Global Digital Repeater Round Up: Our 1st Post COVID Analysis?

Each May and October going back to 2016, HVDN has analyzed repeaterbook.com data for digital amateur radio repeater deployments. 

Today being the 1st of June and now officially in the "End of COVID" era according to United States Center for Disease Control, lets have a look at the latest data to kick off summer time in many parts of the world. Lets celebrate with some pie of all digital flavors!

Yaesu Fusion - Still the 2nd most popular (by volume) digital repeater with an impressive 9.97% growth over the reporting period.  New radios like the FTM-300 and FTM-500 by the single manufacturer of Fusion equipment help drive reasons for more fusion repeaters around the world, with a total of 6 current production radios on the market. The least expensive Fusion capable radio is the FT-70 handheld for around $180 USD. 

Icom D-Star - The good news is that Kenwood has the TH-D75 handheld radio ready to go to market later this year and will support D-Stat much like its earlier relative, the TH-D74. However, Icom is still the only main supplier of D-Star handheld, mobile or base radios.  While the new Icom ID-50 handheld will also support D-Star, there are eight current or near production radios that support this digital mode and none of them cost under $200 USD.  Icom D-Star has remained flat for repeater deployments at 1.79% growth but its worth noting like all digital modes, the internet or a repeater is not needed for digital mode communications. 

DMR - How do we explain 12.46% period growth for DMR?  More radios offered by more vendors and full tier 2 compliant handheld radios sold for as low as $30 USD such as the COTRE series of radios found on Amazon.  While you do not need a repeater to use DMR or even the internet, the multi vendor ecosystem certainly is working for the adoption of DMR as the leading (by volume) driver of digital amateur repeaters.

P25 - Still a commercial standard and no inexpensive new radio equipment available, but digital repeater deployments are growing at 15.67% over the reporting period which shows promise.  As commercial users retire phase one P25 equipment, expect to see more digital repeaters be put on the air globally. If the license for the P25 was as loosely enforced like DMR, we could expect to see P25 really grow fast over the next few years unless the new open standard M17 finally gets into production grade equipment.

NXDN - Another commercial standard generally deployed for non-critical users, there continues to be some decent growth by CAGR and not by volume of this digital mode offered by companies like Icom, Kenwood and others.  There are still no very low cost radios available using NXDN, so expect this mode to just be a novelty in use across some pockets of amateur radio enthusiasts. 

Get a slice of : What did you say about M17?

The good news is that repeaterbook.com now shows a total of five total digital repeaters using this open source mode. Currently there are the following:

• N1KGN - Located at Bridgeport Hospital in Bridgeport, Connecticut (United States)
• WX5RC - Located at Rogers State University in Claremore, Oklahoma (United States)
• KC1AWV - Located in NHL Bruin's territory in Rockingham, New Hampshire (United States)

Its worth noting that two of these three repeaters are listed as multi-mode  and are not M17 full time. The only one likely as a dedicated M17 repeater is Steve KC1AWV's since he is part of the official M17 development team.

There are two international repeaters with the secret one in Poland in Nowy Dwor Mazoweicki operated by the inventor of M17, the infamous Woj SP5WWP and the multimode capable VK3RCQ repeater located in Junortoun Australia.

By October,  HVDN hopes to see a few more M17 repeaters on the air, but there are still no off the shelf M17 capable radios available for purchase which will continue to hold things back for M17.  

However, there are some exciting things happening in the M17 community which will be more clear in the next few months to come.  So, for now keep an eye on M17 but it will take a long time for this one to reach mainstream which is ok given there are no "current" commercial companies making available equipment to use M17. 

SPECIAL EDITION: 10,000+ Digital Repeaters - October 2021 Global Digital Repeater Roundup

Major Digital Milestone Reached!

In May 2021, HVDN reported that we were creeping ever closer to that 10,000 digital repeater mark and as of our October survey of repeaterbook.com data this important date in amateur radio history is here with 10,035 digital amateur radio repeaters now tracked.  

Here is the latest data based on our semi annual collection efforts since 2016, but no data was collected in 2017.

Our first near casualty of  the digital evolution

Someone will really need to look hard at repeaterbook.com data to ensure accuracy of these D-Star tabulations since it appears that 21 less D-Star repeaters exist in October 2021 compared to May 2021.

It is pretty well documented by now thanks to HVDN and pretty much any radio amateur today that DMR is by far the most popular digital voice mode today with an impressive 155.35% increase over the last 5 years.  

Still don't believe you, my local 2m FM repeater is just fine! 

For those into more fancy math if we are talking about growth or declines, compound annual growth rates (CAGR) are often used in different industries to track growth over a certain period. Over the past five years, DMR is still leading the pack at 20.62% CAGR.

However,  beyond the two dedicated non-commercial amateur modes known as Yaesu Fusion and Icom D-Star, it certainly seems interesting that the commercial P25 standard is growing faster than DMR.  

Using repeaters to track the healthy growth of amateur radio is smart.  Repeaters are expensive and local people with radios are needed to create a need for them to exist or to influence what to purchase. This is why counting repeaters is a great proxy to measure growth and adoption trends.

However, some areas do not have many digital voice repeaters but users are purchasing certain digital radios to use with hotspots. Many of these additional digital adopters are likely learning towards DMR or Fusion as a "my first digital radio" rather than D-Star or the two commercial modes known as P25 and NXDN.

Our secret digital future is already here

We have seen new products brought to market by smaller commercial companies and entrepreneurs, such as the RFinder series of DMR smartphone radios thanks to Bob W2CYK.   

New networks run entirely by the radio amateur community like Brandmeister Network and its amazing development team have opened new doors to expand all digital voice modes, including an entirely new up-and-coming amateur created mode such as M17 thanks to Wojciech SP5WWP.

The community also even has other entirely open source network tools such as DV Switch,  HBlink plus the amazing MMDVM and Pi-Star projects that Andy MW0MWZ, Jonathan G4KLX, Andy CA6JAU and others created to let us use repeaters or hotspots and fanned the flames of the digital evolution fire probably the most.

And, how could I not mention the work that folks like Roger VK3KYY are doing with OpenGD77 plus the equally fine development around OpenRTX which both help create new ways to use existing radios for digital communications, such as the case with modifying the cult favorite TYT MD-380 DMR radio to be used as M17.

We should expect some exciting times ahead for amateur radio as we also cross the boundaries of generational differences for people born after 1980 who will be entering later career stages and will have even more time for amateur radio experimentation.

Maybe its popular somewhere else?

Different parts of the world are at a crossroads today when it comes to adopting or retiring certain types of equipment. 

This is something which HVDN will further track publicly going forward since as the below chart indicates the current split between North America and Rest of World digital voice repeater data.

With M17 Project starting to get more attention, especially with a large investment enabled by non-profit entities Amateur Radio Digital Communications and Open Research Institute it is just a matter of time before something groundbreaking grabs mass attention.

What is next?

Many people do not have the attention span to read articles like this, but they need to pay attention to what is being discussed here very closely if you care about your amateur radio hobby.

Here is my prediction for the next two years (2022 and 2023) for digital repeater counts

While spending time within the HF spectrum chasing rare stations or park activators is good fun and will only get easier as the 11 year sunspot cycle matures over the next few years, do not forget about next generation technology.  

Spending more time on SSB during a 20m contest or CW on 40m will not propel the hobby forward for the next generation. Same also with using local 2m analog only repeaters for casual morning gatherings.

Please, spend some time experimenting with different technologies, modes and new ways of thinking and challenge yourself to try and keep track of how much time you spend in different aspects of the hobby month by month or year by year.   

The more time spent on the future will secure our past and ensure amateur radio exists for the next 100 years. 

Feel free to share some comments below on this and check out our past articles to learn what we are doing which may inspire you to get involved with something new in the future of digital amateur radio.

 Awaiting your rotten tomatoes,

Steve K2GOG

Co-Founder HVDN

The perfect Icom IC-705 case?

Will this post address every possible need that everyone may have when using the Icom IC-705 at home, in the field or on a picnic table?  Probably not, but I think this comes awfully close to meeting my needs so thought worth sharing my journey.

How do I want to use the Icom IC-705?

After acquiring this radio, I spent time getting familiar with its functions and watching what accessory purchases others were making.  

Lessons learned as an early Yaesu FT-817 purchaser almost 20 years ago proved that spending more than that radio cost for addon's got quickly out of hand.

And, since the Yaesu FT-817 brand new back in the early 2000's was much less than the Icom IC-705 today, I wanted to go about things a bit smarter this time around.

My intended use cases for the Icom IC-705 are as follows:

• Toss it in the backpack for easy to deploy legitimate field operations in rough conditions.

• Perfect vacation and traveling demo "shack in a box" scenarios to excite new prospective hams.

• Fill the "If I could use just one non-handheld radio" use case...

As a QRP enthusiast, I am fine with 10 watts RF output on all bands with external power or 5 watts on the internal battery. I also do not mind no internal tuner as I usually use resonant antennae for specific uses cases like satellite, digital modes and SOTA. 

Case:  The cornerstone of all accessories

Someone did the hard work already and shared this on the Icom IC-705 Facebook User Group, so I purchased this enclosed hard case for reasons explained later compared to a soft or protective rail case. 

Cost was $12.99 USD for the large size case in orange on Amazon and is made in the USA.   Purchase link:  MTM Survivor Dry Box with O-Ring Seal

The Icom IC-705 fits perfectly in this case and offers some extra room for a few basic accessories such as the wired microphone and a VHF rubber duck antenna or small end fed wire for HF.  The extended BP-307 battery fits just fine and that lives full time inside the case now attached to the rear of the radio.

Case Access:  Before making holes for antenna stuff

The MTM case is a dry case, which means your expensive radio wont get wet or screen scratched when its inside this protective cocoon.  I am not going to say its waterproof, but it feels like I would not have a moisture issue so will call this case weather tight instead. 

Since you can pretty much operate the Icom IC-705 fully remote using software or a mobile device described later, I only wanted to make a external holes for antenna and power wiring.  

First thing you need to buy is a BNC cable that has a right angle male on one side and a female BNC bulkhead on the other.  Spending $9.49 USD, the Eightwood BNC Bulkhead Female to BNC Male Right Angle Adapter RG58 Cable 50cm /1.6 feet is what I settled on.

The length of cable also solves a counterpoise issue on the two meter band since using most standard HT antennae with the IC-705 do not work well, so this is a hidden benefit. 

The right angle BNC male is what connects to your radio. A straight BNC will be too long to go inside the case. This is why having a right angle is needed. If an easy to source right angle bulk head was available, I would have went for right angles on both sides to give me even more flexibility.

Carefully placing and putting a hole in the side of your MTM case is important, so measure twice and cut once!  

You want to avoid the straight part of the BNC bulkhead cable hitting the side of the radio inside the case. It is best to make your entry hole as indicated in the picture below.

You may notice a nice binding post next to the new antenna connector. This also has a hidden benefit since you will find you need a grounding point on your radio to connect a counterpoise for HF operation to your radio.

Purchase  Jabinco 2pcs Gold Plated Insulated Terminal Binding Post Power Amplifier Dual 2-Way Banana Plug Jack for a total of $4.99 USD and you will end up with 3 spare terminal posts you can use for some other project, like some type of portable balun.  Or, you may have a spare binding post left over from another project you can use instead, but this one is very high quality and I recommend this.

Using one of these posts will give us a ground connection to the radio. You can either use some bare copper wire or a thin piece of sheet metal with appropriate holes drilled to connect this binding post to the outer conductor of the BNC bulkhead on the inside of the case.

Be sure to tighten up your connections correctly and you now have a case with external antenna connections that are weather tight and be sure to test that your ground lug and antenna port are now connected by using your continuity function on a multimeter. You should have close to zero resistance.

Case Access:  Adding power 

It would have been nice to just use Power Pole connections for power, but they take up more space inside the case and some may require more complicated hole making, so using the "standard" 5.5mm O.D.  x 2.5mm I.D coaxial power connector which the IC-705 and the Elecraft KX2 and KX3 uses seemed like a better low profile idea. 

There are also many external battery packs and inverter generators that use this same connector, so I am not worried about interoperability too much since this is a lower current connector and the additional benefits of the Power Poles are not needed.

Purchase Link:  5.5x2.5mm Female DC Power Jack 5PCS DC-099A DC Female Panel Mount Charging Wire Threaded Socket Connector with Dustproof Plug IP67 68 Water-Proof Large Current Power Adapter

You will need to drill your hole carefully as pictured and then you will need to solder on a male right angle 5.5mm O.D.  x 2.5mm I.D coaxial power that will connect to your radio after you pass the free ends into the dry box case.

If you want to add a reverse polarity protection diode or fuse, I will leave that up to you since the IC-705 does not offer much protection if you plug in your external power the wrong way.

When using a diode like a Zener type, be sure to realize that some voltage drop may occur from your external power source. For the Icom IC-705 to give you maximum RF output, the below chart will help you.

The internal battery pack is only capable of 7.4 volts, so to get that extra kick of RF output, you need to be over 12.5 volts always if you need that extra tiny bit of decibels to make radio contact.

If you need to connect power poles, you can use a ready made cable like this one by Windcamp for $12.99. 

How to access the IC-705 now?

This is not yet a perfect solution. You will need to find a way to secure the IC-705 inside your case which may require bending a piece of sheet metal to make a bracket that can screw to the underside of the IC-705 and you can then Velcro the radio into the case.  

You can also decide to skip that construction step and ruin your radio by putting Velcro on it or your battery directly.  This is left up to you on how you like to do things. 

This really good Velcro allows for easy removal of the IC-705 so you can access the SD Card, USB port, keying jack or the other connectors you may care about.  

Icom has not enabled a way to access the SD card over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth via FTP or anything else should you want to grab screen captures or audio recordings from the radio.   

You can also not access those files over USB either, so this is one reason why you will need to remove the IC-705 from the case.

The other connectors for my personal use cases were not important, but if they are for you, that is up to you to solve for. 

I would however think to maybe add an external USB in the future if I can find a suitable connector for times where I do not thing that low power wireless signals like Bluetooth or Wi-Fi are appropriate but wish to still control the radio remotely.

Everything else can be done "almost" over bluetooth or Wi-Fi

Control of the radio can happen over bluetooth or Wi-Fi for different reasons. Using a bluetooth microphone solves some issues for portable voice operation but adds additional "how do I charge the bluetooth speaker complexity", so keeping the wired mic on hand is important.

I am only plugging in the microphone connector and not the speaker part of the hand mic. This will not impact if you use a bluetooth mic or digital modes.

If you want basic remote frequency control, you can use the 705 Remote application on Android or the free Icom RS-MS1A application.   

The Icom Android application will appeal more to those who want to use D-Star and related advanced functions where the 705 Remote by Ikeda Shogouki may be better for those looking for a classic VFO knob and more HF focused functions.  

The popular Dan Toma Pocket TXRX software does not yet support the IC-705 and your results will be mixed when using different CI-V addresses to try and use profiles meant for radios like the IC-7000, IC-7100 and IC-7300. For now, I am ignoring this otherwise great software and its capabilities.

Remote radio versus remote internet control operation

The prior mentioned basic remote setup will not offer much else than basic remote radio capability.

If you are looking for complete wireless control of your Icom IC-705, you will need to purchase the  Icom RS-BA1 software for about $120.00 USD that runs on a Windows computer or some other platform with containers or virtual machines. 

This Icom software allows you to use your radio totally remote from your computer, including virtualized COM ports for digital modes, audio and CAT operations.  

You can also use RS-BA1 to allow other software like FLdigi, WSJT-X or Ham Radio Deluxe to control or talk to your Icom IC-705 if you are interested in digital modes and wish to operate the radio remotely. For voice communication, you can use a headset or microphone with your computer.

One use case for this is putting your radio at near your portable antenna and then take your laptop to a comfortable rock or picnic table.   This way you can minimize feedlines which takes up more space and weight in your pack, if you are interested in portable operations and are not afraid of short range wireless signals

You can create a point to point Wi-Fi access point (AP) with the Icom IC-705 to connect your laptop to without the need of the internet for this type of use which is very nice.

Alternatively, if you do have internet access and wish to share your IC-705 over the "world wide web" from the field, you can do that instead by changing from AP mode to a regular Wi-Fi profile. 

If you are in the field, allowing the IC-705 to connect to a broadband hotspot or possibly an AREDN mesh network is possible.  You still need to use the Icom RS-BA1 software for this to work.

A second option, not requiring the expensive Icom software is brought to us by Norbert Varga and team via a workaround that can run on a Raspberry Pi and act as a form of  a "man in the middle" server that will bridge a computer and the IC-705 over Wi-Fi to make a server.  This may require some advanced setup to get it working if you are not very skilled with Linux. 

A link to this software and instructions are here: https://github.com/nonoo/kappanhang

While this works great, I would not recommend this if your goal is less complexity in a field environment since it means transporting a raspberry pi and power source for it which if bought new, getting the Icom RS-BA1 software may be a better long term solution. 

A third solution is the very excellent Win4IcomSuite by VA2FSQ. His software is less than half the cost of the Icom RS-BA1 and offers nearly all the same functions but also allows for better integration with other software such as digital mode or satellite related programs. This may appeal to those who do NOT want the Raspberry Pi solution complexity.

Summary:  Case closed?

Everyone has an opinion and I am not claiming this is a perfect solution for everyone, but it does offer complete protection of your expensive radio and offers the ability to use it in the field with a good degree of safety.  

Here is a list of things mentioned in this article if you wish to buy it all from Amazon Smile, which a tiny part of proceeds benefits the Overlook Mountain Amateur Radio Club.

View Amazon Shopping List for HVDN Icom IC-705 Case

UPCOMING 3/15/2021 HVDN:LIVE - VHF/UHF is NOT just FM Repeaters: The IC-9700 & IC-705 Punch-Out

On the 8:00PM EST March 15th 2021 episode of HVDN:LIVE, we will take the Icom IC-9700 and IC-705 for a in depth conversational review thanks to Neil W2NDG as moderator with Jim WA2UMP and Steve K2GOG trying to defend reasons why to or not acquire either of these radios.

VHF/UHF is NOT just FM repeaters

This review is not going to be a product endorsement in any way, but it just so happens that both of these radios do not have any direct current production competition, so that is why we are stuck with making this an Icom focused discussion. 

The goal will be to highlight all the interesting things you can do on VHF/UHF aside from only talk on repeaters.

Both the Icom IC-9700 and IC-705 will be in full view during the discussion to ensure we provide fact rather than fiction for both radios. It will be really fun! 

Basic flow is going to be:

• Introductions 

• Reasons why did Jim acquire the Icom IC-9700  

• Reasons why did Steve acquire the Icom IC-705 

• Discussion on if they would do it again

• Discussing "Was it easy to do...…" 

• Focus on hardware tips & tricks

• Focus on software tips & tricks

• Remote operation comments 

• Live Q&A

How to join HVDN:LIVE?

We are going to experiment and see how many people can join the live meeting and we will be using  Jitsi instead of Zoom since HVDN supports and encourages open source projects.

If interested in attending on March 15th at 8:00 PM Eastern Time , please join using http://meet.jit.si/hvdn/livemarch15th2021 and use the password "hvdnlive"

This event will be recorded for later playback, but anything live is always better than a recording, so be sure to check it out and get your questions ready for Neil, Steve & Jim! 

Feel free to drop some questions below in advance!

Video Games Meet Amateur Radio?

 

I always talk about "convergence" between other interests and amateur radio.  There are many hobbies that I personally find more enjoyment or motivation from by including some form of wireless communication with other things, like hiking or just finding ways to be prepared for adventures.

But what about going the opposite direction? As a long time gamer,  I made a short video to showcase the interesting form factor of the Icom IC-705 radio that may help shed an image that "ham radio" is still just about old vacuum tubes, elderly people and late nights spent in a basement tapping out Morse Code to someone around the world. Please, do not shoot your in-game missiles at me for saying that dear reader.

What is Pip Boy?

This was a fictional device featured in the very popular video game series called "Fallout". It was a wrist worn  "Personal Information Processor", manufactured by RobCo Industries.

As part of a promotional effort, many video games spawn many different real life products to engage with fans. The Pip Boy 2000 Mk VI is one example and there are even other versions that let you put a smartphone inside to offer real functionality, but in an interesting wrist mounted enclosure.   

This product even came in a special storage case when not using PipBoy. This storage case is what inspired this article and video actually.

Is is possible to put the 2 pound (1.1 kilogram) Icom IC-705 on my wrist like a PipBoy?  I guess if I got tired of my Samsung Gear watch, that could be handy to have HF and above communications while walking around. My wrist would get awfully sore though. I can keep my Icom IC-705 safe inside of a really cool case though as you will see.

A better option for wrist based communications might be KK4VCZ Travis Goodspeed's "GoodWatch" project, which I have some PCB's ready to populate with SMD components I have yet to order. 

It was easy to make the PCB's by sending the files to OSHpark and let them make the circuit boards for a few dollars. Eventually I will get around to making my own GoodWatch....

For those that may remember, Travis is the guy behind what we owe a lot to for making DMR a popular digital voice mode in amateur radio thanks to his "hacks" on the popular TYT MD-380 radio that improved its functionality greatly in such a cheap radio.  

And, the also super famous AC2SN Limor Fried who founded Adafruit has also spent time making use of Travis's interesting work made DMR super popular too. 

You could even receive signals from your Pi-Star Hotspot using the GoodWatch since Pi-Star also supports POCSAG, an open paging standard which DAPNET brought to amateur radio.

Could the Icom IC-705 with its Wi-Fi,  Bluetooth, GPS, color touch display and all mode 1.8 to 450 MHz 10 W transceiver be the next big thing that "hackers" start to experiment with?   Could it even find its way into a cosplay scenario at the next big Comicon? Maybe even getting some of the #DEFCON crowd interested too! 

And now without further ado, I present my video that most video game fans may appreciate......

RDF in the HV with OMARC and HVDN

As the article title suggests, the recent radio direction finding (RDF) event in the Hudson Valley (HV) thanks to both the Overlook Mountain Amateur Radio Club (OMARC) and Hudson Valley Digital Network (HVDN) was a fun time to be socially distanced and educational simultaneously.

Here is a summary of the first "Fox Hunt" to take place in northern Dutchess County since COVID-19 disrupted normalcy while using directional antennae to find a hidden transmitter.

Did we find Alf at Ferncliff Forrest?

Funny things happen when amateur radio operators invade local nature preserves when waving around strange looking antenna contraptions.

The goal of this joint radio direction finding event between two great organizations and its membership was to hide a remotely controlled transmitter box known as a "Fox" and participants were going to try to find it/catch it somewhere in the well maintained Ferncliff Forest Game Preserve located in Rhinebeck, NY. 

Ahead of the hunt which took place on November 21st, many hunters constructed a directional antenna known as a Yagi which was optimized for finding the location of transmitters thanks to Joe WB2HOL, formerly of the Hudson Valley and charter member of the Putnam Emergency & Amateur Radio League (PEARL) club before relocating to warmer weather in North Carolina.  

Made from inexpensive materials such as PVC pipe and discarded tape measures, each hunter was able to find the peak and null of the hidden transmitter to help find which direction to travel and be the first to find the transmitter hidden which was inside a common case found at Harbor Freight Tools. 

While conducting some pre-event education in the parking lot and during the hunt, a number of families who were out enjoying the day commented about our antennae and some children thought we were looking for aliens when they heard the signal coming from each hunters radio. 

1st Hunt Near Success Story

Steve K2GOG was the organizer of the event and was tasked with hiding the fox after a basic  demonstration of antenna and radio direction finding theory for those who would go and try and find the transmitter.

Beyond the easy to build Yagi antenna designed for the amateur radio 2m wavelength band at a frequency of 146.565 MHz, Steve showed off other options he has used such as a handheld TDOA from Rainbow Kits (Time Delay of Arrival) and UHF half Egg Beater, of Steve K2GOG own design and inspiration for the HVDN HASviolet antenna V1 on 900 MHz.

Lloyd K2JVX brought his Arrow DF loop antenna which amazed other attendees at how small it was. Rob W2RWS was eager to try his Arrow II antenna and its 70cm capability for tuning to the harmonic of the transmitter found on 439.965 MHz. All these mentioned types of antennae are easy to build or purchase and each offers unique benefits and challenges when used for RDF.

The hidden transmitter was based around the combination of a Byonics Piccon V2 and a Lanch HG-UV98 radio. This arrangement provided the primary ability to remotely control the transmitter by sending a DTMF tone to sequence the transmitter which sent out a combined set of random tones followed by a cryptic Morse code message on 146.565 MHz that the hunters used to find the fox. 

The secondary ability was to also transmit an APRS beacon on 446.500 MHz which allowed GPS, temperature and voltage to be sent back to Steve K2GOG should the fox become abducted by someone or malfunction in some way.

Lloyd K2JVX was the first to find the transmitter hidden towards the rear of the pond.  Rob W2RWS was close behind and both hunters almost found the fox before it stopped responding to command codes, which meant a rescue operation was needed.

Bob KD2QAK used a different method to find the fox by taking signal readings at known locations and plotted the direction of the signal on a map. He drew lines to see where they intersected and clearly defined the general area where he thought the signal was coming from.

This first hunt was very successful as it taught everyone that multiple techniques and equipment could be used to find the general location of a fox, but the strong 1 watt signal actually made it hard to find the fox as each hunter got pretty close to it, even within the last 15 feet. Other equipment designed for closer detection was needed.

Attention about attenuation

While a 1 watt signal radiated from a simple Radioshack telescoping antenna sounds like it would be easy to find, its strength made it hard for all hunters, so a demonstration using a dummy load as the antenna was done to show how to better tune to the null of the fox or how to attenuate the received signal through the use of methods like the "body fade" method using a standard rubber duck or better design or selection of antenna or receivers.

Certain radios like the Kenwood TH-D74 and Icom IC-R20 seemed to work the best due to advanced attenuation and  RF gain features. Much more inexpensive radios like the Yaesu FT-70DR, Yaesu FT-4XR did not due as well since the receivers in them were easily overloaded by strong local signals. 

Guy KD2TLF found success by tuning away 10 or more kHz away from the actual signal to attenuate the signal in his Yaesu FT-4XR while both Bob and Zina focused on using the harmonic and null to get closer to the fox with the FT-70DR. 

We also learned as a group that the dummy load Steve used radiated its signal horizontally compared to the RadioShack antenna which was vertically polarized. This knowledge may come in handy for the future to confuse future hunters.

Walk in the woods: 2nd hunt results

As Lloyd found the first fox, he was elected to hide the transmitter for the next round. After an unexpected malfunction with an external blinking safety light on the fox, the hunt was declared open season and the hunters took off to see where Lloyd hid the fox.

Steve K2GOG decided it may be an unfair advantage to use some of his more advanced tools like the TDOA array or even his specialty field strength meter, so he started the hunt using nothing more than the standard rubber duck with his Kenwood TH-D74 and relied upon the body fade method of signal detection.  

He got his bearing by holding the radio close to his front and rotated around until the signal decreased towards his rear.  Walking another 15-20 away, he took another bearing and did this every so often to see if he was headed in the right direction.

Not too much later, he came across Ken KD2TQS (Official event photographer) who had followed Lloyd into the woods to hide the fox.  Steve knew he was getting close and pressed onward.  

Soon after Steve got to a location that the transmitter must be close to, he found Lloyd sitting on a nearby log having a snack.   Just after a few minutes later while trying to get closer to the fox, Rob W2RWS and Guy KD2TLF showed up from a different direction trying hard to find the fox.

Because Lloyd was tricky in where he hid the fox next to a thick tree that was tilting over at about a 30 degree angle and some rocks that are known to contain iron ore, it took the 3 hunters more than 20 minutes to find the fox which was covered with leaves and its antenna just barely poking out.

Steve followed by Rob and Guy finally found the fox and we decided to call it a day after roughly 3 hours and 10,000 steps in Ferncliff Forest. 

Final words

After the group met back up with Bill KD2UEN and Zina KD2UEO back at the parking lot, some prizes were awarded to commemorate the event.  An offset attenuator kit courtesy of KC9ON was awarded to Rob, a dual band rubber duck was given to Lloyd and a set of orange and black zipties were given to all other participants.

Much was learned during this on foot fox hunt and the day was enjoyed by all who came out to brave the nice weather and clean air away from home.

We are going to be planning future events like this and weather permitting, the next fox hunt will likely take place during the Winter Field Day event that OMARC has done the past few years.

Please visit the 146.805 MHz repeater broadcasting from high atop Overlook Mountain in Hurley NY to talk to those mentioned in this article and to learn about Winter Field Day 2021 or other OMARC activities. 

OMARC/HVDN Fox Hunters pictured right to left are Guy KD2TLF, Zina KD2UEO, Bill KD2UEN, Rob W2RWS, Lloyd K2JVX and Steve K2GOG

Great, another DMR radio? But, with real 220 MHz?

Alinco was the first main stream amateur radio vendor to offer a DMR radio way back in 2016 with its  DJ-MD40 UHF only radio.  Less than two years later, they came to market with the dual band DJ-MD5TGP which included a GPS and was roughly based on the same reference design as the popular Anytone D878UV. Main stream being defined as Alinco often being included alongside Icom, Kenwood and Yaesu.

With many other radios such as the TYT MD-UV380, Radioddity GD-77, Baofeng DM-1801 and Ailunce HD1 offering dual band spectrum coverage at various price and feature differences, it looks like Alinco is about to offer its second generation version of its 2018 released "MD5" radio for short and it will offer a few things not found elsewhere, including a third band for some markets! 

This now further cements that Alinco is only going to focus on DMR for the amateur market, Kenwood and Icom on D-Star and Yaesu on Fusion for the time being until hopefully the HVDN backed M17 project and its TR-9 open source radio finds a manufacturing partner in China or maybe with one of the main stream vendors to stop fragmentation with so many competing digital modes.

How many MD5 are there?

There has always been some confusion while looking at discussion boards on Facebook as to how many different MD5 radios are there and the answer has always been two.

The DJ-MD5TGP has been the more expensive version and included a GPS.  The slightly lower cost DJ-MD5T is identical, but does not have the GPS and typically sells for $20 less.  Both versions are covered under the FCC ID of PH3DJ-MD5. The earlier DJ-MD40 can be found under FCC ID PH3DJ-MD5. 

The new, but not yet FCC certified Alinco DJ-MD5XT is going to likely require its own FCC ID as early documentation shows that this will be the first true tri-band DMR radio which will cover the 2m, 70cm and 1.25m amateur radio bands, plus extended receive above and below the VHF and UHF bands as usual. 

Looking in the just released computer programming software available on the Remtronix website, it clearly shows an option under MHF for 220 to 225 MHz.

Hackers are already salivating....

When it was discovered that certain band combinations would allow reception and transmission above 480 MHz just like in the Anytone D878UV and BTECH 6X2, Alinco was quick to issue new firmware to prevent this, but was easily bypassed with a 3rd party software tool to enable 480 to 520 MHz coverage. 

These extra frequencies are sought after in countries like Australia where there are UHF CB channels and in the United States where first responders such as New York City Police and Fire user channels above 480 MHz. 

Without spending time attempting to get an Alinco MD-5TGP with or without the patched 1.13c or 1.10 firmware to work with the CPS 1.09a meant for the new Alinco DJ-MD5XT, it would likely appear that the new Alinco DJ-MDXT due to having a band option meant for 1.25m should suggest there is different hardware inside that will offer safe operation of the 220 MHz band.

While many radios mentioned in this article can be "hacked" to give the impression they will work on the 1.25 band, it is not suggested to transmit as it will ruin the RF power amplifier and filtering in the radio since it is not designed for that spectrum.  Hopefully the Alinco DJ-MD5XT will support this great and underutilized band available only in the United States and few other countries globally. 

Related Reading

• FLASH NEWS!: Alinco MD-5 Series Cleared by FCC (Published Sept 20th 2018)

• The Official "NOT" Review of the Alinco MD-5 Series (Published Oct 4th 2018)

• Review: Alinco DJ-MD5T Series DMR Radio (Published Nov 7th 2018)

• Teardown: Expanded Alinco DJ-MD5TGP Review (Published Nov 18th 2018)

• Frequency Expansion: Alinco DJ-MD5TGP (Published March 7th 2019)

May 2020 Global Digital Repeater Roundup

Two times each year, HVDN tracks the total growth of digital voice repeaters.  Since 2016, there has been a tremendous increase of repeaters that support DMR, P25, NXDN, Fusion and D-Star digital voice amateur communication. 

Much has happened in the world since October 2019 and it does not seem like repeater growth trends have been drastically affected by the global COVID-19 pandemic after looking at the May 2020 data.  

All data pulled for this update was done on May 29th 2020 at 3:00 PM Eastern US time.

May 2020 Global Digital Voice Repeater Roundup

The data source used to compile this information is repeaterbook.com which is often very reliable and accurate.  

There are no major surprises across the top 3 adopted digital voice modes other than that D-Star continues to trend towards stagnation with a measly 0.74% growth in new repeater deployments globally in the last 9 months.  

For comparison, Fusion has grown 2.7% in the same period and DMR has an impressive 7.7% increase since our last update.

The only networks seeing more traffic on them are those that are driven by DMR.  Spending time in different virtual rooms in Fusion and D-Star have not seen much change, but DMR is a different story with Brandmeister, TGIF and DMR+ being just three networks enabled by DMR with many more users.

While Yaesu Fusion (C4FM) and Icom D-Star (GFSK) are the only "amateur only" digital modes, DMR (TDMA) thanks to its open standard is more unique and is why its the most popular with equipment vendors. Different products on the market drive more interest and purchases, which also drives reason behind repeaters for being around in the first place.

A blend of both commercial and amateur grade hand held and mobile radio DMR products create a wider multi-vendor ecosystem for users to select equipment from which helps the demand for additional repeaters.

Comparing Modes (Commercial & Amateur)

In comparison,  NXDN and P25 only have commercial products to chose from since they are directed at professional users. These are often only adopted by the amateur radio community as second hand or used products mainly due to original high costs.  

While limited ranges of attainable equipment for NXDN and P25 inhibits wide scale adoption by radio amateurs, it is interesting to see that P25 has a 6.7% growth of digital repeaters in the last 9 months which may be due to commercial equipment coming out of service and finding an immediate second life in the amateur radio community. 

In regards to NXDN, there is a much smaller set of data is available with more than 70% less NXDN repeaters compared to P25. 

The growth of NXDN repeaters has been a crazy 52.4% growth since HVDN started tracking the data four years ago, but at 126 repeaters globally, you have limited options compared to other modes.

Why does DMR keep growing?

If there is one thing that has been made clear in past articles, the main reason why DMR continues to see wide adoption is cheap equipment.   

First, lets look at Icom and the D-Star ecosystem.  Late 2016 is when the first non-Icom branded D-Star radio came to market since 2004.  

The Kenwood TH-D74 marked a momentous occasion for D-Star enthusiasts, but at over $500 USD, only very picky amateurs have purchased this radio and many of them buying it for the total sum of all other features and not just D-Star.

In comparison to the pricey Kenwood TH-D74 which has been reviewed here on HVDN as well as used to demonstrate satellite communications at public events, the Icom ID-51A Plus 2 model up until recently retailed for $349.95 USD as the only other dual band D-Star capable hand held radio. 

The Anytone D878 is considered the current "flagship" DMR dual band handheld at only $209 USD for comparison.

Icom: Cause and effect

Icom has decided to discontinue this radio and blames the inability to source components for it thanks to supply chain disruptions in China during the Corona Virus situation.  

This honestly sounds like an excuse to either let D-Star finally die off or for them to reboot Icom around a lower cost range of equipment like what Yaesu has done to propel its Fusion ecosystem to new heights.

The real curious thing right now about Icom without a dual band digital voice D-Star handheld radio is that its upcoming but also delayed portable HF/VHF/UHF IC-705 radio was to use the same battery pack as the ID-51 series.  

If Icom will turn the corner and be relevant in a post COVID world, they need to release the IC-705 and also put out battery compatible hand held radios to drive an Icom lifestyle ecosystem.  

The strategy they hinted at in building an ecosystem around a common accessory such as a battery would have been genius, but now it looks like many are confused as to what is going on with that company.

Feeling the Fusion with Yaesu

Its not worth spending much time talking about Yaesu as they launched a number of mono and dual band fusion capable radios at affordable prices and this seems to have worked well for them if we go on the growth of repeaters when most mobile users depend on reliable communication infrastructure to communicate through.  

The FT-3200DR 2m only Fusion mobile though was just discontinued after a short life on the market, but the identical FTM-3207DR for 70cm use is still an active product at less than $180 for a 55 W UHF only radio. 

Right now it appears the new FTM-300DR (pictured below) dual band mobile for under $500 will be a popular new radio as a slightly less expensive option compared to the $100+ more expensive FTM-400XDR.  

But, for those looking for a dual band fusion mobile on a budget, the FTM-7250DR at less than $220 is a tough deal to beat and for even Icom to compete with in the mobile category.

Yaesu even seems to have worked out the strategy for hand held radios by offering its FT-70 dual band Fusion radio for around $170 USD and as low as $130 USD on sale.  They also have the higher end and feature packed FT-3DR for $389.99 USD.  

Essentially with Yaesu Fusion, for under $400 in total, you could buy at FT-70 handheld plus an FTM-7250 mobile and that is hard to beat even compared to any DMR or D-Star combination of both categories.

The change of Yaesu's portfolio and pricing tiers started in 2018, for technology that rolled out in 2013.  Prior to 2018, Fusion seemed to be on life support much like D-Star has been for at least the last ten years. It is good to see Yaesu leveraging the supply chain and listening to customers to drive its business.

If anyone caught reference to using a bonsai tree as the banner image for this article, its pretty clear that one of the two Japanese vendors has intentionally stunted growth for its digital voice strategy for the foreseeable future. 

HVDN does hope this near term three step backward approach from Icom may take them five steps forward via the IC-705 and possibly some new D-Star equipment offered by Icom or maybe another vendor like Kenwood, which has also dwarfed its product portfolio in recent years. Both vendors may surprise the community if they have been watching Yaesu, Anytone and others with competing digital voice offerings. 

China:  Land of the DMR radio vendor

In our October 2019 update, we mentioned the Anytone D578 pictured below which is the first true dual band, dual receive DMR radio available on the market. 

This, plus the popular CSI, TYT and a few other products give the community more choice for use in a car or fixed location where higher transmit power is sought after as compared to the vendor lock in strategy employed by Yaesu and Icom.

With the current economic and political situations influenced by COVID-19,  there could be a huge opportunity for Icom to ditch D-Star or introduce a dual D-Star/DMR product that would be a total game changer, especially if it incorporates AX.25 based APRS plus D-APRS along with the D-RATS capability. 

This is just wishful thinking now and it should be interesting to see what is new on the market in October 2020 and how repeater deployments trend through the rest of this and into next year.