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Reviews For: Lonestar Semiconductor Designs (N5BOC) USB MMDVM Stick

Category: Interfaces, Radio to computer, amp, rotor, coax switch, internet

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Review Summary For : Lonestar Semiconductor Designs (N5BOC) USB MMDVM Stick
Reviews: 1MSRP: $97.00
Description:
This is a USB version of the standard MMDVM simplex board. With this you can plug it directly into your Laptop and operate using only your handheld radio and BlueDV running on the laptop. It can also be plugged into a raspberry PI and used just like a standard Simplex MMDVM hat. This small device uses an onboard ceramic antenna so there are no external parts that can be snapped off or broken. Range and function are identical to a Pi-Zero size Simplex hat.
Product is in production
More Info: https://www.store.n5boc.com/usb-stick
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0015
KK0DJ Rating: 2020-11-29
MMDVM USB HotSpot Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Recently I returned a Pi-Zero MMDVM to a friend who had loaned it to me. It was time to purchase something to replace the borrowed hotspot. I already use an early DV4mini USB stick plugged into a Raspberry Pi Model 3. It's provided good service for nearly 5 years now. I also have online a duplex MMDVM mounted on a Pi Model 3B+ that has been just as reliable. Last, I bought one of the first OpenSpot hotspots and have it online as well and for nearly 5 years! Though all of these hotspots have given me great value for the money, I just wanted to try something else, possibly made in America and sold by someone in America who has good customer service.

To aid in my decision process, I posted a question on one of the Facebook pages that has to do with hotspots and interfaces that are used for DStar, DMR and Fusion. Several ideas were provided but one that I wasn't familiar with caught my eye. The post stated that the N5BOC USB MMDVM Stick was made in America and sold by a fellow in Texas who provided good customer service. That helped me decide to review the offerings that Lonestar Semiconductor Designs offered.

The LoneStar company offers several different flavors of Hotspots. All were capable of providing what I needed but the USB Stick caught my eye because I wanted to be able to use it on three different machines from time to time. To explain, I periodically will move my hotspots around to different protocols and possibly on a machine with a different OS and hardware. The USB stick seemed like the easiest to do this with. I have run my trusty old DV4mini on 4 different OS's and three different pieces of hardware. For this purchase, I wanted to be able to use this hotspot on my Windows 10 machine, my Ubuntu Linux laptop or a Raspberry Pi. It promised the capability of all three so long as the hotspot software would run on them, and in my case it would.

So I ordered this unit and was immediately contacted by David Dennis, N5BOC, to thank me for the order and that he changed my order to reflect a 10% discount he was offering at the time. A nice surprise to be sure!

A few days later the unit arrived in the mail. It was well packed and came with directions of what software would work with it along with a link to the online manual. I immediately plugged it into my Windows 10 machine. The documentation directed me to make sure I had an STM32 virtual COM port driver installed. I already had one but it wasn't up to date. So I used the link that David provided in the manual to download a more recent copy. I then uninstalled my original driver, rebooted and then installed the newly downloaded driver.

I then plugged the USB Stick in. Windows recognized it and assigned the COM port. No problems!

I then downloaded and installed the BlueDV software from PA7LIM. It's a wonderful piece of programming excellence! But I'll save that for another review!

I configured the BlueDV software but ran into a snag. One of the protocols I wanted to configure for was DMR but I wanted to use the TGIF Network (www.tgif.network) and it's talkgroups. The DMR and DMR+ configuration didn't have the TGIF network in the drop-down menu lists it provided. So I sent off an email to David who responded very quickly stating that he had found a way in a web search that required me to modify the existing code (an easy text file modification) Well, I made the suggested edits and it did provide some of the usability I needed but didn't provide it all. I contacted David again and he stated that he would look further to find out a fully tested working "fix."

So in the interim while I waited for David to get back to me, I configured the unit with BlueDV and tested it on the Brandmeister flavor of DMR, Fusion and DStar. It was a flawless performer on all 3. The GUI in the BlueDV software is especially eloquent as well as being easy to configure and use.

I was happy to just leave it on one of the other protocols until I heard back from David. It wasn't but a few days and he had found and tested a new method that promised to allow me to use the TGIF network. I followed his directions and was pleased to see that this modification was quick, easy and worked!

Some might say... ah, big deal. To them I say I have had to go through what I would deem an excessive amount of web searching, asking questions, becoming part of support sites, trial and error with some other HotSpots. So to me, this exercise was not a displeasure but a good quick support exercise that was nowhere near as much effort as I have had on my other hotspots. Remember, as I stated, it worked out of the box on DMR, Fusion and DStar. The only issue I had was that it wouldn't connect to a new network and it's talkgroups. Plus, having someone from the company personally interact with me until I was pleased is something quite rare!

I would suggest that you consider this unit if you're in the market for a USB HotSpot.. and I would also suggest using BlueDV. I had first seen the BlueDV software some time back when Tommy Martin (N5ZNO) did a segment on AmateurLogicTV. Tommy made it look like a breeze to use and he was right... I had the same experience.

Hopefully this has helped you and your decision on what HotSpot to try. I didn't mention the price but the price is lower than most other units that accomplish the same work. That and you'll have David to help you if you run into a snag like I did. Can't ask for more.
73
Dennis
KK0DJ