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Thursday, June 24, 2010

Stupid project

I am engaged in a stupid little project that is nothing more than a testament to some amount of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder that I probably have.

I am creating a spreadsheet using Open Office and I am attempting to achieve some kind of universality between the Alinco HT, the Wouxun HT and my Icom mobile radio. The idea is for all three radios to have the same 2 Meter repeaters programmed in; and for the Alinco and Icom mobile to have the same 2 Meter and 440 repeaters programmed in. The Wouxun has 2 Meter and 220 MHz repeaters programmed in.

I guess I have been using this as an excuse not to move around too much as it was super hot and humid today. Driving in to work this morning, at 8:00 AM, it was already around 80F (27C). It finally reached 98F (37C) this afternoon. The forecast was for some severe thunderstorms in the afternoon; but they stayed to the very southern portions of NJ. We did not receive much in the way of relief, even though a cool front was supposed to have moved into the area. But it must have, as the forecast for tomorrow is for the day to be about a whole whopping 5 degrees or so cooler. Some cool front!

To finish this little project, all I have to do is finish programming the Icom mobile to match the Alinco HT. In all, both radios will have 37 memories allocated. Nowhere near capacity; but all the local and semi-local repeaters will have been accounted for.

Pretty good for a guy who listens more than transmits.

72 de Larry W2LJ

5 comments:

  1. Having 37 repeaters programmed into your radio is the reason why I call "listening 94" or "listening 67" when I call out on a repeater, in case you feel like calling back to me but can't get to the VFO in time.

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  2. Bob K0NR10:09 AM

    What is your impression of the Wouxon radio?

    Bob K0NR

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  3. Hey Larry,

    You're ahead of me -- I'm still collecting the software (no way I'm doing this by hand!) to do exactly the same thing for my 957 & my 92AD. Since the icom will be going to Hawaii w/me in Sept, I'll be wanting those repeaters too.

    Just got the icom "remote control" software, which certainly sounds wrong, yesterday. And of course I don't have any old computers laying around here with serial ports, so....

    Glad you're making progress! :)

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  4. Bob,

    I like it a lot. It's receive audio is superb - much "fuller" than my Alinco. it is easy enough to program manually, at least I thought so. I have the software and cable; but didn't use it. The batteries seem to last for a long time and the price was right. Should I lose or damage it, I would be miffed; but not as bad as if it had cost 3X as much.

    I have the 2M/220 version. If anything happened to the Alinco, I'd probably buy the 2M/440 version.

    There's only one thing about it that I don't like. When you go into scan mode the LCD's illuminated backlight remains on for as long as you scan. I think it would be better if it went out after a few seconds to save battery life.

    72 de Larry W2LJ

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  5. Rob,

    Excellent point! And not one that I had ever really considered before. Thanks for the tip.

    73 de Larry W2LJ

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