If you follow Ham Radio Crash Course, you’ve seen Josh with a small 11" Windows 10 PC laptop that Microcenter has on sale for $60… It’s only a 1.1GHz Celeron, 4Gb RAM, 64Gb storage, but it’s only $60! What makes it ideal for portable ops is that it charges from 12v, so should be easy to make a cable with PowerPoles… MicroCenter had at least 25 of them when I picked one up tonight. Should also work well for those that primarily run on a Mac or Linux who could use it just to program and update radios that require Windows… https://www.microcenter.com/product/649971/evolve-iii-maestro-e-book-116-laptop-computer-dark-grey
Brad Tombaugh (W0BDT)
Yaesu FT-60R - AnyTone AT-D878UV Plus - AnyTone AT-D578UVIII Pro - Yaesu FT-991A - Diamond X50A - MFJ-2299 - PreciseRF HG-1 "WR" Magnetic Loop Antenna
I picked up an Evolve III laptop from Micro Center a few weeks ago. Great little laptop for portable SOTA operation. I spent a good couple of hours removing all the MS bloat, updating, etc., and ended up with a fast little netbook. I may even upgrade the solid state drive to real one but right now, after initial program launch, the machine is pretty quick.
The display is good, but does need a hood for outdoor use. I fabricated a hood using plastic cardboard and Velcro. The 12V charging is key for portable operation.
73 - Dave dx
I've had mine for couple months. It runs CHIRP, CPS for Anytone, WSJT-X, VarAC, JS8Call, Winlink, Fldigi, Flrig and Netlogger with no problems. Plus 12v charging. What more to ask for $60.
If you want to make a DC charging cable for the Evolve laptop, you need a
