Coronavirus, Part 2

"EVERYBODY is a carrier!" - The XYL

One full work week into self-isolation with the XYL while home schooling our granddaughter...

Everybody survived.

The XYL is an elementary school teacher in a school system that a few years back tossed their local (and poorly performing) IT infrastructure overboard and adopted Google for Education. So for her, the transition to a 'distance education' paradigm was relatively easy. At least the school system had the tools in place, and a good experience base among both the teachers and many of the parents. Not all. But many.

Since our granddaughter's school was closed and both parents work in law enforcement (and HAD to show up for work), we volunteered to home school her. Her 'classroom' was set up right next to the XYL's, on the same table. Kind of a cute setup, actually. But the granddaughter went through something of an adjustment process - it took her a while to realize the lady she was sitting next to wasn't her normally squishy grandmother, but was in fact her hard nosed teacher. There were a few bumps along that road.

As for me, my employer (a very busy commercial airport) sent most people home to 'telework'. Most departments were utterly unprepared for 'telework', and the technology base - laptops and web-based services like Office 365 - were not in-place to enable this new work-from-home concept. My particular group was one of the exceptions. Years ago we transitioned almost everything to cloud-based services, even going so far as to adopt Amazon Workspaces to host our desktop production software. Moving everyone to a home-based work paradigm was relatively easy.

I also took the time to play radio. I'm interested in tracking how this particular pandemic situation - enforced isolation, yet with full and uninterrupted services - impacts how groups like ARES provides communications support. If you think about it, what we are facing with the Coronavirus is almost the exact opposite of what ARES normally trains for. Most of our disaster scenarios involve a disruption of essential services (electricity, internet, phone), and an aggregation of individuals in shelters or other meeting places. So far the comms support requirements seem to be little more than the old Army concept of 'stand-by to stand-by'; open your nets, exercise them, and wait for further instructions. After listening to a few nets through the week, here's some observations:

• The bubbas need to stay off the air
• DSTAR is getting a good workout

Why do the bubbas need to stay off the air? Well, if you listened to the first Georgia ARES HF net that took place the day ARES started daily net ops, you'd understand. Net discipline was awful. The concepts of critical information only, brevity, and proper net protocols went right out the window. Bubbas from one end of the state to the other reported on everything from the health of their pet cats to the tread depth of their pickup truck tires. It was embarrassing. Things seem to be under control now, with better net discipline in-place. I just pray to God that nobody from GEMA was listening to that first net.

Next, DSTAR seems to be clicking right along. More accurately, Georgia ARES use of DSTAR seems to be clicking right along, and DSTAR's use as an EMCOMM backbone in Georgia may have actually found its place. There are several well run DSTAR status update nets every day, and folks with limited DSTAR proficiency are getting good training. The Coronavirus experience may cause me to change my normal sour opinion of DSTAR in this role.

I've taken the time to evaluate my personal equipment and training status. It's rare when I say "I've got enough toys", but I really do. I found I lack a few odd connectors for this-and-that, and my mix of coax lengths may be a little off (too many 200' runs, not enough 50' runs), but other than that, I'm set. In preparation for next week's Fayette ARES NVIS Day event I still need to set up my antenna(s) and test them, but I'm waiting for a break in the weather to do that.

So that's it for this week. Stay healthy.

W8BYH out

Coronavirus, Part 1

For the love of God, will ya'll get a grip on yourselves?

When all this is over (and it will be soon) there's going to be plenty of people sitting in their living rooms, staring at their mountains of toilet paper, paper towels, bottles of Clorox, gallon jugs of liquid soap, cases of canned soup and pallets of ramen noodles, and and suffering from buyers remorse. Someone posted earlier today that once things calm down we'll see all this stuff flow back to the stores as the Wal-Mart crowd realizes they spent all of their rent money on useless panic supplies. I believe it.

As you may imagine, the Coronavirus is spurring a lot of Amateur Radio activity, as ARES winds up to provide whatever EMCOMM support may be needed. My disaster scenario planning had always focused on short term, high impact events like hurricanes, earthquakes or tornado swarms. With COVID-19 we're facing a scenario that I never gave much thought to:

• a world-wide pandemic brought on by an easily transmitted virus with a relatively low mortality rate
• proactive self-isolation measures that keep healthy, productive individuals temporarily out of the workforce
• health care measures put in place to spread out the infection rate over time, to keep hospitalization rates at a manageable level. The disease is relatively easy to treat, we just can't treat everyone at the same time
• A generally calm but watchful outlook, and no impact on basic services and utilities. Other than the aforementioned panic buying, everybody's behaving themselves and the lights are staying on

This has put ARES and other EMCOMM services into a watch, wait and evaluate mode. There's increased emphasis, and interest, in state-wide and regional nets, folks are boning up on their digital communications skills, and evaluating their equipment.

This morning I decided to play 'carport portable' to test and practice a few things. I set my current EMCOMM station up on my work table and stuck a 40 meter hamstick dipole up in the air. The goal was to test JS8CALL and WinLink.

I'm a big supporter of hamstick dipoles for EMCOMM work, as a fast deployment antenna system that gets you on the air as quickly as possible. Yes, I know they are very narrow banded (particularly in the lower bands), are not at all efficient and don't 'hear' very well, but if  you need to get up and operating ASAP these things can't be beat. While my Chameleon vertical antenna that mounts on a similar tripod is more broad-banded, it takes at least 50% more time to set up. It's worth the effort, but if you are in a real-world emergency and only need to operate on one band, take a look at the hamstick dipole setup.

As far as other equipment goes, it looks like I'm very well set up. My biggest concern right now is battery capacity. The limiting factor for digital operations now seems to be my laptop battery. Maybe it's time to head over to Amazon or eBay...

More later.

W8BYH out (and Coronavirus free)

Yaesu FT-991A vs. Icom IC-7100

Right now I'm following an odd on-line discussion on QRZ.com regarding the Yaesu FT-991A. There's no small amount of FT-991A bashing going on. But what makes this discussion odd is that it's taking place on the 'Online Swapmeet' portion of the website, and it's the guy selling the radio who started the bashing!

Heck of a way to make a sale. It's almost like he really doesn't want to get rid of it.

A number of people in the discussion are comparing the FT-991A to the IC-7100. After some thought I figured that was a fair comparison. These radios offer very equivalent feature sets, and are based on the same technology. So why is one almost 50% more expensive than the other? Honestly, I can't really say for sure, but I can speculate...

But first, let's do a quick comparison (because of the limitations of Google's Blogger platform I can't format for a side-by-side setup, so we'll just stack the comparisons):

Yaesu FT-991A

• 32-bit DSP
• Triple conversion super heterodyne on SSB/CW/AM
• Double conversion super heterodyne on FM
• HF/VHF/UHF
• 100 watts HF/50 watts VHF/35 watts UHF
• C4FM digital mode on VHF & UHF
• 3kHz roofing filter
• TXCO
• Built-in sound card interface (for HF digital modes)
• Built-in antenna tuner
• Real time band scope
• Color touch screen display
• Hybrid touch screen & conventional button interfaces
• USB interface

Icom IC-7100 (major differences with the FT-991A highlighted)

• 32 bit DSP (in fact, it looks like Icom & Yaesu use the same Texas Instruments chip in this application)
• Triple conversion super heterodyne receiver on SSB/CW/AM
• Double conversion super heterodyne on FM
• HF/VHF/UHF
• 100 watts HF/50 watts VHF/35 watts UHF
• DSTAR digital modes for VHF/UHF/HF
• 3kHz roofing filter
• TXCO
• Built-in sound card interface (for HF digital modes)
• NO antenna tuner
• NO real-time band scope
• B&W touch screen display
• Hybrid touch screen & conventional button interfaces
• USB interface

This is a comparison of the basic feature set, and based on what we see here I can spot some of the reasons for the price difference - the IC-7100 lacks an antenna tuner, a real-time band scope and only offers a black & white touch screen. Of course this accounts for much (but not all) of the price difference. Another chunk of the price difference is likely product age. The IC-7100 has been on the market for a few years longer than the FT-991A, and Amateur Radio manufacturers tend to slowly drop the price of their radios as their competitors introduce equivalent products and demand starts to sag. Plus, I honestly believe that IC-7100 sales were (and are) unfairly hurt by the non-conventional form factor.

But there's more to the comparison of these two radios than just the basic feature set. The big questions is, how do they work in the real world? Is one better than the other for my specific needs? From this perspective the answer is, both are good, neither is perfect, but one comes out the winner.

Before we move on I have to say that as basic ham radio both are very, very good. If all you need is a box that lets you speak and hear, either of these will do admirably.

Now lets fashion a scenario that fits the theme of this blog. I spend about 60% of my radio time on digital modes - usually one of three modes; Winlink, JS8CALL and MARS using the MS-DMT modem package. The other 40% of the time I spend on formal voice nets. I may play in a contest or two throughout the year, but my real focus these days is emergency communications. For the EMCOMM role I already have an excellent station radio - a MARS modified Icom IC-7300. What I need is a radio that can serve as a main rig back-up AND is fully functional in a deployed, or portable, mode. Having VHF and UHF on-board is desirable, but not absolutely essential.

When operating portable my main scenario, the one that I focus on, is emergency communications. Yes, yes, yes, that's a thinly veiled excuse to go to a park and 'play radio', but I'm serious about getting the mix of radio, antenna, power source, computer, and software right to support a real-world emergency communications scenario. Given that, there are enough small differences between the FT-991A and the IC-7100 that actually allow a winner to emerge. It all comes down to ease of use and some seemingly minor feature differences between radios.

First, the winner:

I've discussed the IC-7100 in the not-too-distant past, so I'll just say that in overall feature set and implementation the IC-7100 is the clear winner. While the FT-991A is no slouch, the IC-7100 races ahead with some characteristics that stand out when talking about emergency communications support in Georgia.

• DSTAR. While I'm no big fan of FM digital modes, Georgia ARES has 'adopted' DSTAR as an FM digital standard and has actually seeded DSTAR repeaters across the state. Sure, I could handle this requirement with an HT, but having DSTAR built into the base radio makes life a little bit simpler
• SD card compatibility. The IC-7100 has an SD card slot, and SD cards can be used to store configuration files, audio recordings, logs and other key data. But the real benefit of the SD card feature is the ability to distribute radio configuration files via radio (HF WinLink) to update other IC-7100's at remote locations, and without the use of the internet. The FT-991A does not have an SD card slot
• Feature implementation. While both radios share a mostly equivalent feature set, the IC-7100 just does a better job. The combination of touch screen commands and physical buttons is better thought out (and laid out) than on the Yaesu. The command set makes more sense. It's just an easier radio to live with.
• HF digital modes. This is where the IC-7100 shines. Icom just does a better job with its sound card configuration command set. As of this writing I have more experience running the FT-991A on digital modes (it's running  Winlink as I type this) so I understand the Yaesu digital mode command set as well as the next person. I have to maintain a 5-column 'cheat sheet' of digital mode settings for the FT-991A, so I know what menu settings to adjust for various digital modes. The IC-7100 doesn't require a 'cheat sheet'; there's really only one or two settings I have to remember. In addition, the Icom command set is better supported by many of the digital mode packages I run. In particular, the MARS MS-DMT software modem. MS-DMT is relatively simple to configure for use with the IC-7100, but does not work at all (in my experience) with the FT-991A. This is really a limitation of the software, but it is a real-world restriction that needs to be taken into consideration

However, it's not a perfect world. The IC-7100's display can best be described as 'adequate'. It's not the lack of snazzy color options that's the problem. It's the relatively low resolution of the dot matrix display. What could have been a crisp, clear character set with just a slight bump up in pixel count is instead rendered like the poorly formed characters on an old Atari game console. Space Invaders anyone? If Icom could do one thing to improve this radio it would be to incorporate a higher resolution display.

How about the lack of a real-time band scope? I have to admit, the band scope feature on the FT-991A is slick, and useful. I do miss it on the IC-7100. The Icom does have a band 'sweep' function that gives you a snapshot of what's happening on the band, but it's not real time and it's relatively crude by comparison. Useful? Yes. As good as the FT-991A? No, it's not even close. 

Is the lack of an internal tuner a real problem? While having a built-in tuner is a nice feature, my experience is that most tuners can only match 'almost resonant' antennas, say 3:1 or 4:1. In EMCOMM applications I might have to tune up some odd antenna installations and configurations, so I carry an external tuner anyway. I really don't miss an internal tuner.

Now, the second place finisher. Lost by a nose...

So what good things to I have to say about the FT-991A? Plenty. 

The build quality is excellent. It's a tough, rugged and compact beast. Yaesu knows how to pack a lot of technology into small packages and it shows with this radio. Although the menu options are complex, once you learn the 'system' it's easy to navigate around. Once you conquer the labyrinthine digital mode settings the Yaesu works fine on digital modes. Just have your cheat sheet handy. 

There's a lot of controversy on the web about how Yaesu 'hybridized' the touch screen display. I think the criticism is overblown. The digital display, while not super high resolution, is more than adequate enough to convey all the critical info in one glance, and the integration between the touchscreen and the manual buttons and knobs is well thought out.

And last, I've gotten more unsolicited "your audio's great" reports with the FT-991A than I have with any other radio. Yaesu knows SSB audio, and it shows.

Both radios will stay in my stable for the foreseeable future. But if a CAT 5 hurricane swept across south Georgia tomorrow and I was asked to deploy, it would be the IC-7100 that gets tossed in the truck.

W8BYH out

A Radio

A few weeks ago we lost my father, James P. Haren. While at 91 his death was not unexpected, it did come suddenly, and his close family and friends are still mourning his loss.

As my sister and I were going through his few remaining belongings I spied a dusty old portable radio sitting on his closet shelf, and I told her, "I want that".

The radio is just an old GE SuperRadio, but to me it represents something special about Dad. Born in 1929, he grew up during the heyday of broadcast radio. Dad had no interest in Amateur Radio that I am aware of. He was a chemical engineer by trade and generally good with mechanical things, but I don't think he had much interest in electronics beyond being fascinated by consumer gadgets. Dad was a great one for gadgets.

But to the end, Dad loved listening to radio. I think it's because radio was closely associated with the milestone markers of his young life. It makes sense - he would have grown up listening to the classic radio shows of the era that were designed to capture the imaginations of millions of young boys. Shows like Dick Tracy, Death Valley Days, and Jack Armstrong, All American. He also came of age in the era when radio delivered the immediate news of all important national and world events - FDR's Fireside Chats and the nation's efforts to claw its way out of the Great Depression, the rise of fascism in Italy and Germany, the Japanese brutality in Manchuria, the Nazi invasions of Poland and France, the events of December 7th, 1941, and the long, hard struggle for victory in WWII. And that news would have been delivered by some of the great voices in early radio news reporting, like Richard Harkness, H. V. Kaltenborn, Lowell Thomas, Edward R. Murrow, and William L. Shirer. I can only imagine what it must have been like as a young boy, sitting on the floor of his parent's living room on cold, snowy winter nights in Buffalo N.Y., listening to world events unfold via the soft warm glow of a tube radio. Dad was not much for nostalgia, so his occasional stories of listening to the radio while growing up led me to believe that he marked the experiences as something special and important in his childhood.

Later in life the family home was never without a radio. While both my parents loved TV - Walter Cronkite informed us, and Ed Sullivan entertained us - a radio was always close by. At some point Dad became fascinated with shortwave. This was triggered, I believe, by the gift of an old 1950's-era Grundig table-top receiver, presented to him by a close friend who was a German ex-pat. This great old radio (which I now own) has the dial marked out not just with frequencies, but also with locations. It hearkens back to the days when shortwave broadcasts were identified by the cities they originated from - 'Moscow', 'Berlin', 'London', 'New York', 'San Francisco', 'Tokyo'. In my mind's eye I can still see Dad laying on the floor of our family room in Ohio, fiddling with the tuning dial, trying to bring in the latest broadcast from the BBC World Service. He would have been around 50 years old at the time, but he was still just a little boy in his parent's living room, captivated by world events delivered through that magic glowing box.

But time and technology marches on and, ultimately, the transistor prevailed. There was always at least one portable AM/FM radio sitting on the kitchen counter. We lived in northwestern Ohio, just south of Toledo, and the radios seemed permanently parked on the frequency for WJR out of Detroit ('The Great Voice Of The Great Lakes'). That's how the familiar voice of WJR's longtime host J.P. McCarthy became one of my listening milestones. It seemed no matter where I was during my long Army career, coming home to Ohio meant tuning in to AM 760 and the familiar sound of J.P. McCarthy (and later, Paul W. Smith).

Dad was pretty agnostic in his choice of radios. Like I said, he was a gadget guy and he loved fiddling with technology. I remember seeing a Panasonic or two occupying that kitchen counter space, along with a Toshiba, and even a series of wind-up emergency radios (again, that 'gadget' thing). But eventually he settled on the GE SuperRadio series. He went through a couple of them, and the one I grabbed out of his closet is probably at least 15 years old. But it still works great, and it's still parked on AM 760. Looking at it triggers my own flood of radio memories. And so the cycle continues.

Thanks Dad.

W8BYH out

Computers and Operating Systems - A Reality Check (Part 2)

In Part 1 of this two part series I briefly covered how the current versions of Windows (Windows 10) and a current version of Linux - Raspbian - got to where they are today. Both are good operating systems, and each has something to offer the Amateur Radio community.

But when we look at operating systems from the perspective of what's best for ARES-based EMCOMM work, is there a winner? Are there reasons to pick one over the other?

Yes.

Just what are the ARES-based EMCOMM computer requirements? Keep in mind, this is my list and I take full ownership of it. The focus is not on hardware or software, but on capabilities. What does the computer & operating system need to deliver to make it a useful tool when supporting an emergency management agency like your local EOC?

First, let's set the scenario. For planning purposes we have to assume the worst. Think a Hurricane Maria-type situation. Austere, no Internet, intermittent power. The computer needs to be used not just for ARES EMCOMM tasks but also general purpose tasks like managing email, preparing documents, presentations and analyzing spreadsheet data, etc. The computer will be used by multiple ARES operators over the course of the event, so the interface needs to be easily understood by the average appliance operator (see Part 1).

We can also assume that at some point the computer will be added to a local area network, so the OS and its networking functionality needs to be well understood - and trusted - by the IT support staff. Since the computer will be used by multiple ARES operators the OS needs to be able to support multiple user accounts, and those accounts may need to be managed by an external Active Directory server or similar authentication service. In short, the computer you bring to the disaster needs to 'play well with others'. In addition the computer must:

• natively run Winlink, Fldigi and JS8CALL and any other critical Amateur Radio software (no emulators)
• run a locally installed office automation suite like Microsoft Office, Open Office or Libra Office (remember, no Internet = no Google Docs or Office Online)
• be compatible with the supported agency's computer and network security software
• be supportable by the supported agency's IT staff

ARES EMCOMM support staff needs to fall-in on standardized equipment that has a flat learning curve and minimal support requirements, so they can focus on providing effective support, and not on futzing with a new and different computer equipment and interfaces. Remember, very few ARES members who show up to support a disaster will be computer superstars. Most fit the appliance operator mold - their experience is limited to the desktops or laptops they use at home, and those computers overwhelmingly run... Windows. While it's OK to pray for a never ending supply of superstars, we have to plan for the appliance operators, and the appliance operators run Windows.

What do all these requirements point to? Clearly, Microsoft Windows.

Next, let's talk about hardware. In Part 1 I reviewed the Raspberry Pi - a truly groundbreaking bit of hardware that attracts a huge variety development and integration effort within the Amateur Radio community. There's a lot of effort going on today to try to turn Raspberry Pi's into general use ARES EMCOMM computers. But in this specific use case, as an EMCOMM common computing platform, it falls short. 

While the basic Pi is quite a good little computer, it lacks important features such as a real-time clock, a battery-based power supply, a case, a keyboard, a mouse, and a monitor. Yes, all of these can be easily added - and most users certainly plug in a keyboard, mouse and HDMI monitor to get up and running. But when you start adding in all the necessary components to make a Pi a truly useful general purpose ARES EMCOMM computer, well, you are schlepping around more than you can carry in one hand. Which begs the question - how is this better than a regular laptop? C'mon folks, every laptop built in the last 20 years comes with a real time clock, a battery capable of powering the system for several hours, a full keyboard, a touchpad for cursor control, and a screen. All in one handy, easy to carry package. Again, appliance operator vs. superstar.  Imagine an appliance operator-level ARES member sitting down at a Raspberry Pi for the first time and trying to find the on/off switch (hint - Rapberry Pi's don't have on/off switches).

Score one for the standard laptop configuration. It simply makes more sense. Flattens the learning curve. Gives the operator a form factor they are already familiar with.

So, Windows + Laptop = the ideal ARES EMCOMM common use computing platform. This is what we should be focusing on as we put together equipment support packages for our local EMAs. Forget the exotic gear or the cool maker stuff. Plan against the common denominator, and in this scenario that's the appliance operator. 

Your thoughts?

W8BYH out

Computers and Operating Systems - A Reality Check (Part 1)

I just emerged from one of my regular attacks of what I call 'laptop fever'; the unshakable feeling that somehow, in some way, I'm missing out on something important when it comes to laptop performance, and darn it, I probably need a new machine.

This latest bout of fever was triggered by my recent tests of the JS8CALL application and a desire to find the best computing platform for what I'll call a standardized EMCOMM package. The minimum hardware requirements for this platform are fairly easy to understand:

• Intel i5 processor or equivalent
• 4 gb of system memory
• 128 gb hard drive
• The ability to run WinLink, JS8CALL and Fldigi
• The ability to run an open source office suite like Star Office or Libra Office
• Using USB serial port emulators, the ability to interface with external sound card modems and radio CAT interfaces
• Battery life of at least 4 hours

Nice-to-have features include:

• 8 gb of system memory
• 256 gb solid state hard drive (SSD)
• Rugged water resistant construction
• Easily swappable batteries
• Internal GPS
• LTE broadband
• Backlit keypad

The minimum requirements are fairly easy to meet at around a $350 price point. Heck, just a few minutes of searching on Amazon turned up this first rate candidate:

When we start layering on the nice-to-have features the price quickly shoots up. At this point we are talking about a Panasonic Toughbook-grade computer, and even used from a reputable dealer like ToughRuggedLaptops.com we are looking at a $1,200.00 Panasonic CF-31 class machine. Are even used Toughbooks (or their Dell or GETAC equivalents) worth it? Yes. Are they necessary? No. For 99.5% of the ham radio population the inexpensive Dell Latitude is plenty.

Panasonic Toughbook. Truly tough, rugged and capable. And maybe a little too much...

Should we be discussing other hardware options? There's plenty of alternatives to the classic laptop format out on the market and we'll get to some of them in just a bit. First, we need to take a look at operating systems, with a focus on the two prominent operating systems in Amateur Radio today: Microsoft Windows and Linux.

Amateur Radio has always had what is described as a 'maker' focus (learning through doing). Heck, in the early days of ham radio being a maker was the only way to get on the air - you had to make your own radios, make your own antennas, make your own power supplies, etc. There were no factory made transmitters or receivers. Instead, you had to gather all the parts, put them together, test, adjust, and get on the air, all without electrocuting yourself (a very real hazard in those early days). This maker mentality was still in place when desktop computers hit the scene in the latter half of the 20th century. Amateur Radio operators rushed to find ways to integrate computers and ham radio, and Amateur Radio applications like contact logging, CW practice and packet radio were some of the first non-gaming applications to be developed for early home computers. As Forest Gump would say, Amateur Radio and personal computers "go together like peas and carrots". So, when the Linux operating system was introduced in the early 1990's, the Amateur Radio community showed a lot of interest. Many hams made their living in the Unix computing world, so an open source version of Unix that ran on the x86 processor was a big hit. Linux was and still is the maker's operating system.

Current MS Windows versions go to great lengths to hide the legacy command line window,
but Linux still puts it front-and-center, loud and proud.
Command line expertise is one of the essential skills for Linux partisans!

Mature Linux distributions and Windows 95 hit the market at about the same time (1995). (I bought my first Linux distro, Red Hat, at the University of Texas at Austin bookstore in 1995). Windows 95 was a crash-prone kludge, but it showed where Microsoft was headed with its preemptive multi-tasking operating systems. Amateur Radio operators pretty much ignored Windows 95, got a little more interested in the slightly improved Windows 98, but really sat up and took notice with the release of the 32-bit (and stable) Windows NT and, later, Windows 2000. While not a 'maker' OS, Microsoft Windows swiftly dominated the personal computing market, wiping away whole generations of earlier PC operating systems like CP/M, AmigaOS, OS/2, TOS, OS-9, and even Microsoft's own MS-DOS and PC-DOS. In the end the only viable operating systems left standing besides Windows were Linux and Apple's MacOS (but we're leaving the Mac out of this discussion, sorry).

Microsoft Windows won out in the Amateur Radio world through the sheer force of numbers. More and more application developers recognized that the huge installed base and the standardized user interface of Windows offered its own advantages, and development focus for Amateur Radio shifted heavily to the Windows platform. While many Amateur Radio operators fancy themselves 'makers', in truth, when it comes to computers, most are simply appliance operators. As Windows came to dominate in the market, most hams became comfortable with the Windows concept of 'plug-and-play' and appreciated the standardized user interface that spanned the increasing number of computers they came in contact with with on a daily basis. 

So what's it to be, the maker's OS that hews closely to the spirit of Amateur Radio, or the appliance operator's OS that focuses on ease of use? To answer that we need to think about the focus of this original requirement - EMCOMM - and what's happening in the OS space.

First, the appliance operators. Microsoft Windows is currently at Windows 10. Windows 10 has shown to be fast, stable, feature rich and runs well on a variety of hardware, from low end Intel i3 mobile CPUs to the high end eight core i9 workstation CPUs. In addition, Windows 10 is capable, ubiquitous, well understood by the user community and supports the largest available base of Amateur Radio software. Virtually everybody who develops an Amateur Radio application develops it for the Windows platform first - that's where the customer base is.

Raspberry Pi 4 - small, cheap, capable

Next, the makers. More specifically, the makers and their current love affair with the Raspberry Pi. The Raspberry Pi is a phenomenon unto itself. The Pi was originally designed as an ultra-low cost single board computer targeted at both students and experimenters. How low cost? The baseline Raspberry Pi 4 (the most current version) sells for a whopping $35.00 US! It runs a custom flavor of Linux called Raspbian, and this OS brings some incredible capabilities to such a low-end platform, to include a Windows-like desktop experience and a huge library of Amateur Radio-related apps. In fact, two key EMCOMM apps - Fldigi and JS8CALL - run natively, and well, on Raspbian. The adoption of the Pi brought a certain standardization to the Linux experience for the Amateur Radio community. Before the Pi there was a lot of Linux in use within the community, but it was various Linux distributions loaded on a wide variety of hardware, so the user experience varied from computer-to-computer. The Pi has brought a little bit of order out of chaos.

So back to the question - Linux (on the Pi) or Windows? What's the best solution for EMCOMM? 

We'll tackle that in Part 2, so stand by!

W8BYH out (for now)

OK, I Get It

I'm testing a new radio for portable EMCOMM work. This is a radio I've considered for years, and has a feature set that looks pretty impressive on paper, but the form factor always put me off. But a recent interest in finding a single radio that would serve as an excellent candidate for ARES, EMCOMM & MARS use in Georgia caused me to finally overlook my aversion to the form factor and give it a try.

The Icom IC-7100

I had been using the Yaesu FT-891 as a portable station, but it's shortcomings continued to grate on me. So much so that recently I had switched back to using the much larger Icom 7200 for portable work. It was a bit heavier to schlep to the field, but overall its performance was much better. 

What killed the FT-891 for me is that a few months back a small group of local hams went to a park for a few hours of playing radio and swapping lies. A good friend brought his FT-891 to operate. The phase noise from the FT-891 was so bad that it effectively drove all other radios off the air. That was it. My (second) FT-891 had to go.

At the same time I was doing some evaluation of JS8CALL for our local ARES group, and working on an implementation proposal for HF communications support for Emergency Management Agencies (EMA) in Georgia. Part of this effort was identifying a radio that came closest to meeting the HF and VHF/UHF EMCOMM needs in a single, easy to use and easy to support package. The requirements for this idealized radio included:

• A built-in sound card for HF digital modes - and ease of setup for digital modes
• Built-in antenna tuner
• DSTAR capability on VHF FM - DSTAR is an adopted communication standard with Georgia ARES, so DSTAR capability is important
• Ease of programming, with the possibility of programming 'over the air' or via the internet
• Full 100 watts on HF, 50 watts on VHF
• Overall ease of use - something a minimally trained ARES operator could fall in on and get up and running with little assistance
• Good build quality and reliability
• Ease of modification for MARS use

What I was really after was a 'shack-in-the-box', a single radio that can do it all. Initially I looked at the Yaesu FT-991A. I own this radio and really like it. It performs without most of the drama that came with the FT-891, but still has some shortcomings. Particularly the almost maddening firmware menu complexity which makes it difficult to configure for digital modes. Once it's all set up it's a digital mode champ, but don't you DARE adjust any one of the dozen or so settings that can impact digital operations or you'll screw everything up. It's as big a drama queen in this as the FT-891 (they share the same menu structure).

The FT-991A had two other shortcomings that are not really the fault of the radio, just a reflection of external issues that make it less than ideal. First, it lacks DSTAR capability. Yaesu is wedded to C4FM (System Fusion), a competing VHF/UHF digital mode. Nothing wrong with C4FM, it's just that DSTAR is the VHF digital mode standard in Georgia ARES. Next, Yaesu radios don't work well with the MARS digital software modem package, MS-DMT. Again, this is not the fault of the FT-991A. The developer of MS-DMT hasn't built any of the digital feature settings for the FT-991A into the configuration library for MS-DMT. This makes it very difficult to get any current production Yaesu HF radio working with MS-DMT.

So this left me searching for another 'shack-in-the-box' option, and it needed to be a radio that's in current production. The search immediately narrowed down to one option - the Icom IC-7100.

As I mentioned earlier, I've looked at the IC-7100 on-and-off over the years for my own personal use, but I was always put off by the form factor. I'm not alone in this - just read the reviews on eHam or QRZ.com. Folks just don't 'get' the odd control head configuration. It's so... well, it's just odd for a radio marketed as a mobile rig.

I'm sorry, it just reminds me of the old Radio Shack TRS-80 Model III desktop computer 😄:

But in this evaluation we're focusing on function, not form, and the TRS-80 IC-7100 hits most of the performance objectives I outlined above. 

A few weeks ago, through QRZ.com, I was lucky enough to find an Amateur Radio operator in Michigan who had an IC-7100 that he was willing to trade for my Yaesu FT-891. I've been evaluating the IC-7100 pretty heavily since I got it, and I have to say that now... I 'get it'. The control head is actually very well thought out, and perhaps the best (or only) way to incorporate both a large touch screen and traditional settings buttons in a single interface. The 'odd' control head is a winner. The only shortcoming is the relatively low screen resolution. The low resolution works against the otherwise excellent interface. 

The IC-7100 meets all of the evaluation criteria with the exception of a built-in tuner. Some may be surprised to hear me state that of all the criteria I could live without, a built-in tuner is at the top of the list. Most built-in tuners can only match 'almost resonant' antennas - they have at best a 4:1 impedance matching capability. In EMCOMM you may need to have to try to match anything from a busted CB antenna to a few hundred feet of chain link fence just to get a signal out. An internal tuner will be useless for this task, so you'll need a more robust external tuner anyway. Let me use my IC-7300 as an example. I run that radio with an end-fed wire antenna that is 'almost resonant' on the HF ham bands. But I also use the same setup for MARS, which operates well outside of the Amateur Radio frequency ranges, and the end fed wire has no close natural resonance on those frequencies. This forces me to bypass the 7300's internal tuner and use an external 200 watt tuner so I can safely run digital modes at 100 watts (a tuner's digital mode capability is usually half or less than its rated SSB capability, due to the more demanding full duty cycle of the digital modes). 

Icom has also slipped in a few additional 'parlor tricks' that add greatly to the radio's usefulness for EMCOMM work. First is the ability to sweep frequencies within a band for antenna resonance - a built-in SWR meter. While the functionality is somewhat limited, it is still very useful. Let's say you are supporting an EOC and you need to move over to a new HF antenna, but don't have a tuner. The built in SWR meter will at least let you know if the new antenna is close to resonance. Next is a built-in voltage meter. Very important if you are operating on battery power. Last, the IC-7100 incorporates a basic band sweep feature that can let you know where there's any band activity. While not really necessary for EMCOMM, for regular use it can let you know how busy the band is. Icom also incorporates a temperature monitor, so you can tell how hot your radio is running, and (Praise the Lord!) backlit buttons on the control head, so you can see what you are doing in the dark.

Icom has done a really good job with the information presentation on the IC-7100.
I just wish the resolution was better. But, it works!

Configuration for digital modes has been dead simple. I've found Icom radios - the 7100, 7200 and 7300 - to be as close to 'plug-and-play' on digital modes as you can possibly get. What helps is that this series of radios is very well supported by the digital software developers. So far I've run the IC-7100 on Winlink (using VARA on HF and on VHF with a TNC-X), and with JS8CALL and using HRD's Digital Master module. It works smoothly with all software. I've only got two recommendations - make sure you use the correct CI-V address (for the 7100 it's 88) and don't rely on the Icom baud rate 'Auto' setting. Manually set the radio's baud rate to something like 9600 and make sure it matches in the digital mode software's rig control interface. After that it should be smooth sailing.

Before closing let me discuss one of the features that the IC-7100 offers that I don't think gets a whole lot of attention, and that is the concept of 'over-the-air programming'. This is something that the military and commercial communications systems have used for decades. While implementation with the IC-7100 would be crude by comparison, it is still a concept that can work. The IC-7100 takes SD cards, and you can program the IC-7100 using an Icom .icf file stored on an SD card. The .icf files are small enough (< 300k) that they can be easily transferred as email attachments, even via Winlink. So, if an ARES EC working at the state or regional level needs to get a new settings file out to the operators in the field, even in a full 'lights out' scenario, the file can be easily transferred over the air as a Winlink attachment, downloaded to an SD card and uploaded to the radio, all in a matter of minutes. 

My evaluation of the IC-7100 will continue, but based on my testing so far I think it is perhaps the best available option for a fully featured EMCOMM radio. Icom really did a great job with this rig, so don't be like me and let the form factor put you off.

W8BYH out