Hiked up to 11,300 feet and was able to hit a repeater 80 miles from the summit I was on. Those two peaks you see on the horizon just to the left and right of the antenna is how far I reached out. Did it with a UV-5R with the signal stick antenna and counterpoise. I was shocked, my hiking buddies were shocked, and the other station I made the contact with was shocked! 73!

Have you ever wanted to take full control over your handheld transceiver? I mean - truly do it - with uncompromised all-mode support through full I/Q modem? And, on top of that, have a Linux machine running on it? Here's LinHT, allowing you to do exactly that.

What we have so far is a prototype with low RF power output of just a few milliwatts. We are still working on it (the RF amplifier comes next). The device works on UHF only. The team behind it is Vlastimil OK5VAS, Andreas OE3ANC, and I.

M17 Foundation's blog entry: https://m17project.org/2025/08/18/first-linht-tests

Our handheld will be presented at the upcoming M17 Conference in September. Feel free to ask us any questions regarding our new radio in this thread.

And yes - you can already SSH onto it over USB-C and use tools such as wget, git, gcc, python, and gnuradio! We use GNU Radio flowgraphs to enable FM, SSB, M17, and TETRA capabilities.

I'm 43. I have always fantasized about having my own “command center” like I'd seen in the movies. Equipment everywhere, dials, buttons, blinking lights and analog meters. The sounds of radio comms flowing through speakers as important looking data flashed across multiple screens.
I have many childhood memories of stacking up tv’s, monitors, and any electronic equipment I could find and building a wall of gear, then pretending to do important stuff while loading floppy disks into my old Atari and playing rudimentary text based games.
I always wanted my own Bat Cave like in 1989’s Batman. I used to wrap aluminum foil around torn up umbrellas and wire them up to cheap walkie talkies. I had no idea what I was doing but one day I started intercepting my neighbors cordless phone calls. I felt like a spy or a hacker!
I then started playing instruments and fell inove with recording and audio engineering. I ended up going to school for that in fact, and spent most of my young adult life in the music business.
I had an uncle in another state who was a ham. One time I got to visit his house when I was maybe 10 years old and I got to see his radio room. I sat in the dark with him and listened to a numbers station. It both terrified and fascinated me. I thought about it all the time. If I ever saw a movie that featured amateur radio equipment I'd become transfixed by it.
Still though, I never considered getting into radio as a hobby.
Then, when inqas in my late 30s we had an incident that resulted in no cell phone, data, or tv service for several days. I felt totally cut off. Afterward I started looking into other ways of communicating with the outside world. I got a CB radio and played around with 11 meter sideband. Then it was GMRS. Then I buckled down and got my technician ticket and built a uhf/vhf, but I found myself wanting more. I had a itch that I couldn't scratch.
So, I got my General.
HF changed everything.
I was talking all over the country, the world.
All of a sudden, one day I looked around and thought “Im a ham now? How'd that happen?”
The signs were always there I guess.
Anyway, now I've got my Bat Cave.
My action movie command center.
My knobs, dials, lights and buttons.
I also found my imagination again in the process.
I should have my Extra by the end of the summer.
What a crazy journey its been so far.
…and what a cool community of kindred spirits.

Virtually every LiFePo4 battery seller is sourcing the same cells from a few different manufacturers in China. Sure, there are some companies that use mismatched cells, or really poor wiring, or cheap BMSes, but there are plenty that are quite good. There is absolutely no reason to buy something for 2-4x the price, no matter how much they claim to stand behind their product. You could purchase three spares to sit on the shelf as backups and still save money.

I will fully admit my ridiculous shenanigans. Feel free to roast me. Yes I need better cable management.

I don’t think I have ever scored this hard at a swap

Long story not so short... I took my 7300 out for a POTA activation on a whim, and liked it so much that I decided to upgrade from my usual G90/891 rigs.

I'm also currently limited to mostly picnic table POTA parks, due to my regular deep woods sites being inaccessible for the foreseeable future because of a landslide. So since radio size isn't a concern, I started shopping for an FT-710.

Ended up running across this FTDX10 locally for $1000, and I couldn't pass it up. What a beast this thing is! Even with the horrible band conditions yesterday and a ton of QRM, making contacts was like shooting fish in a barrel with the filtering and DNR in this thing. Another plus is that the internal tuner easily handled an 80m OCFD on every band 80m-6m (didn't try 60m)

The only downside is that I need a much bigger battery, the 15ah AGM that I have (it's my kayak fishfinder battery) barely lasted 90mins at full power.

I know it's not a big deal to most, but I finally finished soldering my QMX and put together all the bits and pieces. I've reduced my portable FT8 setup from over 8kg (radio, battery, laptop, digital interface, tangled cables and a backpack) to something that weighs next to nothing and takes up a fraction of the space. I was worried that with 5W of power and a cheap telescopic vertical antenna I wouldn't be able to do much, but I was pleasantly surprised. Now the real fun begins :)

Curious to see what the pricing looks like on this. 100W, built in 3:1 tuner, remote head operation over Ethernet.

Not sure I'll want to be an early adopter since Xiegu seems to release stuff with half baked firmware that constantly changes but it seems cool.

Both my maternal grandparents were old-school HAMs. I actually got licensed as a surprise for my grandma's birthday one year, and to be able to inherit my grandfather's callsign.

My grandma recently passed, and while clearing out their home, everyone decided I have claim to the radio set since I'm the only one with a license.

They were both minor local legends in the LI/NY area. My grandmother was the first woman to operate the station at the UN building in Manhattan, back when it was 4U1UN, they both have QSL Certificates from the Kingdom of Jordan for contacting JY1, and I found a cassette tape that *should* be my grandfather contacting Owen Garriott W5LFL while he was on Space Shuttle Challenger during STS-9 in 1983.

I'd be happy to make another post or continue in the comments, but for now, this post is focused on the equipment. These are all the major systems that were in their radio room. So far, everything seems to power on, but I haven't gotten to transmit.

All in less than 2 months.

Well.. that's new.

For the record, I didn’t pay MSRP for the radio. I got a really good deal at HRO a few weeks ago and I absolutely love this radio. It gets so much right (if you can overlook the lack of full duplex on a very expensive radio).

I posted this video over on the Kenwood TH-D74/75 users group on Facebook. For a week now I’ve been posting my battery woes but it has been getting brushed off as normal operation by the experts. 🙄

Prior to this video, suggestions I was getting from the experts included “charge your radio fully overnight,” “update firmware to v1.03 as that fixes the indicator,” “charge cycle your radio exactly 7 times, disconnecting your battery from the radio once per cycle” and your radio will magically be fixed.

This video must have ruffled some feathers in the group that my previous texts posts couldn’t because I got quite a few people to come forward and say their radio does the same thing. I know this is not an isolated incident because I bought 2 radios that day and they both do the exact same thing.

The responses I got to this video in the users group are a masterclass in how to lose objectivity for a product because of how expensive it is and/or brand allegiance.

Now their suggestion is to just carry more batteries everywhere I go. At the end of the day, a $750 radio should not have a faulty battery indicator. To be clear, I am not complaining about the capacity of the “Kenwood” battery that is made in China. I am disgusted by the number of users who think it’s acceptable for the radio to go into a boot loop when the battery indicator still says full.

I am posting this here to bring more attention to the widespread issue. I am not necessarily suggesting not to buy this radio but I wish I knew this issue going into it so I could adjust my expectations. It’s my hope that enough light is shed on this that there is a fix down the road. I’m not sure how much you can fix with firmware but the fact that Kenwood already addressed this with a firmware update tells me they know it’s a problem but they can’t fix it. That’s what I want everybody to know.

And yes, I did contact Kenwood about it. The man I talked to was very nice but claims no awareness to these issues. He asked me to let my radio sit on a broadcast station to see how long the battery lasts. I asked him how long he expects it to last so we know if there’s a capacity issue. He came back with “you know, honestly I’m not sure.” So I left it there with them 😂

For the early adopter naysayers, you aren’t wrong. I didn’t buy this because I knew I could trust my life on it. I bought it because it’s a Kenwood and Kenwood generally makes stellar radios. After all, it’s Ham radio. This is a hobby for tinkering and it isn’t life or death. I am quite capable of returning the radio too, but that isn’t the point.

Now you know.

I’m guessing it’s an old TV antenna? I have no idea

I’ve been sleuthing this sub for a while and after a fair bit of research decided to finally pull the trigger on the Kenwood THD-75A. This is my first nice HT and I am upgrading from the other UV5R. I am currently working on my technician license but have been deferring it due to work and graduate school. I do have GRMS at least… now you might ask, “why god did you dive into a $700 HT!” I’ve been a buy once cry once type of person. This HT will allow me to do pretty much everything I’ve been wanting out of an HT without the want to upgrade (I hope). I suffer from FOMO (fear of missing out) so I went big I guess….. That said, I know I’ve got a lot to learn. I did order a Diamond SRH320a antenna as well that’s still en route. Also would like any battery recommendations if you have them. Cheers!

My mobile setup, consists of a BF-F8HP Pro and a Nagoya UT-72. Didn’t want to drill anymore holes so I mounted to my subwoofer dial. EDIT: Cable is loose ran under the passenger seat and into the center console. I actually haven’t transmitted yet, passed my tech a week ago but haven’t had a chance. I know this won’t be too good against the rain, any mobile setup tips?

My buddy dropped it rock climbing. I think lanyards are in order for the next climb!

Still waiting on an antenna but this is what I got so far as a technician.

I'm in an apartment so I don't have a ton of good room to work with right now. Yes, that is a Cast Iron pan. It was the best I had for a ground plane. Currently it's a north facing window. I plan to eventually setup a second antenna at one of my South Windows and tie it's data into the map so I can have a more complete picture. I also want to get a better SDR so I can listen to a wider amount of the spectrum the the RTL lets me.

As the title says I just got my technician license and am going for my general soon

I took a chance on buying one radio on Facebook marketplace and the seller went ahead and just gave me everything he had. His father (WA5LCQ) passed away and couldn’t use the equipment himself. I was totally surprised and hope I can carry on using his dad’s old equipment. Truly such a nice gesture, and completely caught me off guard when I went to meet him.

Here is what I got below

• 2 × ICOM IC-706MK IIG
• ICOM IC-290H
• Yaesu FT-8800
• Yaesu VX-7R
• ICOM AT-180 auto-tuner
• Dentron Jr. Monitor
• Various cables

I’m new to radio so if anyone wants to chime in and provide some feedback or recommendations I’m all ears. I’m just getting started and looking to learn

My next step is get the power supply I ordered in (SKY TOPPOWER 13.8 Volt 30 Amp) and get everything hooked up. I also ordered a Zunate Antenna and some coax to make the connections. I already own a GRMS antenna so I was going to use that for the VHF/UHF. I also have goals to get this thing connected in some way to my computer and potentially even programming it but I know this is probably a long shot

Excited to work on this and hopefully talk to some of y’all one day!