Latest news
- refactored the source directory into something cleaner
- pulled out vue components into own files
- cleaned up a few names to be more intuitive
- can now add and delete commgroups
- can now add commgroups from pre-made lists to the columns without having to add all of them
- table headers (both rows and columns) now “sticky” so the applicable headers are always visible when scrolling in either vertical or horizontal dimensions.
- switched to Sakura CSS and simplified the HTML a bunch too
- made a new Vue component for editing commgroups
FCS-152 inside pictures
The FCS-152 is a visual clone of the PRC-152. Largely meant for airsofters, this caught my eye because It has an aluminum body It uses standard .mil batteries and comes with an 18650 adapter and charger. It has an ESP32 as the primary MCU, which means it has wifi. The code running on the ESP32 is open source It looks cool as heck, and works with all the usual tactical headsets.M17 Quickstart TX HackRF
This is meant to be a series of short and sweet guide to a few ways to run M17 over RF today. This one focuses on transmitting and receiving M17 with m17-cxx-demod and GnuRadio. This’ll require a little more Linux familiarity than the OpenWebRX guide, but it’s not too bad.
I’d say the hardest part is making sure you have the right dependencies installed - on some linux systems it can be a real bear. If you run into any troubles, make sure to ask for help and we’ll try to sort it out and get it documented.
State of the Projects: August 2021
What’s new?
M17 Quickstart OpenWebRX
This is meant to be a series of short and sweet guide to a few ways to run M17 over RF today. This one focuses on receiving M17 with OpenWebRX.
DMR.Tools v0.7.5
I’ve just pushed the first version of DMR.Tools with a backend server. The highlight for this release is the easy firmware upgrade to OpenRTX releases, and the easy flashing of OEM firmware. There’s a LOT more coming, (codeplug editing!) but it’s not fully ready so it’s disabled right now.DMR.Tools: Backend server work started
I’ve broken ground on the backend server for DMR.Tools and ProgramRadios.com.
WebUSB TYT radio firmware updates
I got firmware updates through WebUSB working for 1st and 2nd gen TYT radios last night.
DMR.Tools/ProgramRadios.com 2021 New Year update (And launch!)
2020 has been a hard year. With family medical issues, a dying (and now passed) dog, the end of 2020 was particularly rough.
There’s one bright point - I soft launched DMR.Tools, specifically to help my first user.
ProgramRadios Update 2020/11/19
Some new updates for ProgramRadios/DMRTools involving encryption keys.
M17 and ORI
Open Research Institute (ORI) has sponsored us (M17)!
Check us out on their projects page, and keep reading to see why this is good for M17.
M17 mrefd and pyM17: Prototyping M17 reflector applications
I’ve added mrefd reflector support to pyM17, so now you can talk to existing M17-REF reflectors using Python.
Code and details after the break.
mrefd and mvoice
A reflector for a mode like M17 is something like a chat server - it has rooms or channels, called “modules”, and whoever talks in one channel gets broadcast out to all other nodes in that same channel.
These channels can also be linked with channels on other reflectors, which allows for creating vast networks of audio conferences for linking ham radio clients together around the world.
I’ve never actually used a reflector like mrefd, but someone on IRC reported constant “connect” messages being printed to the screen attempting to link to M17-POL, but no packets being sent.
License comparison
One of the beta testers for my FCC itinerant business radio licensing guide pointed out that the equivalent license through BuyTwoWayRadios would have cost $1600.
Holy smokes.
Building a TR-9
M17 (the project) have designed a radio called the TR-9 that speaks M17 (the protocol).
Only SP5WWP has built one so far, and he’s getting all the fun software development so I have to catch up and build one too so he can’t hog the fun parts.
I’ve been videoing the build process (Youtube).
ProgramRadios updates and led strip status bar
I spent a bunch of time on the ProgramRadios and DMR Tools source today.
These are web based radio programming tools for DMR radios - there are no competitors, and I have a pretty slick programming paradigm that hasn’t been seen before - makes it a lot easier to create, manage, and update large complicated codeplugs. They’re also nearly ready for beta testers, so get on my mailing list if you’re interested.
Biggest improvements:
Announcing RFLabs directory
I’ve just created a site to list places and people with test equipment that they’re willing to allow other ham radio operators to use.
The idea is to support radio homebrewers by making good quality test equipment more available, and possibly restart the elmering community.
It’s at https://rflabs.tarxvf.tech/ but keep reading to understand the motivation behind its creation.