Presentation Replay: It had a long title.....

 

Here is the jump to my replay of the "Top Ten: Democratic Open-Source Software Defined Radio and Amateur Radio Applications That Matter Today" presentation on Saturday. 

https://youtu.be/bEatax_cbKA?t=7520

Other related stuff here https://hvdn.org/hope16.html

Controversial SDR: Plus 3-D Printing Stuff

It has been a while since an article has posted here, so this should be a good one involving a controversial SDR plus some 3D printing tips related to designing a simple enclosure for it.

Quick Summary:  Saving you a 20 minute video

Why is everything about price? For usually under $30, this SDR can be purchased on a few websites like Aliexpress and I am NOT encouraging you to buy this. Why?  It has infringed on the intellectual property of SDRplay in some regards. The driver used to get this and other similar MSI2500 chip based devices to work not made by SDRplay is needed. 

Only until recent versions of the driver, cloned versions of the RSP1 could use the driver to work with software easily like SDRangel, but that stopped after SDRplay API version 3.7.  I am glad that SDRplay built in some functions to only allow genuine SDRplay products to work with some of its software.  

However, since reference designs have been made public on the SDRplay earlier devices, anyone can freely assemble different semiconductors to replicate a decent SDR.  The device shown in the video uses separate band pass filters which is actually nice so the user can have spectrum specific antennae in use without the extra noise or complexity of electronic switching or the need for software to control that. This is why the SDR is so inexpensive.

Now that enough time has passed since I purchased these "clone" SDR devices and there are some improvements to protect SDRplay in place, now is a great time to get back to this.

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805375754709.html

Any SDR based around the MSI2500 and MSI001 are unique compared to the R820T, 828D  and RTL2832U in that these support 10 MHz of bandwidth for around the same cost for those offering 3.2 MHz.  Another example is this one in a smaller form factor around the same size as the RTL-SDR devices, but with the extra filtering loses the wider frequency coverage above 1 GHz.

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804660151348.html

There is an older video from 2021 where I showed how to get the SDRplay driver working with SDRangel below, but the new video instead focuses on an enclosure I designed for these 5 port SDR devices since I forgot to order them. The benefit however is a small case and simple design.

Here is the 2021 video talking about getting the SDRplay API to allow an SDRplay. Please note that this will not work any longer due to changes made by SDRplay, but there is an alternative version available called libmirisdr you can search for on your own or until I make a video about that.

Would you like the STL or OBJ or 3MF or STEP files for my case design? Please leave some nice and friendly comments in the video called Controversial SDR: Plus 3-D Printing Stuff  and will see what happens next. :)

HOPE: Global Digital Repeater Round Up 2022

 

Life has been busy for Steve K2GOG and that is reflected in the lack of recent blog entries on HVDN Notebook.  This post "should" have happened in late May or early June, but that was not possible due to 1,000 other distractions such as our Hudson River Radio Relay on June 11th, ARRL Field Day on June 25/26, a new job, countless family adventures and other stuff..

However, lets get things back on track here since it has now been five years since HVDN began and this is an appropriate way to re-energize with HVDN readers via our twice a year global digital repeater roundup series. Look for more stuff coming soon plus BIG news regarding HVDN if you live in the Hudson Valley of New York.

First off, let me apologize for having to use July 10th 2022 data to provide the 1H22 reporting data.

This extra month plus a few extra days should not really throw anything too far off, since its still clear that the total global digital repeater mode leader in volume is DMR. However, P25 is the true leader if we look at overall CAGR.

As noted in the table above, data is shown from May of 2018 and through July of 2022.  Measurements are taken every end of May and end of October.  Raw data per mode is shown for each period and CAGR was calculated for the May and October periods independently. An average of both periods can be found at the far right of the table.

The below table shows the included 2016 data if you were wondering how long we have been tracking things if you are a new reader and missed the past nine other articles. 

Report:  What has happened in digital voice since October 2021?

Well this is rather interesting to say the least. In our October 2021 edition, I predicted some growth projections as found in "SPECIAL EDITION: 10,000+ Digital Repeaters - October 2021 Global Digital Repeater Roundup" and I was not "too" wrong.  

Estimates I predicted last October for May of 2022 included:

• Yaesu Fusion Global Repeaters = 3135 forecast (Actual 3218)

• Icom D-Star Global Repeaters = 2429 forecast (Actual 2471)

• DMR Global Repeaters = 4009 forecast (Actual 2003)

• P25 Global Repeaters = 569 forecast (Actual 630)

• NXDN Global Repeaters = 160 forecast (Actual 167)

Lets first talk about Yaesu Fusion's latest developments.  My guess is that the latest crop of radios which have come to market over the last 8-9 months may have pushed some clubs or repeater trustees to put up some additional repeaters to support the people who paid money for digital technology. 

A few radios like the mobile FTM-300DR and FTM-200DR plus FT-5DR handheld added to an existing pool of equipment available with C4FM capability.  The strategy of "Make more Fusion radios" is probably working well for Yaesu as a single vendor ecosystem.  Go Yaesu! You blew past my forecast!

Yaesu FTM-200DR pictured which retails for around $380 USD
and is competitive against other digital mode offerings for competition modes

Oh, sad sad Icom.  Will you figure things out when it comes to D-Star? To your credit, I was surprised just a little as I had expected that you would lose repeaters according to repeaterbook.com but you did actually gain a few. 

Now I am not sure if all 2471 around the world are actually active and if repeaterbook.com removes incorrect data as frequently as they should.  I do know that when traveling not every D-Star repeater is on the air though....so your secret is safe with me for now.

Maybe people who now have the super fun Icom IC-705 and IC-9700 have put pressure on magical repeater gnomes to conjure up a few more repeaters to use those expensive radios on or the new handheld ID-52 which finally is shipping. Maybe this is true, but CAGR still does not lie.  

Hovering around 1% CAGR is not fun to see, but perhaps if some cost effective equipment that supports D-Star ever comes to market, that should change things like we see with Fusion and DMR.

Be honest, did you buy a $1700+ Icom IC-9700 radio to talk on your local repeater?
If yes, I would love to hear about that

Ok, now for the record, I currently own more D-Star capable radios than I do for DMR. However, DMR is the mode I use the most still when I have time to play radio.  

The Alinco DJ-MD5XTG continues to be my favorite "ham" grade DMR radio and I sort of wish something more expensive and with features like the D-Star Kenwood TH-D74 or Yaesu FT-5DR would come to market. The RFinder B1 is a really cool radio which supports DMR but I am not interested in a smartphone based device for $1000 USD.  

With continued impressive repeater growth numbers for DMR, most people probably are using Anytone or Alinco equipment plus who ever is still supporting TYT and Radioddity based equipment.  The key thing here is that lower cost gear gave DMR a boost and repeater ninjas knew what to invest in.

For DMR, there is even a rather good  Under $30 basic radio called the COTRE CO01D which only can program 16 channels, but otherwise is great to use with a hotspot on limited talk groups. It is doubtful we will ever see a competing D-Star option at this price since the JARL license for D-Star is 2-3x the cost of just one of these radios. 

Alinco offers the MD520 which offers dual band 2m/70cm plus 220 MHz and VHF air receive. Anytone has a comparable D578UVIII for sale at around the same price. Both compete with the Fusion radios for close to the same price.

I was really close to my P25 prediction and was only off by 1. That is actually pretty nice.. Growth of P25 is fueled by surplus commercial equipment. NXDN is pretty much the same story and actual versus predicted growth from October 2021 to today  Not much really to talk about for equipment since options for new gear are from commercial companies only and surplus options are too varied to discuss.

The growth of P25 is interesting to continue to see though. As more municipalities change radio systems around, it should be interesting to see how P25 and NXDN evolve within amateur radio.

M17:  Will it happen ever?

Being nice here, but I own 3 total M17 T-shirts, a bunch of stickers and a semi-functional TYT MD-380 converted to be used via hotspot for this open source FDMA based mode.   I have yet to find people local to me to try simplex M17 to M17 but have done that at a hamfest.  

Every day that goes by  possibly gets us closer to off the shelf turn key equipment for M17 and I am hopeful that this mode explodes once it has some reliable equipment to support it. The back end infrastructure to connect repeaters to is already in place and a few "test" repeaters are sort of available to a few people. 

To help keep M17 top of mind,  presentations can be found all over the place and the upcoming HOPE conference will feature at least two of them talking about this open source mode. 

Feel free to check out open source RF experimentation at 10:00 AM Saturday July 23rd co-presented by Steve K2GOG and Joe NE2Z plus a much more legit one about M17 scheduled along with so many great ones found at https://scheduler.hope.net/new-hope/schedule/# 

HOPE 2022 is going to be epic and hope you can make it in person or virtually

EXCLUSIVE: APRS & AT Golden Packet Presentation

 

The perfect tape measure beam for RDF?

 

There are lots of instructions and videos about the 2m tape measure beam available already.  Here are some build ideas based on the different iterations I have built over the years which are originally based on Joe WB2HOL's version before he went SK.

Please visit: http://theleggios.net/wb2hol/projects/rdf/tape_bm.htm 

Mounting the directive and/or reflective elements

Rather than using small hose clamps to secure the elements to the boom, I originally used zip ties. This method worked well, but sometimes warped the elements at an angle.  Using electrical tape works better, is easy to replace, cuts down on weight and improves the radiation pattern of the antenna.

Using electrical tape is inexpensive, secure, neater and
does not influence the antenna pattern like hose clamps do.
(Photo Credit: Steve Bossert K2GOG)

Boom Material 

1/2 inch PVC T and crosses seem the best.  A few antennae I made used 3/4 inch conduit and junctions to improve ruggedness, but 1/2 inch has proven just fine and weighs less.  Only use PVC cement once you are happy with the construction to secure the junctions to the boom pieces.  

Friction fit construction may fail at the worst possible time, so glue your junctions.  The only real major benefit of 3/4 inch construction is that your elements can easily slide into them for storage or transport.  This is still possible with 1/2 inch fittings but is a little too tight and the elements will take up more room during transport.

Here is a 2 element version with the director and driven elements folded up.
(Photo Credit: Steve K2GOG) 

Is a current balun necessary?

After making identical versions of  2 or 3 element antenna with or without the balun, I find the pattern of the antenna is more stable with the balun.   Making sure the balun is close to the feed point is a really good idea.   

I drill two pair of holes a few inches apart to form the balun and the feed point goes into the boom for a clean construction. Drilling the holes as far to the interior of the PVC cross is a good idea in order to leave room for folded element storage.

Where the nut inside the PVC cross is where a crimp ring slides over the screw and is the secured by the nut. Outside the PVC cross is a washer and nut. Outside and on the top of the driven element is a star washer on top of the hairpin match.

Scrap off the tape measure paint on both sides. Use a little De-Oxit to ensure excellent conductivity and to prevent any future rust. The 5 inch hair pin match is made from steel clad copper wire and crimp rings with the insulator removed are used to ensure secure operation. The crimp rings are also soldered to the hair pin match for further reliability.  A flat and star washer keep everything tight together.

How to connect your radio to antenna?

I like making a neat looking antenna and I route the RG-58 through the boom and out the back end.  You can make a long tail with a BNC male on the end to connect to your radio or via an SMA to BNC adapter.  Here is what a 3 element version of the antenna looks like configured that way.

The other option is a little more technically challenging to describe where a female BNC is fitted on to the end of the boom instead.  For the photo below, I also drilled a hole to secure a length of 550 paracord to act as a wrist strap of sorts.  

Using a short jumper cable to connect to the radio is needed, but when traveling, not having a cable dangling is a nice benefit and does not offer that much signal loss or leakage if done nicely.

Make your boom grippy?

Self amalgamating insulation tape works great as a grip and it wont leave a sticky residue behind if you care to remove it later. This same tape is also great for protecting antenna connectors, so pick up a roll or two and I am sure you will find many uses for this stuff. 

Here is a 2 element and 3 element 144 MHz tape measure beam antennae using similar construction practices. Put some electrical tape on the antenna ends to prevent potential cuts or eye pokes.
(Photo Credit: Steve K2GOG)

Measurements 

Many articles like the WB2HOL article cover measurements and you can find what works best for you. The goal of this article was to focus on some construction improvements.

When tuning the antenna it is best to adjust the driven element for lowest SWR at your operating frequency first and then add your reflector or directors after. This should lower the SWR further.

You can squeeze the hair pin match element to get a better match and as long as you are using stiff wire, it will hold its shape. The hardware used in construction of these antenna do not noticeably affect the radiation pattern of the antenna.

If you plan to transmit with these antennae, please ensure you adjust for a good SWR to protect your radio transmit circuitry.

Using these antennae

The original use for this design was for radio direction finding, but both will also do just for for transmitting if you are interested in light weight directional antennae for use with summits on the air (SOTA) or other portable operating scenarios.

Remember, that there is a null in signal off the back of the antenna and to the sides. This will be helpful when finding hidden transmitters.  The null is more pronounced with the 3 element version, but the 2 element design works great for other reasons.

If you are looking for a fun and inexpensive project you can build, please give these a try.

Hudson Valley Digital Network in conjunction with other area amateur radio clubs will continue to hold hidden transmitter hunts, so please check our activity calendar for upcoming events.

Safety first.  Be sure to protect the ends of your antenna elements with
some electrical tape to prevent injury
(Photo Credit: Steve Bossert K2GOG)

ARRL Hudson Division Awards (2020 & 2021)

Saturday November 13th was the  ARRL Hudson Division Awards Lunch which recognized various achievements across the regional amateur radio community in 2020 and 2021 right here in the Hudson Valley and slightly beyond into Northern New Jersey, New York City and Long Island.

Many prizes related to the ARRL's branding of "Cycle 25" were given out all afternoon as well as the usual ARRL publications, including some donations by a latter to be mentioned award winner.  

Ria Jairam N2RJ, ARRL Hudson Division Director, did a fantastic job in pulling this years event together along with the Orange County Amateur Radio Club and it was great again to have some form of in person event take place which the Amateur Radio Relay League was able to visibly lead.

Joe K1JT accepting an achievement award during the ARRL Hudson Division Awards Lunch from Ria N2RJ (Photo Credit: Joe  CupanoNE2Z)

The first featured guest speaker was  Dr. Joe Taylor K1JT, the inventor of so many of the low signal to noise ratio modes enjoyed by everyone involved in HF data communications via FT8 and FT4 as well as those with loftier goals via meteor, tropo-scatter and "Moon Bounce" communications who diplomatically befriend to make radio contact beyond our atmosphere such as JT65 and others.

Here is the new QRP Labs QDX SDR transceiver capable of FT8 plus other modes which we have Joe K1JT to thank  which Neil W2NDG and Steve K2GOG of HVDN recently received and are
quickly trying to build in time for WFD 2022 (Source:  QRPlabs.com)

Following Joe was David NA2AA, the current ARRL CEO, and he talked about everything from major changes taking place within the ARRL to help modernize communication via video based content to better ways to engage the the population which Hudson Valley Digital Network has already been focused on since our inception in 2017. David's discussion was refreshing and encouraging. 

In 2021,  HVDN has 37% of our audience coming from where the ARRL needs help. David NA2AA wants to find more ways to even more closely focus on the 30-40 year old population.
(Source:  HVDN Leadership Team)

It was really great hearing more about the changes that are needed at the ARRL at the national level and also at the regional level straight from the top.  

With the current ARRL CEO not being afraid to speak about his 11m days openly along with other topics which predecessors stayed away from, it should be exciting to see what is next within the ARRL, including "Project X", which hopefully HVDN can be a beta tester for via our upcoming events like HR3:2022.   

The Hudson Division with Ria N2RJ and David NA2AA have lots of work to do and it was great to see them again in person along with an impressive number of section leaders at a sold out event with approximately 100 people attending.

David NA2AA talked about solar cycle 25 and its importance it can have for the hobby for more than the next 11 years to help us grow during a time where much of the amateur radio community is not getting any younger. (Photo Credit: Joe Cupano NE2Z)

So many amazing awards were given out during the event, including those for technical achievements such as David WO2X's remote station projects using NodeRed and Alan W2AEW's energy put into his wonderful YouTube channel with over 341 videos and 159,000 subscribers.  

Alan W2AEW 2020 Technical Achievement and David WO2X 2021 Technical Achievement winners of the ARRL Hudson Division Awards presented on November 13th 2021
(Photo Credit: Joe Cupano NE2Z)

It was great to see one of the Hudson River Radio Relay leadership team responsible for the 2021 N2S station receive the 2020 Grand Ole Ham Award in part thanks to all his many years of being part of the amateur radio community  Congrats Adam AE2AN on this award!!

Adam AE2AN sharing a few words during his 2020 Grand Ole Ham award reception thanks to Ria N2RJ and her wonderful children who helped keep things on track in the later parts of the afternoon.
(Photo Credit: Joe Cupano NE2Z)

There were many other awards given which can be read about on the Hudson Division and sectional websites next they are updated, but lets close this article by highlighting the amateur of the year in the ARRL Hudson Division for this and last year since COVID prevented an awards meeting in 2020.

2020 ARRL Hudson Division Amateur of the Year:  Richie Cetron K2KNB

Richie is well known to many members of Hudson Valley Digital Network since a few of us used to live on Long Island and became good friends with him over the years, especially through using the wide coverage W2VL 146.850 MHz repeater while commuting or while at home.

Richie won this same award in 2012 for his leadership following the Hurricane Sandy disaster that disrupted life for so many.  Providing communications and social well being after a disaster like that was important and while Richie earned this award, he was quick to point out it was the work of many who made this possible.

Fast forward to 2021,  Richie earned this same award for the year 2020 for similar recognition which also helped ensure social comfort at the height of the COVID pandemic.  

While there were other amateur radio clubs such as the Mt. Beacon ARC and Overlook Mtn. ARC which also held social wellness discussions twice daily, the Long Island Mobile Amateur Radio Club which Richie is President of required a lot more effort to keep it running via many net control operators and many expensive to maintain repeaters which can be heard by all of NYC, Long Island, Westchester and elsewhere.   

Richie is a wonderful recipient of  an award like this and many amateurs can learn much from him in how he leads by example. Being President of LIMARC for now 11 years in itself is no easy task either, so this award is well deserved. Congratulations Richie!

Richard "Richie" Cetron K2KNB was awarded the prestigious 2020 ARRL Hudson Division Amateur of the Year award for his tireless efforts during the heights of the COVID pandemic.
(Photo Credit:  Joe Cupano NE2Z) 

2021 ARRL Hudson Division Amateur of the Year:  Steve Bossert K2GOG

2021 was a tough year and just like Richie K2KNB, the recipient of the 2021 ARRL Hudson Division Amateur of the year award earned this through his work in organizing a safe multi club, multi site special event called Hudson River Radio Relay.

The goal of the event was to help raise awareness for Bannerman's Island since they are funded by donations and tours. The pandemic affected the upkeep of the island and the surrounding communities of the Hudson River.  With eight participating special event stations, the event helped bring together more than ten amateur radio clubs and our local communities in a time of  little in person safe activities.

Steve Bossert K2GOG, one of the co-founders of Hudson Valley Digital Network and main organizer of the event, was given this award and is also the first award recipient in the ARRL Hudson Division for not being a current ARRL member.   It was fantastic that that ARRL chose to honor Steve with this award and is also a great way that shows that the ARRL advocates for everyone involved in amateur radio and not just its current members.

While Steve has only been a radio amateur operator for 23 of his almost 41 years of age, he has learned a lot from mentors like Richie K2KNB and many others who were either at this event or sadly, have passed away into Silent Key land.  Being able to lead and organize an event like this with so many unique challenges and personalities involved was a huge honor.

Success of the Hudson River Radio Relay event is widely captured in the local media and Steve was focused on highlighting so many of the people who helped make a first year event during a pandemic a huge success, even in challenging times, he barely spoke of himself. Here is a video of his acceptance and almost a the very end of a very nice lunch amongst peers of all ages.

 

LimeSDR Mini & SDR#: Yes, it works....

Of all the SDR programs, SDR# still holds a special place in my heart. Until recently, it was hard to get the LimeSDR Mini working with this versatile piece of software.

Lucky for us, Goran Radivojevic (YT7PWR) has done some recent great work to make these two software defined radio things play nice together.

Step 1:  

DownloadSDRSharpLimeSDR_v02.zipfrom https://github.com/GoranRadivojevic/sdrsharp-limesdr/releases and unzip the folder content into where your version of SDR# is found. There are 3 files:

Step 2: 

Add the following line in the frontendPlugins sections of FrontEnds.xml file:

<add key="LimeSDR" value="SDRSharp.LimeSDR.LimeSDRIO,SDRSharp.LimeSDR" />

Step 3: 

Plug your LimeSDR Mini and load SDR#.  I am using release 1700. You should see LimeSDR in your drop down options under "Sources" just like where you would select RTL-SDR (USB).

Step 4: 

Click on the gear icon to open the setting for the LimeSDR Mini and hit the "refresh" button.  You should see the details for your LimeSDR Mini come up as pictured below.

Comments:

With the LimeSDR Mini attached to a laptop via a 6 foot USB cord, reception was fine with my "test setup". The signals shown on SDR# for the curious were two of my MMDVM hotspots operating on 427.585 MHz single slot  and 427.545 MHz dual slot running DMR mode. I pipe audio out of SDR# into DSDplus, but generally I prefer the simplicity of using SDRangel for decoding digital voice modes. Dragorn of Kismet fame printed the nice case for my Lime SDR Mini a while back.

Steve K2GOG

-----

Recent HVDN Notebook articles worth a look: 

• NXDN: What is it and where is it?

• Line of Sight: Aircraft Edition

• May 2019 Global Digital Repeater Roundup

• Timing is Everything: 7 Days with Kerberos SDR

Line Of Sight: Aircraft Edition

Definition: Line of Sight

Aircraft and radio waves are two great examples to talk about regarding line of sight.

Simply put, the higher the aircraft flies, the further a ground station can receive transponder signals at 1090 MHz or 978 MHz originating from an aircraft.  Obstructions on the ground such as mountains and tall buildings can obstruct the ability to receive all ADS-B transmissions at the ground level too.

The technology covered in this article is known as automatic dependent surveillance broadcast or ADS-B for short. A fancy GIF animation at the end of this article will help visualize reality from theory even further!

Compare:  Fact and Fiction   

The website "Hey, What's That!" is useful for identifying mountain peaks and line of sight for different forms of communication. The below map shows the theoretical range of ADS-B communications up to 10,000 and 30,000 feet elevation from the chosen center point at a known height.

Ground based obstructions have been accounted for on the map as noted by some local summits with the red push pins that make for great amateur radio SOTA destinations. 

A calculation of 47 foot above ground level for a total height of 256 feet was used for the same latitude and longitude coordinates six digits past the decimal point on the "Hey, What's That!" website in order to match the location of the HVDN ADS-B antenna location with high accuracy.

The "Blue" center dot clearly is not in the center. of the reception range. Its location was moved to calculate the distance to all aircraft from where I was located while I was authoring this article. This is one of many features available to those that gain access to the HVDN VRS. Details about HVDN membership can be found at the end of the article.

Comparison of the theoretical and real world values are very, very close when looking at both data sources.

Had the ADS-B antenna been located outside and above the roof line just a few feet higher, its possible that the two results would have been even closer.

The dark red "splat" is the historical reception report over time for aircraft up to 30,000 feet. The pink splat is for aircraft under 10,000 feet.

However, there is one thing to take in mind here, aircraft are not flying in every possible location which will account for some gaps in coverage when looking back at the theoretical map.

Is it worth the extra work in adding an outside antenna to gain the additional coverage benefits? This certainly is shaping up as a classic case of diminishing return, so read on to show how this was validated.

Detail:  Spot checking some results

The top photos are captured from the "Hey, what's that!" website for theoretical "potential" results. The lower photo is zoomed in from the HVDN Virtual Radar Server to complete the comparison against fact to cover real life reception results.

10,000 Foot Elevation Connecticut Comparison:   The projected range spike towards and over Springfield was accurate from the projection and actual reception results.

Add caption

30,000 Foot Elevation Finger Lakes Comparison: Coverage was just short of the prediction over Cayuga Lake, but awfully close.

10,000 Foot Elevation Long Island East End Comparison: Coverage fell short of the North Fork at 10,000 feet but air traffic is captured as noted by pictured aircraft which were at 14,000 and 18,000 feet pictured to right of coverage overlay.

30,000 Foot Altitude Over Delaware Bay Comparison: Coverage was pretty accurate based on traffic spikes compared to theoretical results.

Further Results:  Comparing Other ADS-B Feeder Sites

According to Flightaware's website, there are a number of close proximity feeder sites to where the HVDN primary site is located in the Hudson Valley of New York.

Only the two highlighted receivers on the map (Orange) have similar coverage of HVDN which must mean that the height above sea level for all three stations must be similar and may even be using near identical reception equipment to that of HVDN (Red)

Here is further evaluation of the public details each of the three stations provide.

Receiver Site #1:  Montgomery, NY - Flightaware 87114

Receiver #2: Poughkeepsie, NY - Flightaware 77960

Receiver #3: Middletown, NY - Flightaware 83104

For Fun:  What if.....

It would seem for the Hudson Valley, few interested seriously in ADS-B reception can really improve reception without a huge height increase or locating the antenna outside.

Steve K2GOG of HVDN thought it would be fun to model the benefits of increased antenna height, so check out our amazing use of animation skills below to see how much higher you need to go to literally receive every aircraft possible via line of site up to 10,000 (Orange line) and 30,000 (Blue line) feet.  

Perhaps it may be worth while putting the antenna up another 30 feet located outside. Interested in setting up your own ADS-B aircraft receiver?  Helpful links follow:

• HVDN Notebook February 22nd 2019:  Are you posh or not? Tracking aircraft

• HVDN Notebook April 6th 2018: Rare Aircraft Sightings: What have you "heard" lately?

• HVDN ADS-B & Related Section:  What is ADS-B?

• HVDN ADS-B & Related Section:  Even more about ADS-B!

• HVDN ADS-B & Related Section:  Donate for access

Another approach may just be easier to recruit ADS-B feed providers to just aggregate into the HVDN Virtual Radar Server to increase the range of reception for aircraft under 10,000 feet. Contact the author if there is interest in contributing to this.

May 2019 Global Digital Repeater Round Up

It is that time of year again, where Hudson Valley Digital Network analyzes the growth of digital voice amateur radio repeaters and provides some additional commentary behind what is helping to push towards the future of mode modulation.

Why May and October?

The month of May in most parts of the world means nicer weather and the start of the hamfest season in many countries. In the United States, many vendors typically announce new products just before, during or after the three day long Hamvention formerly of Dayton Ohio but now held nearby in much more "modern" facilities in nearby Xenia.

This event often impacts purchasing decisions of both end user devices (hand held radios, mobiles, hotspots) and wide area infrastructure such as repeaters or so called "mega-spots".  Taking a measurement just before this event helps not only provide normalized results, but give readers an opportunity to see a big spike in growth just after should they wish to look into this themselves!

The Anytone D878UV is a very popular DMR radio
due to its feature set, price, durability and accessories.

October is the next update before the onset of winter and holiday shopping season when vendors sometimes run promotional sales. Measurement at the start of the fourth fiscal quarter helps provide more normalized measurements to track how things are looking for the future of digital voice mode growth.

May 2019 Digital Repeater Growth

Basing HVDN's measurements on public repeaterbook.com data has multiple benefits.  This website is widely used by the amateur radio community and captures almost all repeaters globally. Most all heavily used repeaters will be listed here and the operators of these resources usually like to let others know they exist to highlight the technical expertise it takes to run a good repeater. These are the two major benefits and why we chose to base our analysis only on this websites data.

The data above tells a great story. DMR continues its upward trajectory mainly fueled by inexpensive hand held radios and hot spot devices which create the need for wide area repeaters.

Growth of DMR repeaters over the last 12 months was 18.6% which equals 34.4% of all total digital voice repeaters for the top 5 digital voice modes.

The single vendor supported FDMA based Yaesu Fusion mode grew a respectable 12.6% from May of 2018 to present.  With lowered cost hand held and mobile radios along with a few promotions that resulted in sold out or back ordered equipment early in 2019.

Some other reasons the mode also known as YSF or C4FM has been widely popular are its fuller range audio and easy programming requirements compared to most all other digital voice modes.

Icom's D-Star continues to struggle thanks to its limited and higher cost equipment. There was not a single new D-Star capable radio offered for sale in the last year that fit into the hand held of mobile category.

Aside from the Kenwood TH-D74 which is the only non-Icom radio to support D-Star the only new radio capable of D-Star is the $2,099 USD Icom IC-9700.

This high end base radio will appeal more towards those interested in satellite or weak signal communications in the 2m, 70, and 23cm bands. While the radio is capable of D-Star operation, this radio will likely not cause any uptick in repeater growth.  Of the three major digital voice modes, the 15 year old GFSK based D-Star only saw 2.9% growth.

Commercial To Amateur Impact

DMR started life as TDMA based MotoTRBO offered to commercial customers by Motorola before it was made an open ETSI standard. P25 and NXDN are two other commercial voice modes that have started to see adoption by the amateur radio community as commercial users generate surplus equipment as they adopt newer equipment.

While the numbers of deployed P25 and NXDN repeaters combined equals a microscopic 6% of digital voice repeaters globally, both modes showed promising repeater growth.  P25 repeaters increased 19.1% and NXDN grew 13.3% in the last year.

While these two modes still only account for 525 of 8305 repeaters globally, this is interesting because only commercial new or surplus equipment is available. An HVDN prediction is that these two modes will continue to erode potential D-Star growth as most amateurs seek to experiment with easily obtainable and low cost equipment that has a professional or multi use appeal.

The Kenwood NX-5300 is a analog FM, DMR, P25 and NXDN radio
 made for the commercial market but is starting to show up on E-Bay.

Further 2019 digital voice expectations

While this update focuses on repeater growth, it is getting harder to avoid talking about hotspot devices.   The cost of single or semi-duplex devices thanks to open hardware and software initiatives has continued to trend between $30 to $70 USD which offers an opportunity to those looking to experiment with digital voice while mobile or at home when a repeater is not reachable or even available.

Duplex hotspots are like miniature repeaters as Joe N1JTA referred to them as in his presentation given at the Trenton Computer Festival earlier this year.  Much more about learning how to run a wide area digital repeater can be learned from these devices, especially as it relates to DMR and its unique "two discussions, at the same time, on the same frequency" capability.

Costs for duplex hotspots have remained in the $60 to $150 USD range and will likely hold steady for the foreseeable future.

While the original OpenSpot device continues to be a favorite of digital mode enthusiasts, the next generation OpenSpot 2 fell way short of expectations based on its cost, poor Wi-Fi performance and lack of portable power option.

A well known Chinese ham known as Winters CN, BI7JTA has been an active contributor to the advancement of open hardware for a while now.  He has recently introduced a new product that is very exciting in that it solves all negative aspects of the OpenSpot 2 and at a lower cost.

As a finished product, its likely going to be popular as more people learn of it. Since it also is based around common footprint boards, it can be further enhanced by replacing its MMDVM boards with those of even higher quality by engineers like N5BOC and his popular products.

With Alinco and Anytone becoming two of the more popular vendors compared to TYT and Ailunce of last year, probably the most anticipated new digital voice equipment soon to enter the market is the Anytone D578 mobile.

This radio has many common features as the Alinco, Anytone and BTECH hand held radios but introduces something that will be a first for the amateur radio community.

A full control bluetooth remote microphone with display will help set this radio apart for those looking for "remote head" capable radios but with an easier to install approach.

Digital Voice:  Looking Forward

DMR looks well positioned to continue to dominate digital voice interests in amateur radio, but may be challenged by P25 or NXDN if vendors like Icom or Yaesu decide to leverage expertise in the commercial business lines and introduce them to the amateur radio community. Alinco who is the only large amateur radio vendor to offer DMR product to amateurs, but also has a range of commercial products that supports NXDN also.

Features such as location sharing, text messaging and infrastructure enabled intelligence continue to be explored