FUNcube Dongle

Folks

Firstly, seasons’ greetings to all of you!

I’ll be away from 1 January until 13 January 2013, so any orders I receive won’t be processed until I return. It is likely that the limited stock I have (as I write this, you can order here, with more information about ordering here) will expire either shortly before I go or a little after, when you can add yourself to the waiting list which I’ll go through on my return.

Alternatively, you can order from resellers, but as demand is currently outstripping supply, I would recommend that you specifically check with your reseller that they really do have stock ready to dispatch that day before ordering to avoid disappointment.

While I’m away the manufacturer is still operating, and I expect to have more stock available when I return, but it may take a few days to go through the waiting list.

My cutoff for deliveries before I depart is 31 December at 11:00 UTC.

Many thanks, Howard

Folks

Occasionally we all make mistakes, and in the past couple of days I’ve been making my fair share.

Firstly, some of you who have been invited over the past few days to order may have found the site saying “out of stock” on the link I provided in the invitation email. I inadvertently set the inventory to zero yesterday, this is resolved now. I apologise!

Secondly, due to numeric dyslexia on my part, FCD Pro+ units with serial numbers 112xx have inadvertently been marked 121xx on the label on the underside. The packaging shows the “correct” serial numbers (112xx). This is nothing to worry about, it’s just one of those wonderful search and replace errors I made. I have this anomaly noted, and so to avoid confusion when/if we reach the real 121xx I will skip these serial numbers.

In the meantime I thank you all for your continued patience and custom while we clear the waiting list: we are not at all far from getting there!

Many thanks, Howard

Folks

Sorry, these units have now sold out.

I have a very limited number of units that have extended upper range coverage down to 400MHz in testing at room temperature. I will make these available at 22:00UTC on Thursday 6 December and they’ll be available at the standard price.

You’ll have to use this special link to order. This will not affect your position in the waiting list.

Many thanks, Howard

Folks

We’re taking a short break over the weekend, we’ll be back next Tuesday, so any orders we receive won’t be dispatched until we return.

Many thanks, Howard

Folks

I have a firmware update and docuemntation for your FCD over in the downloads section. This applies to units before about serial number 10250 where there were some frequencies inadvertently blocked in the firmware.

In addition, I’ve updated the FCHID2 program so you can see the current firmware version that’s loaded onto your FCD. It is also written in VC6 so hopefully this will correct some of the problems folks have encountered with FCHID2 hanging. However, as I’ve been unable to reproduce this situation I am rather coding in the dark I’m afraid!

Many thanks, Howard

Folks

This week, the FUNcube-1 satellite flight model made the trip from the Netherlands to Paris for its vibration testing, and it’s already back in the Netherlands. So this afternoon we donned our hairnets, lab coats, shoe protection and latex gloves, took a trip to the clean room and we had the opportunity to switch it on and test it, and thankfully it still works perfectly.

Many thanks, Howard

Folks

While waiting for the next batch of FCD+’s from the board assembler, I’ve been in Holland this week testing an engineering model of the FUNcube satellite, which is what the FUNcube Dongle was originally designed for.

Many thanks, Howard

Folks

A quick update for you. As you may remember, (see http://www.funcubedongle.com/?p=1149) we were short of a couple of parts, and they were supplied to the board assembler on Monday this week for them to restart board assembly.

I am hoping for some more boards early next week, and shipping will resume a day or so after.

Many thanks, Howard

Folks

I’ve just returned from the AMSAT-NA Symposium, somewhat delayed I’m afraid. Shipping will resume tomorrow (Wednesday). I apologise for the slight delay, normal service is about to be resumed.

Many thanks, Howard

Folks

Although it doesn’t seem to affect everyone, I am aware of a problem with our eCommerce provider’s software and support (or lack of it) for IE8 which is the latest version of IE available for XP. It affects placing an order and the setting of the shipping rates appropriate to the location.

At the moment, all they are suggesting is to “upgrade” but as XP doesn’t support IE9 it would mean either pick another browser or upgrade your OS. Not very helpful!

In the meantime, if you could try ordering on a different machine with an updated browser, or use a different browser on XP.

I sincerely apologise for the inconvenience while we see if this is resolvable more easily.

Many thanks, Howard