nicFW900 is under development.
Added 2025-05-13 00:06:28 +0000 UTCI need to clarify how the development cycle works.
nicFW900 is under development. That means the releases I put out are NOT stable and they are ABSOLUTELY NOT meant for general use. The latest version is what you should be using and experimenting with to provide feedback, it does me and everyone else no good at all if you revert to a previous version because of an issue with the latest one.
If you need to use a radio normally, flash it back to stock for that, or simply use another radio, you guys must have a few radios, you don't HAVE to use the RT-900, keep it just for experimental feedback please.
The RT-900 is a very difficult radio to code for, far far more difficult than the H3 or the 890 mainly because of the poor hardware design that introduces problems with almost everything. For that reason there are a lot of problems that need to be resolved.
Comments
It doesn't really matter, use cases are so vast it's impossible to give specifics like that. Mainly it should just be tested as the user sees fit, ideally within the bounds of their use cases. But the important thing is that this testing must be relative to the default code plug and any differences stated. Like for example "I test it with the default code plug but with squelch on 4 and AM AGC set to 120" It is also very important that any issue be reported in such a way as to allow me to replicate. If someone says for example "I get no reception when scanning air band" what I will do is then perform an air band scan and if I get reception I discount the report as nonsense. Right now there is a seemingly random issue of the radio suddenly moving off-frequency for no apparent reason and remaining like that, with varied symptoms, until power cycle. Right now, I have had this happen to me ONCE, yet reports seem to suggest it is happening frequently, yet when I ask people claiming to experience it for extra details, I get nothing, when I ask question to verify my own experience I get nothing. This leads me to think that maybe this isn't occurring as often as people are claiming, because if it were, surely these folk could supply the simple information I request?
Marcus Dudley
2025-05-14 01:55:23 +0000 UTCI opened my radio. After touching up the very poor hand-soldered connections and cleaning up the corrosive solder flux from the factory assembly. Then I replaced the old style trim pot ( used for calibrating the 26MHz TC crystal oscillator that was a bit off frequency) with a linear taper trim pot of the same value and not an old style with an exposed and in this case dirty wiper, I then powered on the radio and let it run for a few minutes. Then I calibrated it using a scope and frequency counter for 26Mhz and watched it while changing frequencies and by pressing PTT (with a 50 Ohm dummy load) and it stayed pretty stable and on frequency. This is important because this oscillator provides the reference frequency for the RF synthesizer and for the digital operations like PLL input reference. It’s like if you’re going to build a house, you need to start with a good base and foundation. Or you’re going to need a lot of extra time and nails.
Ken
2025-05-14 01:06:41 +0000 UTCHi Marcus, we're happy to help with the development as users so we can get the best firmware for our RT900. But in order to provide you with useful feedback, you need to give us instructions on what we should specifically test with the RT900. Should we scan the Airband or transmit in specific bands, or something else? It won't do any good if we're on standby on some repeater all day. Please give us some instructions.
DJ5RQ
2025-05-13 09:17:27 +0000 UTC
