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Reviews For: Comm-Spec ID-8

Category: Ham Repeater Controllers

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Review Summary For : Comm-Spec ID-8
Reviews: 4MSRP: $69.95
Description:
CW-ID Board for repeaters & beacons. Features CW speed 0-99wpm, id inhibit, curtosey tone for repeater use.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.com-spec.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0045
K6PPT Rating: 2017-09-10
Fantastic little IDer Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This little IDer is very simple to program once you get the hang of it. They can be customized to be integrated with just about any communications equipment that you may have that requires CW ID I've got three of them deployed now, one on a two-meter Repeater, custom made cross band repeater, and on my new 440 MHZ repeater too. I've looked at others, but they seem to be too bulky, and limited on capabilities. They've been around for years, and have proven themselves over and over again.
Paul Tretiakoff K6PPT
N4DBM Rating: 2010-02-01
Works Well Time Owned: more than 12 months.
It's an ID board.. What more can you say. It works, and works well. Easy to set up and program, nice clean sine wave and multiple parameters (speed, tone, etc) Also has an open collector option for PTT so you can even use this as a repeat beacon keyer. Nice!
W6LBV Rating: 2007-10-10
"We don' need no stinkin' ID" Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The Communications Specialists ID-8 Morse code IDer is a simple product with a substantial if somewhat homely virtue: it works! It does just what it is supposed to do, without any fuss or complications. It is targeted toward the commercial Land Mobile repeater/base station market but is easily adaptable for Amateur use.

For a 450 MHz replacement repeater under construction, the ID-8 replaced an earlier PIC processor-based IDer kit that promised to do multiple tasks, depending upon external wiring and internal programming, but that never quite succeeded in doing the job assigned to it. I spent hours building external signal conditioning circuits and reprogramming the PIC kit, but in the end it couldn't reliably provide ID.

ID-8 Strengths:

Fully constructed, with quality parts; repeater-site qualified
ID message programmable by external keypad (supplied), no computer required; takes only five minutes to program
Many ID operating parameters can be set during programming
Easy interface into repeater controller
Extremely small size, tucks into controller chassis with double sided tape
Programmable to start ID cycle with either active high or active low logic levels
Audio output is a clean sine wave, up to 4 volts P-P, no external filtering needed
Programmable internal capability for providing multiple CW messages

ID-8 Weaknesses:

Message programming is done in numerical codes rather than in letters; requires translating ID message into numerical code before programming.
No on-board LED indication of operation

It took five minutes to program the module, and another five minutes to wire it to existing circuit points in a TP-38 community repeater tone panel. The ID-8 sits on an unused patch of circuit board inside the TP-38. Once the repeater was powered up and keyed, the ID occurred promptly and reliably every time, on the programmed cycle schedule. No problems, no hassle!

Communications Specialists is an old-line company that well supports its products. The ID-8 is in their current product line-up and it is well described on their Web page.





N1RIK Rating: 2006-08-19
Very simple and easy Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I'm running this unit in my Uniden ARU-251 Repeater that's rocked up on 442.400 in Southern Pines, NC. It's great and simple. It gives me my CW-ID and a simple curtosey tone. For 69.95, you just can't go wrong. Programming is simple, and so is installation. I didn't even need to solder anything. Thank you Comm-Spec!!