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Random Wire Review: Issue 129

May 1, 2025: A typical amateur radio morning for me; AllStar node terminal enhancements; interfacing an amateur radio microphone with my PC; new Quadra4K HamClock; upgrading WPSD; and more!

Tom Salzer May 1

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There is a lot in this issue about AllStar, WPSD, and Pi-Star. In the next issue, I hope to report on an M17 radio, so stay tuned if you’re interested in M17!

In this issue…

• My typical morning with amateur radio. What nets do I listen to on the regular, and what systems do I use?
• AllStar node terminal enhancement. Two simple options you can try to see more information whenever you open a terminal window on your node.
• Using the AllScan UCI120 with my computer. Can I use an amateur radio microphone with my computer? Why yes, yes I can!
• New Quadra4K HamClock. Is this upgrade worth it? Yes. The Quadra4K responds more quickly in my web browser. This is particularly during transitions.
• How to manage WPSD favorites. There isn’t a way to do this built into WPSD but it’s easy to keep a list on your phone or PC.
• Upgrade WPSD on Raspberry Pi 3B+. A new image was available so I took the plunge.
• DVMEGA Cast multimode IP radio. I missed seeing this when it came out. It’s a price desktop appliance that may appeal to some folks.
• Change your Pi-Star interface colors. Heard on the air: can I change my Pi-Star dashboard colors? Yes. Here’s how.
• AllStar: multi-node dashboard and call forwarding. Where is the management dashboard for multiple nodes? How can I “call forward” to my other nodes?
• HT antennas for Retevis RT85. I bought some Nagoya-brand antennas for my Retevis RT85 radios. But I bought the wrong ones the first time so I also upgrade the antennas on my TIDRADIO TD-H3 and TD-H8 radios.
• Side project: Sun Cobalt Qube 3. I bought an old all-in-one server and now I’m wondering how to modify it.
• Ham Radio Workbench podcast 234. I had forgotten about using VLF-EM as a geologist to map a hidden fault about 45 years ago. Thank you to the HRWB crew for reminding me of this as they discussed a ground-loop antenna that was submerged due to flooding.

My typical morning with amateur radio

I spend much of my time working at a computer, updating spreadsheets, writing reports, and participating in Zoom and Teams meetings. What folks don’t know is I am surrounded by various nodes, hotspots, and handheld radios, so when I say “touch a radio every day,” I actually do exactly that.

I like to catch some morning nets while I work, so I will typically listen in to the WW7PSR Puget Sound Repeater Group’s Nine O’Clock Net and the Coffee Break Net on the W6EK system. I also like to monitor the WB2JPQ East Coast Reflector. Sometimes I listen over an AllStar node that goes to a handheld radio, sometimes I’ll use my SIP phone, and sometimes I’ll use IAXRPT on my Windows laptop. If I’m going to take the trash out or take the dog for a walk, I take a handie talkie with me. It’s nice to have so many options.

When I’m at my desk, I’ll have at least one instance of AllScan running so I can see activity on the nodes I’ve saved. AllScan makes it a snap to see activity and move from net to net.

If I’m driving in the Portland, Oregon area, I’ll listen to nets on the W7RAT IRLP repeater system and also tune to the Kansas City Wide system on the WA7BND repeater. I regularly scan for active repeater traffic (I have 700 repeaters programmed into my radio) and monitor 146.52 MHz. I also have APRS running on my mobile radio most of the time.

If I’m driving in the Seattle area, I like to try to tune into the WW7PSR repeater with my Yaesu FTM-300DR mobile radio, but I don’t have a lot of luck with that for some reason. It’s a mystery. So what really happens is I usually connect to WW7PSR through DVSwitch Mobile on my smartphone.

Once in a while, I’ll put an AllStar node in the vehicle, linked to a cellular hotspot. That tends to work okay, but lately I’ve been connecting to one of my AllStar nodes through DVSwitch Mobile using Web Transceiver mode, and using that method to connect to specific nodes.

I also have my Hamshack Hotline number on my smartphone, running through the Groundwire app. This makes it easy for me to connect to my “node in the cloud” 57945 and connect through that node to other nodes. I can do this from home but there’s no need. When I use this method, I’m usually mobile.

My biggest challenge is deciding what method I’m going to use on any given day. As I type this, the W6EK Coffee Break Net has just concluded. I was listening to it on my node 578493 (an AllScan ANH100) through IAXRPT on my laptop computer. In the words of Robert Half:

It’s easy to make good decisions when there are no bad options.

Speaking of options, check out the many ways you can participate in the Extended Freedom Network as shown on their home page: https://extendedfreedom.network/:

• AllStar
• EchoLink
• DMR
• SIP phone
• Yaesu System Fusion
• Peanut
• DMR+ (DVScotland)
• Hamshack Hotline
• TGIF Digital Network
• Hams Over IP
• Teamspeak

Whew. That is a lot of options!

AllStar node terminal enhancement

Some time ago, I installed screenfetch (sudo apt install screenfetch) on several of my AllStar nodes. Then I added “screenfetch” (without the quotes) at the end of my .bashrc file on those nodes, so that every time I logged into a terminal window, it would run. Screenfetch provides some helpful information to me as a node operator.

However, since the overhead on screenfetch is a bit high, I began looking for alternatives. I found several but most of those projects were abandoned (i.e., not being maintained). Linuxlogo was an exception (although it was last updated in July 2022) and it required fewer resources than screenfetch, so I gave it a try.

In the screenshot below, you’ll see a screenfetch display in the top half of the image and the linuxlogo display in the bottom half of the image. (The colors in the screenshot are not nearly as bright as they are in real life.) Both applications are installable on a Debian AllStar node using sudo apt install [program name].

The computer in this demonstration is a Beelink T5 micro PC, not my usual Dell Wyse 3040 thin client computer. Here is what it looks like on a Dell 3040:

Is this important? No, not really. I like it, though, because it reminds me what machine architecture I’m on, and it’s a nice interruption from a plain old terminal display. Of the two options, Linuxlogo requires fewer additional packages. While Linuxlogo presents a simpler, quick display, I confess that I prefer Screenfetch, even though it requires quite a few more packages (and storage space) than Linuxlogo.

Using the AllScan UCI120 with my computer

Before I start building my next node, I thought I would try connecting a Kenwood desk microphone for amateur radio to my laptop computer, using the AllScan UCI120.

The TL;DR: It worked.

The microphone is an old Kenwood MC-80 I picked up on eBay. This device takes 4 AA-size batteries and this particular unit came with some old, corroded batteries in the battery compartment. I cleaned that up months ago and have been waiting for a good opportunity to try this mic on the computer.

Enter the AllScan UCI120. It is an audio interface that connects to a computer, not a radio, and supports using an amateur radio microphone with your application.:

The UCI120’s primary application is for use in Radio-less AllStar nodes but it can be also used with any other PC / smartphone / embedded / VOIP application that would benefit from a high-quality interface to amateur and commercial radio communications microphones and speakers.

I put fresh batteries in the Kenwood MC-80 mic, connected it to the front panel of the UCI120, and plugged it into my laptop. I heard a ping sound, meaning the system detected the device. Good so far.

Then I opened the IAXRPT app on my phone and connected it to my ANH100 AllStar node number 578493. Using the AllScan application, I then connected 578493 to the Enhance Parrot node 55553 and began testing.

And it worked. I got a pretty good report from the Enhanced Parrot.

The audio quality is not what I’d like, and that may be the fault of the microphone itself. There’s no telling what this device has been through in its long history. Or it may be that I had the mic gain pushed up a bit too far.

So I pulled my “go to” Kenwood MC-60 desk microphone from node 588412 to try it with the UCI120. I dialed back the gain just a little bit. I think this sounds pretty good, considering that IAXRPT probably introduces some distortion to the audio:

Listen now · 0:19

Of course, the distortion may also be due to how I captured the audio by setting my smartphone on the laptop and recording through the air from the computer speakers to the smartphone microphone. Given a bit more time, I’m sure I could figure out how to record more directly to the computer.

I’m happy with this proof of concept. I’ve wondered many times if there was a fairly simple way to use an amateur radio microphone through my computer and now I know the answer is yes.

The UCI120 is a great little device. It’s the interface for my AllStar node 588412 that sits on my desk. When you view the product brochure, you can tell that David Gleason NR9V put a lot of thought into designing and manufacturing this device.

New Quadra4K HamClock

Setup is easy, especially when plugged into an cabled network. It only took a few minutes from unpackaging to seeing this display in my browser:

This is the full-screen display using mainly default configuration entries. I added my call sign and Maidenhead grid square, and reduced the number of bands in the Live Spots display. That’s it.

The Quadra4K device itself is a lightweight square with rounded corners. An LED information display on the front scrolls your LAN IP address (helpful!), CPU temperature in Celsius, the sunspot number, and the solar flux index.

Configuration instructions are thorough. It takes longer to read them than to set up this device.

My order arrived in just a few days, but that may be because I’m within 10 miles or so of the vendor. I bought the “Quadra4K HamClock Bundle with Mini-Keyboard” for $59 plus shipping. Since I plugged the device directly into my network, I didn’t need the keyboard. The device without the keyboard costs $10 less. With the Quadra4K unit, you don’t need the other things listed in the Inovato catalog at https://inovato.com/collections/all. The Quadra4K is a great upgrade.

I’ll keep my old one as a backup. I also have another still-new-in-the-package Quadra (the older model) that I plan to donate for an amateur radio club function.

If, perhaps, you don’t want to spend 50 bucks on a Quadra4K, check out the Hamshack Dashboard. A working demo is available at https://nject.us/HAMSHACK-DASHBOARD-O.html. The version I’m running on my cloud server is older so an upgrade is now on my TO DO list. I have upgraded my instance of the dashboard. Find it at https://kj7t.net/ or click this direct link: https://kj7t.net/HamshackDashboard.html?callsign=KJ7T&&utc=-7&&state=WA2.

My dashboard refreshes every 15 minutes to reduce load on the server (the default is 5 minutes). Please do not link to my instance as that increases the bandwidth consumed by my node-in-the-cloud AllStar node!

You can run this on most computers because it is simply an HTML file. Go to the working demo and download the web page to your computer. Documentation for the Hamshack Dashboard is in a PDF at https://nject.us/HAMSHACK-DASHBOARD-DOCUMENTATION.pdf.

How to manage favorite reflectors in WPSD

That is a misleading title, because there isn’t a good way to manage a list of favorite reflectors in WPSD. However, you can keep a list elsewhere.

I’m a big fan of the AllScan application for AllStar. I use AllScan to keep a list of favorite nodes and to see which of my favorites are currently active. Wouldn’t it be nice to have something similar for my WPSD hotspot? (I use my hotspot only for Yaesu System Fusion.)

If you don’t know what WPSD is, Derek Moyes K1DDM has a very helpful PDF presentation titled Getting Started with WPSD & YSF.

I thought WPSD Profiles might do this, but when I set up different profiles for different Yaesu System Fusion reflectors, switching to a different profile does not change the reflector I’m linked to. I’m sure that is by design and I’m sure there is a good reason for it. I just don’t know the reason.

An alternative for this would be to have a notes field attached to each profile where you could record the reflector you wish to use. That feature enhancement isn’t really necessary because you can simply keep a list in your favorite notes application. Right now, I keep a text list in a OneDrive folder.

To select a different reflector through the WPSD Dashboard, you go to Admin —> YSF Manager —> YSF Link Manager, and then select the reflector you wish to connect to.

All credit to Chip W0CHP for providing searchable lists of YSF reflectors (https://w0chp.radio/ysf-reflectors/) and FCS reflectors (https://w0chp.radio/fcs-reflectors/). The search function in these lists is “live” so when you start to type in the search box, the list swiftly returns matching records. Nice.

A side note: I noticed that the WPSD user manual and the reflectors page are built with Hugo. I like how fast those resources are so I’m going to dig into Hugo a bit and see if it is something can use. If it uses Markdown (it does!), even better.

Upgrade WPSD on Raspberry Pi 3B+

I saw on the WPSD Discord channel that a new image was available, and upgrading meant flashing the new image to a microSD card. What I didn’t find was a good, step-by-step set of instructions all in one place to help me through the process. What I did find was good instructions in separate places.

An A-to-Z recipe would be helpful. In the information technology universe, we call this a runbook. I find that calling it a runbook confuses my non-technical friends so I just describe these sets of step-by-step instructions as recipes. Everyone understands what a recipe is.

And don’t discount the value of saving your own recipes. As we get older, it may become harder to remember a lot of details. Speaking quite candidly, I don’t configure my hotspot very often, so it seems new and confusing to me each time. This is where a good recipe for your system becomes invaluable. When you know how to do it, you’re more likely to upgrade to the newest and most secure system/version.

Before you proceed, reviewing the FAQs is mandatory. Find them at https://w0chp.radio/wpsd-faqs/.

Get the new image and verify it

Find the image for your hardware at: https://w0chp.radio/wpsd/#download-wpsd

Download the compressed image file for your particular hardware. I’m using a Raspberry Pi 3B+, so I downloaded WPSD_RPi-Bookworm.img.xz.

It’s a good idea to verify the image file. In Windows 11, you can do this with PowerShell with Get-FileHash. Open PowerShell as an administrator by entering PowerShell in the search box, then selecting Run as Administrator. Change directories to the location where your downloaded file is located. For me, it is in Downloads, so: cd C:\Users\tsalz\Downloads. Use Get-FileHash to get the hash:

Compare the hash to the SHA-256 checksum for the disk image, located just below the downloads. The hash produced by Get-FileHash matched the value in the WPSD text file so I proceeded with the installation.

Install the image to a microSD card

The official WPSD User Manual has detailed instructions for two different tools: Balena Etcher and the Raspberry Pi Imager. I used the Raspberry Pi Imager to burn the image to a SanDisk Ultra card from the 5-pack bundle I had on hand. (I note that the microSD card reader included in the bundle seems fragile.)

SanDisk 16GB Micro Ultra Memory Card (5 Pack Bundle) 98MB/s Speed Class 10, SDHC Works with Android Phones, Galaxy Tablets (SDSQUAR-016G-GN6MN) Plus 1 Everything But Stromboli (TM) MicroSD Card Reader

I encourage you to save your WPSD configuration. I did that through the WPSD Dashboard: Admin —> Configuration —> Backup/Restore. Unfortunately, I did not notice that Windows 11 was suspicious of the downloaded file so the system didn’t keep it. Fortunately, I had screenshots of my configuration details and a record of my Brandmeister API key so it wasn’t too difficult to manually configure the upgraded hotspot.

You can use Balena Etcher or Rufus, but I used the Raspberry Pi imager application on my Windows 11 PC.

To install WPSD using Raspberry Pi Imager, follow these steps:

1. Download and install Raspberry Pi Imager from the Raspberry Pi downloads page.
2. Insert your SD card into your computer using a USB adapter if necessary.
3. Open Raspberry Pi Imager and select the device to flash.
4. Choose the “Use custom” option and navigate to the WPSD disk image file you downloaded, such as WPSD_RPi_Latest.img.xz.
5. Ensure the correct SD card is selected as the destination device.
6. Do not create a user or change the password using the advanced options; the “pi-star” user and password are already on the disk image and are required for WPSD to function properly.
7. Select the “Flash” button to write the disk image to the SD card.

After the process is complete, you can insert the SD card into your Raspberry Pi and power it on to start using WPSD.

Correcting my Nextion display

As I worked on my hotpost, I noticed that the Nextion display was missing my call sign and my DMR ID.

After I SSH’d into the node and dug around a bit, I went back to the WPSD configuration screen to try some different settings. What worked for me was to select:

MMDVM Display Type: Nextion (enhanced w/driver, attached to modem)

The port is “modem.”

Where I struck gold was in the display settings. The “ON7LDS L3” selection corrected the problem with the missing callsign and DMR ID: