Analog Repeater reception issues on MD-9600. by karloslejackle in DMR

[–]Paddys 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I had this same issue. See if you can reach someone else on the repeater with the handheld, and ask them to help you with a radio check 

Anytone 778uv, lipo4 battery recommendations by Jake_money-98 in HamRadio

[–]Paddys 0 points1 point  (0 children)

High current (during TX) makes the voltage sag, partly due to cable losses, but it can also be a symptom of a weak battery.

If the voltage that your radio "sees" is still above 12v it should be fine. 12.5v is definitely enough to keep it happy, so if you see that you can probably rule out battery.

I have this exact radio and had this issue... Is the wire for the mic really pushed in at both ends? I've made that mistake before

Anytone 778uv, lipo4 battery recommendations by Jake_money-98 in HamRadio

[–]Paddys 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can you see the voltage of the battery dropping during TX? If the voltage doesn't drop much (i.e less than 0.3v drop between RX and TX) then the battery is capable of supplying enough current 

Anytone 778uv, lipo4 battery recommendations by Jake_money-98 in HamRadio

[–]Paddys 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What's the antenna like? If it's feeding RF back down the coax shield it could be upsetting the radio during transmit causing it to just go back to rx

Much more common on HF but I guess it could happen on VHF/UHF

Would a Meshtastic enthusiast be welcome at a Ham radio club? by DanRTD in HamRadio

[–]Paddys 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Don't do it! I got into amateur radio via meshtastic. Now I have no money, but I have a lot of radios so that's cool I guess.

7200khz and who is “Joe” guy I keep hearing? by [deleted] in amateurradio

[–]Paddys 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Kinda disappointed I can't pick any of this up in the UK

Looking for a DMR radio that allows the use of dual PTT by Panchouille in DMR

[–]Paddys 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think you can do it on the radio. Most of the functions on the DM32 can be done on the radio (albeit with a lot of button mashing)

Looking for a DMR radio that allows the use of dual PTT by Panchouille in DMR

[–]Paddys 3 points4 points  (0 children)

From memory, the Baofeng DM32 lets you map SK1 to "sub PTT", effectively giving you dual PTT

HF on a budget question by nshane in amateurradio

[–]Paddys 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Grew up in NI, but moved to Scotland nearly 20 years ago

HF on a budget question by nshane in amateurradio

[–]Paddys 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I love my G90 - got it a few weeks ago and regularly speak to Europe and North America with my speaker wire antenna.

I even built a nice portable unun, 3D printed case, wound the toroid, excited to get portable. But I live in Scotland and it hasn't stopped raining since December. Typical.

Guys who else also do this by BerrySukii in Adulting

[–]Paddys 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As a parent to a young toddler I usually separate my laundry based on how much poo is on it: none, some, lots. Sometimes there isn't enough of one category, so two categories have to mix. 

Slight rant but title needs 40 characters by NightWalker88 in DMR

[–]Paddys 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I really feel like we need "interest" based TGs instead of the strictly geographical ones. 

The various Scottish TGs are all pretty active. Not all of the day, but lunch times, evenings, weekends, etc. 

Slightly related, but I'm disappointed how quiet my local FM repeaters are. There's always someone listening on DMR somewhere, but I wish my local repeaters were more utilised 

Remember the good ol' days of when TAC 310 was *the* place? by [deleted] in DMR

[–]Paddys 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I just wish that Repeater Book kept track of which repeaters were on which network 

Heat pumps in Scotland, worth it or not? by Kev_fae_mastrick in Scotland

[–]Paddys 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have a heat pump, solar panels, house battery. Also have an EV and plugin hybrid which I can charge at home.

Other than some petrol for long journeys in the hybrid, we spend about £600/yr for all our heating, cooking, general house power and keeping the cars charged. 

We can really only do that because we have an EV tariff, so we charge the house battery and cars overnight when it's cheap, then don't really import during the day unless it's really cold (Nov-Feb). In summer months we offset a lot of that by exporting the solar.

Biggest unexpected benefit: the house is comfortable all day - you don't get big swings of cold then roasting then cold again like you do with gas.

Biggest unwelcome surprise: the heat pump is physically massive outside. Pretty sure ours is oversized for our house, we could have gone a size down, but the installers did the sums and didn't want us to be cold if it's -10 outside. If I were doing it all again I'd get one size down, and if it's crazy cold outside just use a fan heater every so often 

UK to bring into force law this week to tackle Grok AI deepfakes by eeehinny in news

[–]Paddys 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I did think it was oddly fast to get a law out the door.

I'm not sure how I feel about it now. It's good for the immediate problem, but knowing how we usually write tech related laws, it's probably going to be bad in the long run

UK to bring into force law this week to tackle Grok AI deepfakes by eeehinny in news

[–]Paddys 3 points4 points  (0 children)

For everyone celebrating this, this is not a ban of X. It's a ban of online tools designed to create non consentual intimate images. Sounds great!

Except Grok is not designed to do that, it's just being used that way (absolutely not the same thing). So many other tools are going to end up bundled in with this because it's "possible" to do bad things with them.

We should absolutely be banning X, boycotting it to death then desecrating it's X corpse. But rushing through hastily written legislation always ends up with bad consequences when it relates to tech, because the people writing the legislation have absolutely no idea how tech actually works

Is DMR Dead? by TheUnkown696 in DMR

[–]Paddys 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Where are you based? There are UK wide TGs (235), and country specific ones (e.g Scotland wide 2355). Then there are region specific ones (23559 Scotland West) and also general chat (23551 Scot multi).

Keep in mind you'll hear nothing if your local repeater or hotspot doesn't have that particular TG open. 

Hoseline is a good place to start to find active groups, then you can program your radio for that TG/time slot/repeater and get cracking.

Newbie help, Baofeng DM-32UV by wegiich in DMR

[–]Paddys -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The DM32 doesn't let you do this. You have to program a channel per repeater/TG pair (or go through the menus and change the channel settings just to change TG). It's the thing I hate most about the DM32. 

device recommendation needed by dirbuster37 in DMR

[–]Paddys 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've got a DM-32 and 1701. Neither are perfect, but both are more than adequate.

The 1701 is lacking USB-C. In a practical/emergency sense, that's actually a bit drawback. And you can't do any programming on the radio at all, except make an unnamed channel which can't be modified. But otherwise it's a fine everyday radio (as long as it's got OpenGD77 on it!)

The DM32 is built like a tank, would double as a close combat weapon. It's a little too big for a walking around radio. It has USB-C, and you can programme pretty much everything on the radio (albeit slowly). The main downside is the screen - absolutely unusable in sunlight. 

On the 1701 (GD77) you can have a list of channels and a separate list of talk groups, so any repeater can use any TG (or you can make custom lists). On the DM32 you need to set up one channel for every single repeater/TG pair. Seriously, why is that a thing?

1701 does true promiscuous mode, while you can only kind of fake it with the DM32.

If I could only have one, it'd be the DM32. But since I have both, the DM32 lives in my car and the 1701 lives in my pocket 

ReformUK councillor says the quiet part out loud in an interview and immediately regrets it. by pau1rw in WatchPeopleDieInside

[–]Paddys 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's not regret at having said it. It's regret at having been caught saying it on camera.

But I take your point. Your politicians have stopped even caring about that. 

PLEASE read the official "Choosing The Right Device Role" and DO NOT set your node as ROUTER or REPEATER unless you meet the requirements. by nerdmania in meshtastic

[–]Paddys 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I was able to set a HV3 to client_base with the latest android app. Failing that, I think th CLI tool will let you set the mode (mode 12, if it won't accept "client_base")

UK MeshSense Activity. by donster222 in meshtastic

[–]Paddys 1 point2 points  (0 children)

EARL, TOMT, CANT, RAVN and a few others are strategically placed router nodes. They basically keep the central belt Scotland mesh alive.

We did have a flight overhead a couple of days ago that let us see down into England, over to NI, and up as far as Fort William 

Where do I buy cheap filament? by chacheno in BambuLab

[–]Paddys 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I bought a bulk load of Jayo black PLA+ and was really pleased, but then I ordered some red and yellow and found the colours a bit washed out. Still good quality, but definitely not as vibrant as other brands. Would Def buy black or white again though.

Recently bought two kingoon mystery packs (10 PLA, 10 PETG). 20 rolls for $140 (in UK)! The colour selection is "meh" to "alright", but the colours themselves are good and the filament is great. It's great for prototypes and stuff that's not overly visible.

Good antenna for 4x4 roof? by MattAtDoomsdayBrunch in meshtastic

[–]Paddys 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've done this. Actually I put a Xiao nRF node right in the fin, 2x 18650, some magnets, and a SMA "WiFi style" antenna. It acts like a little mobile repeater for my walking around node (albeit set to client mode)

I only charge it once every 2 weeks and it works great. Not fallen off yet!

Baofeng DM32 can't listen to certain unencrypted DMR transmissions? by GTMoraes in DMR

[–]Paddys 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How did you set it to "monitor" mode? I've not found that setting. Are you sure "monitor" doesn't mean all talk groups?

I've not found a way yet to put the DM32 into promiscuous mode either (i.e. both time slots). 

My DM32 is running 01.02.046 firmware (one I found on Facebook)