The Radioddity GD-88 is a neat, inexpensive new dual VFO analog/digital handheld transceiver. Since no codeplugs are publicly available for this transceiver that I have found, I made one based on the Anytone Codeplugs by Eric Ganske, W0EDG.

Check out the instructions and codeplugs at the link below:

Radioddity GD-88 Minnesota Codeplugs

This is going to be so cool! I’ll have a training session tomorrow on this, and then I’ll be running this system live for the first football game of the year. Thanks to the Faribault Booster Club and all its sponsors.

For those of you that REALLY want to know the inner details behind my Vintage Light Display project, I made a technical overview video. You might be sorry you asked. https://youtu.be/qvU50zA4qcU

There was a reason that CBS and other television networks used these type of displays on game shows when they had bright studio lights to contend with. The light is piercing from these!

Tonight, I got 22 wires soldered on 22 pins to mate with a Molex connector on the back of each display. Both digits are now directly connected up to the relay board. The software I developed can display an arbitrary 2-digit number, and then count up or down from that number until it reaches 00 or 99.

This has been a cool project! I’ll probably try to make a more detailed video in the future on the parts I selected and how all this works together.

Check out how this display worked on “Classic Concentration” hosted by Alex Trebek in the late 1980s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1izUPd87wmw

Logic and software I wrote is all good! The correct plug didn’t come for the displays so I’ll have to hook the rest up later, but this is super cool!

Initial Test of a Display Systems 19S-8 Vintage Eggcrate Display (Light Bulb Matrix), common to television game shows of the 1970s-1990s.

This is one of two Display Systems 19S-8 eggcrate displays that I purchased from Surplus Sales of Nebraska. I plan to integrate both into a working count up/count down timer powered by a ESP8266 microcontroller module and a couple of relay boards.

This eggcrate display uses a common 28 volt DC power source on one pin. Then, depending on which pin the ground is connected, will light each of one possible digit: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0 and $. It’s also possible to display strange characters by connecting multiple grounds between pins.

I plan to use a single 150 watt 12 volt DC power supply to power dual boost controllers that will output the needed 28 volts. The 12 volts is still needed for the relay boards. The ESP8266 module will be connected to a 5 volt DC output from the relay board.

In both displays, I only needed to replace one lamp upon receiving them. The lamp is a common 1820 mini-bayonet style incandescent.