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[N5FXX]

RE: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/12/21/amateur_radio_fans_drop_hammer_on_hrds_blacklist/  

If you are looking for the final FREE version of Ham Radio Deluxe 5.24 you can download it from  https://www.egr.msu.edu/msuarc/software/ham-radio-deluxe/    

73,
Jorge
N5FXX
https://twitter.com/N5FXX

[KD8MJR]

Just be warned it's buggy as crap and crashes almost every 30 minutes.
There is no free lunch with HRD.  You can use the old version like I use to and deal with the crashes and lack of features or you can pay the $99 and get something that runs all day long without a problem and has about twice as many features.

73s
Merry Christmas
Rob

[ONAIR]

Just be warned it's buggy as crap and crashes almost every 30 minutes.
There is no free lunch with HRD.  You can use the old version like I use to and deal with the crashes and lack of features or you can pay the $99 and get something that runs all day long without a problem and has about twice as many features.

73s
Merry Christmas
Rob

    Do you think that they intentionally screw up the free version to get people to buy the paid version?

[AD0AR]

I've never had a make or break problem with it.  I've used it on 3 different platforms and PC's.  Starting with a old dual core AMD (X2 6000+) and windows XP through Windows 10 on a brand new PC with a Intel i7 4790K running windows 10.  Oddly enough the only glitch I saw was more in line with the finicky way the radio manufacturers enable software control. 
  Native USB may keep connections simple but all drivers still emulate a serial port and that's where the hiccups begin.
  I had to go into the emulated serial port in device manager and tweak the fifo buffers- in effect slow them down to use the faster Windows 10 PC without radio communication issues.
  While it worked with the default settings, I would notice a considerable delay in the software interface updating when I spin the dial with sometimes all communication lost. 
  After doing the above described tweak I was able to control successfully my four Icom rigs without problems.
  I also observed the same bizarre behavior with the WSJT software.  I would let WSPR rip on one of my machines only to see that it would lose communication within 10 minutes of starting.  The emulated serial port tweak also fixed that for that software too. 

 
 

[KK5JY]

Just be warned it's buggy as crap and crashes almost every 30 minutes.

I don't know what people are talking about with v5 crashes.  I use v5 often for contesting, and across the features I use (DM780, HRD, Logbook), it works fantastic.  I run it for hours, and it works just fine.  It works way better than any of the v6 releases that I tried, and I tried to run several.  In the end, v5 worked better for me and my gear.

[N2UJN]

Just be warned it's buggy as crap and crashes almost every 30 minutes.

73s
Merry Christmas
Rob

I have been using HRD 5.24.36 since July 14, 2014 on Windows XP with a Null Serial Cable between a computer serial port and my FT-1000MP serial port.

The connection to the radio, once I set up the proper settings of baud rate, etc., was nearly instant and the connection never breaks or is slow.   Command to the radio, and, from the radio to HRD is flawless.   I use the bookmark feature, which, is a great feature, to book mark frequencies as a function of band and skip around across the band via that bookmark feature routinely.

The logbook is benchmark in terms of speed of lookup at qrz.com, and, once setup with location grid, instantly gives me the distance to another station.

The UI is clean, clear, without any overlapping icons or buttons.

I have used DM780 on all modes and, after a little learning curve for macros, it is fun, reliable and easy to use.   I do use FLDIGI as well because it does have a better CW decoder, and, for PSK-31 it has auto frequency tracking for drift in the incoming, received signal.

In three years of use the program has never "crashed" even one time.

From my perspective, the effort and energy that Simon Johnson put in over the years, to deliver to us a benchmark free product, is the pinnacle of the ham radio spirit of invention, and, support.

HRD, the one I downloaded for free from the original site that Simon supported, has worked great, and, opened a world of ham radio I would never have visited without his software and effort.  I will be using it as long as I have my FT-1000MP radio, which, is fully supported. 

[N2UJN]

Just be warned it's buggy as crap and crashes almost every 30 minutes.
There is no free lunch with HRD.  You can use the old version like I use to and deal with the crashes and lack of features or you can pay the $99 and get something that runs all day long without a problem and has about twice as many features.

73s
Merry Christmas
Rob

Just be warned it's buggy as crap and crashes almost every 30 minutes.

73s
Merry Christmas
Rob

I have been using HRD 5.24.36 since July 14, 2014 on Windows XP with a Null Serial Cable between a computer serial port and my FT-1000MP serial port.

The connection to the radio, once I set up the proper settings of baud rate, etc., was nearly instant and the connection never breaks or is slow.   Command to the radio, and, from the radio to HRD is flawless.   I use the bookmark feature, which, is a great feature, to book mark frequencies as a function of band and skip around across the band via that bookmark feature routinely.

The logbook is benchmark in terms of speed of lookup at qrz.com, and, once setup with location grid, instantly gives me the distance to another station.

The UI is clean, clear, without any overlapping icons or buttons.

I have used DM780 on all modes and, after a little learning curve for macros, it is fun, reliable and easy to use.   I do use FLDIGI as well because it does have a better CW decoder, and, for PSK-31 it has auto frequency tracking for drift in the incoming, received signal.

In three years of use the program has never "crashed" even one time.

From my perspective, the effort and energy that Simon Johnson put in over the years, to deliver to us a benchmark free product, is the pinnacle of the ham radio spirit of invention, and, support.

HRD, the one I downloaded for free from the original site that Simon supported, has worked great, and, opened a world of ham radio I would never have visited without his software and effort.  I will be using it as long as I have my FT-1000MP radio, which, is fully supported. 

[KA1VF]

     I've been running the final HRD/DM780 (5.24.38) "free" version since
the new HRD developers released it (October of 2012), and I haven't had
any software meltdowns with it.
     
     note: their HRD source code is a lot cleaner than the various versions
              from the original developer that I'd been running since October
              of 2008


              73, and GL
                   Bob

[KQ4YA]

Same as most of the others - no glitches, no crashes ever, with the last free version.

[K7LZR]

Just be warned it's buggy as crap and crashes almost every 30 minutes.
There is no free lunch with HRD.  You can use the old version like I use to and deal with the crashes and lack of features or you can pay the $99 and get something that runs all day long without a problem and has about twice as many features.

73s
Merry Christmas
Rob

Fooey. I've been running 5.24.38 for years on different systems with no issues whatsoever, and I see no need to change. But I do believe in supporting the company which now sells HRD and I would gladly buy it if I had a compelling reason to do so. But I don't and the old version works fine for me.

[K0UA]

Just be warned it's buggy as crap and crashes almost every 30 minutes.
There is no free lunch with HRD.  You can use the old version like I use to and deal with the crashes and lack of features or you can pay the $99 and get something that runs all day long without a problem and has about twice as many features.

73s
Merry Christmas
Rob

\
What are you talking about?  I have been using it for years. Methinks you are mistaken.

[N0UN]

Just be warned it's buggy as crap and crashes almost every 30 minutes.
There is no free lunch with HRD.  You can use the old version like I use to and deal with the crashes and lack of features or you can pay the $99 and get something that runs all day long without a problem and has about twice as many features.

73s
Merry Christmas
Rob

I've been using Simon's last free version (v5.0, build 2893) for years now - 5+ years without issue.  And I use the crap out of it.  Upload daily to LoTW with one click, log thousands of DX stations a year - not a single issue.

I thought to keep a copy of it (v5.0 Build 2893) on my Blog while it was still free, but other than update the country files occasionally with the DXCC changes (easy), I've never had to reload it:

http://www.n0un.net/ham-radio-deluxe/.

I stayed away from v5.11 and newer (including v5.24) because it appeared the new owner group had their hands on it, the cheesy bubbles on start-up turned me away so I stayed with Simon's last version v5.0, build 2893.

Every year that goes by, the amount I saved grows and I haven't had to deal with the blacklist bullshit either.  Win/win in my opinion.

N0UN

[G4EST]

I have been using version 5.0.24.38 for 5+ years since it's release and not had a single problem. Have connected to my newish TS990 and ICOM IC706 Mk2G without issue and run many digital modes as well as SSTV (many years ago). I have been able to add in extra award definitions which definitely is useful.
I have considered version 6.x but after attempting to establish what the 'new' features / functions are by referring to release notes have decided to stick with the old free version as v6 does nothing extra that I need.
As I trialled version 6.0 upon release i am now barred from any further demo releases so cannot actually play with the latest version to make a 1st hand comparison.

[VK3LU]

Hi all,
The link in the original post does not work.
The only clickable link is to the latest version.
Are there any other avenues?

73
Nev

[VK3LU]

Please ignore the above post. I have version 5.28.93.
What I would like to know is there any way of fudging it to connect to an IC7300?

Thanks in anticipation.
Nev