2026-09-03T02:18:36Z (
remote@twtpub.com )
(#2kyxxtpk5mvj) @Sumomo There is almost *zero* Citizens Band activity where I live! Most of the truckers and hobbyists have switched over to GMRS radios (FM on UHF), and I don't hear anything when I scan through the CB channels. However, I have some trucker friends who do fully-licensed amateur radio from the cabs of their big rigs, so that's getting more popular too. Feel free to join us... there are fun activities going on in the hobbyist radio bands!
2026-09-02T02:38:47Z (
remote@twtpub.com )
(#tolmwx5wf6c7) @prologic I'd be interested to read about your design ideas. There are a few projects that draw an audience for simplifying the implementation stack, eliminating reliance on dbmses and their administrative overhead, like "Grav" for web and "snac2" for microblogging. If your project is in a similar spirit, I'd enjoy seeing how it turns out.
2026-08-30T22:23:31Z (
remote@twtpub.com )
The Icom IC-7110 radio was finally announced (after a lengthy period of dramatic teasing) at the Tokyo ham radio event this weekend. There are very few features/capabilities that it offers that are not also provided by the many-years-old (and likely much cheaper) IC-7100. There are two major upgrades to the prior model: 1. It can tune in two receive signals at once, one on the HF bands and one on the VHF/UHF bands. 2. It is based on an SDR architecture. However, Icom has a bad habit of disallowing its radio customers from upgrading the software/firmware in Icom SDRs, so #2 is actually not a useful feature for customers. It doesn't give them any capabilities the traditional hardware-based radios before didn't already have. The upshot: I get to save some money by not buying this newly-announced radio! It offers so few advantages over the radios I already own that it would be unwise to consider upgrading. What would motivate me to upgrade? Support for the 220 MHz band, or community-developed software for FreeDV/WSPR/FT8/etc. support in the transceiver. Icom has never done these two things, so I'm good just keeping my old Icom radios running happily until at least another generation or two down the road. At their slow pace of innovation, it could be a decade or more before they earn my upgrade money!
2026-08-25T04:48:02Z (
remote@twtpub.com )
(#yaobj73o6lq7) @prologic Thanks! This looks like it will be fun to experiment with.
2026-08-20T19:27:14Z (
remote@twtpub.com )
Trying a little markdown, to capture current versions of important amateur radio software: - **WSJTX:** 3.0.2 on 2026-06-19 - **JS8Call:** 3.0.3 on 2026-07-12 - **FreeDV:** 2.3.1 on 2026-05-28 - **QLog:** 0.51.1 on 2026-05-07