3cx Software PBX for HSMM

I finally finished the installation of the software last night. 3CX uses a browser based management console to set up and configure the system and phones. This was relatively simple, after the small learning curve. I had it up and running with a soft phone on my Acer laptop running Windows7 Ultimate. I setup another soft phone on my other laptop, running Vista, and had it working on the same Mesh router. I ported all the required port forwarding that it called for and then expecting to have to change some routing settings in the second soft phone, I moved the cat5 cable to the second Mesh router and it still worked? Was that supposed to happen?   Not with my luck, but it did. I restarted everything from the two laptops and the two Mesh routers and when they rebooted everything still worked. I was thinking that it should be harder than this to setup. At this point everything is working as it should. I will give an update later after it has had some time to run. There is a very limited Windows versions that the software will run on, so be sure to check it out before you start.

http://www.3cx.com/

Yaesu FT-1D The New Digital 2 meter/440 HT

Here is the latest entry into the digital radio field. It looks like an interesting radio, but it looks like another problem with interoperability. I hope maybe some smart Hams will figure out a way to make all the different modes work together. It would be nice if we could have a upgradeable mode that we could build upon and have available for all brands of radio. I am glad another manufacture is moving forward with new radios for Amateur Radio, this does help the hobby. I still would like to see something from the open source community. On a side note the camera microphone could have some use with HSMM.

Check it out here: http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/ht/0111.html


Features

• 5 watts on Both 2m/440
• Image Transmit (QVGA 320 × 240)
• Integrated GPS
• CTCSS/DCS Encode & Decode
• Weather Receiving with Weather Alert
• Analog and Digital
• Wide-band Receive 
• Optional Camera Microphone

Inverter Charger for the Battery Backup

I am using an older Heart Interface Freedom Combi Inverter/Charger. The model is Freedom 25 which is a 2500 watt unit. This unit has a three stage 130 amp charger. I have been running this for a couple of weeks now and have had no problems yet. I placed a temporary 110v GFCI to test from. I have run some short time tests of the inverter and it has preformed as expected. I have not finished the new shack that will use this backup power yet. There is a lot of work to be done to convert a building to a nice shack, and of course the job and work around the house seems to always get in the way! If this system works as planned I may have to expand and get a newer controller. I am also interested in solar. It would be possible to run the whole shack off grid. This is a future project.

Batteries for the Shack

I have moved forward with the battery back up for the shack. I have looked at several different batteries and configurations for this project. I believe that 6v golf cart batteries would be the best route to go, but of course I did not go with conventional wisdom. I went with the Deka DC27 12 volt deep cycle marine battery. These are about 75amp hour batteries. I have 6 of these for the battery box. I went this route because it would be easy to grab a couple to go remote site. Also the price was right. I built a battery box for these with some scrap wood and a pallet for the base. I will post some pictures later. I custom built the connection cables with 2/0 wires. I will also be running some short cables to the new shack I am building. This will let me run 12v items without having to use a power supply connected to the charger/inverter that I am using. The charger/inverter will be for another post.