Random Wire Review 108: September 20, 2024

An old Grundig radio, a vintage Heathkit meter, two Heltec T114 devices. Solving a networking problem, the Insta361 Ace action camera, a Heathkit hydrid radio patch, and the TD-H3 handie talkie.

Note: I’ve been on the road most of this week. Thursday dinner did not sit well for my wife or me and we were awake much of the night. The usual and customary time of publication of the Random Wire — Friday morning — slipped by as we scrambled to get out of our hotel room and make the 500-mile drive home. Today is Saturday and I’m tying a ribbon around issue 108 a day late.

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Topics in this issue

1. Grundig AM/FM/SW Table Radio

2. Heathkit HM-11 Reflected Power Meter

3. Heltec T114

     3.1 The Heltec T114, part two

     3.2 muzi WORKS H2T, another T114 device

4. Diagnosing Home Network Problem

5. Insta360 Ace Camera: First Report

6. Heathkit Hybrid Radio Patch HD-15

7. New Handie Talkie: The TD-H3

8. Closing

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1. Grundig AM/FM/SW Table Radio

Recently, I won an auction for a Grundig Classic International AM/FM/SW Stero Table Radio Model 960. The price was right at $51 + $5 shipping. That puts the cost a bit lower than similar items I’ve seen on eBay. (The real savings is in the shipping cost as sometimes these items cost $50 or more for shipping alone!)

But I didn’t snag this on eBay. I found it on ShopGoodwill.com. If you search on the word “radio” you’ll get about 40 pages of hits and most of what you’ll see are older consumer radios for AM and FM listening. Most of what you’ll see is not very desirable. But there are treasures to be found. Searching on different terms can help reveal them. For example:

• Icom: This search finds an Icom 726 radio for sale.

• Heathkit: When I ran this search, a Heathkit fish spotter in the case was listed. Also, there was a Heathkit HW-101 SSB transceiver.

• Grundig: Numerous Grundig items are listed.

• Behringer: Numerous Behringer-brand items are listed, including a number of mixers.

If you are searching using general terms (example: podcasting) and get few hits, try using a shorter version of the word (example: podcast). The difference in what you’ll see can be extraordinary.

A cautionary note is that Goodwill doesn’t really have the time or expertise to test the electronic equipment donated to it. You take a chance, but when the condition of the item is very good and the price is low, it can be hard not to roll the dice.

My rule of thumb is: unless it looks to be in very good condition, I don’t proceed . . . unless I really want it, of course! In general, photos don’t depict the exact condition of the entire item, so expect to be a little disappointed when the item arrives. Electronics are even more chancy to buy used, online. The movable parts often go bad first, but I’ve seen wrong power cords, blown capacitors, and other oddities with electronics.

Nevertheless, it’s always exciting to open the package, pull out your new treasure, open it up to see if anything obvious is wrong, and then . . . plug it in!

It has an external antenna jack, leading me to think for just a moment that this could be the Anniversary Edition…but it’s not. It turns out the regular 960 and the Anniversary 960 both have external antenna connections.

Frequencies:

Hopefully the speaker isn’t blown, capacitors are good, the push buttons work, and the tuning mechanism is perfect!

While I was at it, I bid on an Audio-Technica AT2020 microphone. New, this is a $100 microphone. I won the auction at $31 + $12 for shipping and handling. The mic looks new, at least in the auction photos. Getting a $100 mic for less than half price seems like a great deal . . . as long as it works well!

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2. Heathkit HM-11 Reflected Power Meter

I picked up this Heathkit HM-11 on eBay, thinking there is plenty of room inside for a Raspberry Pi and an AllStarLink audio interface…and there is. After looking at it, I may try to use this as an SWR meter. It covers 6 to 160 meters and can be configured for 50 ohm or 75 ohm cable.

It needs a bit of cleanup and the FORWARD/REFLECTED function knob is cracked. If it works as an SWR meter, it seems a shame to alter it now.

One of the interesting things about buying old radio gear on eBay is being surprised. It’s always a gamble. Sometimes the item has an odor. Sometimes it is so pristine it seems it was caught in a time warp. Sometimes the packaging is atrocious. And sometimes, you catch a tiny glimpse into the seller’s life when they use local newspapers for packing material, or in this case, when they use an old box that used to house something else!

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3. Heltec T114

Learn more about the Heltec T114 development board on the Heltec site at https://heltec.org/project/mesh-node-t114/.

3.1 The Heltec T114, part two

I bought my Heltec T114 with a case from Heltec. It did not come with a battery. I then purchased a battery from Amazon, using the part number I found on a Heltec T114 package available from muzi WORKS. That battery number is 803048.

muzi WORKS responded to my inquiry and explained the battery connection this way:

The battery side is a male connector and the board side is the female connector. Both are 1.25 pitch, sometimes referred to as JST but actually it’s a Molex picoblade.

More about the battery . . . The 803048 battery I purchased from Amazon has a different connector, and in my ignorance, I just assumed it was the same as used by Muzi Works. The Amazon listing describes the connector as “JST PH2.0mm” but the key fact is it doesn’t fit the T114 connector. The exterior dimensions of the battery are 8 x 30 x 48mm.

I’ve ordered up a replacement battery (Lithium Ion Batteries, 3.7 Volt Rechargeable Battery, 1200mAh LiPo Battery, Reading Book Light Battery Replacement, 103040 Type with Micro JST 1.25mm 2Pin Male Connector) that appears to have the correct connector. However, the exterior dimensions are slightly different than the 803048 battery at 10 x 30 x 42mm.

The battery does fit — barely. I had to press it firmly into place. I can’t imagine it being larger in any dimension and still fitting inside the case.

I let the unit run for three days without recharging the battery and it still had 32% battery left. Color me impressed. The Heltec V3 eats through a battery in a day while the T114 stretches battery life to multiple days.

3.2 muzi WORKS H2T, another T114 device

My muzi WORKS order for their H2T device was placed on September 13 and was shipped on September 16. Just like with my previous orders from muzi WORKS, shipping occurred soon after ordering and I am kept informed as the shipment travels to me.

When I arrived home late Friday evening, September 20, the H2T was waiting for me, along with easy-to-follow directions and a couple of nice stickers.

This is a palm-sized device in a 3D-printed case.

It came with Meshtastic 2.4.2 loaded. The text on the screen was quite small but upgrading to Meshtastic 2.5.0 fixed that problem. The instructions provided with the unit made this easy.

In the photos above and below are the Heltec T114 device I assembled (blue) and the muzi WORKs H2T device (tan).

I’m very pleased with the H2T. I’ll it on the trip to Kansas to see how it H2T performs over time. The H2T is nicely put together, works out of the box, and has everything I need in a Meshtastic device. So far, I think it’s going to get a Random Wire Recommended thumbs-up from me!

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4. Diagnosing Home Network Problem

I woke up on Saturday to find my wired network was offline. Wireless networking was working fine. Internet access: check. But it looked like everything connected to my power-over-Ethernet (PoE) switch was no longer connected to the network.

(This was a bit more upsetting than normal as I had planned on attending an amateur radio club meeting, but since others in the family depend on the network, I stayed home to diagnose and solve the problem.)

My PoE switch has failed before and I’m tempted to jump to a conclusion, but I need to guard against that. What I need to do is — as those of us of a certain again will remember from the early NASA years — work the problem.

Here’s the problem: everything connected to my PoE switch is no longer networked but devices are still receiving power. That’s just odd. The last time the PoE switch failed, it passed no network traffic and provided no downstream power to devices.

To work the problem, I started at the internet connection.

• Is the cable in the house firmly connecting to the outlet? Yes.

• Is the internet to the house “up”? Yes.

• Is the modem operating? Yes.

• Is the router on? Yes.

• Does the router see wireless devices? Yes.

• Does the router see wired devices? No.

  • This could mean the Ethernet port on the router has failed. Test that by using a different Ethernet port. Did that fix it? No.

  • Reboot the router. Did that fix it? Yes.

It turns out my router lost connection with the PoE switch. While my initial thoughts were that the PoE switch had failed (again), that was not the case. My GL.iNet GL-MT6000 Flint 2 router was already running the latest firmware but I went ahead and installed a beta version of an upcoming upgrade. That went smoothly.

After rebooting, the new firmware is working well.

I had the transmit power on the router’s wireless radios turned down a bit because I have a history of burning out router radios. With the beta upgrade, I see the power setting has been returned to max. I turned that down. On my router with both 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz radios, both have to be changed (changing one does not affect the other).

Also:

• AdGuard runs on my router to help protect us from excessive spammy advertising. That is still running after the beta upgrade. DNS queries from clients inside the network are routed through the AdGuard DNS system.

• Tailscale is still running on the router (this allows me to safely access the router while away from home).

• It looks like all of my custom port forwarding settings were also retained after the upgrade.

I have no idea what caused the router to lose the connection to wired clients. The PoE switch is wired directly from a LAN port on the router to the switch, so when the connection was lost, everything connected to the switch also lost connection to the network. When it comes to networking, I usually find that working the problem helps to zero in on what is not working correctly.

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5. Insta360 Ace Camera: First Report

I’m not a big fan of action cameras because the physical format of the device makes it feel like an awkward toy, not a real camera. Nevertheless, I bought a well-rate off brand camera that ended up not working. That camera has been returned and I’m expecting a replacement to arrive any day.

In the meantime, I purchased a different brand camera: the Insta360 Ace. It was on sale and the reviews suggested it would be more than adequate for my needs.

What needs, you might wonder? I wanted a camera I could mount on the pickup truck, especially as we drove through some places we have lived before, and when we travel through Moab, Utah. The Insta360 seemed like a solid choice.

I’ve used it on the motorcycle where the bouncing of the bike really put the image stabilization to the test. I don’t have the stabilization set at the highest setting and the results are acceptable, but for riding the bike, I’ll need to increase the image stabilization level.

The Insta360 seems heavy for its size and that can create issues on the motorcycle. If the mounts are not tightened down very firmly, the camera is going to move at attachment points or at hinge points. I also noticed when I mounted the camera to the side of my windscreen, it oscillated alarmingly in the wind. I can mount it at the top of the windscreen but in that spot it sits right int he center of my sightline. I have a mount for the rear view mirror arm that I’ll try next.

In the pickup truck, what is working well for me is a bean bag mount on the dash. It has been stable on rough roads and on turns. Since it is easily moved, when we park I can simply pick the camera up and put it down on the floor, pretty much out of sight.

I was having trouble with video that seemed to jump and skip, but when I replaced the supplied 512 Gb microSD card with a new card (Silicon Power 1 Tb microSD for an amazing $65.99), that problem went away.

I did find the Insta360 Ace becomes unhappy if it sits in the sun. On a motorcycle or helmet or other outdoor mounting where air flow can keep the unit cool, this probably isn’t a problem. The dashboard of my pickup truck is not cool and breezy. The camera shut down on me a couple of times on Friday as we drove into the sun. Once I changed the air conditioning to vent on the windshield, we had no more problems due to temperature.

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6. Heathkit Hybrid Radio Patch HD-15

Arriving very soon (probably before we leave on our Omak, Washington trip) is a vintage Heathkit hybrid radio patch HD-15. Find some details about this device at https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/heath_hd_15_hd1.html

I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it. At first I thought I would put it on top of my Heathkit HS-1661 speaker, but the HD-15 is a little wider than the speaker. I just really like the looks of it.

The HD-15 did arrive and there are some lessons here. My first observation is: this is not the correct way to pack ham radio equipment:

Fortunately, this is a pretty rugged piece of amateur radio gear. The outside looks as I expected it would. There is no obvious damage from being packaged so poorly.

A loose screw in the box was the hint to take the lid off the unit. I discovered loose items: two lock washers, a nut, a wire, and a loose transformer. I also found a nut and washer that were not tightened and the nut feels like it was cross-threaded during assembly; the threads are very clean as if a nut has never passed that way.

I reattached the transformer using the loose screw, lock washers, and nut. I can’t turn the nut that was never cinched down, at least not with my fingers. I need to dig out my fine needle-nose pliers for this. If I might rip out the internals, then I can wait to tighten that nut. It did survive being shipped to Portland, Oregon from Pennsylvania.

I am left with one loose wire. Huh. It’s not part of a paper clip as it bends too easily for that. It feels like a transistor lead wire but I did not see any transistor missing a wire. It’s possible it was a soldered jumper that came loose or it may be that this has been a loose item since the item was first purchased.

The construction manual for the HD-15 does refer to a single piece of hookup wire but I did not find anywhere in the manual that shows where that wire is used. It’s a mystery!

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7. New Handie Talkie: The TD-H3

Also arriving very soon is a TIDRADIO TD-H3 handie talkie. File this one under the heading of cheap ham chronicles!

TIDRADIO TD-H3 Ham Radio Multi-Band Long Range 2-way Radio with AirBand & TD-771 Long Antenna,USB-C Programming & Charging,2500mAh Battery,DTMF FM AM NOAA VOX SCAN,Walkie Talkies with Earpiece (Green)

I bought this in the most obnoxious green color you can imagine. I should be able to include a photo of it in this newsletter. I don’t think I’ll lose it in the sea of black HTs I already have.

For $36, this is worth a gamble. Reviews among users on Reddit and Facebook have been pretty positive. I like the idea of being able to charge, and program, using a USB-C cable. I also like the idea of being able to control the radio over Bluetooth with an app. It has NOAA weather radio.

You know, as I look at having two ham bands available, plus air, plus weather, it seems like this could be a viable emergency radio or go-bag radio. There are issues reported by other users, including zero water resistance.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

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8. Closing

This issue of the Random Wire Review comes to you while I’m traveling. We spent a few days in Omak, Washington, and Friday we traveled through the Waterville Plateau and saw some great glacial erratics. Here is geology professor Nick Zentner on these glacial erratics:

Next week we set off on a two-week road trip from Portland, Oregon to Wichita, Kansas. On the way, we’ll stop for a few days in Moab, a place we really enjoy. As we pass through southern Colorado, we’ll visit friends.

Radios for this trip:

• I will be running my Yaesu FTM-300DR C4FM mobile radio with APRS running (find me as KJ7T-9 on https://aprs.fi).

• I’ll also be running a Meshtastic node as a tracker as I want to compare that against running APRS.

• I might also take a Ten-Tec Scout or my Yaesu FT-891 and a telescoping aerial for a bit of HF work but we’ll be driving long distances so I expect the HF radio will stay in the case most of the time.

• I know I’ll take an AllStarLink node with me (probably the 588417 SHARI node) pre-configured to connect to my travel router or cellular hotspot.

Safe journeys to all, always, and 73,

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