JT65-HF HB9HQX + Microkeyer II + TS-590SG

I had a hard time to get this things configured, the most problematic was to get the PTT port recognised. It was in fact a small thing, in the JT65-HF HB9HQX, there is a verify COM Port. I unticked this and wallah, my PTT is working.

For my reference and probably others too in the future, here are the configurations that I have to make this thing working:

Microkeyer II configuration:

JT65-HF HB9HQX configuration:

And on my TS-590SG:

Menu 67 - 38400

Menu 69 - ACC2

Menu 70 - FRONT

Menu 73 - 4 

Menu 74 - 4

Displaying aprx-rf log onto 4x20 LCD display

Received a request on a short how-to to get the aprs packet shown in the 20x4 LCD display. The way I have for my setup are the following:

1. Raspberry Pi 3 (Raspberry Pi 2 will work, but below that, you need to have different kind of connection for the GPIO).
2. 20x4 LCD HD44780 or compatible screen.
3. Install lcdproc package ($ sudo apt-get install lcdproc)
4. A modified HD44780 driver,

I'm using the following diagram for my LCD connection to the GPIO lines. Ignore the temp sensor connection.

*Connection diagram taken from rototron.info website.

The how-to to get the LCD working can be found on the http://www.rototron.info/lcdproc-tutorial-for-raspberry-pi/ too.

A modified HD44780 driver can be found down below along with my python code.

Or download or compile your own following the thread in the following forum link:

https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=100066

This modified driver need to be moved into /usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/lcdproc/ directory and replacing the driver that comes with the lcdproc package.

Add the correct configuration (if missing) from your /etc/LCDd.conf. I've the following:

[server]

DriverPath=/usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/lcdproc/

NextScreenKey=Right

PrevScreenKey=Left

ReportToSyslog=yes

ToggleRotateKey=Enter

Driver=hd44780
ServerScreen=no

[hd44780]

ConnectionType=raspberrypi

Size=20x4

Done with the above, you can test your LCD setup if it is working correctly, run the LCD and lcdproc daemon:

$ sudo /etc/init.d/LCDd start
$ sudo /etc/init.d/lcdproc start

The above should bring up your LCD alive and show the cpu information etc if everything set correctly. You can enable or disable what to be displayed in configuration file /etc/lcdproc.conf. For me, I've disabled most of them except the cpu information.

Now, you've got the LCD working. Great, now the fun part to code a simple python script so that it will read the aprx log file and display the last line into the LCD screen. You need at least a Python 2.7 which I believe should be installed as default. You also need few more packages, namely the aprslib (to parse APRS packets), lcdproc (for displaying to LCD) and LatLon (for calculating distance).

To install the lastest aprslib python package, please refer to the following website:

https://pypi.python.org/pypi/aprslib

To install the latest lcdproc package, you can refer to the official website:

https://github.com/jinglemansweep/lcdproc

And lastly the LatLon package can be found here:

https://pypi.python.org/pypi/LatLon/1.0.2

My lovely looking python coding, modified driver and startup script to get everything to appear on LCD screen can be found here:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_kYO6BlPebVdjR4QUJuVkM2dG8

To run the above python code, just run it against the aprx-rf.log, example:

$python aprx_lcd.py /var/log/aprx-rf.log

I have it running as a daemon by creating a startup script in /etc/init.d/. Sample can be found in the above file in my google drive.

Have fun!

9M2MI IOTA/ILLW 2016 DXpedition

A bit late in posting this entry. I was one of the crew members that went for the IOTA/ILLW 2016 DXpedition at Pulau Undan.

Here is the video made by my friend, 9W2SBD (also one of the crew). Enjoy!

TNC-Pi 2 + Raspberry Pi 2 + LCDProc

It has been a while my igate was down because of lightning strike and I have never got a chance to bring it alive again. It was few months back when I was bored and ordered a couple of TNC-Pi 2 from tnc-x.com. The kits arrived a couple of week later and had it assembled them in no time (the first kit was up and running on the same day I received the kits).

The first kit during assembly period (pardon my soldering skill):

The first kit done:

In operation, couldn't find a good case to put them in, so for now, this is the best I could do :)

Software wise, I'm running the latest Debian Jessie on Raspi 2, with the latest aprx, lcdproc and weewx. I've wrote a simple python code to read the aprs-rf.log file and pass it over to lcdproc to display it on a 20x4 LCD. This LCD is from my previous project that has been abandoned. Everything seems to work great so far.

My first python code (pardon the coding style), can be found here.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_kYO6BlPebVcldWTVdoaS13OVE

Pipo X9S - USB2 problem and double driver dump

In a search for a low cost, low power Wires-X node PC. I came across one that I thought will ticked all the requirements but I was wrong. Yes, Pipo X9S ticked some of the requirements but the major hurdle to get the USB to stay connected put me wrong! I've tried everything including flashing the firmware twice. The firmware is 5.8GB big and currently available from Baidu cloud and I believe you'll be not the only one having problem downloading it there. If there is a request, I will try to put the firmware available from public cloud server. For those who're asking why is the firmware is so big, well, it is actually a full Windows 10 home WinPE image.

Pipo has made the firmware image available on google drive, download all the 8 parts and use unrar/winrar to extract the files:

X9s Windows 10 part 01
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B53...ew?usp=sharing 
X9s Windows 10 part 02
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B53...ew?usp=sharing
X9s Windows 10 part 03
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B53...ew?usp=sharing
X9s Windows 10 part 04
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B53...ew?usp=sharing
X9s Windows 10 part 05
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B53...ew?usp=sharing
X9s Windows 10 part 06
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B53...ew?usp=sharing
X9s Windows 10 part 07
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B53...ew?usp=sharing
X9s Windows 10 part 08
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B53...ew?usp=sharing

Anyway, spent the past few days to get USB working and I've already lost hope on this PC already. I've done all the tricks found on the internet but the USB devices can hold only for few minutes before the usual USB disconnected chime coming up and the USB device could not recognised pop-up from the task bar. I've done the trick of re-installing the driver for USB hub, this will fix it for few minutes before the chime coming back again.

UPDATE: I was playing around with the BIOS last night, I did two things but have no idea which one really 'solved' the problem. In the South Bridge USB setup, there is an option call USB2 PHY Power Gating and it was set to Enabled. I changed that to Disabled. And another thing is in the Boot section where I disabled the Quite Boot setting. I believe the South Bridge USB setting probably the one. I haven't got any USB unrecognised messages till now.

UPDATE 2: It seems that when the system went into sleep mode, the USB devices will get disconnected and become unrecognised. So, the problem still persist. For now, under the Power Management properties, I've set them to not "Allow the computer to turn off device to save power".

Since I believe many are looking for having a fresh Windows 10 installation on this PC, I've done a drivers dump. I was using the double drive dump utility which can be found here (http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/double_driver.html). I hope this will help some of you guys who're looking for the drivers. Beware, this is x64 drivers since X9S comes with 64-bit Win10 Home.

1. Non-Intel, Non-Microsoft drivers for X9S can be downloaded from here (8MB):

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_kYO6BlPebVUFRHcGI2TWZUMUk

2. Non-Microsoft drivers for X9S can be downloaded here (224MB):

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_kYO6BlPebVa2h2dkd1MHpsdEE

The first file should include the audio, network, wifi, sensors and touch screen. The second file contains Intel Cherry Trail drivers I believe, hence, the size.

DV4 Mini + Raspberry Pi + Yaesu Fusion

Finally, thanks to Wireless Holdings LLC, my DV4 Mini dongle arrived yesterday by post. Mr postman was trying to deliver a day earlier but I wasn't in. So, yah, I got it a day late.

I ordered mine along with the little antenna which is good within the area of my house.

As per my previous post, I've prepared my Raspberry Pi 2 with the required software. With the help from Gary (KE2YK), I managed to have everything installed in no time. Since I bought my Raspberry Pi 2 with a TFT touch screen from aliexpress and there is no way to use the images prepared by others, I need to start from scratch. The hardest part is probably to get the correct mono version installed. BTW, I'm using Raspbian's Jessie distribution.

(Note: the aliexpress vendor sent me the wrong TFT screen and not as per my order, I couldn't really mount the raspi at the back of the 5" LCD display).

I've went on air this morning, first time QSO on dv4mini + yaesu fusion with James (WA2UMP) from NY. The quality is quite good. I've the raspi connected wirelessly to my Huwaei 3G dongle.

My next move probably will be having a DMR HT to test the DMR system. I wish that we could move forward with the digital voice thingy but with too many standards adopted by the manufacturers, this probably will not be an easy thing to do. A chicken and egg situation, nobody will adopt digital if the infrastructure is not available and nobody want to invest on the infrastructure if there is nobody going to use it.

9M4GPT - Yaesu Wires-X + Fusion System, and DV4 Mini too

Over the past few days last week, I spent some of my time setting up my Wires-X. Thanks to 9M2FRI/PA3FRI (OM Martin) who brought the HRI-200 from Netherlands. To prepare the Wires-X, I've bought myself an FTM100DR to be the gateway radio, FT2DR, a handheld so I could test it easily. I've my FTM400DR for quite sometime and that is my main radio in one of my car.

My current gateway setup, FTM100DR + HRI-200.



As of now, my Wires-X node is set to be in an analog mode. Reason being, there is no digital DR1X repeater available locally right now and the HRI-200 couldn't be set to do AMS AUTO.

The Wires-X running on my Windows 10 PC. Look for MY-9M4GPT node 14060 or Room MY-KL-9M4GPT. Someone will probably waiting for you to make a contact from all over the world.



I did my very first test in C4FM across the continent with VK4GO (OM Art from Australia) this morning. For some reason, the voice coming in from the internet to RF was quite soft when it was on analog. I need to take another look at how this Wires-X being setup. The quality in C4FM was excellent and this is my first real QSO in digital mode. I am looking forward to have a digital repeater and Wires-X set up in KL. I have no idea when this can be materialised but hopefully soon.

BTW. I have ordered a DV4 Mini last week and am currently waiting for it to arrive. Ordered mine from Wireless Holdings LLC in US since I couldn't get hold of one from their main distributor in Germany. The dongle seems to be like a hot cake, snapped in no time when they've them in stock. I will probably using my newly arrived Raspi2 along with the dongle for the hotspot setup. It will probably running on DMR, just need to wait for my DMR radio to be ordered of the Internet.