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HAM RADIO

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

GENERAL HAM RADIO

RADIO TOPICS

CUSTOM FIRMWARES AND MODS

RADIO SPECIFIC

BAOFENG UV5R

YAESU FT5DR

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).

  1. 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

  2. Install the software.

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

  3. Follow thru the installer. Once done you are done.

HAM

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

  1. Via CORES, create a FRN

BUYING A LICENSE

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