Back in May 2019, Rick W1RHS shared an excellent presentation on BlueDV for Digital Ham Radio and he has continued to tinker with some of the latest digital voice related technology available today to the modern radio amateur.
You can learn more about this and many other topics by listening every Tuesday at 8:00 PM Eastern US time on Brandmeister talk group 31368 (STEM) via the North Star Digital Net led by Jim WA2UMP.
In the past, HVDN has covered the fantastic work that Roger Clark VK3KYY going all the way back to 2018 that he and others have done with OpenGD77.
This open source alternate radio firmware and computer programming software (CPS) have a cult following since both expand on features not offered by the manufacture and at the same time, makes things even easier to use.
One common complaint about any DMR radio is that they are hard to program and as folks like Brian W2BRM have learned since winning a already programmed DM-1801 from HVDN as part of the LIMARC virtual hamfest, OpenGD77 opens many doors to learn more about what can be done thanks to open source software and just a little more easily too than original user interface and software.
Latest Open GD77 Updates
For a really quick overview of OpenGD77, you can load this alternate firmware on the Radioddity GD77 and also the Baofeng DM-1801, RD-5R plus some of the other variants that exist out there.
Features like converting your radio into a hotspot with just the USB cable plugged into a computer or Raspberry Pi are just one innovation which makes the work of the OpenGD77 team really amazing.
Now, thanks to Rick W1RHS, he has packaged up a nice overview of non-DMR features that are now part of OpenGD77 and no other radio offers anything close to this, so keep reading
OpenGD77 Spectrum Scope Function
If you own an Icom IC-705, IC-7300, IC-9700, Yaesu FT-991 or any SDR devices, a spectrum scope is common place, but many hand held radios that offer this function like the FT-3DR poorly implement it. Even on such a tiny screen such as the GD77 or DM-1801, this is much more user friendly to help find VHF/UHF activity. Here is how the new feature works with OpenGD77:
OpenGD77 Satellite Tracking Capability
Even the Kenwood TH-D74 or TH-D72 do not offer anything like this which are considered some of the favorite handheld radios to use with satellite activity since they both offer APRS capability, the out of production D72 being full duplex and the D74 having a built in audio recorder and SSB reception.
Now with your OpenGD77 enabled radio, you can use its internal processor to show the next satellite pass time and direction based on your location, which is actually really cool. Here are some details:
START>>>>> REALLY COOL FEATURE ALERT!!
END<<<<< REALLY COOL FEATURE ALERT!!
CPS Integration
Rick further shares that the CPS has an extra feature added to download the Kep's data and upload this to the radio, as well as setting the date / time of the radio.
In the Extras -> OpenGD77 support screen of the CPS. Connect the USB cable to the radio, make sure the radio is turned on, and press the "Install satellite Keps" button. The CPS defaults to downloading the Keps from a specific web URL, however if the operator prefers to use a different source of Kep's data, they can change the URL.
The new satellite feature requires an accurate time-of-day clock. The radios do not have a hardware clock. OpenGD77 keeps the time and date in software. Because the time and date would be lost upon power down, a new feature has been added. Suspend Mode allows the radio to sleep in low power when the power switch is turned off instead of completely powering down.
Getting Started with OpenGD77
So, even if you have grown tired of DMR and are looking for other uses for one of your radios or to further enhance how you enjoy other aspects of the hobby with your DMR radio, here is how to get started with this great inexpensive radio along with open source software
OpenGD77 Main Web Site
User Guide (View Online)
https://github.com/LibreDMR/OpenGD77_UserGuide/blob/master/OpenGD77_User_Guide.md
User Guide (PDF Download)
https://github.com/LibreDMR/OpenGD77_UserGuide/raw/master/OpenGD77_User_Guide.pdf
Supplementary Notes
In May of 2021 the project needed to experience a reformatting for compliance with the General Public License (GPL). This set the project back a little, but is now again leading innovation in amateur radio today
- There is a different CPS. This is required. You need the most recent CPS for compatibility with the most recent firmware and feature updates.
Download the New CPS (required) Use the latest available version in that folder.
- The firmware no longer contains parts of the official firmware. The old procedure had you load the firmware as an SGL file. The new firmware does not contain a copy of Radioddity's AMBE codec so it is no longer necessary tp encrypt the firmware into an SGL file. The new firmware is just a plain binary file (.bin). DMR requires the AMBE codec.
The new CPS now extracts the AMBE codec from the official firmware before uploading to the radio. The new process requires you to first download and unzip the latest version of the official firmware (version 4.3.6) and extract the official firmware file. The instructions for this are described here:
OpenGD77 Firmware Installation Instructions
https://www.opengd77.com/static/firmware_installation.php#null
- For legal reasons the license and readme text documents are required to be distributed with the firmware file. So the firmware file is now zipped into a package containing these other files
Download FW ZIP https://www.opengd77.com/downloads/releases/R2021052901/firmware/
- The Voice prompts have changed in this version
Download the Voice Prompts
https://www.opengd77.com/downloads/releases/R2021052901/voice_prompts/
- The source code and build tools are available here if you are interested.
Download the Source Code
https://www.opengd77.com/downloads/releases/R2021052901/sources_and_tools/
Legal Substantial portions of the source code have been written since the last public release.
The only code remaining is copyright a small group of people including Kai DG4KLU, Roger VK3KYY, Daniel F1RMB, Alex DL4LEX and Colin G4EML.
Code by minor contributors has been rewritten to overcome copyright and GPL License problems.
The Hotspot code has been rewritten, and the code from mbelib has also been rewritten, to overcome GPL and license conflicts. All major contributors have agreed to the license change to BSD 3 Clause + non commercial
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