for a computer for logging and doing digital modes while out and about.

I need to give a shoutout to Josh (KI6NAZ) of Ham Radio Crash Course for announcing it on YouTube earlier this week.

I reviewed this laptop last year. I bought another and managed to get one with the LTE card that can be swapped out for a SATA SSD. I will be doing just that. I have a 256GB M.2 SATA SSD on order and it should be in any day. I will be giving my old one that I bought last year to a friend who is in need of a basic computer so that it doesn’t end up as E-Waste.

Getting CHIRP to Work in macOS Monterey

With the work that Apple has done over the years to secure the Mac operating system it can sometimes create some issues for more niche applications like CHIRP. I had found this out the hard way while trying to get the software working on my M1 MacBook Air 2020. Below I have documented the process that got CHIRP working for me.

Installation Requirements

  • A Mac running macOS 12.6 or higher
  • Latest version of CHIRP
  • Python 2, Version 2.7.16 is recommended by the developer of CHIRP
  • KK7DS Python Runtime
  • Xcode Command Line Tools

Installation Instructions

  1. Download the latest version macOS Unified Application version CHIRP and its SHA1SUM file.
  2. Check the SHA1SUM of the file you downloaded by running the following command in the terminal sha1sum --check --ignore-missing <SHA1SUM filename>. If you used Safari to download the files, you may need to move the original zip file from the trash can back to the file where the SHA1SUM is located.
  3. Unzip and copy CHIRP to the Applications folder.
  4. Down load the macOS 64-bit installer of Python 2.
  5. Check the MD5 sum of the file you downloaded against the published value by running the following command in the terminal md5 <python filename>.
  6. Run the Python 2 installer.
  7. Download the KK7DS Python Runtime.
  8. Install the KK7DS Python Runtime.
  9. Install the Xcode command line tools by running the following command from the terminal xcode-select --install.
  10. After installing Xcode you will need to self sign the CHIRP application by running the command from the terminal codesign --force --deep --sign - /Applications/CHIRP.app.

You may need to go into System Preferences when you update the CHIRP application and go to Security and then click on the Open Anyway button.

Digirig Mobile Rev 1.9 Review

**This review is not sponsored by Digirig. I have purchased this device myself**

The Digirig Mobile is a small practical device that fills a very specific niche in amateur radio. Its creator Denis Grisak (K0TX) after getting started with FT8 and disappointment with existing solutions decided to look for a better solution. He came up with a rather elegant solution. Take some common off the shelf chips add a USB hub and throw them all on one board and there you have it the Digirig Mobile was born.

The Digirig Mobile is composed of a CM108 sound sound card, which others have adapted to add PTT and an audio interface, as well as a CP2102 USB to UART bridge. These two chips, when combined with a USB hub provide you with an audio interface, PTT, CAT control and a serial interface all in one small package. Denis makes cables for many different radios and there are instructions for others radios in the forums on the site.

Testing the Digirig Mobile

I tested the Digirig Mobile using a Baofeng UV-5R with both the Evolve III Maestro Ebook and an M1 MacBook Air 2020 using a set of the Baofeng UV-5R cables. Initially I had some issues that I found out were due to a poor quality USB cable (it works great for charging, but not for data). After switching to some high quality, Anker USB-C cables*, everything just started to work as expected.

To get the UART Serial bridge working I did have to download drivers from Silicon Labs.

I have been able to successfully program the Baofeng UV-5R radios with no issues via CHIRP on both the MacBook and the Maestro Ebook with no issues what so ever. Also, I have successfully used the Digirig Mobile with WSJT-X and with YAAC by KA2DDO, both without any issues.

Currently I have been unable to test the ability to use the Digirig Mobile with Winlink. I have been able to get everything talking to one another but have been unable to make a connection. This I believe is due to distance between myself and the other station rather than the Digirig Mobile not working as I heard the packet sounds on my other Baofeng UV-5R I had turned on to monitor.

Review

From what I have tried with it so far I have been very impressed with the Digirig Mobile. It is simple to use. It just works. It also comes in at a not painful price point. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is looking for way to interface their computer with a radio to work some of the digital modes.

The one issue I have found is that you do not want to plug the Digirig Mobile into a USB hub. This is because the Digirig Mobile itself is already a USB hub. I don’t think that there is really any way around this. If you have a MacBook like I do I would suggest using a hub that has power pass through for everything else that you need to connect so that you can still charge the computer while you are using the Digirig Mobile.

*This is an Amazon affiliate link. If you purchase from the link I may receive a commission for this purchase.

Evolve III Maestro E-Book 11.6″ Laptop Review

**This review is not sponsored by Evolve III or Micro Center. I purchased the device out of my own funds and these are my experiences based on using the laptop.**

On the advice of Josh (KI6NAZ) from Ham Radio Crash Course I went out and picked up one of the Evolve III Maestro 11.6″ laptops from Micro Center a few weeks ago. And (as of this writing) it is still only $60 at Micro Center. The ones that are available now are the version that does not have the LTE card and also then does not have the M.2 connector on the board, but it is still a great little laptop for going out in the field

Now to preface this, this is a $60 laptop and it is the quality of a $60 laptop. you get what you pay for. For me this the laptop that I take out in the field. I am not worried if a storm comes up on me really quick and I get drenched. I am not worried if it takes a spill. Once again it is a $60 laptop. I don’t feel like I hav to bee super worried about taking out my expensive M1 MacBook Air.

Before going any further lets take a look at the specs on this little guy.

Evolve III Maestro E-Book Specifications

MakeEvolve III
ModelMaestro E-Book
Part NumberMEB1164G64GWWIF

CPU

CPU MakeIntel
CPU ModelCeleron N3450
CPU Speed1.10GHz
Turbo Boost Speed2.2GHz
Level 2 Cache2MB
Instruction Setx86_64

Memory

Size4GB
TypeLPDDR4
SpeedDDR4L-2133

Storage

Size64GB
TypeeMMC

Display

Screen Size11.6″
Display TypeHD
Resolution1366×768
Refresh Rate60Hz

Video

GPUIntegrated Intel HD Graphics 500
Video MemoryShared

Networking

WLANWiFi 4 802.11a/b/g/n
BluetoothBluetooth 4.0

Ports & Connections

USB1 x USB 2.0, 1 x USB 3.1
Video Out1 x Mini HDMI
Audio1 x 3.5mm Headphone Jack
Card Reader1 x microSD

The Review

It is a nice small laptop with just enough power to get the job done out in the field. The great thing about this laptop is that it runs off of 12V DC which means you can run it off of solar, batteries, the power brick it came with, whatever. I was able to run HAMRS and WSJT-X at the same time with absolutely no issues. Battery life is surprisingly good for such a small device, probably because it has a Celeron processor, RAM, an eMMC SSD and almost nothing else.

The build quality is a little on the cheap side, not so much that I am worried its going to fall apart just looking at it, but the plastic scratches easily and it has some flex in the deck. There are two versions being sold at the same price, one with an LTE card and one without. If you can get the one with the LTE card that will be the better choice as you can replace it with a SATA M.2 SSD card and get a huge performance boost. The screen also has poor viewing angles. I have also been unable to get Linux to install to the SD card.

The big issue is if you run Windows on it and it needs to do an update you really can’t do anything else, so make sure you run Windows update before you leave.

With all this in mind I would still suggest this for anyone who wants a laptop to go out in the field with. It is cheap, if it gets destroyed in the great outdoors you are only out $60 and a trip to an eWaste recycling facility. If I can ever find one with the LTE card I will definitely buy a second and donate this one to a local organization that provides tech to kids in need.