A Ham Radio Software Company Has Been Blacklisting Users For Leaving Negative Reviews (theregister.co.uk) 177
Gandalf_the_Beardy quotes a report from The Register: The Register reports on the story of Jim Giercyk, an amateur radio enthusiast who had his copy of the popular Ham Radio Deluxe (HRD) software revoked after posting a negative review. Other radio hams have followed up with us regarding claims that this was not an isolated incident and others may have had their license keys blacklisted for being publicly critical of the company. And just to be clear: by blackballing keys, installed copies of the software stop working. Giercyk, a professional musician in South Carolina, U.S., says that after his dealings with HRD Software (which has since reinstated his software key) and the statement made by the developer's co-owner Dr Michael Carper, he takes issue with claims made by the company. Giercyk, aka N2SUB, told us on Tuesday: "The issue is not the refusal of service, the issue is that HRD disabled my software, and then offered to enable it in exchange for the removal of an online review of their product. It's extortion, not refusal of service." Giercyk also said that since he went public about his blacklisting last week, he has received messages from other users who have stories of their software keys being revoked by HRD without their knowledge for speaking up about having a bad support experience. A number of other readers pointed out a collection of bad reviews posted on hobbyist site eHam by customers who had their license keys blacklisted. HRD told us some of those users could have written their assessments after requesting a refund and deactivating their software, thus their licenses will appear revoked. Meanwhile, Reddit threads and follow-up discussions to Giercyk's catalyst forum post reveal similar stories of keys being revoked after critical comments about Ham Radio Deluxe have appeared online. Other sources allege some amateur radio forums have in the past deleted posts critical of HRD.
Re:Ham Radio? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Ham Radio? (Score:5, Insightful)
I second this so strongly that most probably won't understand how visceral this is.
Phil wrote some software used to enable UUCP over packet, way way back when. My roommate and I cobbled together a UUCP feed for a couple of BBSes in rural Idaho. While we were still figuring out the mysteries of Minix and this newfangled Linux thing, we had email before it was cool. It was made possible by software with that callsign in his email address emblazoned on the banners and docs.
I didn't understand what amateur radio was, but I'd run across the hacker/tinkerer culture in radio that eventually (only a few years ago!) brought me into the hobby. Thanks for the early introduction, Phil!
Fast forward to today and I'm packing radio gear for six weeks on a remote South Pacific island, because it's a desirable place to talk to (E51AMF, for the curious). I've met countless incredible people all over the world. Many on the radio and many of them in person. I've made lifelong friends because of a shared interest in "seeing what's possible." My only regret is that I saw it was a weird quirky hobby that "probably isn't still a thing."
Yes, it's still a thing. If you haven't explored the hobby at all, you really should, especially now. So much interesting stuff to explore and try and so many people who want to push the boundaries.
73, K7ADD
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Okay, I'll say it so your neighbor won't have to...
"You go all that way just to talk on the radio? Why don't you get a radio that will work in your house?"
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Because it's a spout on the planet that has very few or no Ham radio operators. It's called a DXpedition.
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Got a job later on as an electronics tech, then turned into an embedded software engineer. Getting the HAM license was a good thing for me to do, even though it turned out I hated being a HAM.
I had more fun listening to radio stations in the midwest, or i
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Note that if you want to legally build RF electronics for experimentation that's a very good reason to have a ham license even if talking to people isn't your thing. For example if you want to experiment with 2.4GHz WiFi at power levels much higher than what's allowed for general public use...
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So much interesting stuff to explore and try and so many people who want to push the boundaries.
With all due respect, boundaries of what? Talking on the radio?
Re:Ham Radio? (Score:4, Informative)
Yep, some "talking on the radio." Lots of examples of that:
- Maximum average number of contacts per minute for an hour (this is a "contesting" rate)
- Number of countries you can reach with a given setup (this is usually referred to as a DXCC)
- I'm working on a variant of this where I intend to continue confirming contacts with 100 unique countries or territories every year. (3 years, so far)
- Distance per Watt (SSB to Hawaii on 10mW in my case)
- How many contacts you can make with a setup you carry to the top of a mountain, yourself (look up "SOTA" or Summits on the Air)
- How fast can you decode Morse code, by ear?
It's also some of the stuff that KA9Q (Phil) was talking about. RF is incredibly fascinating and amateur radio is a great way to have an output for what you learn, in practice.
- Most effective antenna you can design and construct, with some constraints (or not!)
- Maximum possible gain at a given frequency (look up the OH8X 160m beam or ES5TV's 15m stack)
- How far _below_ the noise floor a given modulation scheme can be decoded (-32dB in my case, usually a combination of hacking on software and searching for the right solar conditions)
- How good an inexpensive homebrew rig can be (look up Ashar Farhan VU2ICQ)
- How good can a computer get at decoding Morse code (CW)? (Look up AG1LE and a few others who are using Machine Learning and other techniques for this)
And yes, it can also be a social hobby. Some people like meeting others from around the world and just talking.
Yes, some of ham radio is old guys talking for hours on end about their prostate problems or the most amazing grilled cheese sandwich for hours on end. But it's also amazing people doing amazing things. Listen to 144MHz (2m) locals or even the typical 3.8MHz (75m) conversation and you'll instantly get turned off. Dig a little deeper and there's some really cool stuff happening.
- K7ADD
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Re: Ham Radio? (Score:1)
Well, you just hop to it, then, and cure cancer this weekend. Anything less than that, and you're just a midget dung beetle rolling round your little ball of dung.
Or, you're just a troll belittling others on an open blog forum.
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I was referring to the boundaries of the hobby, not the boundaries of human existence. But I appreciate the big thinking.
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Well, not to toot my own horn too loudly, but in the mid 1980s I wrote a TCP/IP implementation. I intended it for ham radio use on low end PCs, as the only existing general purpose implementations were on commercial minicomputers far beyond a ham budget. (I actually began it on a dare by Terry Fox, WB4JFI, who insisted it was too complex to implement on anything a ham could afford.)
Before I knew it, my software was being widely used outside ham radio for dialup access to the Internet. Universities and compa
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Thanks. It was actually TCP/IP (the Internet protocols) over packet radio.
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Yeah, after a little more sleep, I recalled how this was cobbled together. It was Waffle BBS for DOS that did the UUCP bits. Thanks again!
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Re:Ham Radio? (Score:5, Interesting)
If I had modpoints today....
HAM radio is one of only a hand full of (organized, if you want to) hobbies that encourage you to explore almost all facets of the modern technological equipment we nowadays surround ourselves with. Analog and digital electronics (radios, computer interfaces, micro-controllers and programmable logic, power supply and storage), software (embedded, drivers, applications, communications protocols), metal working (antennas and masts, wave pipes, but also building your own cases)...
And then of course all the science and mathematics behind it. Electrostatics and electrodynamics, meteorology (propagation), some thermodynamics (noise), some solid-state physics (semiconductors)...
Also it can be a very social hobby, because if you want to, you can interact with people in any country in the world with a few hundred dollars worth (either store-bought or paid for in time to build from parts) of equipment. Although, I do confess, chances to interact with a North Korean are very slim indeed.
If you choose to become a member of a HAM radio group, there are also local gatherings of HAMs you can visit, ask for advice and maybe learn a thing or two from. I'm myself a member of VERON (Association of experimental radio research, Netherlands), a Dutch radio amateur club. In the U.S. you have the ARRL.
If you're interested in volunteering during emergencies, HAM can be a good way in or addition to other 'hobbies' in that direction. In the Netherlands there is DARES (Dutch Amateur Radio Emergency Service). The U.S. equivalent is simply called ARES.
Don't be discouraged about the science and math. You don't need degrees in them. You can choose to calculate and design of course, but also to 'just' experiment, and see where it goes. As long as you use your common sense and observe a hand full of regulations that keep you from some major stupid actions (like ruining cell tower coverage in your block, hampering other commercial and emergency radio services or do bodily harm due to bundled/high power radiation). ;) .
Without a license you're limited to listening and a few 'free' bands for low power equipment but getting your license isn't that hard. A novice license exam should be doable for anyone willing to spend a few hours every week, for a year in learning the basic science behind the hobby and for reviewing the proper regulations. But your high-school physics and math probably covers most of it, if you paid attention in class. If you want to pass the exam for a full license, you need to dig a little deeper. Most people with college degrees including physics and math find it easy enough and anyone with or close to a bachelor in any remotely related field (in my case: CS - half way at the time, and a precursor hobby experience of (non-radio) electronics and computer hardware) may not even need to study, maybe only 'leaf through' the exam material to pass for the technical exam. Don't forget to review the regulations 'though. I forgot, and still passed by answering that part of the exam on common sense, but you save yourself a lot of stress not following my example
73, PG8W.
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It's hard to make a single recommendation, because different people are called by different parts of the hobby.
Does working DX (making contacts with distant stations) call to you? Any number of commercial HF transceivers will fill the bill. Buying one brand new starts at $600 or so and goes up (WAY up) from there. But used radios can be good values, and you can get back most of what you spend by reselling the radio if you decide it's not for you. Get advice from an active ham about what to buy and what to a
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Re:Ham Radio? (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm in the process of packing up my house, preparing to move, and I found a 5-1/4" disk in a box. The label says it's Phil Karn's KA9Q TCP/IP stack, copyright 1987. A friend of mine and I used it to learn TCP/IP networking by squirting modem tones thru radios back in 1988. It was kind of a weird time in my life. I wasn't really college ready, so I had a bunch of work to do in a junior college just to get in to a University. I could have very easily given up and wandered away and become an electrician. Ham radio kept my attention. I graduated with a STEM degree, perhaps the wrong STEM degree, but that hardly mattered. Just as I graduated Mosaic appeared, I could code C on SunOS & Linux, I knew TCP/IP networking and the core Internet protocols, and how to troubleshoot all the way down to the physical layer. My career took off like I'd been shot out of a cannon. My friend retired from Apple at age 35.
Tinkering teaches. Ham radio is very much still a thing.
And let me just take a moment to say thank you to Phil!
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You're welcome!
Hey, if you can read that disk, could you put it on the net somewhere? I didn't keep copies of all the earlier versions of my software. It'd be neat to see which one you got.
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Hey, if you can read that disk, could you put it on the net somewhere?
I'm afraid I'd be hard pressed to come up with even a 3-1/2 inch floppy drive at this point, even if I wasn't packing up my house. I'm not sure it will be readable. It was stored in a 5-land garage for 10+ years, and an inland 6-land garage for the 10 years prior to that. If I can't find a way to read it, I'll toss it in the mail to your station address.
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I've always been interested in electronics but never learned much beyond simple DC circuits until I studied for the General exam. If you're interested in electronics or how WiFi works, ham radio is a goo d way to get started.
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Probably the ultimate in QRP right now is WSPR (Weak Signal Propagation Reporter). This is a specially-designed very low speed (~1 bps) digital modulation and coding format designed for use as a propagation beacon, especially on the HF ("shortwave") bands. But it has recently been adapted for tracking ultra light weight (12.5 gram!) high altitude balloon payloads. One such payload, WB8ELK-2, has completed three complete trips around the world in the past month and is now on its fourth:
https://tracker.habhub [habhub.org]
Good reason to avoid proprietary ham software (Score:5, Insightful)
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Actually, isn't this now illegal with recent legislation? [slashdot.org] Or am I misunderstanding that new law?
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It's not illegal until someone takes it to court and gets a ruling.
The factor that people are stepping forward with similar stories shows the lie of HRD's "It was an accident" statement and makes the possibility of such an event appear less distant.
But as we've seen - it's perfectly possible to lie through your teeth, get caught doing it, continue doing so and STILL get away with it.
The single biggest problem with this kind of legislation is that the less ethical companies will simply take any fixed fines i
Re: 3rd party reviews are extortion (Score:2)
if Cops stated their needs in a bike to Harley-Davidson then a bike would be made to order for a price
If cops wanted fucking puddles of oil under their bikes, I'm sure they would have mentioned it.
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Actually, he's working on the next generation of SDR (software defined radio) and is a digital radio pioneer. He's building YOUR next radio.
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I was just trying to say exactly that, but Slashdot lost my edited comment when I changed an option. Argh.
I never said all hams should build their own radios. But all hams should be able to learn how their radios work, if they are so inclined, and to modify and experiment with them. That's what the hobby is supposed to be about. It's exactly the same philosophy behind the open source software movement, only we hams had it first.
Most ham manufacturers still make hardware schematics available for their equipm
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I got into ham radio mostly because I like playing with and modifying hardware and it's nearly impossible to do anything useful to computer hardware because it's too advanced. It's still possible to build a useful radio or build one from a kit.
Raspberry PI's and Arduinos are really helpful to those of us that aren't EE's.
Totally agree about the (incompatible) state of digital voice modes.
I am a bit perplexed as to why Open Source software isn't bigger in ham radio, though it does have a presence. I like t
And we thought Stallman was crazy (Score:5, Insightful)
The concept of ownership continues to slip through our fingers. And this isn't cheap software! We always say "if you can't open it you don't own it." Perhaps it's time for "if you can't compile it, it's not really installed."
Re:And we thought Stallman was crazy (Score:5, Insightful)
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Just look at Flight Simulator X and the amount of idiots that buy from PMDG, who require your real name, register you publicly on their website, and if you want to post on their forum, even to report a bug, you're required to provide your real name and credentials (Take about a complete farce to security and open den for identity thieves and the amount of idiots that defend their practice). If you post something bad about their product, you get banned forever.
HAM guys are no different, most of the stores ar
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And we thought Stallman was crazy
Being correct and being crazy are not mutually exclusive! He could make his points in a ways consistent with social norms or he can stand outside and yell at people while wearing a sign like a crazy person. [staticflickr.com]
I think his concerns are valid and he's correct on many things but I also think he could use some psychiatric help.
Re:And we thought Stallman was crazy (Score:5, Interesting)
What makes you think psychological turmoil isn't a natural side-effect of everyone around you being so fucking wrong all the time?
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What makes you think psychological turmoil isn't a natural side-effect of ...
I don't think he has psychological issues, I think he has psychiatric issues.
Re:And we thought Stallman was crazy (Score:5, Informative)
The difference between being an idiot, and being a visionary, is mostly a matter of being right at the end of the day. Turns out Stallman is proven more correct with every passing year, as more boxes get closed, more systems get locked down, and more control gets exerted over every aspect of our lives.
His vision led him to create gcc. Without gcc, do you think we would have had clang or free copies of Visual Studio? Without free compilers, do you think any of the open source world would have existed? And without the open source world, how do you suppose the software landscape would have looked by now?
It's not scary that post gets +3, interesting. It's only scary that you don't know your history, yet feel qualified to comment on it.
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Stallman appears vindicated at this time because he's not in power. I'm glad the movement exists, but I'm also glad it's not in power. Why? Because a world without the competitive dynamic between closed and open is, IMHO, not as good.
A world without proprietary software is probably a world without today's relatively user-friendly Linux based desktops.
The two camps don't have to be enemies--they can, and do inspire each other. That's my real problem with RMS.
Probably in the fine print. (Score:2)
Some weasel clause in there license probably has
We reserve the right to modify this agreement at any time, including revoking your right to use the software.
That fine print will get you every time.
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The print isn't even that fine. From the license agreement:
8. We reserve the right to refuse service and disable a customer’s key at any time for any reason
PDF of the support ticket emails (including license agreement) to and from grasping little HRD shitweasel:
https://forums.qrz.com/index.p... [qrz.com]
Re:Probably in the fine print. (Score:5, Interesting)
"Again refer to section 8 of the TOS, which was written by our Attorney. " Not by any attorney remotely competent to practice copyright and licensing law. Instant loser in court.
Also this gem:
11. WHOLE AGREEMENT. This Agreement is the complete and exclusive statement of the Agreement between us; and supersedes any proposed or prior agreement, oral or written, and any other communications between us relating to this specific granted license and the related obligations; and may be modified or supplemented only by a document signed by both parties to this Agreement.
NOTICE: HRD Software LLC reserves the right to change or amend this policy at any time without prior notice.
Completely contradictory language crammed right together. No attorney read this. Not even an incompetent passed-the-bar-the-3rd-time dabbler.
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It says the agreement can only be modified by a document signed by both parties. Then the NOTICE section says that they can unilaterally change it without notice at any time.
"Also this gem" is a topic transition...
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"Also this gem" is a topic transition.
And you might want to contrast (2) with the "NOTICE" sentence.
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That clause isn't legal under consumer protection laws in most countries and would get slapped down by most judges along with a good legal kicking for whoever attempted to insert it.
UK example: The unfair terms in contracts act.
Amateur Radio (Score:2, Informative)
HRD is widely used among Hams. One of its claims to fame is integration with amateur transceivers and other equipment; it can control and monitor a wide variety of complex modern rigs, amps, tuners, etc. through serial ports, USB, Ethernet, etc.
Honestly I'm disappointed with amateur radio in this regard; reliance on proprietary IP for too many things; proprietary stuff like HRD (there are open logging alternatives, but HRD dominates), closed source firmware from all the major manufacturers, IP protected di
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HRD is widely used among Hams. One of its claims to fame is integration with amateur transceivers and other equipment; it can control and monitor a wide variety of complex modern rigs, amps, tuners, etc. through serial ports, USB, Ethernet, etc.
Yes, HRD is sort of the systemd of ham radio. You get the same kind of comments.
Computer Not Required (Score:2)
Icom's IC-7300 brings you a lot of actual SDR goodness, without the umbilical cord to the computer. I own this radio; it's pretty nice, though certainly not flawless.
Looks like they're going to release a higher-end radio next.
Analog radios... no more for me. They just can't reach the levels of performance an SDR can.
This the actual whatever (Score:2)
There's always someone in the crowd who thinks their use case, should be everyone' s use case. The first fact on the table is that the IC-7300 has been a huge success. So all those people, according to you, are "drooling idiots." That's absurd.
You seem to think that "SDR" means "external computer required." It doesn't. It means software defines the radio's characteristics. Which is exactly what the IC-7300 does. The entire point of the 7300 is you get the razor-edged demodulators, the (first) decent spectru
Jina, eh? (Score:2)
Yeah, you get back to us when measured performance of those products is even close. Don't hold your breath; you wouldn't look good colored like a smurf.
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I/Q interfaces are vulnerable to ground loops only if the I/Q interface is analog. Why should it be, when we have excellent digital interfaces designed specifically for stereo digital audio? There are now several inexpensive SDRs (price range $100-$200) with USB interfaces, e.g., the Funcube Dongle Pro+ and the SDRPlay (there's now a second version). There's also the ultra-cheap RTL-SDR, but its narrow 8-bit A/D limits its use to VHF or UHF signals without strong adjacent channel interference. It's ideal fo
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Yes, I just picked up a SDRPlay 2 last weekend.
The main differences between it and the Funcube dongle are the same: the SDRPlay can sample at much higher rates, but only at 12 bits/sample, while the Funcube dongle samples at 192 kHz with 16 bits. The Funcube dongle therefore appears better suited to narrower modes, especially on HF and VHF where there may be strong interferers on nearby frequencies. The SDRPlay can do broadband modes too wide for the Funcube, such as HD Radio, ADS-B and digital TV, though m
Use Hamlib and HDSDR (Score:5, Informative)
also most other major distros will include most of this software in their repositories so installing them in a new linux install is as simple as launching synaptic or using apt-get from the commandline if you already know the names of the app you want, synaptic has a good search feature by keywords so it makes looking for apps easier
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That needs a PC to decode the signals. How is that "a real radio that doesn't need software"?
HRD is crapware (Score:3)
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These putzes deserve to be run out of business.
Sadly... (Score:3, Informative)
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A big chunk of Ham Radio really is, 'getting the job done'. These are people who do it for a hobby. Only a proportion of those people have the skills required to produce 'professional' code. Others improvise.
I agree that Open Source tends to be much more compatible with the concept of Amateur Radio but if someone's put a bunch of work into some software and wants to cover his expenses (and time is an expense) then that's their call. If others see value in it, they'll pay what they think is fair.
But going r
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A bunch of the software in the world of ham radio is pretty bad--for whatever reason it seems like everybody is stuck on developing software for Windows 95/98 with Visual Basic or FoxPro, and they typically shoot for "it gets the job done" and not much else.
That's because electrical engineers are typically shit at writing code. I've been looking at code written by EE's for a long time, and it is almost always bad - full of software delay loops (because there is only one speed of CPU out there), structured like a landfill, breaking every form of good practice known to mankind, etc.
You also shouldn't let software engineers get close to a soldering iron, but that's ok - the two groups can work together to get great things done...
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99% of software is developed to the point of "it gets the job done" and that's all.
Quite simply because getting the job done is the most important part of the job's function.
If only the writer or a small number of people are ever going to use it, then there is no need to develop it further and change for change's sake is a waste of time.
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I disagree. Change that does not change functionality, but improves user friendliness, performance, resource usage, or just sheer elegance and awesomeness, is still a welcome improvement.
Also, I find the efficiency argument boring. In the end we all die. Life is not about being 'most efficient' before that moment comes.
Good To Know (Score:2)
HRD was once free (Score:3)
Ham Radio Deluxe is proprietary software but was originally free to use. That changed after a change of ownership. The free versions had no restrictions and worked exceptionally well with my radio gear. I have not used the new paid version of HRD because I don't like how this played out or the tactics of the new owner. I got my ham license 25 years ago and still have radios that require a license, although I don't really use them very much. Ham radio is not dead but there are many convenient methods of communication today that it is just one option of many.
Since Linux is my main OS now, I've use a some Linux based software with my radios but nothing as user friendly as the original HRD. That does not mean that there isn't good ham radio software available for Linux, just that it can take a bit more effort to get working and to use. One day I'll get my radio gear out again and take the time to get Linux setup with some of the good software available.
FLDigi & Log4om (Score:2)
I've used HRD for about a year and won't be renewing my license for it. I'm looking at FLDigi & Log4om to replace it. I mostly contest and use N1MM+
Here is the support ticket (Score:5, Interesting)
Here is the entire support ticket the guy opened: http://forums.qrz.com/index.php?attachments/hrd-software-inc-pdf.336462/ [qrz.com].
It seems that they have in their TOS a line that says:
8. We reserve the right to refuse service and disable a customer’s key at any time for any reason
Also, they are lying in that it was just one employee that did this. From the ticket you can see an employee was answering the ticket at first, but then "Rick" took over, who appears to be "Rick Ruhl", a co-owner of HRD software, and throws gems like this to the stunned customer:
You are not buying software, you are buying your callsign's access to the software. ... ...
Again refer to section 8 of the TOS, which was written by our Attorney.
See you in court.
Unbelievable!
Re:Here is the support ticket (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Here is the support ticket (Score:5, Informative)
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Why is this unbelievable? Many ham radio people I know are outright assholes. This is just the natural outcome of the attitude in the industry...arrogance towards newbies with questions, act superior because you know more about ham radios than the guy asking questions, etc. What is amazing is that people are actually surprised at this.
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That gem should be archived and pointed out to "journalists" covering the story, because it shows the clear lie of their official statements.
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And once you've been Rick Ruhl'd, they're Always Gonna Give You Up.
Re: Here is the support ticket (Score:4, Insightful)
Extortion is still extortion.
Even if the thing you are threatening to do is perfectly legal sans the threat.
Also:
Being an asshole is still being an asshole.
Even all was legally sound and the other guy could/should have seen your capability to screw him in the terms, securing and exercising that capability is a choice, and that choice can make you an asshole. It is perfectly legal to choose to be an asshole, but don't come whining to me or anyone else when you get called out. Those are the stakes.
If you actively piss off your customers or prospective customers enough to hurt your reputation, that is on you. It's your problem, and it's your fault.
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The kind of extortion HRD are undertaking would get them in the dock facing 5 years jail in a german court.
Yes. it really is that serious.
("Accident" isn't an excuse, The penaltes are for the _attempt_)
This is not a surprise (Score:3, Insightful)
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There's some of the ham spirit left in the fringier bits of ham radio. Have a look at microwave construction, ham tv, qrp, and general sdr+gnuradio.
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If you want to experience the highest level of greediness in ham-radio, sdr is the way to go. Plenty of very nasty people there, equally distributed between developers and users, with many unexperienced and confused people in between.
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Many hams today ARE using the Raspberry Pi and Arduino for their projects. Such as the local high school kids I help mentor. They build high altitude balloon payloads and fly them, and they all carried either an Arduino, a Pi, or both.
Piracy is the only logical answer (Score:1, Insightful)
"by blackballing keys, installed copies of the software stop working."
Simple solution to the problem, don't pay them to begin with then you can give a review and delete it. Most of the time when I test software, if it fails my "useability" test, it is off my system long before the review is completed. I have too many things to do than to deal with useless software that doesn't meet my needs.
Alternatives? (Score:1)
QRZ caught deleting posts (Score:2)
Looks like someone set up a nice little trap and caught them deleting posts mentioning this. [imgur.com]
GPL violation by HRD? (Score:2)
Posted (by an anonymous coward) somewhere else:
Interesting.....
I downloaded the latest version of Ham Radio Deluxe just now and installed it.
There is a "Source" folder contained in the subdirectory of HAM RADIO DELUXE, 6.3.0.613 that contains a file DM780SourceCode.zip
The date on this file is as follows: 25/09/11 09:49
Inside this zip file is a readme file that says:
QUOTE
HRDMultiMode001
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The main encoder / decoder DLL is HRDMultiMode001, compiled with Visual Studio 6.0 C++.
HRDOlivia001
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The companies official response (Score:2)
https://regmedia.co.uk/2016/12... [regmedia.co.uk]
Publicize this behaviour... (Score:1)
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Re: (Score:2)
Only if you get a refund from that 1 star review. I've had to use software that really deserved a 1 star review, but there was no other options in my price range.
Re: (Score:2)
It is somewhat more difficult to blacklist users of opensource programs.
Re: (Score:2)