[chirp_users] chirp_users Digest, Vol 111, Issue 15

[Trevor Holyoak]

That is a good point, actually. I haven't had any more difficulty using 
my Baofeng cable with Windows than I have with any other plug in device. 
In fact, I've had more problems getting an ADB connection working 
between Android devices and Windows.

And upgrading my Yaesu FT-991 isn't much different from doing a BIOS 
upgrade on a PC. But I understand that not everyone has had such experience.

On 3/23/2018 3:24 PM, Nigel A. Gunn G8IFF/W8IFF wrote:
>
> Do not all radio manufacturers, or their dealers, have programming 
> cables for sale?
>
> Or is it just that most amateurs are too tight to buy the cable that 
> goes with the radio and want everything on the cheap?
>
>
> I would suggest that the driver issue is one for your operating system 
> supplier, Linux seems to support them all "out of the box".
>
>
>
>> On 23 March 2018 at 16:59 Brandon Clark <kl7bsc at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Not to interrupt this fascinating discussion on who owns csv files, 
>> but to get back to the point . . .
>> As one respondent correctly pointed out, ham radio is supposed to 
>> require some technical attitude. I think that's true, and that it is 
>> a good thing for the hobby. However, my opinion is that the 
>> difficulty of interfacing with and programming radios exists because 
>> the process is fundamentally overcomplicated and cumbersome, not 
>> because it requires more skill than some hams have. It's just a bad 
>> model for how to accomplish the process, and we all know it hurts the 
>> hobby by discouraging new hams.
>> By comparison, I could buy a $50 burner phone and a $5 USB cord and 
>> interface that phone with any modern computer system to transfer 
>> data. Plug and play. Middle school kids build $30 raspberry pi 
>> systems that log weather, track motion, and do all kinds of cool 
>> things. But to program a $1,000 radio I have to search eBay for a 
>> cable, locate drivers somewhere in the bowels of the internet, and 
>> then download an image from the device. Honestly ask yourself this, 
>> if you had to do all these steps in order to get music downloaded on 
>> your phone how many people would just say, "heck no, it isn't worth 
>> it!" Probably a lot.
>> Ham radio is all about finding challenges; that's true. But if the 
>> hobby is going to survive long term there has to be accessible 
>> avenues to at least get started in the hobby. HT and mobile rigs 
>> can't be using 80's tech forever, or it will make us look like 
>> dinosaurs, and keep new hams away. Let them build radios from kits, 
>> terminate cables, and make homebrew vacuum tubes from bubble gum and 
>> shot glasses when they get more advanced.
>> Brandon
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>> This message was sent to Nigel Gunn, W8IFF at nigel at ngunn.net
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>
>
> Nigel A. Gunn, 1865 El Camino Drive, Xenia, OH 45385-1115, USA. tel +1 
> 937 825 5032
> Amateur Radio G8IFF W8IFF (was KC8NHF 9H3GN), e-mail nigel at ngunn.net 
> www http://www.ngunn.net
> Member of ARRL, QRPARCI #11644, SOC #548, Flying Pigs QRP Club 
> International #385,
> Dayton ARA #2128, AMSAT-NA LM-1691, GCARES, EAA382.
>
>
>
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> This message was sent to trevor at holyoak.com at trevor at holyoak.com
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