Posts by bbawlz 4 publicly visible posts • joined 4 Jan 2017
No, it shouldn't.
In the spirit of ham radio, some linux weenie should write something like that for Linux out of the goodness of his heart and offer it free. All the algorithms and protocols are publicly available.
The SoHR does not compel a commercial endeavour to give freebies to radio amateurs.
73
I love the hobby of amateur radio, but the one downside that kind of chaps me is that while radio amateurs are collectively some of the most affluent people around, they are notoriously cheap when it comes to buying from others (i.e. they want everything free) and stupidly expensive when selling (i.e. their old, obsolete landfill equipment is a priceless antique). There are, of course, plenty of quite reasonable radio amateurs, but go to any hamfest or flea market and you'll see what I mean.
Ham Radio Deluxe gets, in my estimation, mistreated because of this. It is pretty much the best all-round package out there. Yes, you can get all the functionality with an assortment of free-ware (like FLDigi), but HRD makes it slick. Obviously people like the professional look, because even a lot of the complainers use the old, free versions because they're too cheap to support the modern effort, and not willing to do a better job themselves.
The title of this thread is "Don't forget this is optional software". HRD is optional. It's also cheap to buy as both software and ham radio stuff goes... but you don't have to buy it - use one of the competitors if you don't like it, or don't use it at all! that's the beauty of amateur radio: choice.
HRD does not require an internet connection to work. I use it from my remote site all the time, and there is no internet there, nor is any provider likely to bring in internet to the area any time soon.
Oh, some of the features (like automatic upload to eQSL) won't work, but that's to be expected. It probably needs internet to be set up the first time, but that's also reasonable IMO.
I have, however, brought internet in at a different site via amateur radio :)
73.
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