The N8GNJ Station Wishlist 1H 2012

My buddy Bill WA7NWP's similar post is my inspiration for this.

The focus of Station N8GNJ is data communications. Yeah, there's some voice, but data holds the most fascination. The vast majority of the radios have modems / TNCs rather than microphones.

Wishlist item #01: Kenwood DM-710A  Bill has convinced me that this is the best for option for doing 9600 baud on 144 and 440 MHz. Amazingly, Kenwood doesn't even mention this capability on their sales blurb for this radio.

Wishlist item #02 - 05: Alinco...

DR-06T
DR-135T/EMKIII
DR-235TMKIII
DR-435T/EMKIII 

What all of the Alinco radios above (50, 144, 222, and 440 MHz, respectively) have in common are that they can accept 9600 baud signals directly on a rear panel connector. Although Alinco offers an internal TNC unit similar to the DM-710A, after so many bad reports over the years, I can't bring myself to trust a "radio" TNC from a Japanese company. Such units have gotten a very bad reputation for operating TCP/IP because they all seem to have piddly buffers.

Wishlist item #06: (multiples) A 9600 baud TNC. I'd love something like a TNC-X with a 9600 modem, but no one seems to make one. I don't see one that really appeals to me. The best one I'm aware of is the Timewave PK-96.

Wishlist item #07: That said, I do plan to get a TNC-X. It's great to have a TNC that's hard-coded in KISS mode.

Wishlist item #08: Of course, I'll be investing a 144 / 440 D-Star radio - just not sure which one I'll be buying.

Wishlist item #09: More than a decade after witnessing its debut, I think 2012 will be the year that I finally buy an Icom ID-1.

Wishlist item #10: Doodle Labs DL-435-30 looks like some fun for experimentation.

Wishlist item #11: (multiples) Tigertronics SignaLink USB. I've seen reviews that this is a good, stable USB interface for HF digital modes. It has pots for matching up to an individual radio, it's reasonably priced, and unlike a lot of similar interfaces, it has its own sound card chip. I now have a 144 MHz and a 440 MHz all mode radio (both old enough that LED displays were "newfangled") and I plan to try the HF digital modes with them - should be interesting to try WSPR on 440 MHz SSB.

Wishlist item #12: (multiples) 144/222/440 MHz vertical, omnidirectional antennas. I made the mental leap that putting up an antenna is such an ordeal to me, and I'm willing to do it right with expensive coax, etc. that it doesn't make sense NOT to put up a tri-band antenna.

Wishlist item #13: Similar to #12, a 50/144/440 MHz vertical, omnidirectional antenna. I want to do data work on the 50 MHz band.

Wishlist item #14: Similar to #12 and #13, a 144/440/1200 MHz vertical, omnidirectional antenna. I want to do data work on the 1200 MHz band.

Wishlist item #15: Some embedded PC that is fanless (big heatsink) and operates directly off 12V DC. Extras would be that it's that sexy ARM processor (very power efficient) and thus runs a Linux implementation. But something like an Intel Atom would be OK too.

Wishlist item #16: A DC-daylight nothing-but-DSP receiver. Fully programmable for frequency or mode.

Wishlist item #17: Digital (PDF) copies of all the Amateur Radio magazines, especially the specialty ones. Many of these I have in my possession, and are just waiting patiently to be fed through the ScanSnap.

 

If I hit the lottery (real wishlist)... (perhaps I should start playing the lottery... nah)

Lottery wishlist item #01: A current generation spectrum analyzer so I can really see what all those radios and TNCs of mine are really doing.

Lottery wishlist item #02: A full solar power installation enough solar panel and battery to charge up with one day of sunshine per week (typical winter here in the Pacific NorthWET) and a big battery bank that could supply the entire shack.

Lottery wishlist item #03: FreeWave Technologies products - FreeWave has been going strong for more than a decade. I admire that they know what they do, have built out from that niche without distraction (such as 802.11), and apparently keep their customers well-satisfied. If I had to choose one company whose products I got to know very, very well, and could invest in buying their products to learn them, FreeWave would be a close second to FullMax.

Lottery wishlist item #04: ViaSat Excede (apparently the successor to WildBlue) or HughesNet satellite service. Yes, I understand that these are no substitute for terrestrial Broadband Internet Access, but what they do have is that they're uninterruptable from any localized natural disaster - earthquake, windstorm, fires, etc. As long as my antenna survives and I have power, I can be a reliable gateway between Internet and Amateur Radio.

Lottery wishlist item #05: A cellular monopole, at least 100', with a platform. Fed with at least 20 runs of hardline, of course (remember, this is lottery winning dreaming). That way, I order the radio, order the antenna, and call up the local tower jockey and hand him the parts and point to the top of the tower. That's my kind of antenna work!

Lottery wishlist item #06: A commercial quality 440 MHz 9600 baud, bit regen, FEC repeater on a downtown Seattle skyscraper (commercial site, commercial rates - that's why this is a lottery wishlist item). I'd love to have a companion 220 and 144 MHz repeaters, but 440 is the most practical and would get the most use. It needs to be in Seattle to be most accessible to the surrounding areas - Eastside, Tacom'ish, Everett'ish, and of course the Sound and the peninsula.

Lottery wishlist item #07: Just like #2, only on a high, widely accessible mountain like Baldi for even better regional coverage. 

Lottery wishlist item #08: Full Spectrum Networks' FullMAX - I'd deploy anywhere I could get a 100 KHz channel. The ARRL should be all over this.

 

Of course, there's the mystery radio that I can't talk about yet.

 

Operational:

Operating IPv6 over Packet Radio intrigues me.

 

To be continued.

de N8GNJ