HAM RADIO

Here is some of my resources for Amateur radio, most specifically Ham.

GENERAL HAM RADIO

RADIO TOPICS

CUSTOM FIRMWARES AND MODS

Custom Firmwares & Mods

RADIO SPECIFIC

BAOFENG UV5R

220MHz (1.25M) Band Unlock

YAESU FT5DR

Yaesu FT5DR APRS

MY RADIOS AND HOW TO MAKE THEM WORK ON LINUX

Several radios can work via wine with the official Windows software. The simple solution to this is to create a new prefix and install the software into it. This was tested on a fresh install of Fedora 39 and the steps are indeed this easy. This demo is utilizing the terminal, but any wine frontend can and should do the trick just fine (Steam Proton, Lutris, Bottles, Crossover).

Create the wine prefix (modify path accordingly). This is a snippet of what I used to install the CS52 software for my Icom ID-52a.
```
WINEPREFIX="/home/yourusername/wine/cs52" WINEARCH=win64 WINEVER=win10 wineboot
```

Install the software.

WINEPREFIX="/home/yourusername/wine/cs52" wine "/path/to/cs52/installer/setup.exe"

Follow thru the installer. Once done you are done.

HAM

Anytone 878UVii+ : VM or qdmr
Baofeng UV5R : Chirp
Baofeng UV17 Pro : Chirp
Baofeng UV21 R : Chirp : Use UV-17R-Pro Profile
BTECH 25x4 : Chirp
Icom IC-705 : Wine to run the software to program the SD Card
Icom IC-718 : None needed, although via a control cable, can be controlled from a PC
Icom ID-52A : Wine to run the software to program the SD Card
Kenwood TH-F6 : Chirp
Kenwood TM-D710 : Chirp
Quansheng K5 (egzumer firmware) : Chirp egzumer. My goto cheap radio. With the egzumer firmware and the HF board, this is a 20M-.7M shack in a pocket for dirt cheap that actually performs rather well (not Icom or Yaesu well) especially considering the cost of entry - $30 Radio + $15 HF board + $5 BNC adapter + $30 stubby antenna
Yaesu FT5DR : I have a writeup on the few steps needed to make work with Chirp : HERE

GMRS

LICENSING

CB (Citizens Band), FRS (Family Radio Service), and MURS (Multi-use Radio Service) are license exempt for the operator, only needed for a manufacturer as its the radio itself that obtains the license.

For ham and GMRS (General Mobile Radio Service), the operator is licensed at a cost of 35 USD for 10 years. To get licensed, you will need a FRN (FCC Registration Number).

GETTING A FRN

Via CORES, create a FRN

BUYING A LICENSE

Login to license manager
For a ham license, you are done. The VE will complete the rest should you pass your exam(s).
For GMRS, you need to buy a ZA license here.