A VGA switch perhaps?

>Try to find a new converter with the FDDI chip

I believe you mean FTDI...?

>I fussed with that setup for hours and hours.

lol...be sure to write them all down in case you need to reconfigure sometime in the future.

I would recommend that you install version 5.1, it is the last version before new ownership, and appears to be the most stable.  The new owners are working on knocking out bugs, but it seems with each new release there are new issues.  I had been trying to keep up with the latest but got tired of all of the nuances and went back to 5.1 and have stayed there.  I have never had any of the 'unexpected' error messages with 5.1 but had plenty with the later versions.  No disrespect intended towards the new owners (or the program), but just an observation on stability.

It basically has the proprietary D-STAR voice codec in it.  Even when accessing D-STAR streams over the Internet, you still have to have the proprietary codec to encode/decode the voice stream.

I recently purchased a TW2010 from TW and had some issues with the shipping costs.  I contacted TW and had a very pleasant experience.  I dealt with Gary.  He was both very quick to respond and very professional.  Although they were not obligated to do so, they swiftly took care of my issue with the best of attitudes.  There are many companies out there that could learn a lot from TW with regard to customer service, at least as far as my experience is concerned.  Based on previous experience with other vendors, I thought I was in for an uphill battle and was dreading contacting them.  I'm glad I did and that my gut instinct was wrong in this case.  Keep up the good work guys, in the end, customer service can make you or break you regardless of the quality of your product.

Carlton
K2CMH

McAfee is crap and has been for a long time.  Symantec is no better either.

>Look at aprsisce32. http://aprsisce.wikidot.com/.

Second that...ui-view32 will do nothing but fall more and more behind until it reaches the point where it will not run...thanks in no small part to the author deciding the nice thing to do would be to have the source code destroyed upon his death so that the program could not be enhanced or maintained...

You do not want to connect the output of a charge controller directly to the radio as the charge controller is designed for and expecting to be connected to an actual battery.  What you should do is connect the charge controller to the battery and then go from the battery to the radio.  Some charge controllers also have a separate set of output terminals to hook up devices such as radios to them.  If yours has those outputs, connect those to the radio.  However, remember, even the charge controllers that have separate outputs still require you to connect a battery to the controller.  You never want to use the direct output of the solar panel, never.

You can't call them...no phone...good luck getting a reply via email...busy or not, they never seem to have time to return emails...however, they will be more than happy to take your money.  :-)

Agreed 100% ... Very frustrating indeed.

Welcome!  You are indeed correct, it will be an educational experience, a lifelong one at that.  Just the specialization of antenna building which you expressed an interest in will you keep busy for a long time.

Carlton

Hi Randy,

Thanks for the informative post.  I will be interested to hear your opinion after you have used your new setup for a while.  Please keep us up to date.

Thanks,
Carlton

It would seem that someone at the ARRL would wake up and realize that this is becoming a common theme.  The heat of June makes it miserable (and dangerous for some) to be out there for extended periods of time.  Why not move the date to some other time that is more temperate?  A time could be found that would be suitable for people more northward as well as the people in the south.  Personally, I would rather deal with some snow or cold weather than hot humid heat.  It is much easier to warm up than it is to cool down.  I'm sure I'm going to get some flames for this, but hey, people are getting older, the temperatures are not getting cooler, so what would the harm be in considering moving the date, other than 'that is the way it has always been'?

That is my understanding as well.  I currently have a DMU200 and have been contemplating the same thing you are.  I'm having a tough time with the decision because by the time you buy the IF-2000 and the other stuff you need to setup a panadapter, you are in it for around $500-$800 depending upon what route you go. 

The other thing seems to be that with a DIY panadapter solution, you are limited to a 192khz view of spectrum, whereas with the DMU, you can go up to 500khz (maybe higher, I can't remember), therefore you can see the entire band on the display.