'Poor Hams' GeoChron Amateur Radio Information Display

2022 UPDATE

The instructions below still work with no problems even though the software and Linux have had multiple updates. Also, if you happen to get your hands on a cheap Intel-based Apple iMac 20" from around 2007 it makes a PERFECT HamClock system as it's already an all-in-one PC, has full driver support from LinuxLite, and has a native display resolution of 1680x1050. Just a perfect resolution if you compile the software for 1600x960.

ORIGINAL 2020 BLOG POST

Let's be honest, almost every amateur radio operator wants a real GeoChron but likely can't afford one.

If you aren't familiar with GeoChron, this 50+-year-old companies product is a very complex analog electric wall clock that displays the world map and dynamically tracks the greyline (showing parts of the world in the dark of night, and parts of the world in the light of day). These expensive clocks are still popular items in the boardrooms or lobbies of multi-national corporations. Over 30,000 of these clocks have been produced in GeoChron's history. In recent years a digital version of the GeoChron is also available and it's intended to connect to a large 4K TV to show the traditional GeoChron dynamic map, as well as other cool data, live from the Internet.

Cut to an ARRL QST magazine article in 2017 from a fellow ham (WB0OEW) who created another internet-connected information software program for micro PC boards & touchscreen displays. His software 'Ham Clock' was focused on information that an amateur radio operator would appreciate like:

• Operators callsign (with control of color scheme for alphanumeric text and background)
• Internet synced UTC clock with hours, minutes and seconds as well as DST on/off
• Day, month, year
• Stopwatch or remaining time countdown
• Screen lock so preferred setting are not changed by accident
• Mercator or Azimuthal map view with grayline
• Toggle Lat/Long map grid, or Tropics, or none.
• Moon phases as seen from the earth surface.
• Sun position directly overheard.
• OACAP predictions for any path at several power levels
• trend plots and predictions for solar flux, sunspot, XRay and Kp index
• short and long path antenna beam heading and distance to any DX location
• Satellite and ISS tracking and display next satellite rise/set times and overhead pass (not just global track)
• local weather, time, grid square, prefix and sun rise/set times at any DX location
• live scrolling DX cluster display
• live solar images from Solar Dynamics Observatory
• live NCDXF beacon location, time and frequency schedule
• live RSS feeds from popular ham related web sites
• show Moon rise/set and overhead passes for EME
• adjust time forward or back to explore gray line location, satellite orbits etc
• and these are just a few...

The Ham Clock software is now also available in a rebranded (HF Clock) a commercial product with an embedded microcomputer and touch screen display in your choice of nice wood desktop frame. Shop for this product on the manufacturer's website https://veritiumresearch.com/hf-clock/. So if you want to buy a product like a GeoChron or HF Clock, I've given you the basic information to research and order your own clock. 

Ham Clock DIY

However many hams like the DIY part of the hobby and maybe don't want to purchase these unique clocks and amateur data systems, hence the reason for this post, building your own Ham Clock on the cheap using your own parts and pieces.

The original Ham Clock software from WB0OEW is still free to download from his website, he even includes instructions on various ways to compile the software for the Raspberry Pi and a 7" or 9" touch screen LCD or even on a desktop PC. 

VA7AEJ's Ham Clock 32" LCD TV Project

For my project, I wanted to utilize some equipment that I already had (ie a free project), and I also wanted a little more versatility out of the host device (the PC). I also preferred a larger screen easier to see from around the room.

My parts list

• An older small form factor Acer desktop computer with HDMI output. A PC with any output graphics that support your monitor or TV would work.
• An older 32" Sony Bravia LCD TV that's already mounted on the wall in my shack for watching TV.
• USB Flash Drive (4GB)

Software

• Linux Lite 5.0, a lightweight linux distro built for older computers and based on Ubuntu Linux. 
• You may use actual Ubuntu, or any other flavor of Linux based on Ubuntu should work.
• Ham Clock ver 2.49 (current version as of July 2020) downloaded and compiled during the setup steps below.

Setup Steps

• From another PC download the ISO image of the latest version of Linux Lite.
• Using tools like 'Balena Etcher' or 'Rufus' flash the downloaded linux ISO to a USB flash drive creating bootable installation media for the PC. You may also burn the image to a DVD if you prefer that method and your intended target PC has a DVD drive.
• I booted the target PC (my old Acer) from the USB flash drive and installed Linux Lite.
• All the installation setup screens are common sense and the default options were chosen most of the time.
• On the partition screen, I said to wipe the drive and replace the contents with Linux Lite.
• On the user/password screen, I set the account to log in automatically for convenience.
• At the end of the Linux Lite installation, I shut down the system and removed the USB flash drive (or DVD) and then powered on the system on the newly installed Linux Lite.
• Once the system is booted I went straight to the Terminal program and the command line. Cut and paste these commands into the Terminal session and run each line on it's own before advancing to the next line.  For example in the first line select the text sudo apt-get update
• Scan for system updates   sudo apt-get update
• Install all updates found   sudo apt-get upgrade
• Add some required software   sudo apt install curl make g++ xorg-dev
• Reboot the system and then resume in Terminal again.
• Download Ham Clock   curl -o ESPHamClock.zip http://www.clearskyinstitute.com/ham/HamClock/ESPHamClock.zip
• Unpack the Ham Clock download   unzip ESPHamClock.zip
• Change to the new Ham Clock directory   cd ESPHamClock
• Compile the Ham Clock program   make -j 4 hamclock-1600x960
• NOTE: Ham Clock supports only four screen sizes so pick the one that's under the max resolution of your monitor or TV attached to the Ham Clock PC.
• Ham Clock resolutions - 800 x 480  -  1600 x 960  -  2400 x 1440  -  3200 x 1920
• My TV's max resolution is 1920 x 1080, so I compiled the software at 1600x960 as both the width and height of HamClock is less than the height and width of the TV's resolution. If you pick higher Ham Clock settings the program will be larger than the monitor and areas will not be seen on the screen.
• Create a desktop shortcut for launching Ham Clock
• Right-click on an empty area of the Linux Lite desktop and select Create Launcher 
• Name: Ham Clock
• Comment: 
• Command: ./hamclock-1600x960
• Working Directory: /home/[your-username]/ESPHamClock
• Icon: select something you like from the available options

The first time Ham Clock launches it goes to a setup screen where you enter your callsign, your Lat and Long, or you can let the app geolocate with your internet connection (not always as accurate).

As Ham Clock was written for a touch display you can use a mouse to click on most parts of the screen and make changes. The Ham Clock User Guide is an easy read on understanding the initial setup and use of the software once installed and running.

So why didn't I just do this install on a Raspberry Pi and connect that to the TV? Well like I said I have other plans for this Linux Lite PC connected to that TV, so this method allows me to run Ham Clock when the PC is not in use for other purposes, but if I want to watch a movie or listen to some music I can close Ham Clock and fire up Kodi or Spotify etc. 

  

Brian Jensen Obituary

Brian Jensen of Trinity Valley, Lumby passed away suddenly on the evening of Thursday, June 11th on the property that he developed and loved over a period of 40 years. He is survived by his wife of 52 years Ursula, his son Aaren Jensen (Kelly) and granddaughter Molly of Lumby, and daughter Vanessa O’Brien (Rick) of Kamloops. He leaves behind his sisters Karen (Dave) Kovak of Saskatchewan, and Bonnie (Kim) Jensen of Alberta as well as a large extended family throughout BC, Alberta, and Saskatchewan.
Brian was born in Camrose Alberta the only son of the late Harold and Carol Jensen a farming family from the Ferintosh region. He attended Camrose Lutheran College before moving to work at Alberta Hospital Ponoka. While in Ponoka he met his future wife Ursula Graumann, a recent immigrant from Essen Germany. Brian became interested in a mental health career and became a Registered Psychiatric Nurse (RPN). He married Ursula and moved his young family to Drumheller AB to work at a new Federal Penitentiary. As his family grew Brian shifted from nursing into Manpower & Immigration, then recruiting helping find Engineers from England and Scotland to work in the northern Alberta oil industry. At the start of the 1980s while working in Edmonton Brian and his family made a huge decision to leave their corporate jobs and city lives and try their hand at homesteading in Trinity Valley north of Lumby. They settled on an empty 20-acre parcel with a spectacular view. Brian and Ursula with help from their children built a beautiful log home. Brian taught himself every step of construction requiring little outside help. After a few years, he went back to nursing at the Vernon Jubilee Hospital in various roles related to Psychiatry and mental health. He helped many people in the North Okanagan as his career transitioned from nursing into mental health therapy until his retirement.
Back on the farm with no prior horse experience Brian and Ursula bought a couple Norwegian Fjord Horses which slowly grew to become a major part of their lives for the next 35+ years. Brian was extremely active in the Breed, raising horses, importing and selling, showing, driving & competitions, training, teaching, and judging. He was an internationally certified judge and evaluator traveling throughout North America and Europe working for the breed he loved. He traveled to Norway many times representing Canada and the USA as a member of the International Fjord Horse board. Most importantly he mentored and trained hundreds of other people and families to love the Fjord horse as much as he did.
As hard-working and respected as Brian was in his work and personal life, he privately had his own mental health issues. As he approached his 75th birthday he found it more and more difficult to adjust to aging, declining health, and reducing his activities within the Fjord community. If you are struggling with mental health issues PLEASE reach out for help. In the North Okanagan contact the Canadian Mental Health Association, The Vernon Jubilee Hospital, or the People In Need (PIN) Crisis Line at 1-800-353-2273.

A Home Based Enterprise Network System

The UniFi® Enterprise System delivers a breakthrough combination of performance, reliability, and scalability with top performance/price value. Intuitive management software featuring a graphical user interface is bundled with the UniFi hardware at no extra cost – no licensing fees or support costs.

Over the last six months or so I've been slowly gathering a collection of network components from Ubiquiti's UniFi product line.

This weekend I finally had enough key pieces that the system unlocked a ton of new features. Prior to this weekend I only had a couple access points (as these work with any network) and I managed them with a virtual server running the UniFi Controller software.

Now, I have added the CloudKey (which replaced my VM controller), and a Unifi Security Gateway (USG) which replaced my old home router.

The CloudKey and USG unlocked my ability to get a ton of system data and features from a mobile app as well as control it remotely from anywhere I have my phone or a web browser.

I'm eyeing a couple more UniFi components to complete the system, but so far I'm very pleased.

UPDATE #2 - 'Poor Hams' Wooden Antenna Mast

This past winter right after the RAC Winter Contest an ice storm built up too much weight on my Off Center Fed Dipole antenna and the top 4 feet of my trusty wooden antenna mast snapped off.

Jump to Easter weekend about 3 months later, enough snow has melted that I convinced my wife and daughter to help me bring down the tilt over wood tower and reattach my OCF antenna to the top of the mast.

It was one of those activities where no one had the idea of stopping and taking a few pictures so I only have a few snaps of when the work was finished. Thanks to Curtis my neighbor for lending a hand as well.

After we were done I ran back inside the shack and quickly tuned a few spots on all the HF bands and everything is back to normal. So glad I can get back onto more of the HF bands again.

Note: I've always suspected that the top 4 feet of the original mast design would be the point most likely to fail and I was right. But it stood for 8 years before snapping in that winter ice storm. Today the antenna tilted back over exactly as designed and was not difficult work for the 4 of us involved, there was no real repair done as all I did was reattach the antenna to the new high point of the wooden mast and lifted it back up.

At the bottom is a modified copy of the build sheet I did 8 years ago when the antenna mast was first built. It notes the spot where the top section of the mast broke off in a winter storm. My suggestion now, shorten or remove this top section of the mast.

Headphones for Ham Radio

I have a problem, an addiction really.
Hi, my name is Aaren and I'm a headphone addict.

Years ago when I was young, single and had lots of dispensible income I got into high-end audio (Hi-Fi). My stereo equipment and loudspeakers were audiophile-grade and my music collection was measured in the 1000+ range.

Many years later I'm married with a teenager, we have a mortgage, a camper, multiple vehicles and my dispensable cash is now invisible cash.

In my audio hobby, I transitioned from spending thousands on speakers or amps to spending hundreds on headphones and headphone tube amps. I can venture to say the quality of my sound experience did not change, and my family and neighbors are now pleasantly left out of the experience as I quietly enjoy my music.

Purchasing and enjoying different makes and models of hi-fi and studio-grade headphones has become another one of my vices. This includes headphones from premium brands like Focal from France & Beyerdynamic from Germany.

Then my amateur radio hobby comes along about 8 years ago and the sonic experience is entirely different. Instead of the pure clean audio that I experience with my music, I now have noise and hiss and static filling the speakers or headphones with the challenge of pulling those weak signals out of the air.

Hence my recent interest headphones designed for radio.

Typically as humans, we can hear in the range of frequencies from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. This range is known as the audio range.

The traditional audio frequency range of standard telephone transmissions was roughly 300 - 3400 Hz, a much much narrower range for just human voice communications.

For comparison here are some basic specs from a couple pairs of my music/studio-grade headphones

Focal Spirit Classic

• Stereo
• Impedance - 32 Ohms
• Frequency response 5 Hz - 22,000 Hz

Beyerdynamic DT990Pro

• Stereo
• Impedance - 250 Ohms
• Frequency response 5 Hz - 35,000 Hz

Heil Sound Pro-7 Headset

A couple years ago I bought my first boomset/headset (headphones with a microphone) designed for ham radio from Heil Sound. Bob Heil is famous in two sectors of his life's work, his professional studio and live touring equipment for musicians, and his life long love for the hobby of amateur radio. Bob's company specializes in equipment for both sectors of the market. And his equipment is very well respected in both.

The Heil Pro-7 headset that I purchased had the following listening specs. And I wrote a more detailed post about these here on the blog.

Heil Pro-7 Specs (headphone portion)

• Stereo
• Impedance - 32 Ohms (Thanks for the confirmation by Steve Warford from Heil Sound)
• Frequency response 100 Hz - 12,000 Hz

Notice that the Heil Pro 7 headphone speakers respond from 100 Hz through 12,000 Hz before attenuating way down at the lower and higher ends of the spectrum. Music audiophiles want speakers that go lower and higher in order to hear the lower and higher notes, but for amateur radio and shortwave, these headphone speakers focus on the CW, SSB, AM, FM human voice range that we want and need to hear. Having a higher response often means static or hiss can be emphasized and we don't want to hear that. Bob's design gives you a clean flat response in only the range you need to hear and eliminates the range of sounds that you don't need to want to hear.

Kenwood HS-5 Mono Headphones

My latest purchases are interesting as well and I very much enjoyed the research before the purchase.

I had no idea Kenwood made ham radio/shortwave related headphones as well. I can't tell if these are retro-styled or if Kenwood has seen no reason to update the design and they're actually a 20-year-old trusted and true model?

   

     

Kenwood HS-5 Specs

• Mono (YES, many many radios especially older ones are mono only)
• Impedance - 8 Ohms 
• Frequency response 150 Hz - 4,000 Hz

The Marketing Blurb

Kenwood Communications Headphones are perfect for amateur radio and shortwave listening. They feature cushioned foam or vinyl earpieces that make listening so comfortable, you'll forget you're wearing them. Drawing from Kenwood's extensive audio background, their high-performance Kenwood driver units reproduce communication sounds for signals that never sounded so clear! Their audio response makes them great for all modes; CW, SSB, FM, and AM. Kenwood Communications Headphones provide excellent speech fidelity and their lightweight allows for extreme comfort while listening for hours.

These Kenwood HS-5 mono headphones are engineered and tuned strictly for radio communication purposes to provide distinctive voice sound (150-4000 Hz -6 dB). I can't wait for these to arrive and try out. So often in the radio hobby, we grab a pair for 'regular' headphones or ear buds and get to work. But by engineering the lowest and highest sounds out of the equation so much noise can be removed without the need for filters or DSP.

They are supplied with removable foam-type ear pads. They are also supplied with a second set of leatherette pads with a cavity in the center. It is easy to change the pads.

With ¼ inch, mono plug and 6.6 foot (2m) non-coiled fabric wrapped cord.

Heil Sound Pro Set 3 Headphones

First off these are not dedicated radio headphones like the Kenwood HS-5's, instead Heil Sound has designed a more well rounded and versatile pair of headphones.

The Marketing blurb

The Heil ProSet3 professional stereo headphones have been designed for a wide variety of applications including amateur radio, studio recording, commercial broadcast use, and casual listening. With a frequency response of 10 Hz to 22 kHz, they deliver exceptional articulation and clarity, with beautiful sonic accuracy in a closed-back, lightweight headset The over-ear headphones weigh only 7 oz and feature padded ear cups so that they will be comfortable and non-fatiguing over long periods of time.

For ham radio operators and listeners, the exclusive Heil Phase Reversal switch allows the user to move the signal acoustically, which creates a spatial widening of the sound field that makes it easier to ‘see’ a signal inside a pileup while removing listener fatigue during prolonged use.

To accommodate different listening situations, the headphones come included with three detachable cables: a 5.9′ flexible straight cable with a 1/8″ headphone plug, a 5.9′ straight cable with an iPhone and iPod compatible 1/8″ plug, and a 9.8′ coiled cable with a 1/8″ headphone plug. The cables have twist-lock terminating 1/8″ gold-plated connectors. A 1/4″ gold plated screw-on adapter comes included with the headphones.

Heil Pro Set 3

• Stereo
• Impedance - 32 ohms
• Frequency response - 10 Hz - 22,000 Hz

As you can see from the product description and the specs these are basically studio-grade stereo headphones which one ham radio feature 'the phase switch'. The frequency response is very similar to high-end audio headphones so you can expect to hear a more full range of sounds including the hiss from the higher frequencies. But you can use these stereo headphones for everything and expect to hear great sound no matter what the purpose is.

The phase reversal switch is a unique feature though. As an owner of the Heil Pro-7's which also includes this feature, it is a feature worth considering. The way the switch works if by flipping a two-position switch you can change between being in phase and out of phase. This can greatly help the listener "dig out" weak signals. The phase reversal is used to acoustically 'move' the signal from front to back. Reversing the phase creates a spatial widening of the sound field making it easier to 'see' a radio signal in a pileup as well as removing listening fatigue.

Wrap Up

In conclusion, this is just a summary of some of the higher-end headphone solutions available for amateur radio and shortwave listening. Please keep in mind that both Kenwood and Heil make other lower-priced models so you have a larger variety of products and prices to work with. I've focused this blog post on the highest level models from each brand because these are the units that I own or have researched and ordered.

73
VA7AEJ

MMDVM Duplex Hotspot

 MMDVM HS Dual Hat Duplex Hotspot

• with Raspberry Pi Zero W
• larger 3.2" LCD
• 16G SD Card
• Metal Case

Version 1.3 firmware
Revision 1.3 board

Crystal Oscillator - ECS-TXO-3225-147.4-TR
High-Performance Narrowband ISM Transceiver IC - ADF7021

This PCB uses the MMDVM HS. It has two ADF7021 onboard and allows for duplex operation with two-time slots on DMR.

Features: 
- A high-performance 32-bit ARM processor
- Fully tested
- Supports DMR, P-25, D-Star and System Fusion
- Onboard LEDs to show status (Tx,Rx,PTT, Mode)
- Up to 10mW RF power
- SMA antenna connector, Antennas included
- Mounts cleanly on all current Raspberry Pi's including the Pi Zero
- The firmware is pre-loaded and is easily upgraded via software.
- UHF 430-450 MHz,433mhz and 900MHz
- VHF 144 220 MHz

The upper antenna is TX, the lower is the RX antenna.
UHF+VHF SMA antennas
Modem select:STM32_HS_GPIO
Set TX frequency, RX frequency
TX, RX frequency had better 10M or more apart.
SLOT1, SLOT2 support.

Package included the fully assembled items including the below parts

• MMDVM duplex HotSPOT Module (x1)
• Raspberry pi zero w (x1)
• 16G SD card (programmed with PI-STAR)
• Antenna (x2)
• Black case (x1)
• 3.2" LCD (x1) 

A Night of Yaesu Upgrades

It all started with a programming change. All I wanted to do was add a couple new memory channels into the FTM-400DR. For some unknown reason, the two versions of the radios admin software would not download the current settings from the radio to the PC.

After some browsing online I saw others mentioning that the radios need the latest firmware to work with the latest programming software. I had updated both radios a year ago but since then Yaesu released the C4FM DG-ID features sometime in the last year.

Well if it wasn't a ton of work with lots of steps that took me about 3-4 hours from start to finish.

The FTM-400DR had to have the cover removed and a tiny switch flipped. Two different firmware updates each with their own utility and instructions. The two updates were DSP and main firmware.

The FTM-100DR had three updates. No cover radio disassembly was required this time but two hidden switches had to be uncovered and changed. All three updates also had their own utility and instructions. The three updates were DSP, main, and panel firmware.

The good news after all the radio work the memory changes I wanted to make from the beginning finally worked.

Now I can go to bed.

A Personally Hosted Cloud File Solution

https://owncloud.org/

I understand that not everyone has the knowledge or equipment to host servers at home. But for those that do this is a great solution that I settled on after testing a few different ones.

Yes, you can get free or paid cloud file storage from DropBox, OneDrive, GoogleDrive, etc. But I often talk to people concerned that these solutions are holding your personal and important data files in exchange for some kind of loss of personal privacy. Well if you are concerned about that you can deploy your own personal cloud storage solution at home.

I used a VMWare appliance for OwnCloud personal edition. This is the free version of the product with fewer features than the Enterprise version that customers must buy or subscribe too.

The appliance is the easiest way to get ownCloud up and running and is best for non-technical users. It is built on UCS ("Univention Corporate Server") and is fully set up and configured with a secure connection and the ownCloud Proxy app. You can install this on VirtualBox or VMWare which are software virtualization platforms that run as an app on your PC or can be installed on a dedicated server like I have at home, you download their OVA file and load it up. Appliance installation instructions are provided in the documentation, it's not that difficult to install.

Once installed you have an Administrator account to login and start configuring the system. The appliance will store your data within as long as your host system has the room accommodate the growth of the virtual machine appliance, but I opted to configure External Storage as I have a Drobo device where most of my home data is already stored. By linking this network storage to the OwnCloud server I now have access to all the files I want to share via my personal cloud. You can and should be selective on what data you share in your personal cloud. I configured certain folders on the Drobo to be seen by ownCloud, but not all of my files and folders.

Keep in mind that one of the true benefits of cloud storage services like DropBox and the others is that your data is located in a cloud location offsite from your home. This can be an excellent backup solution.

If you are hosting your own cloud, you lose this offsite backup. Your data hasn't moved anywhere or been copied to somewhere else. This is just a private was of accessing your data from anywhere using the built-in website or the desktop client software for Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android. You still need to backup your data at home in some other method.

My new SDR - the RSP1A from SDRplay

 

SDRplay is a UK based designer and manufacturer of very well made SDR receivers (IMHO).

The RSP1A is a second generation of their RSP1 entry level model which retails for about $150 in Canada.

The specs

The RSP1A is our new improved entry-level receiver—it is a powerful wideband full featured 14 bit SDR and perfect as an all round general coverage communications receiver plus much much more.  The RSP1A covers the complete radio spectrum from 1kHz (VLF) to 2GHz (Microwaves) with up to a massive 10MHz of visible bandwidth. With the companion SDRuno software which has all the popular ham bands and shortwave broadcast bands as “presets” for instant set-up. 

• Covers all frequencies from 1kHz through LF, MW, HF, VHF, UHF and L-band to 2GHz, with no gaps
• Excellent dynamic range for challenging reception conditions 
• Low levels of spurious responses
• Works with all the popular SDR software (including HDSDR, SDR Console, Cubic SDR and SDRuno)
• ExtIO based plugin available
• Software upgradeable for future standards
• Strong and growing software support network
• API provided to allow demodulator or application development
• Multiplatform driver and API support including Windows, Linux, Mac, Android and Raspberry Pi 2/3 
• Up to 16 individual receivers in any 10MHz slice of spectrum using SDRuno
• Calibrated S meter and power measurements with SDRuno 
• Ideal for monitoring of ISM/ IoT/ Telemetry bands <2ghz span="">
• Ideal for portable operation 
• Continuous coverage from 1kHz to 2GHz
• Up to 10MHz visible bandwidth
• Powers over the USB cable with a simple type B socket 
• 4-bit ADC silicon technology (not another 8 bit dongle!)
• 11 high-selectivity, built in front-end preselection filters
• Software selectable AM/FM and DAB broadcast band notch filters
• Software selectable multi-level Low Noise Preamplifier
• Bias -T power supply for powering antenna-mounted LNA
• RF shielding layer inside case
• SDRuno—World Class SDR software for Windows 
• Documented API for new apps development 
• Single SMA antenna socket covering entire frequency range

The most amazing feature in this receiver is that massive range. One receiver that can listen from;

• LF (2200 meter band)
• MF (630 and 160 meters)
• HF (80, 60, 40, 30, 20, 17, 15, 12, 10 meters)
• VHF (6, 4, 2, 1.25 meters, then 70, 33, and 23 centimeters)
• The only Amateur Radio band this receiver cannot reach (that I might care about) is the 13 centimeter Microwave band which is 2300–2310 MHz (lower segment), 2390–2450 MHz (upper segment)

The unit comes with a very well thought out software package called SDRuno. While this software looks intimidating when you first load it up, I found excellent online tutorial videos from various sources that explained everything I need to get started. After that I figured things out by trial and error over an evening or two.

My antenna of choice getting started with this SDR was a super discone from AOR already mounted high on my small tower. While this is built for the higher frequencies (10m - 13cm), I was amazed to hear low HF transmissions as well. A different and better antenna (or two) may be in the plans for the future.