Huge Packet Loss: WB4APR goes SK

Bob Bruninga WB4APR has left a huge impact on the amateur radio community and will be missed greatly.  His legacy as the inventor of "Automatic Packet Reporting System" or APRS for short created entirely new product categories and use cases for low speed packet data dating back to the late 1980's. 

Almost 40 years later, the use of APRS continued to evolve and Bob was still very active in giving presentations and sharing ideas on how else to use this aspect of amateur radio even after he was diagnosed with cancer in 2020. His passing in February of 2022 was not a surprise, but something many hoped would not happen.

K2GOG's Kenwood TH-D74 receiving Bob WB4APR 
while traveling in Connecticut in 2017.

Remembering WB4APR: K2GOG Memories

Before I became a licensed radio amateur, a friend of mine, Scott WA2INP but was KB2UZQ back then, had an uncle James KB2RSB who was interested in connecting computers to radio.  

In the late 1990's, the internet was not what we know it as today and amateur radio "bulletin board systems" or BBS's were popular ways to share information across a network of VHF packet gateways on Long Island where I grew up. 

While most people at the time were using packet BBS from home, James was doing this from his car with a laptop, mobile radio and modem.

This was super interesting to me and I was motivated to make the jump from CB to amateur radio because of this moment in time.

Just a few years later, Kenwood released the TH-D7a handheld radio which had built in APRS and packet communications. I saved up money from my job at Radio Shack and traveled into Manhattan to Barry Electronics to purchase this new radio.

The owner, Barry, was surprised someone of my age (19?) has the cash to afford this expensive radio and wanted to make sure I could pay for it before he got it from his inventory. I forked over my obscene amount of cash for the radio, spare battery and speaker mic. My parents were not happy on how much money I just spent on my new hobby.

Playing with this radio on the Long Island Rail Road ride home was my entry to the future and something that even inspired my career which included LBS engineering at Sprint after leaving Radio Shack and before diving into the market research/advisory world I have been in ever since, focusing on commercial telematics and location aware technology among other things.

Soon after getting the battery charged up after the long train ride home, I connected the TH-D7ag to a Sharp OZ-770 pocket organizer which had serial terminal features.

Quickly I was then using the tiny organizer connected to my radio to connect to the local packet BBS. I think the first thing I downloaded over that 1200 baud connection was a basic overview of APRS.

A few pay checks later, I went to West Marine and purchased a Garmin GPSIII.  This was an early portable GPS unit which was as big as the Kenwood radio itself.  Connecting the GPS with a mess of bulky cables to the radio gave me the ability to share my location with other radio amateurs and share text messages back and forth. Demonstrating this at the LIMARC ARRL Field Day in 2003 amazed many people who could watch my location in real time as I rode my bike around the Field Day site and the signal was received by Rich N2STU, SK back under the shaded operating tents with computers.

Considering by 2004,  its crazy to imagine how far things have come since then about APRS. I have done so much with APRS over the past 17 years which is best saved for another day.

I have two parallel paths in the early 2000's which meant I could take my Motorola StarTac phone and connect it to my organizer to access the internet at a blazing 19.2kbps or use my ham radio gear for other communication needs.

Ever since that time, it has been fascinating to watch how mobile broadband and location aware communications has evolved in the commercial world as well as for the normal every day consumer with our smartphones today.

Over the years I would have occasional communication with Bob on a range of topics hobby and non hobby related, but still focused around situational awareness.

I owe a lot to Bob WB4APR for his contributions and he will be missed!

Lasting Impact of WB4APR

The amateur radio hobby has lost a huge asset and Bob will truly be missed.   While HVDN was only formed in 2017, APRS has been a very popular topic on our blog as the third most popular tag behind "DMR" and "SDR".  Here is a short list of some of the APRS focused articles to show how wide an impact Bob has made just in the last few years.

• Doing "data stuff" over VHF/UHF FM?

• APRS with your Alinco DJ-MD5XTG or Anytone AT-D878UVII

• What the heck is APRStt?

• UPCOMING 5/17/2021 HVDN:LIVE - Putting balloons into the sky with USMA

• The Farmacy Seeds Network Presents: Learning about APRS + more with Peter KC2ASA

• Sure to OK: Fixing the HG-UV98

• RDF in the HV with OMARC and HVDN

• APRS, LP-WAN and more with SDRangel

• HVDN:GO - APRS Bridge Contest 2020

• Building a Sound card Interface

• How To Guide: Satellite Based APRS iGate

• Review Update: New PicoAPRS Model(s) & Firmware Update

• Look Up! 2 Different Amateur Location Technolologies

• A National DMR Location Services Proposal

• Review: Xiaomi Mijia Dual Band Location Enabled HT

• Amateur Satellite Basics: Where, When & What to listen for

• Easy DMR GPS: MD-380G Tutorial

• PicoAPRS v2 Review & Test

• Mobilinkd TNC2: Bluetooth APRS on the cheap!

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

May 2021 Global Digital Repeater Roundup

Our May 2021 summary of the HVDN Global Digital Repeater Roundup marks our 9th edition in this series which tracks the evolution of digital voice mode popularity within the amateur radio community.

Starting back in October 2016, a fellow local club in the Hudson Valley was firm in not wanting to invest in a digital mode repeater until they knew based on fact, which was going to be the most popular mode to promote to its membership and find ways to fund. This is what spawned HVDN.

Hudson Valley Digital Network compiles data on repeaters based on freely available information found on the repeaterbook.com website.  While repeater deployments only tell a fraction of the story relating to the overall use of digital voice, they also are a great way to measure the health of amateur radio communities in certain locations around the world.

Repeaters are expensive to build, manage and operate  

The Overlook Mountain Amateur Radio Club in New York operates two analog FM VHF repeaters, with one of those being considered a wide area repeater. 

This sole wide area repeater has proven to be a major resource in creating a social and positive atmosphere which attracts new membership to this club and offers an alternative for those not happy with overall "repeater culture" found in other area organizations. 

This repeater is also credited with providing a valuable mental health benefit during the early and dark days of the COVID situation. 

Without examples like the OMARC 146.805 MHz repeater, many other clubs around the world would find it hard to show value to its membership unless they are involved in other public awareness aspects beyond repeaters of any type.

Adding digital repeaters to the right club, enhances its  membership reach and community value but adding a digital repeater to the wrong club does nothing other than to deplete the club treasury.  

Careful decisions need to be made when considering how a repeater will be funded, managed and operated.

Not a New York or a Hudson Valley thing, but a global thing!

If clubs fail to innovate or provide services to its membership, they fail to grow.  When a club fails to grow,  its area competitors stand to take advantage in attracting new members or create reasons for  alternative organizations that can help educate or attract new amateur radio enthusiasts. 

Repeaters are often the lifeblood of many amateur radio clubs and need to be carefully considered. 

The above chart and table shows that DMR is by far the most popular digital mode with a staggering 148.42% growth over the last 5+ years globally.

The next closest contender is Yaesu's single vendor ecosystem Fusion System at a still impressive 106.91%.  

The oldest digital voice mode offered by the limited dual vendor ecosystem behind Icom D-Star comes it at a slow and steady 20.72%, even though it had a huge head start over its competitors for more than 10 years prior to 2016.

Since our last update in October 2020, DMR repeaters globally grew 7.97% compared to Fusion's 7.32% increase.  In contrast, Icom's D-Star only added 1.43% growth in the same time period.

With these three amateur designed and amateur only digital voice systems representing at least 9,146 global digital voice repeaters, its clear that the total number of next generation repeater systems is catching up fast to the approximate 17,000 total of analog repeaters world wide which has had about a total of 40 years to get to that point.

Should you still invest in DMR?

Every digital radio today supports legacy analog FM mode along with its newer digital friend be it DMR, as found in the popular Anytone D878 series of radio or any of the Yaesu, Icom or Kenwood counterparts capable of Fusion or D-Star.

Commercial standards like P25 are technically fastest growing mode at 157.27% over the last 5 years whereas NXDN is growing at 91.46%, but both lack consumer grade equipment and prices to really capture the hearts, minds and wallets of many amateur enthusiasts.

Since October 2020,  P25 global repeaters increased another 6.82%. NXDN grew at 13.76% but this is still mostly only happening in parts of the south eastern United States and is not considered true global growth.

All five of these modes do require licensing of the underlying technology to bring a new radio to market which impacts pricing and vendor ecosystem support.

There is a totally new open standard based on FDMA technology called M17 being developed by the amateur radio community which has a goal to circumvent some of these issues.

While most repeaters capable of supporting 9600bd data rate communications with 2.5PPM or better stability can be converted to work on any digital mode,  hand held or mobile radio equipment is not as ready to modify. 

Not having  ready made M17 capable radios are needed and not yet available. M17 wont be impacting new buying decisions of the amateur community in the near future.

Exit M17: Is the future here?

The M17 project which is supported by HVDN  as well as by a massive investment by Open Research Institute and a grant from Amateur Radio Digital Communications is unique since its developer community has found ways to modify DMR radio equipment such as the popular TYT MD-380 to transmit and receive M17 signals. 

The OpenTRX alternate firmware along with some hardware modifications are needed but is not a fully mature approach yet.

This is interesting since TDMA based DMR is very different than M17's FDMA architecture. More details on this can be found on the M17 Integrations summary page.

It is not likely that any of the Yaesu Fusion, Icom or Kenwood D-Star equipment will permit this type of modification, so purchasing any one of the many DMR products available today not only gives you the most popular digital voice mode along with legacy analog access, but could in the future be useful for M17 as it gains prominence.

To date, there are believed to be two M17 capable repeaters in development, but there is already a digital backbone being developed to support the future of digital repeaters and the many more hot spots that will likely result. 

Summary

So summarize all the above is easy:

• DMR is still the most popular digital mode

• DMR is not likely to be passed by anything in the near future

• There are more DMR capable radios to choose from and not as impacted by supply chain issues like Yaesu or Icom.

• If you travel, DMR is likely where to find more activity excluding the use of a hotspot.

• The latest Anytone D878 which has AX.25 packet (APRS) is by far the best $299 USD utility radio to invest in for now and the near future.

• Upgrading from an older TYT MD-380 or Radioddity GD77 to an Anytone or Alinco may give a good reason to modify your old radio to be used on M17 in the near future.

• Supporting the future of the hobby via the M17 project will ensure relevance for the future to show alternatives to HF or analog VHF for terrestrial communications.

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)

Review: Lanch HG-UV98 APRS 2m/70cm HT

Many amateur radio vendors now offer hand held radios with digital voice capability such as DMR, Fusion or D-Star modulation modes, but still lack easy to use data only functions that work across different vendors equipment.

AX.25 based APRS is the only current  protocol that will let users of some Yaesu, Kenwood and certain Icom equipment "talk data" to each other over non-voice means for point to point communications or through some type of infrastructure like a digipeater or the Brandmeister DMR network, Icom's D-Star and other API avenues that lead to websites like APRS.fi

Let us now explore the current crop of APRS capable hand held radios and introduce a low price alternative which offers this stalwart universal packet based data communication mode.

This review will talk about the $169.95 USD Lanch HG-UV98. This analog dual band (2m/70cm) with APRS radio has some tricks that make it unique in a world full of digital voice radios not found elsewhere.

What does the Lanch HG-UV98 compete with?

Lets start out by sharing a list of what current production model radios support both receive and/or transmit capability of 1200 baud AX.25 based APRS communications.

As we can see in the above table, the Lanch HG-UV98 is drastically less expensive than much of the competition when it comes to full featured APRS functionality.

While this early 2019 release radio does not offer digital voice modes like the majority compared in the above table, there are many things that make the HG-UV98 interesting more than the price.

The $500+ USD Kenwood TH-D74 is roughly the same
size as the $169.95 USD Lanch HG-UV98

Lanch HG-UV98 Basic Review

Nothing seems all too extraordinary, unless you are looking for a radio with data communication capability for under $200 USD.  The Lanch HG-UV98 will also appeal to users interested in asset tracking, experimentation, hacking, telemetry,  programming and casual analog voice communication. Basic specifications include:

• Receive: 136-174 MHz and 400-470 MHz
• Transmit: 136-174 MHz and 400-470 MHz
• Transmit Output: VHF = 5W High, 1W Low , UHF 4W High, 1W Low
• Memory Channels:  128
• Battery: 7.4 V 2500 mAH polymer Li-Ion 

The more exciting features are:

• 1200 baud APRS RX & TX
• Location with GPS, BeiDou, GLONASS selection
• Temperature sensor
• Barometric Pressure sensor
• Battery voltage telemetry
• One additional external I/O
• Bluetooth for PC/Phone pairing for APRS/GPS
• VHF & UHF simultaneous reception
• 5 V USB charging (Standard USB Micro connector)
• Color display with day/night option
• Plus more...

Detail on HG-UV98 Non-APRS features

All the usual features found in every modern handheld analog FM radio for voice communication  are included such as PL/CTCSS, DCS encode or decode, channel naming, etc.

The HG-UV98 is also dual watch in the same band, but not dual receive at the same time in the same band. Dual band receive at the same time is supported, which means a signal at 145.880 and 435.350 MHz can be heard through the speaker at the same time.

This may be of interest those interested in duplex operation via SO-50, AO-92, AO-91 and a few other satellites.

While you can dual watch 144.390 and 146.520 at the same time, you can only receive one of those signals at the same time and not both. You can set a TX or RX priority though to offer additional priority flexibility.

Lanch HG-UV98 CPS program is simple to use

The HG-UV98 lacks an audio mixer function such as the one found on the Kenwood and Yaesu radios. You can however enable mute on the "A" or "B" side of the HG-UV98 which is helpful if you want to use APRS on "A" but not hear the packet data bursts while listening to voice communication on the "B" side. This can also be flipped depending on user preference.

While strange at first thought, you can mute both sides of the radio at the same time, which may be interesting if you want to set APRS for both UHF and VHF at the same time as some sort of tracking device and not have any RX audio come out of the speaker, regardless of how you set the master volume knob. 

With APRS, you could even set side "A" as TX and "B" as RX or both. This is sort of a nice set of features offered in this radio which others lack.

Detail on HG-UV98 APRS Features

When it comes to APRS or other AX.25 packet communication, you are limited to 1200 baud compared to the faster but underutilized 9600 baud speed highlighted in the comparison chart.

This is not a shortcoming however, as the TNC in the HG-UV98 is hardware based which means more reliable decoding or encoding of packets. Based on testing, the overall experience RX or TX is on par with the Kenwood TH-D74 and has not missed a packet while field testing this radio during a recent travel excursion.

This is worth mentioning because the most economical "new purchase" entry route to APRS prior to the Lanch HG-UV98 was to use a simple $10 cable that would connect a low priced analog FM radio such as a $25 USD Baofeng UV-82 to a smartphone.

This approach uses a emulated software modem in software running on a smartphone or tablet and the use of "voice activation" to handle switching from transmit to receive which is not very reliable.

If your first taste of APRS was through this "Baofeng" method, the HG-UV98 should be your upgrade path unless you really want digital voice as found in other radios. 

The Lanch is going to be a truly night and day difference from the Baofeng UV82 or UV5R type of radio when used with the aforementioned cable.  The HG-UV98 is 100% self contained for APRS much like more expensive radios.

Here are some highlighted HG-UV98 features for APRS not found on other radios:

• Setting a different channel for RX or TX for APRS at the same time

• Setting a different channel or two channels or one over Bluetooth for APRS

• Setting different UNPROTO paths on different schedules (WIDE1-1, ARISS, etc)

• Setting APRS TX at timed intervals, after every PTT or smart options based on speed, etc

• Ability to toggle on/off the TX of in built atmospheric telemetry or voltage sensor data

Critical Compatibility Notes

Only the listed Kenwood and Yaesu radios can actually receive and transmit 1200 baud APRS, thus making them 100% compatible for two way data communications with the HG-UV98.

The Anytone AT-D878UV can only transmit APRS, so while those can be received on the HG-UV98, you can not transmit APRS back to the Anytone expecting the user will receive the message.

The only way for full two way communication via APRS with the HG-UV98 and radios such as the Icom ID-51, Anytone D878 and Alinco DJ-MD5TGP are via internet routing involving a hot spot or repeater plus looking at the APRS.fi website. This is NOT the same as legitimate APRS communication, so do not be fooled.


HG-UV98 Hardware Review

So far this article may be giving you a lot to think about, so lets switch to talking about the hardware to give your APRS section of your cranium a brief rest.

The included battery of the HG-UV98 has 2500 mAh capacity at 7.4 V.  Built in voltage measurement function reads is just as accurate compared to an external meter.  This is no big difference compared to other radios which have a similar battery specification like a TYT MD-UV380 and many other recent radios. The battery will not fit any other model radios though.

The really unique thing however is that the battery has a USB micro connector that allows you to charge the battery from either the included 12V to 5V USB "cigar/accessory" adapter or  the 120 VAC to 5V USB power cube along with the included USB "A" to USB "Micro Male" cable. A charge cradle is an optional accessory.

Simply put, this power flexibility should not to be overlooked for almost near universal charging capability.  All but the newest smartphones other than Apple or USB-C based devices made in the last 10 years have the USB micro connector.

The outside structure of the radio is very, very sturdy and feels solid in the hand. The battery has a special clasp that allows it to dock into the radio for an almost seamless fit.  The bottom of the HG-UV98 is stable to not tip over on flat surfaces even with the nice LED light built in to the bottom which can be controlled by different programmable buttons in the radio menu.

The default setting for the top mounted "orange" button at the top between the channel selector and SMA-J antenna connector is for controlling the LED flashlight and alarm functions. The SMA-J connector is the same one found on most other radios excluding the Kenwood, Icom, TYT and Yaesu radios which all use a standard SMA.  

The Alinco. Anytone and most other Chinese based low cost radios use the same antenna connector. The way to understand what an SMA-J connector is if it has a center pin instead of a socket at the center of the antenna connector on the radio itself.

The top of the radio also features a master volume and power switch plus a LED to indicate status of the radio during reception (green),  transmit (red) or scan (orange).  Blue flashes indicate APRS data packet reception and can be turned on or off.

While facing the front of the radio, the left side has a pair of programmable buttons and the PTT, which is angled for a feel sort of like the one on the Yaesu FT-70DR and some of the other "commercial inspired" radios they also offer for sale currently under the Vertex brand.

On the right side of the radio is a very nice gasket seal that can rotate which hides the standard "Kenwood/Baofeng" 2 pin connections for a speaker microphone.  This same port is what is used to program the radio or APRS modem.  

The USB micro on the battery is only for charging, not computer interfacing. The HG-UV98 can also be programmed over Bluetooth as well as to stream APRS, GPS or both. More on that later.

The front of the radio has back-lit keypad and soft functions that are well thought out and allows much easier toggling of GPS and APRS functions compared to some other radios.  

The only complaint with the keypad is that each key press has a loud click sound, but this may be considered a benefit to some users unless you are a covert operative on a special mission requiring absolute quiet.

Finally, the rear of the radio has connections for an optional drop in cradle charger and a rather nice belt clip.

Bluetooth and the HG-UV98

The HG-UV98 includes Bluetooth connectivity and the ability to pair the radio to any device that expects to receive KISS,  UI, GPWPL or KISS Acs.  This all means that the GPS and APRS data can seamlessly pass through to devices like a laptop, smartphone or tablet when using applications like Pinpoint, APRSdroid or most other popular APRS or terminal programs like TeraTerm, Putty and more. 

For those interested in Winlink, the HG-UV98 will work perfectly with that and will not require a wire connected to your computer.  This may appeal to someone involved in "emergency amateur radio communications".  

If all you have is a computer and HG-UV98, you can probably put the radio in a tall tree to extend your APRS range since it will then communicate back to your computer via short range Bluetooth.

Having Bluetooth creates some nice user application scenarios for full two way keyboard to keyboard communication when the HG-UV98 is wireless paired to other devices.  

Compared to the Kenwood and Icom radios, pairing Bluetooth and being able to connect with minimal fuss at a later time is much easier.

HG-UV98 Software

The computer programming software or CPS for short is pretty basic. It is only used to program the channels and basic features of the radio which are mostly not related to APRS.  It is possible with very little work that the widely adopted C.H.I.R.P software could be made to work with the HG-UV98. There is also an Android application available for the HG-UV98 but is in early release stages at the date of this article.

There is a separate software package for programming the APRS features for the HG-UV98.  This software is based on the APRS51 based tracker and modem devices found on E-Bay or elsewhere which offers some commonality with other equipment.

The only quirk with the APRS software is that you can only read settings from the radio. In order to write new settings to the HG-UV98, you need to put the radio into upgrade mode by holding down PF1 side button while turning the radio on.

After you do this, its easy to write APRS settings to the radio. You will know this is done correctly when the "write" button is clickable as in the above photo.

This same procedure is also used when updating the firmware for the radio also.  Everything can be written to the radio via Bluetooth for APRS but not for programming the memory channels which is sort of curious. The default Bluetooth pairing code for the HG-UV98 is "1234"

HG-UV98 Bottom Line 

For the price, this is an interesting piece of equipment. It is a higher transmit power upgrade from the 1 Watt PicoAPRS devices as well as the APRS51 based devices found on E-Bay  like the $90 USD AVRT5 which are only for data communication.

Compared to basic voice only communication radios for roughly the same price, this is a nice upgrade if you are not looking for digital voice capability or wanting to spend over $400 USD for some form of digital voice, analog voice and full featured APRS.

There is certainly room for improvement on some small menu names such as sub-menu #3 for frequency step size found under main menu #1 Local Setup. This is spelled as "SETP" instead of "STEP" .

 Menu #6 for setting repeater shift direction is abbreviated as "SFT_D" but its clear there is more room to spell this out.

Having the ability to even switch between black on white or white on black text like most other radios also shows this is a well thought out user interface aside translation quirks between Chinese and English. For those with poor vision, the HG-UV98 also has a voice menu option that is implemented well.

Other menus have random ALL CAPITAL LETTERS while others are Partially Capitalized. Under the "Meteorological" setting, changing from Celsius to Fahrenheit or metric to standard does not seem to work.

The APRS software also has some related issues, but overall this is a good start for a new company that can be fixed with a later software upgrade.

Below shows the HG-UV98 paired to an Android smartphone via Bluetooth running APRSdroid software.  The telemetry shows that the temperature, barometric pressure, voltage and altitude along with speed and location are easily viewed.

One final comment in closing, is that there appears to be an unsigned Android application for programming the radio from a smartphone over Bluetooth or through a USB OTG connection, but I can not seem to get this to work.

While not sure, there could be inspiration from the Xiaomi Mijia Walkie Talkie we have reviewed before and it is known that the HVDN blog does have many Chinese readers who follow our feedback which may have influenced some product decisions that led to the creation of the HG-UV98.

If you are willing to experiment a little, this product is great but for those looking for 100% polished software elements, there will be reduced expectations. On the bright side, the hardware is certainly best of class in my opinion and would make a great purchase to anyone looking for a reasonable investment in APRS communication equipment.

Expect an update on this radio at a later date.

Supplementary Notes

• The Lanch HG-UV98 was independently reviewed by HVDN and was purchased from Venus I-Tech in 2Q2019

• The corporate website for Lanch is found at http://yw.qzlcdz.com 

• The firmware in the HG-UV98, serial number  AO9A00378 in this review was v1.0.1_190416 and is hardware v1.0.1

• The computer programming software, firmware, instruction manual and APRS configuration program can be found on the Venus, Lanch or HVDN websites.

• HG UV-98 User Manual (April 2019 release)

• HG UV-98 Radio Programming Software (v1)

• HG UV-98 APRS Configuration Software (v1) 

• HG UV-98 USB Drivers (Standard CH340 Drivers)

UPDATE 4/21/2020:  Please note the above hosted files are on the HVDN server and not the manufacturer website which appears to be down

Alinco DJ-MD5TGP: Upgrade Vocoder Process

It has been widely confirmed that the Alinco DJ-MD5TGP,  BTECH 6X2 and Anytone AT-D878 are essentially the same reference design and only have a few differences in hardware or software.

As discovered by Jason Reilly and his excellent page regarding the Anytone 868 and 878, it is possible for the user to change the vocoder.  This is done via software and is detailed here.

Alinco DJ-MD5TGP Baseband

HVDN was the first to point out that it was possible to expand the frequency range of the Alinco MD-MD5TGP.  The procedure for that was not far different than that of the Anytone, so upgrading the vocoder followed the same procedure with just a few differences.  Proceed at your own risk in doing this upgrade.

In our "Teardown: Expanded Alinco DJ-MD5TGP Review" article in November 2018, we pointed out the SICOMM SCT3258 chip and this is where the magic vocoder resides.

Go ahead and download this file from Jason's Tiny Upload link for the Anytone 878.  You can follow his instructions closely, but for the Alinco DJ-MD5TGP you will need to:

• Hold down # and PTT while turning the radio on to enter boot mode for SCT

• In the SICOMM software, you need to set the speed to 115200, not 9600 baud.

The Alinco DJ-MD5TGP used for this test already had version V2.01.05NJ. It was simple to upgrade to V2.01.07BA.  The receive audio seems to be even more pleasant now on DMR and preliminary audio reports seem positive, but more testing needs to be done.

Thank you Jason for all your great documentation!

More about the Alinco MD-5TGP via HVDN:

• Teardown: Expanded Alinco DJ-MD5TGP Review

• Review: Alinco DJ-MD5T Series DMR Radio

• FLASH NEWS!: Alinco MD-5 Series Cleared by FCC

• The Official "NOT" Review of the Alinco MD-5 Series

• Frequency Expansion: Alinco DJ-MD5TGP

• October 2018 Global Digital Repeater Round Up

Review: Alinco DJ-MD5T Series DMR Radio

This is the third official article on HVDN about the new Alinco DJ-MD5T series dual band DMR/analog handheld radio, but is the first actual review of this interesting communications tool.

The Alinco DJ-MD5TGP  was released
for sale in the United States in November 2018

Responsibility: Users & Vendors

DMR started life as an open standard digital voice mode for commercial use in 2005 and started to see early amateur radio adoption in 2009 through surplus commercial equipment.

Since 2012, use of DMR in amateur radio has been increasing quickly and starting in 2016 really took off compared to other standards in use by the amateur radio community.

Adoption of DMR has been largely attributed to low priced Chinese origin radios since DMR is an open standard and expensive intellectual property licenses were not needed, like the offerings from other vendors.

Amateur radio communities around the world generally like to expand the capability of existing equipment and radios such as the TYT MD-380 proved an interesting platform for experimentation.

While DMR equipment to date has offered features more appropriate to commercial users such as wide frequency coverage, amateur radio operators have generally been responsible to only use this equipment within amateur radio spectrum.

IMPACT: Recently in the United States, federal trade restrictions have impacted the ability for certain vendors to sell product legally due to source of geographic origin and frequency capability.

While no one country or vendor is to blame, global demand has created a great opportunity for a responsible vendor looking to sell DMR equipment to the amateur radio community.

Overview:  Alinco DJ-MD5T Series

The DJ-MD5T series radios now offered by Alinco is actually its second DMR offering marketed to the amateur radio community.  Model DJ-MD40 was released as a UHF only option in 2015 but saw little adoption because it was priced much higher than the popular TYT MD-380 or Connect System CS-750.

Alinco is now the first well known Japanese amateur radio vendor to offer a dual band DMR radio with the DJ-MD5 series.

Key Detail: There are two versions of the DJ-MD5.  DJ-MD5TGP includes a built in GPS and the DJ-MD5T does not include GPS capability.

For a price difference of less than $30, the GPS version may be the better option for most users to purchase for future resale value and application expansion. Do yourself a favor and do not cheap out.

Alinco MD-5 Series: Key Specifications 

• Configurable VHF/UHF Band Coverage
• Analog FM & Digital DMR Tier I and II
• Four RF Output Levels (5/2.5/1/0.2 W)
• 4,000 Channels (Configurable between 250 Zones of up to 250 channels each)
• 10,000 Talk Groups
• 160,000 Digital Contacts
• 2.32 (L) x 4.65 (H) x 1.57" (W/T)

Alinco MD-5 Series:  Key Features

• 1.7" OLED Color Display
•  VFO/Memory Mode
• FM Broadcast Reception (87-108)
• Repeater Offset Storage
• Path/Distance to Contact Location
• Text Messaging
• Auto Power Off
• Volume Min/Max Settings

Alinco MD-5TGP Review

With the Alinco DJ-MD5TGP now available for official purchase in early November, lets start off with talking about its configurable band coverage as illustrated below.  The model setting is configured through software and is not keypad programmable. This is a first for DMR radios.  Prior to this, only programmed channels can be "transmit disabled". Alinco allows entire areas of spectrum to be disabled for transmit capability.

There are 13 band configurations and option 11 should be what most amateur radio operators should focus on to remain compliant with amateur licensing and to prevent accidental "out of band" transmission.

Alinco DJ-MD5TGP programming software allows
one of thirteen profiles to be used depending on country or
operator specific legal preferences

RF Power Output

Users of the various hot spot devices such as those built on MMDVM and Pi-Star combinations or the latest OpenSpot2 may appreciate the 1/4 watt RF output setting as one of the four possible power options.

Major Benefit: Alinco DJ-MD5 battery life is greatly extended by using low power as to be expected with a hotspot.

Memory Configuration

There is ample storage for DMR specific information and is easy to understand compared to some other DMR radios and appropriate programming software. Common terms:

Digital Contact(s):  Sometimes referred to as the "User Database", this is where up to 160,000 user details with DMR ID, call-sign, name and location are entered.  

Loading the entire database of just parts of it help identify who is speaking just like a caller ID function on telephones.  

A great tool for gaining access to the DMR user database can be found at http://amateurradio.digital/

Talk Groups:  A separate area for the storage of up to 10,000 talk groups allows all the "official 1,170+ Brandmeister talk groups to be stored. 

It is possible to also store the same talk group number with different names to accommodate locally numbers talk groups that are not accessible over networks like Brandmeister, NEDECN, Phoenix, etc 

Channels:   Storage of frequency, repeater shift, analog/digital mode, time slot, talk group, channel name, color code, encode/decode tones, power setting, scan lists, group lists and more are done on a per channel basis.  4,000 channels can be created and stored.

Zones:  Multiple channels can be organized into a zone of up to 250 channels. 

Common examples would be for channels for a specific repeater with different talk groups,  simplex channels and local non-amateur communications such as first responder, rail, and marine communications.  Scan lists can be created much like how a scanning radio such as those made by Uniden and Whistler to not miss communications.

Display Feedback

The color display is easily readable in most lighting conditions and shows all important information.  Navigation for settings shown is done through two soft buttons under the display labeled in green and red.  An up and down arrow key performs further navigation functions along.

Vibrant display as found on the new Alinco DMR handheld radio

The keypad can be used to send DTMF tones or access different functions found in the menu.   Shortcuts or "hotkeys" can also be created to access frequently used functions.

Entry of most parameters of this FCC type accepted radio can be performed by the keypad, including a memory or VFO mode that allows the user to change frequencies to allow for monitoring and tactical changes easily.

The speaker is of a ported design and is above and below the keypad. The microphone is below the green button and above the "1" button. A menu in the radio and software can increase/decrease gain based on user preference.

There is no major need for an instruction manual for this radio as much of the configuration should be enabled in the included software which is easy to follow and understand.

Help and description menus are part of the software to help better understand certain functions. 

Here are few of the more interesting and fun features I think makes this radio a good option for beginner or experienced users.

Alinco MD-5 Series Advanced & Fun Features

A good amateur  radio should be easy to use for access to  information and communication and the Alinco MD-5 is no exception.

Reception in the United States of the National Weather Broadcast system found between 162-163 MHz is possible with the MD-5 and also the FM broadcast band from 87-108 MHz for music, news and more.

Cool Feature: The built in GPS will show location coordinates of the user and also the distance and direction to another DMR user. This function works "radio to radio" and also via Brandmeister based on either the self entered coordinates of a users hotspot or actual location.

A general complaint with many DMR radios with GPS has been no clear way to use it. The Alinco is the first radio aside from the Anytone D868 that has made attempts at this in order to compete with some of the benefits of APRS enabled radios.

Non-Voice Communication

The Alinco DJ-MD5 allows the user to send manually created or preprogrammed text messages while in DMR mode.  This is partially dependent on how each user programs each radio, but it is possible to have voice and text at the same time on the same frequency because of the TDMA based DMR mode time slot functionality.

Cool: How to send text and location data over DMR with TYT MD-380

Text messaging does not work over analog FM, so please consider this when considering the purchase of this or other DMR radios.  Text messaging is part of the ETSI standard that DMR is based on. There is no such standard for analog communications unless one is talking about AX.25 based APRS.

Other Functions

One of the best features of any radio is the ability for it to turn off after a period of in-activity.  Alinco offers this along with a power save function to cycle the receiver on and off to save battery.

The volume setting is unique with Alinco in that the user can create listener profiles to have maximum or minimum volume levels set to avoid ear damage or even by accidentally turning the volume all the way off and missing a potential call.

The Alinco DJ-MD5T offers interesting features like , but does not
include a "mosquito repellant" function as found on older analog Alinco radios
such as the DJ-195, SJ-S446 and others.

Every few years Alinco offers a radio with some rather interesting features, such as a "mosquito repellent" or "theft protection" feature like "digital monitor".

The MD-5 offers a menu called digital fun that has something very interesting called digital monitor.

This function lets the user in DMR mode allow either one or both time slots to be monitored at the same time.  A function like this can be helpful if the user does not know what time slot certain communications is supposed to take place on

A built in voice recorder allows both digital and analog voice recording for up to 14 hours. Other DMR radios only offer recording on DMR mode.  The Alinco not only allows received audio, but also what is spoken into the microphone.

Super Nice Feature: This may be interesting for those interested in satellite operation and recording of contacts for later playback

As illustrated, there is a lot of functionality this radio is capable of and should become pretty popular.

Any secrets?

The Anytone D868/D878 and BTECH 6X2 are very similar to the Alinco MD-5. Many of the software functions and operation of the radio are roughly about the same.

This will be the topic of a tear down of the MD-5 in the coming weeks, so please look for that on the HVDN Notebook by making use of the tag cloud feature for any content that covers the Alinco MD-5

Overall Verdict

• Build quality is excellent and the keypad numbering does not seem like it will wear off easily. 

• Audio quality for signal reception is pretty good and does not seem to struggle at maximum volume.

• Owners of other DMR radios should be able to learn the Alinco function set pretty easily

• Code plugs from other manufacturers will either partially or completely work with the Alinco MD-5

• Battery life is excellent and audio accessories are plentiful 

There will be much more to say about the Alinco MD-5 for sure and it will be interesting if Icom, Yaesu and Kenwood come out with something to compete with Alinco.

Thanks for reading. Ask some questions and share your own comments, if you dare.