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Trials and Errors #44: Copycats Stomp on Ham Radio Innovation
This column tells the story of exciting ham radio innovation . . . radio features that were ultimately short-circuited from reaching the marketplace due to damage done by copycat products in the open source space. In a better scenario, you'd have terrific new features in your hands right now if this modern radio design had been picked up by a major manufacturer (or -- at least -- been offered for sale as a radio built to the specs). But, unfortunately, Chinese "businessmen" intervened and the rest is history. While this kind of thing can be common in open source, this time you'll read about the WOLF transceiver project begun by UA3REO back in 2018, something that had great potential for amateur operators. At the end of the article, please note that we have a discussion forum for comments about copycat goods in general or for specific questions/comments on the WOLF transceiver.
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Dmitry Panin (UA3REO) is a 36-years old software engineer with a great love of radio communications and electronics. Since his childhood, Dmitry has been developing software and building radios. After his education, he took up a full-time job as a web software engineer but due to his love of amateur radio (particularly VHF and microwave communications) he would come home to sit at his workbench and dream up new designs. If he wasn't playing the guitar or hiking with his labrador, he was in front of his computer or holding a soldering iron. Thanks to his dad, Igor (UA3RGQ) radio is this man's life, but he was smart enough to know that his ideas couldn't be rolled out by one person acting alone.
It was circa 2018 when Dmitry took up what is called "open source" development; this is when he put his ideas into public view for all to look at and improve on. In my interview with Dmitry, he makes it very clear that his role was to manage the process but that it would have never occurred if other talented engineers (from all over the world, notably Russia and Ukraine) had not joined the open source team for what Dmitry and friends dubbed the "WOLF Transceiver" project. (See the Forum notes attached to this article for more names and call signs of the major contributors to this innovation.)
“It is very easy to run amateur projects in the open source ecosystem,” Dmitry told me. “It is great when real professionals with backgrounds in software and hardware development join the project as they did on this one. And then, at the same time, real radio amateurs who are loyal to the spirit of ham radio join the team and assemble their transceivers. That’s when it gets really exciting. . . when the radio is actually built by hams. This is just another step that brings new ideas to the table and improves the device.”
But despite his love for the open source community, Dmitry had a warning for me as well.
"As soon as an open source radio gains great interest from a wider public, and especially when innovative developments appear as a part of that project, there is a risk of commercialization of the design by unscrupulous people,” Dmitry said. As I heard that, I recognized the "sting" in Dmitry's comment as those clones from China hit close to home. But, technically, the fact that this was in the open source world means that the businessmen only did something "distasteful," and not illegal.
Of course, this doesn't happen exclusively in the amateur radio market . . . this is a general issue in any open source development, and no one has seemingly been able to come up with a good cure. (See an earlier Trials and Errors issue for an interview with Michelle Thompson on this topic. Michelle is a key player at the Open Research Institute.)
"This manifests itself in 1-to-1 copying of others’ work," says Dmitry. "The 'borrowing' of someone else’s ideas is easy and cheap because those concepts have already been implemented and do not require research. In our case, it was a number of Chinese businessmen who felt that they could cheapen the design and put the WOLF on the market even if it was a substandard radio due to their neglect or greed."
Why Can't the Majors be this Creative?
I was disappointed recently after reading about a new (and very expensive) radio that one of my favorite Japanese manufacturers had just introduced at the Tokyo show. The announcement was as big as they come, leaving the impression of a great number of updates to the radio. But after reviewing them, I believe these were very tiny steps. It saddens me that some of the ideas that Dmitry and team incorporated into their WOLF designs have still not been picked up by a major amateur radio company.
In my opinion, ham innovation needs to come in bigger, broader strokes. This continued "fine-tuning" of radio features (making tiny changes that stay current for 3-4 years as the production models roll off the manufacturing lines) doesn't have to be the standard for innovation in amateur radio. I asked Dmitry what features he was most proud of in the original WOLF designs.
[Please note - Most of these were not transferred to the Chinese product, or they were very poorly implemented.]
“One thing that makes our WOLF designs great is that each function, each capability of the transceiver, began at the request of real radio amateurs. These are people who are now working on the air with these radios and who feel uncomfortable on commercial products where it is almost impossible to get software updates.”
“Do you know a radio where you can track passing satellites, adjust the frequency by Doppler shift, and do all this with your own hands? Yes, that is what we designed into the WOLF. Do you know a device with two CAT ports so that without additional software it is possible to control the skimmer and a contest log? Or, how about a transceiver that shows ionospheric passage in the desired QTH? Or one with built-in FT8, no computer required, when you can simply copy your contacts from the SD card? Or one device with SO2R (“Single Operator, Two Radio”) functionality? How about a radio that displays data from a DX cluster directly on its waterfall?”
As Dmitry began listing off the series of innovations this team has published for the WOLF radio, I wondered why all of these features don't show up correctly in the Chinese copycat versions. I mean, if these several manufacturers were truly copying the original designs published by this team, why would so many users have had trouble with the actual implementation of the technology via their copycat radio purchases?
“I came across one of these clones and it had significant drawbacks. For example, there were no synchronous dc-dc converters. Instead, a cheap converter board costing less than $2 was substituted and as a result a part of the spectrum is filled with interference and noise. Also, there is no thermal stabilization of the frequency, which critically affects the operation of the transceiver in the VHF bands. I noted that the output transistors and transformers were replaced with transistors that are completely unsuitable. The one we examined had no output power at all on VHF and the power on HF was much lower than it should have been . . . along with that, everything was accompanied by large intermodulations of the signal. It could never be FCC licensed as It is simply forbidden to go on the air with such a device!”
It is apparently true that the WOLF transceivers you will see from Aliexpress, Banggood, HamGeek or eBay (all from different manufacturers) are not FCC compliant or registered. They will likely never be, based on what Dmitry says about the components that were substituted or left missing in the manufacturing process. And because there's no one manufacturer, there will never be consistency in the service or follow-up after sales.
“Users have told me that even critical HF filters are modified and do not work properly. . . the ferrite in the coils overheats, because counterfeit materials were used to reduce the cost of production.They also eliminated many of the nice little things we put into the design, like a temperature sensor. This means that the fan turns on simply when switching to transmit, regardless of the actual overheating of the radiator. It's noticeable that so many elements are changed or missing. I can give no explanation other than to say that these several manufacturers are simply looking to increase their profits."
What you get when you spent $1200 on a radio from a major manufacturer is a product with a warranty and support. While they may not have the bells and whistles of a cool design like this one, they do at least offer varying degrees of support. With a purchase of a copycat, all you get is a pig-in-a-poke (now the photo makes sense, eh?). I asked Dmitry how much he thought it would cost to follow the designs on Github and build a WOLF as a ham operator, purchasing all the components yourself in the true spirit of the hands-on radio amateur.
“In my experience, to fully assemble a Wolf-2 transceiver, our latest design, will cost you about $1200 but that would be as we designed it, from original, specified parts -- in short, it would work perfectly. You may have a lot of spare parts left on your workbench, because some of them are bought in 10-100 pieces but not all are used. They will go to other transceivers which will reduce the cost of the next device if you build one for a friend.”
What Does the Future Hold for Open Source Ham Radio Development?
“I would not advise hams to be afraid of open source code, because it allows someone with innovative ideas to gather a number of professionals and highly motivated people into the project. This will definitely help in kicking off the design. When you have formed a team, you can decide for yourself whether to continue in open source or to protect yourself from an attempt like we had on our work.”
“We've now gone our own way . . . we keep the Gerber files of all boards open and distribute the firmware for free. Anyone at all can assemble a transceiver and enjoy its operation. But at the same time, we’ve closed it from modification so that no one could create a business based on our work. I wouldn’t want to have what happened to us occur again to someone else’s innovative idea.”
In closing my discussion with Dmitry, I asked him what he's got on the drawing board. My hope is that I can help connect Dmitry with a real radio manufacturer in order to get the WOLF designs, and future radios, into the commercial marketplace for those operators who want to buy them assembled. I am certainly not going to recommend that readers buy Chinese copycats. Wouldn't you think that Discovery Labs (maker of the wonderful TX-500 QRP rig) or an ICOM or Yaesu would want to connect with this team?
"That's an interesting idea," responded Dmitry. "The WOLF-2 and the WOLF-2-PRO are two radios currently being developed. They are a much more convenient and promising series. They have a full feature set, simplified controls from the front panel, but they support operation in the range up to 2.7 GHz. This greatly facilitates work via satellites, and allows you to comfortably work in the 432 MHz and 1296 MHz bands on the same radio you’re using for your daily HF QSOs. We have made many improvements in the HF sections of the radio as well, which has reduced the level of interference in both reception and transmission.”
When you look at the roster of Github contributors to the software and hardware functionality of the WOLF designs, it's clearly an international project. What Dmitry began at his workbench back in 2018 can't remain hidden for long . . . more USA, Euro and Asian hams will be building these at their workbench, and someday if we get our message out, a major manufacturer will pick up the ball and run with it. Find the plans and detailed info at this link.
Amateur radio is so cool!
73 for now, Dave Jensen W7DGJ
Questions for readers to address in the forum discussion:
- Do you think the article gave a fair shake to the topic? Were there any missing ingredients to the story or to the subject of Open Source that should have been included?
- The author tried not to overly emphasize the Chinese connection to clones of Open Source, as any country or person/company can do that when the ideas are "public." Do you feel the characterization of Chinese players in this instance was done fairly?
- Have you purchased any kits or built products that originated in Open Source development? If so, what is your impression of those.