This was an unexpected surprise. Was at the Society's dinner last night and walked away with this.
Wednesday, 18 May 2016
Tuesday, 19 April 2016
Yaesu FTM-100DR GPS issues
Having wrestled with my new car to install my ham radio gear into it I discovered this problem. I bought a Yaesu FTM-100DR Digital Fusion radio for my car. Let's not bother with with what it does or how D-STAR or DMR may or may not be better than Fusion.
It has a built in GPS receiver. It uses the information from this receiver to tag the digital voice packets with my current position. Except that it doesn't. Or rather it doesn't do it correctly. It does tag my outing data with an GPS position; just not my actual position. Take a look at the below picture.
Where is the radio? According to Google and other mapping sites my car is in the middle of nowhere on the side of a mountain in Western China not too far from the borders with Pakistan in the South and Tajikistan in the West.
Yes, the software that's interpreting the GPS data is clearly having an issue. I can indeed confirm that this picture was taken in Wilmington, Delaware. Examination of the GPS metadata in the picture will confirm this.
I've not been able to confirm what this .... erm .... "undocumented feature" .... has affected within the data stream itself. Is it merely a cosmetic GUI issue? Am I actually telling the world that I'm in China? Am I sending any position data at all? An examination of my station details as forwarded to the greater Yaesu Fusion network would reveal the answers. However, none of my local Fusion repeaters are connected to the Internet.
One of the features of this radio is that it has APRS abilities. It can transmit my location to the APRS network via it's built in GPS, AX.25 modem and of course, the radio. So that's what I did next. With help from Charlie, N2NOV I configured the radio as an APRS tracker with the callsign NI2O-2. I then went for a long drive. You can see my journey here.
As you can see, I took a drive East along I80, Rt46 and Rt3. Then South East along the NJ Turnpike to Delaware. Charlie would check my progress every now and then to see how I was making out. In parallel to the Yaesu I was also running my $100 APRS Tracker Mk2 and also APRSDroid, an APRS app on my cellphone.
The fact that you can follow me in the USA rather than Western China tells me that the GPS issue is a cosmetic one. It would seem that the positioning data tagged to the APRS is correct. I have discovered 3 firmware updates for this radio so I expect that this issue has been addressed but unfortunately none of the firmware update files comes with a "fix list" so it is unknown as to what issues have been addressed.
###### UPDATE 20160423 ######
So I downloaded the firmware updates and set about installing them. I installed them one by one per the instructions from the Yaesu website and then did a "factory reset" also per the instructions. It turns out that the "panel" firmware update was the one at fault. Unfortunately there were no revision notes with the firmware updates so that one may know what the resolved issued may have been but at least we know now that one of them was the E/W display error.
So far it seems to be working very well. If only I could use CHiRP to program it I'd be a happy boy.
It has a built in GPS receiver. It uses the information from this receiver to tag the digital voice packets with my current position. Except that it doesn't. Or rather it doesn't do it correctly. It does tag my outing data with an GPS position; just not my actual position. Take a look at the below picture.
Where is the radio? According to Google and other mapping sites my car is in the middle of nowhere on the side of a mountain in Western China not too far from the borders with Pakistan in the South and Tajikistan in the West.
Yes, the software that's interpreting the GPS data is clearly having an issue. I can indeed confirm that this picture was taken in Wilmington, Delaware. Examination of the GPS metadata in the picture will confirm this.
I've not been able to confirm what this .... erm .... "undocumented feature" .... has affected within the data stream itself. Is it merely a cosmetic GUI issue? Am I actually telling the world that I'm in China? Am I sending any position data at all? An examination of my station details as forwarded to the greater Yaesu Fusion network would reveal the answers. However, none of my local Fusion repeaters are connected to the Internet.
One of the features of this radio is that it has APRS abilities. It can transmit my location to the APRS network via it's built in GPS, AX.25 modem and of course, the radio. So that's what I did next. With help from Charlie, N2NOV I configured the radio as an APRS tracker with the callsign NI2O-2. I then went for a long drive. You can see my journey here.
As you can see, I took a drive East along I80, Rt46 and Rt3. Then South East along the NJ Turnpike to Delaware. Charlie would check my progress every now and then to see how I was making out. In parallel to the Yaesu I was also running my $100 APRS Tracker Mk2 and also APRSDroid, an APRS app on my cellphone.
The fact that you can follow me in the USA rather than Western China tells me that the GPS issue is a cosmetic one. It would seem that the positioning data tagged to the APRS is correct. I have discovered 3 firmware updates for this radio so I expect that this issue has been addressed but unfortunately none of the firmware update files comes with a "fix list" so it is unknown as to what issues have been addressed.
###### UPDATE 20160423 ######
So I downloaded the firmware updates and set about installing them. I installed them one by one per the instructions from the Yaesu website and then did a "factory reset" also per the instructions. It turns out that the "panel" firmware update was the one at fault. Unfortunately there were no revision notes with the firmware updates so that one may know what the resolved issued may have been but at least we know now that one of them was the E/W display error.
So far it seems to be working very well. If only I could use CHiRP to program it I'd be a happy boy.
Thursday, 7 April 2016
Ham radio install in a 2015 Nissan Rogue
I bought a new car recently. It's taken me over a month to work out how to install my ham radio gear into it. Finally I discovered a few websites and chat forums where guys were installing high end stereo equipment into their vehicles. I got much advice from them. The below details my adventures.
All my radio's can be remote mounted. This means that the actual radio can be separated from the control head by means of a control cable. I've taken to installing my radio's in the back of the car with the control heads on the dashboard.
Far at the back of the car in the trunk area is an access panel that leads to the spare wheel. There's also a tray that runs the width of the car. It's just deep enough to place all my radio gear into.
So now that the radio's are secured how do they get connected to the control heads in the front of the vehicle? That had me stumped for a while. Then I noticed these wires arriving from the back seat side of the car. Look closely and you'll see them either side of the hinge straps that hold the trunk floor in place. Where do they come from?
I was able to remove the seat cushion from the back seat. It's held on by just 2 clips. Can you see that cable loom at the bottom that vanishes under the seat back cushion?
Back to the spare wheel well. Remove the wheel jack and tools from the bin they are in and you'll see a square hole. In the hole is another cable loom. Remove the 3 Philips head screws that hold the tool bin in place to reveal the whole loom. It goes to the rear light cluster.
I inserted a cable fish into the gap that the cable loom used to get from the back seat to the trunk. I attached all my various wires (power, control, microphone, speaker and some spares) and pulled them all through from the trunk to the back seat. Carefully remove the plastic strip that's right at the door threshold to reveal another cable loom. The loom goes along the door sill, past the seat belt anchor and into the front. Remove the front door cover to expose more loom. I used the existing cable anchors to hold my new cables.
Having pulled all my cables from the back to the front I put the back seat and trunk back together again. The cables will be fed into the dashboard and installed into the control heads, microphones and speakers. Power also needs to be connected to the battery so a path through the firewall is required.
The usual way through a firewall is to find the vehicle's cable loom and piggy-back through the same hole. Good luck with that!! An inspection of the underside of the dashboard does not reveal any obvious candidates and neither does the engine bay. I was able to trace the engine hood release cable to the driver's side of the firewall but could not find it on the engine side. That's when I went back to the Nissan chat forum. Turns out that you have to remove the wheel and the fairing!!!
A closer look inside the wheel arch, behind the fairing reveals some useful grommets and even a spare one! Woohoo!! Where's my cable fish?
So now I had to find a tidy path from the cable tunnel along the door sill, up underneath the dashboard and out of the hole I found. Removing the plastic panel next to the door revealed a huge loom. I followed it and it led me to the hole I'm going to use. Incidentally, the heavy duty red and blue wires in the picture are switched 12V and constant 12V from the car battery going to and from the ignition. You could tap in there if you wanted a switched source. Max current is 40 Amps as dictated by a fuse at the battery terminal.
So with my cable fish (is it a fish or a snake? I have always heard it that you snake a cable with a fish?) inserted through my hole from the wheel arch side, I pulled the power cables through to the engine side. Then I found a path from the wheel to the engine and popped out right by the battery.
Connection to the battery was made with two fused 30 Amp pigtails; one fuse for the positive battery terminal and the other for the negative battery terminal. I also connected the engine block to the battery directly as well as the body work to the battery directly. All connections were made with #10 wire and waterproof crimp-n-shrink connectors.
All my radio's can be remote mounted. This means that the actual radio can be separated from the control head by means of a control cable. I've taken to installing my radio's in the back of the car with the control heads on the dashboard.
Far at the back of the car in the trunk area is an access panel that leads to the spare wheel. There's also a tray that runs the width of the car. It's just deep enough to place all my radio gear into.
So now that the radio's are secured how do they get connected to the control heads in the front of the vehicle? That had me stumped for a while. Then I noticed these wires arriving from the back seat side of the car. Look closely and you'll see them either side of the hinge straps that hold the trunk floor in place. Where do they come from?
I was able to remove the seat cushion from the back seat. It's held on by just 2 clips. Can you see that cable loom at the bottom that vanishes under the seat back cushion?
I inserted a cable fish into the gap that the cable loom used to get from the back seat to the trunk. I attached all my various wires (power, control, microphone, speaker and some spares) and pulled them all through from the trunk to the back seat. Carefully remove the plastic strip that's right at the door threshold to reveal another cable loom. The loom goes along the door sill, past the seat belt anchor and into the front. Remove the front door cover to expose more loom. I used the existing cable anchors to hold my new cables.
Having pulled all my cables from the back to the front I put the back seat and trunk back together again. The cables will be fed into the dashboard and installed into the control heads, microphones and speakers. Power also needs to be connected to the battery so a path through the firewall is required.
The usual way through a firewall is to find the vehicle's cable loom and piggy-back through the same hole. Good luck with that!! An inspection of the underside of the dashboard does not reveal any obvious candidates and neither does the engine bay. I was able to trace the engine hood release cable to the driver's side of the firewall but could not find it on the engine side. That's when I went back to the Nissan chat forum. Turns out that you have to remove the wheel and the fairing!!!
So now I had to find a tidy path from the cable tunnel along the door sill, up underneath the dashboard and out of the hole I found. Removing the plastic panel next to the door revealed a huge loom. I followed it and it led me to the hole I'm going to use. Incidentally, the heavy duty red and blue wires in the picture are switched 12V and constant 12V from the car battery going to and from the ignition. You could tap in there if you wanted a switched source. Max current is 40 Amps as dictated by a fuse at the battery terminal.
So with my cable fish (is it a fish or a snake? I have always heard it that you snake a cable with a fish?) inserted through my hole from the wheel arch side, I pulled the power cables through to the engine side. Then I found a path from the wheel to the engine and popped out right by the battery.
Wednesday, 23 March 2016
$100 APRS Tracker Mk2
Way back (2001) before they invented Internet 2.0 I built an APRS tracker for less than $100. It was a collection of stuff slapped together into a box and sported a TinyTrak tracker, GPS receiver and a 2 watt transmitter. In its day it was quite an achievement. Most APRS implementations would run over $150 and require an old TNC and a full FM transceiver. GPS's in those days were also big and ugly too. To this day I still get requests for the radio I used.
Well, over the years it has had updates and repairs and even had a 10W linear amplifier added to improve its range but yet it was still a pile of components slapped together into a somewhat large box. It finally gave up the ghost and forced me to go a different route. I briefly looked at creating my own tracker but abandoned it due to time constraints and other projects.
That was then. This is now. I bought a new car recently and am in the throws of moving my radio gear into it. Whilst I have a "black box" radio that will do APRS very well I still want to run my own bespoke APRS tracker. So that led me back to the $100 APRS Tracker.
Looking around the shack I found an old Motorola SM50 left over from a D-STAR HotSpot project. All I needed now was the tracker and a GPS receiver. Then I remembered that I had looked at this project a few years back. At that time I was playing with Ublox NEO-6 GPS modules for use in NTP time servers. These are sub $10 GPS receivers for adding to your projects. They are trivial to use requiring just 3.3v and an antenna. As you can see from the below picture I was able to integrate one into a tracker prototype (it's that white square blob).
Well, over the years it has had updates and repairs and even had a 10W linear amplifier added to improve its range but yet it was still a pile of components slapped together into a somewhat large box. It finally gave up the ghost and forced me to go a different route. I briefly looked at creating my own tracker but abandoned it due to time constraints and other projects.
That was then. This is now. I bought a new car recently and am in the throws of moving my radio gear into it. Whilst I have a "black box" radio that will do APRS very well I still want to run my own bespoke APRS tracker. So that led me back to the $100 APRS Tracker.
Looking around the shack I found an old Motorola SM50 left over from a D-STAR HotSpot project. All I needed now was the tracker and a GPS receiver. Then I remembered that I had looked at this project a few years back. At that time I was playing with Ublox NEO-6 GPS modules for use in NTP time servers. These are sub $10 GPS receivers for adding to your projects. They are trivial to use requiring just 3.3v and an antenna. As you can see from the below picture I was able to integrate one into a tracker prototype (it's that white square blob).
But it didn't work. Or rather, it worked badly. Whilst it would talk to the config software when attached to the PC and indeed would send a beacon it wouldn't send any position data. Now I remember why I abandoned it. Having a little more time now I took another look.
Turns out that the problem was trivial. In its old form (pictured above) the GPS was spitting out position data at 9600bd but the PIC microcontroller was expecting the data at 4800bd. DUH!! The fix was to ground one of the config pins on the GPS thus forcing it into 4800bd mode. In writing this page and getting the files etc together I've come across some auto detecting firmware that makes this problem go away. And I can tell you that it works wonderfully! If only I had bothered to look a little harder the first time around.
So let's do some accounting ...
- Motorola SM50 FM transceiver $30 ebay
- Tracker PCB $8 oshpark.com
- Ublox NEO-6 GPS RX module $12 ebay
- PIC 16F628 microcontroller $3 ebay
- SMA antenna connector $1 hamfest
- Motorola pre-wired 16 pin plug $4 ebay
- GPS "hockey puck" antenna $5 ebay
- 1/4 wave 2 meter antenna $8 ebay
- Mag mount for 2M antenna $14 ebay
That's a grand total of $85. And if you already have some spare 2M antennas kicking around you can shave another $22 of that for a potential $63.
So I've parked all the board stuff on oshpark.com for you to order. You'll get 3 boards for $22. The PCB will allow you to use any current Ublox NEO-x GPS modules. They'll spit out 9600bd data so you'll have to use 9600bd compatible PIC APRS code. Luckily I've linked to that below. You can also change the PIC for a slightly better one which will have more facilities.
Eagle files for download ...
PIC microcontroller code for download ...
kf163tracker-2.0.2.iso It's a bootable Linux disk. Contains firmware, manuals and config software.
Thanks to DK7IN for his original idea and PE1ICQ for his expansion of this idea and his excellent code.
Monday, 11 January 2016
Adventures in IPTV
I do a bit of network consultancy here and there. One of my clients is a mom-n-pop cable TV operator whom wants to convert his plant from analog to digital. It's about time. The digital switchover was 10 years ago!!
Anyway, having sorted him out and converted his 80 or so analog channels back to digital (they are derived from a satellite TV network that transmits in H.264) it was a simple matter of bundling the TV stations into the correct size of RF mux and transmitting that mux over the cable network.
A happy side effect of this project is that I acquired a UT-100C USB DVB-T modulator dongle which is becoming increasingly popular in the amateur TV world. More about that another time.
To test my work I compiled a list of some IPTV channels currently (at time of writing) available over the internet. I forwarded the sources to an instance of OpenCaster which was handling the actual RF broadcast part and then connected the USB TX to a 100ft roll of TV coax.
The far end of the coax was connected to an El-Tigre DVB-C/IPTV set top box which I got from ebay for $25 new. As if by magic some pictures appeared on the attached TV.
So where does the IPTV come in? The "inner workings" of your local cable company is all IP today. TV sources are moved around the data network in IP format and in many cases derived from the original broadcaster as IPTV also. Eventually these sources are combined into some sort of data mux and then converted to RF for onward transmission to your TV.
I splashed out an bought myself a new 55" LG smart TV too. One of the applications one can download from LG's store is an IPTV client. I was not only able to test the feed I was making for my client directly onto a TV but also to load up the below playlist into it. I can now get some 28 channels over the Internet directly to my TV.
Cut and paste the below text into a file and then load it into your favourite media player or set top box.
group,Music
ext,Vevo1 HD,http://vevoplaylist-live.hls.adaptive.level3.net/vevo/ch1/05/prog_index.m3u8
ext,Vevo2 HD,http://vevoplaylist-live.hls.adaptive.level3.net/vevo/ch2/05/prog_index.m3u8
ext,Vevo3 HD Country,http://vevoplaylist-live.hls.adaptive.level3.net/vevo/ch3/05/prog_index.m3u8
1hdru,1HD,http://109.239.142.62:1935/live/livestream3/playlist.m3u8
ext,NOW Music,http://ngx.cr1.streamzilla.xlcdn.com/session/3e871f51e3dbe7ed88a5a044197ba590/sz/AATW/wowza4/live/nowmusic/chunklist.m3u8
group,Sports
ext,Sports Night HD,rtmp://freeview.fms.visionip.tv/live/sports_tonight-sports_tonight-live-25f-16x9-HD
ext,Xtreme Impacts,http://46.249.213.93/iPhone/broadcast/xtremeimpacts-tablet.3gp/xtremeimpacts-tablet.3gp-mr647k.m3u8
ext,Antena 3 Sports HD,http://antena3-aos1-apple-live.adaptive.level3.net/apple/antena3/channel01/antena_3_hd_1548K_1280x720_main.m3u8
ext,Big Ten HD,http://bigten247.cdnak.bigtenhd.neulion.com/nlds/btn2go/btnnetwork/as/live/btnnetwork_hd_3000.m3u8
ext,NBCSN,http://tvenbcsn-i.Akamaihd.net/hls/live/218235/nbcsnx/4296k/prog.m3u8
ext,PAC National,http://xrxs.net/video/live-p12netw-2328.m3u8
esp,Eurosport,http://37.220.21.210:57088/hbird/sdtv/planet/Eurosport
group,News
bbc-world,BBC World News,http://wpc.c1a9.edgecastcdn.net/hls-live/20C1A9/bbc_world/ls_satlink/b_828.m3u8
ext,CNBC,http://wpc.c1a9.edgecastcdn.net/hls-live/20C1A9/cnbc_eu/ls_satlink/b_,264,528,828,.m3u8
ext,ABC News,http://abclive.abcnews.com/i/abc_live4@136330/index_1200_av-b.m3u8
cnn,CNN USA,http://wpc.c1a9.edgecastcdn.net/hls-live/20C1A9/cnn/ls_satlink/b_828.m3u8
bloomberg,Bloomberg,http://cdn3.videos.bloomberg.com/btv/us/master.m3u8?b
ext,RT America,http://odna.octoshape.net/f3f5m2v4/cds/ch4_720p/chunklist.m3u8
rt-doc,RT Documentary HD,http://odna.octoshape.net/f3f5m2v4/cds/ch5_720p/chunklist.m3u8
ext,Sky News International,http://wpc.C1A9.edgecastcdn.net/hls-live/20C1A9/skynews/ls_satlink/b_,828,528,264,.m3u8
ext,AL JAZEERA,http://wpc.c1a9.edgecastcdn.net/hls-live/20C1A9/aljazeera_en/ls_satlink/b_528.m3u8
france24,France 24,http://wpc.C1A9.edgecastcdn.net/hls-live/20C1A9/france24_en/ls_satlink/b_,828,528,264,.m3u8
group,Shopping
ext,HSN,rtmp://hsn.mpl.miisolutions.net:1935/hsn-live01/_definst_/mp4:420p500kB31?b?b*t$ playpath=mp4:420p500kB31
ext,HSN 2,rtmp://hsn.mpl.miisolutions.net:1935/hsn-live01/_definst_/mp4:468p500kB31?b?b*t$ playpath=mp4:468p500kB31
ext,JewelryTV,rtmp://jtvmedia.jtv.com:1975/live/live6
group,Other
ext,London Live,http://bcoveliveios-i.akamaihd.net/hls/live/217434/3083279840001/master_900.m3u8
ext,Cartoon work,http://54.255.155.24:1935//Live/_definst_/sweetbcha1novD28_W_150.sdp/playlist.m3u8
group,Test
ext,NTSC 4x3 Test,http://devimages.apple.com/iphone/samples/bipbop/bipbopall.m3u8
Anyway, having sorted him out and converted his 80 or so analog channels back to digital (they are derived from a satellite TV network that transmits in H.264) it was a simple matter of bundling the TV stations into the correct size of RF mux and transmitting that mux over the cable network.
A happy side effect of this project is that I acquired a UT-100C USB DVB-T modulator dongle which is becoming increasingly popular in the amateur TV world. More about that another time.
To test my work I compiled a list of some IPTV channels currently (at time of writing) available over the internet. I forwarded the sources to an instance of OpenCaster which was handling the actual RF broadcast part and then connected the USB TX to a 100ft roll of TV coax.
The far end of the coax was connected to an El-Tigre DVB-C/IPTV set top box which I got from ebay for $25 new. As if by magic some pictures appeared on the attached TV.
So where does the IPTV come in? The "inner workings" of your local cable company is all IP today. TV sources are moved around the data network in IP format and in many cases derived from the original broadcaster as IPTV also. Eventually these sources are combined into some sort of data mux and then converted to RF for onward transmission to your TV.
I splashed out an bought myself a new 55" LG smart TV too. One of the applications one can download from LG's store is an IPTV client. I was not only able to test the feed I was making for my client directly onto a TV but also to load up the below playlist into it. I can now get some 28 channels over the Internet directly to my TV.
Cut and paste the below text into a file and then load it into your favourite media player or set top box.
group,Music
ext,Vevo1 HD,http://vevoplaylist-live.hls.adaptive.level3.net/vevo/ch1/05/prog_index.m3u8
ext,Vevo2 HD,http://vevoplaylist-live.hls.adaptive.level3.net/vevo/ch2/05/prog_index.m3u8
ext,Vevo3 HD Country,http://vevoplaylist-live.hls.adaptive.level3.net/vevo/ch3/05/prog_index.m3u8
1hdru,1HD,http://109.239.142.62:1935/live/livestream3/playlist.m3u8
ext,NOW Music,http://ngx.cr1.streamzilla.xlcdn.com/session/3e871f51e3dbe7ed88a5a044197ba590/sz/AATW/wowza4/live/nowmusic/chunklist.m3u8
group,Sports
ext,Sports Night HD,rtmp://freeview.fms.visionip.tv/live/sports_tonight-sports_tonight-live-25f-16x9-HD
ext,Xtreme Impacts,http://46.249.213.93/iPhone/broadcast/xtremeimpacts-tablet.3gp/xtremeimpacts-tablet.3gp-mr647k.m3u8
ext,Antena 3 Sports HD,http://antena3-aos1-apple-live.adaptive.level3.net/apple/antena3/channel01/antena_3_hd_1548K_1280x720_main.m3u8
ext,Big Ten HD,http://bigten247.cdnak.bigtenhd.neulion.com/nlds/btn2go/btnnetwork/as/live/btnnetwork_hd_3000.m3u8
ext,NBCSN,http://tvenbcsn-i.Akamaihd.net/hls/live/218235/nbcsnx/4296k/prog.m3u8
ext,PAC National,http://xrxs.net/video/live-p12netw-2328.m3u8
esp,Eurosport,http://37.220.21.210:57088/hbird/sdtv/planet/Eurosport
group,News
bbc-world,BBC World News,http://wpc.c1a9.edgecastcdn.net/hls-live/20C1A9/bbc_world/ls_satlink/b_828.m3u8
ext,CNBC,http://wpc.c1a9.edgecastcdn.net/hls-live/20C1A9/cnbc_eu/ls_satlink/b_,264,528,828,.m3u8
ext,ABC News,http://abclive.abcnews.com/i/abc_live4@136330/index_1200_av-b.m3u8
cnn,CNN USA,http://wpc.c1a9.edgecastcdn.net/hls-live/20C1A9/cnn/ls_satlink/b_828.m3u8
bloomberg,Bloomberg,http://cdn3.videos.bloomberg.com/btv/us/master.m3u8?b
ext,RT America,http://odna.octoshape.net/f3f5m2v4/cds/ch4_720p/chunklist.m3u8
rt-doc,RT Documentary HD,http://odna.octoshape.net/f3f5m2v4/cds/ch5_720p/chunklist.m3u8
ext,Sky News International,http://wpc.C1A9.edgecastcdn.net/hls-live/20C1A9/skynews/ls_satlink/b_,828,528,264,.m3u8
ext,AL JAZEERA,http://wpc.c1a9.edgecastcdn.net/hls-live/20C1A9/aljazeera_en/ls_satlink/b_528.m3u8
france24,France 24,http://wpc.C1A9.edgecastcdn.net/hls-live/20C1A9/france24_en/ls_satlink/b_,828,528,264,.m3u8
group,Shopping
ext,HSN,rtmp://hsn.mpl.miisolutions.net:1935/hsn-live01/_definst_/mp4:420p500kB31?b?b*t$ playpath=mp4:420p500kB31
ext,HSN 2,rtmp://hsn.mpl.miisolutions.net:1935/hsn-live01/_definst_/mp4:468p500kB31?b?b*t$ playpath=mp4:468p500kB31
ext,JewelryTV,rtmp://jtvmedia.jtv.com:1975/live/live6
group,Other
ext,London Live,http://bcoveliveios-i.akamaihd.net/hls/live/217434/3083279840001/master_900.m3u8
ext,Cartoon work,http://54.255.155.24:1935//Live/_definst_/sweetbcha1novD28_W_150.sdp/playlist.m3u8
group,Test
ext,NTSC 4x3 Test,http://devimages.apple.com/iphone/samples/bipbop/bipbopall.m3u8
Bond, James Bond ...
I've recently taken up shooting. In keeping with this new hobby I've also started a growing pile of arms.
Whilst at the range on Sunday morning I noticed one of my range buddies shooting a .380 caliber pistol. It turned out to be a Walther PPK. Yep, the one that James Bond uses. Well, I had to try it. For a spy trying to conceal a weapon this might be the ideal gun. However, for a weapon of assassination, not so much. I could barely hold it in my hand. That's me in the picture below. My hands are bigger than the gun. I did manage to put all 8 rounds into the bullseye on the target at 10 yards.
Whilst at the range on Sunday morning I noticed one of my range buddies shooting a .380 caliber pistol. It turned out to be a Walther PPK. Yep, the one that James Bond uses. Well, I had to try it. For a spy trying to conceal a weapon this might be the ideal gun. However, for a weapon of assassination, not so much. I could barely hold it in my hand. That's me in the picture below. My hands are bigger than the gun. I did manage to put all 8 rounds into the bullseye on the target at 10 yards.
I'm itching to try a Sig P226. The one that Bond shows his girlfriend in the latest "Spectre" movie. I thought it odd that Bond would have that in his pocket but rumour has it that the SAS and the MOD use it so I guess it wouldn't be too far fetched. Of course, it could have been a product placement too?
Saturday, 26 September 2015
Yaesu FT-847 DRM
This post has been reproduced from my old web pages. There has been some call for the 12KHz mod info since I took my old site down.
I've been promising myself that I'd convert my FT-847 to DRM use for a few years but with DRM broadcasts here in the US only being available in the early evening when I'm tied up with family matters there seemed to be little point.
However, RCI recently announced that they would be transmitting programmes throughout the month of December (2006) from 1500UTC until their normal shutdown time of 0000UTC; a whopping nine hours of programming every day! Where's my soldering iron?
A while back I ordered a couple of 455KHz-12KHz down converters from I5XWW with a view to doing this job. These converters use a freely available design found in a number of places on the Net. Frankly for the amount I5XWW charges for these pre-built boards it's not worth the hassle of building a convertor on a project board. I paid $15 each for them!
OK, lets get down to it. On a clean work surface (not like mine) remove both the covers from your FT-847 and place it upside down on the bench with the sockets facing you. If like mine your's is a stock radio then you will have a vacant space on the upper left quadrant. This space is earmarked for the installation of the optional CW filter. This is where we are going to install the board.
Next make sure you have the following items;
RCA phono socket
12" hookup wire
24" RG174 coax
22pF capacitor (other values may work)
As you can see from the picture this mod is very simple and there is plenty of working space inside the 847.
Let's start by mounting the convertor. I used a strip of double sided tape.
Now let's tap the 455KHz IF. Locate the 8 pin IC just below the vertical SSB filter. Solder one leg of your 22pF cap to pin 2 of this IC. Pin 2 is the second pin from the right on the top row in this orientation.
Next prepare a length of coax. Connect the center to the open end of the 22pF cap and the shield to pin 4 of the chip (top row, left most pin).
Be sure to check your work for solder splashes and shorts etc. Also make certain that the new parts will not come adrift and cause damage.
Connect the other end of this coax to the 455KHz input of the convertor. In my case this was the top left 2 pins.
I've been promising myself that I'd convert my FT-847 to DRM use for a few years but with DRM broadcasts here in the US only being available in the early evening when I'm tied up with family matters there seemed to be little point.
However, RCI recently announced that they would be transmitting programmes throughout the month of December (2006) from 1500UTC until their normal shutdown time of 0000UTC; a whopping nine hours of programming every day! Where's my soldering iron?
A while back I ordered a couple of 455KHz-12KHz down converters from I5XWW with a view to doing this job. These converters use a freely available design found in a number of places on the Net. Frankly for the amount I5XWW charges for these pre-built boards it's not worth the hassle of building a convertor on a project board. I paid $15 each for them!
OK, lets get down to it. On a clean work surface (not like mine) remove both the covers from your FT-847 and place it upside down on the bench with the sockets facing you. If like mine your's is a stock radio then you will have a vacant space on the upper left quadrant. This space is earmarked for the installation of the optional CW filter. This is where we are going to install the board.
Next make sure you have the following items;
RCA phono socket
12" hookup wire
24" RG174 coax
22pF capacitor (other values may work)
As you can see from the picture this mod is very simple and there is plenty of working space inside the 847.
Let's start by mounting the convertor. I used a strip of double sided tape.
Now let's tap the 455KHz IF. Locate the 8 pin IC just below the vertical SSB filter. Solder one leg of your 22pF cap to pin 2 of this IC. Pin 2 is the second pin from the right on the top row in this orientation.
Next prepare a length of coax. Connect the center to the open end of the 22pF cap and the shield to pin 4 of the chip (top row, left most pin).
Be sure to check your work for solder splashes and shorts etc. Also make certain that the new parts will not come adrift and cause damage.
Connect the other end of this coax to the 455KHz input of the convertor. In my case this was the top left 2 pins.
Take the hookup wire and attach one end to the screw terminal with the red wire on the right of the board. I used the one above the fuse. Connect the other end to the converter's power connection.
Now comes the hard bit. We have to find a space to mount the connector. As you'll see there isn't much room on the back panel and so I drilled a small hole and passed the coax cable through thus allowing the connector to hang out of the back. Connect the RCA socket to the end of the cable that hangs out of the radio. Connect the other end to the convertor output pins.
That's pretty much it. Before putting your radio back together again, fire it up to check everything is OK. You'll also have to set the output level so that there's enough to drive your sound card.
Below are pictures of the work and also of the relevant DReaM software screens.
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