Moonraker Micro CB radio

My recent main YouTube video was on the Moonraker Micro CB radio, which is indeed a compact radio, based on an AnyTone chassis as it turned out so has the 10-meter mode and the naughtiness inside, though of course I have no issue putting this set on 10 it does not have SSB capability and being channelised may require a frequency counter to get an idea what channel is associated with which frequency if you want to use it on 10.

The radio came to me with bare ended wires so I fitted a cigarette lighter plug, rated 5A as this is ample for this radio, to be able to plug it in in the car to do tests, the radio seems to do well, and is good when put against a comparable set, which in my case was a PNI Escort HP7120.

When I did the original bench tests on the radio the power levels were reading lower than expected, however later testing showed it was in fact fine.

Both videos are below

73 de M0WNU/26CT730

Realistic TRC-1007, a quick first look

 I have had the radio now for a couple of days, it arrived quicker than expected and well ahead of the dummy batteries which have not shown up as yet (despite being sent via Amazon Prime) meaning to get the voltage required I've had to fit 10 normal AA batteries with two of them insulated by tape to remove them from the circuit and a wire to jump the last in-circuit battery to the negative terminal, the batteries in the radio are two of the 10 Duracell batteries that were in it on delivery taped over to remove them from circuit and 8 Kodak batteries from Poundland, the radio indeed has an intact telescopic and seems to transmit and receive fine.

After filming the attached video I found out when this radio dates from, if I have read the date code correctly it is from September 1987, making this radio 33 years old and aside from a crack in the housing it is in very good order.

With the non-standard external antenna connector I cannot get even a rough power measurement off it because I need an adaptor and I will have to call Knights on Monday to see if they have any in, though they list them on their website as limited stock it is best I check ahead.

On Wednesday I hope to put up the boomerang antenna, connect it up to the President Grant II and go up to the Downholme viewing point with the Realistic and the modern Intek and Midland handhelds I also own which will be tested on both the supplied rubber duck antennas and the Albrecht CL27 with the Realistic using its own telescopic which is longer than the CL27, which will be filmed and uploaded to YouTube

In the mean time though here is the video on this radio not long after it arrived

73 de M0WNU/26CT730

Classic 80s CB on its way... but will it work?

I placed a bid on a "seems to work" but being sold as "spares or repairs" Realistic TRC-1007 27/81 spec CB handheld, and surprisingly won it as the only bidder, this would be the second Tandy/Realistic product I would own after the scanner which needs work and maybe the switches cleaning.

I do have a soft spot for the older radio gear as well as the modern radios you can get today, and if this handheld needs work I can refer to Richard Shireby at UK CB radio servicing on YouTube as he has done this radio and has a service manual for it.

With the seller having tested this and suggesting that it seems to work, it should be a good project if there are any faults, the telescopic antenna appeared intact from the photos on ebay, however I will find out in a few days, and as will you guys as this radio will be featured on the YouTube channel at some point not long after it arrives.

This will either be the third working handheld or the second non-worker depending on actual condition as I have a broken Intek H-520 Plus that I may be able to repair if I can get a scrap one in the future.

I will post an update when the radio arrives, to err on the side of caution I have some dummy batteries (which were sold in a kit from Amazon) which will arrive ahead of the radio, testing the radio for TX power is not immediately possible because the Realistic handhelds appear to use a phono or Motorola connector (unsure which it is) but I will be setting up something to test the radio from high ground.

73 de M0WNU/26CT730

both antennas arrived, both scheduled for YouTube upload by Monday

I now have both antennas that I ordered, however the Thunderpole Boomerang antenna was to be delivered by Parcelforce (or Parcelfarce as I call them because they are incredibly useless) and they failed to deliver it to a neighbour as instructed, ignored the fact I rescheduled and left it at Catterick Garrison Post Office meaning after filming the video for the Sirio Hi-Power 4000 (and subjecting it to 70MPH due to a trip to nearby Darlington to do a bank run) I had to call at the Post Office to collect it, with that done editing work was finished for the Sirio antenna and the Boomerang unboxing video was filmed.

A big surprise with the Sirio was that I did not need to adjust it, SWR under 1.5:1 across all 80 channels, for the most part, the top end of 27/81 was about 1.4 which is acceptable, I was to compare between my K-Po and Zetagi SWR meters however this did not happen because another vehicle parked next to my car before I could do that, and the driver did not seem happy that I was even up there, probably because I don't own a dog, unfortunately public land means I have a right to go up there, it is ideal for radio given height and forms part of my mobile standardised test route, now I have the antenna I will be doing a dry run on video before actually doing anything on the air to show you the route from the car.

The only part to do from the perspective of the new antennas is the on-air test of the Boomerang, once it is up and tuned, given the fine adjustments that may be needed I won't bore you and give a final SWR reading as per the K-Po meter, the Zetagi meter, and the one built in to the President Grant II.

I will be working from 4pm tonight and as ever will be monitoring UK 19, which is usually full of the burner brigade running illegal power to speak to their pals which the 4 watts can do fine for them but they generally don't have a good understanding of this fact, that and they have the squelch turned all the way up which is a bit ridiculous really, maybe even with them I may notice a difference on this antenna on receive, the one thing that will be noticed is the fact I have a bigger antenna on the car.

73 de M0WNU/26CT730

Thunderpole T-3000 is winging its way to my shack

Today was my payday, and factoring in that I have a bit of extra cash left over from my salary I placed an order for a Thunderpole T-3000 CB radio, which so far I have heard good reports about, this radio has already been looked at by RustySkull Productions on YouTube and Lewis M3HHY from channel "RingwayManchester" has looked at the radio this is a rebadge of, the Nanfone CB-689, and tested with another station radio to radio, the other station having the T-3000, was found to work well.

I plan to use this radio as my main mobile CB, even though it does not have SSB which I only really use parked up because adjusting the RIT (or clarifier as it's called on CBs) while mobile is a pain and with SSB you sometimes have to concentrate on the incoming audio which is certainly not ideal while driving, as this radio is so slimline it can fit any modern car with ease either into a DIN sized space or fixed to the dash with a bracket in the normal way.

The unit I ordered is an ex display unit, what that means is that Thunderpole have had it out of the box and had it on display, though they will have tested all accessories to ensure they function, particularly the microphone, which although has an LED in it, or at least a position for one, no LED lights up on transmit, this is because an optional Bluetooth mic is available for the Nanfone unit and would work with this as well, by virtue of the Kenwood HT type connector on the front (as I have a speaker mic and some headsets from Baofeng radios that fit I may test these too.

Naturally I will be doing a video with this radio, power tests (4 watts of course), how it looks and feels, ease of use and hopefully if there are any stations on that day a radio report.

I plan to mount this radio in the car, and ultimately keep my Grant II for portable work on 11-meters SSB, the antenna on the car at the moment for 11-meters is in fact my Orbitor/Tornado Stinger antenna that during the summer my XYL painted white and her and I converted into the antenna we dubbed the 'spider antenna', the magmount is an older version of the Sirio magmount I have in use for my 2/70 antenna, except this older one had near destroyed cable so I had to rewire it using coax from a snail mount I was not using, I will later on be replacing the rear antenna with something similar to the antenna I loaned, I'll have to see if GB Communications sell one of these because I then don't have to travel far and can swap the antennas over immediately, provided I remember an SWR meter because the T-3000 does not have one installed.

I certainly am eager to receive one of the most unique CB radios made today to fit into the most unique Toyota Aygo of them all, not because I've fitted radio equipment in it but because it did a journey from my home QTH to well into Bavaria and back and did not seem bothered, so a unique design of CB radio should complement it nicely.

There is a Sci-Fi connection with the naming scheme of the Thunderpole T-series CB radios, I've spotted it, can you spot it too?

I have started monitoring and calling out on 19 due to the appearance of a Ford Fiesta, a Volkswagen Bora and a pick up truck all equipped with Orbitor style antennas, so I know people are out there using the CB, and I'm pretty sure the drivers of these vehicles have seen the antennas on my car too, and I saw a video on YouTube where a CB operator drives to work on the motorway, gets passed by an HGV and the driver of the HGV calls out after seeing the antenna on the car of the operator that's filming, I suspect he's using a President Grant II in that video, no idea what the trucker was using though.

Hope to catch you on the CB and also don't forget as I'm a licenced Amateur radio operator I can be found on local repeaters in my area and sometimes the calling channel on 2-meters.

73 de M0WNU/26CT730 (or you can just call me the red squirrel on the CB if you like)

Yaesu FT2D now ordered

The main handheld I've been after since getting the FTM-400XDE, the Yaesu FT2D, is now on order from, you guessed it, Martin Lynch & Sons, I want to quickly thank the people that tipped me when I delivered food to them for their help in getting me to this stage, I plan to continue saving for either an FT450D or an FT991A, though preference is the latter.

I ordered some screen protectors as well as the radio is a touch screen radio, and a video will be put online when it arrives before it is taken out of the box.

It ticks these boxes for me:

• APRS on HT without extra hardware
• Yaesu System Fusion
• Superhet receiver
• Access to System Fusion out of the car without removing the FTM-400XDE

There are a few other things in the radio worth exploring which I won't cover in this post, and if it arrives before my next club visit I will certainly be taking it along with me, I will also be testing it with the Jumbospot, which at home is solely used for DMR at present, it only gets YSF use in the car.

As I ordered the radio before 2pm it should arrive before Wednesday if all goes according to plan, and if I am on a day shift Wednesday, or even off that day, I should be able to get to the club with it.

I will post more on the radio when it arrives, it's been a long time coming for my first decent HT.

73 de 2E0EIJ

The Yaesu FT2D could be coming to the 2E0EIJ shack very soon

As is known, I run a Yaesu FTM-400XDE in the car, a radio that can do both FM and Yaesu System Fusion, I've run this radio for the last 3 years with no major problems, now the prospect of the Yaesu FT2DE handheld is becoming real, at a price of £299.95, it's gone down as Yaesu are soon to release the FT3DE, which is a similar concept to the FT2D however it has a colour display and Bluetooth on board whereas the FT2D has a monochrome screen and no Bluetooth hardware, though all these radios do have APRS which is the selling point, along with YSF, for me, however the FT2D is the radio I am interested in.

I've checked my savings to date and they appear to be within reach of the £299.95 price of the FT2D, the radio will most likely be in my shack in June or July.

Currently all my 2/70 HTs are Chinese (Wouxun, Baofeng, Retevis and AnyTone) and the Baofeng units in particular have the problem of poor front-end filtering in RF-dense areas, the FT2D would be the best tool to have to do /p from the top of Blackpool Tower or just even on a big hill with the stock antenna of the radio.

So, I have until *before* the end of June in which to order and take delivery of this radio and get a video up onto YouTube, with the rate of saving I should hit the magic number and still have money in my savings account in good time, this is because of the events that will be taking me to Manchester at the back end of June and I'd like to have the radio by then.

I have the FTM-400XDE, it is time to expand my YSF abilities out of the car now and RF based APRS.

73 de 2E0EIJ

Team RoadCom-FS-UK hopefully coming to my shack real soon

Been scouring eBay at CB sets recently seeing if I could find a bargain or two, no Audioline 341s sadly as I am still after one of these to this day, however another radio I've been after for a while did show up, the Team RoadCom-FS, the UK variant of this radio, it fits a car stereo spaced hole (DIN mount) though can be mounted on a standard rig bracket, the radio I found was advertised with a K-PO linear amplifier, which I'd never use on CB other than into a dummy load, an SWR meter with power measurement, useful to have, a magmount that appeared to be a Sirio Mag 145 PL, a through body mount, and what appeared to be an antenna switch, so some testing to do, winning bid of £49! Yes it really was £49, add in shipping it comes to £57, so a bargain even for just the radio that retailed, when new, for £100+ (£135 as listed on Radioworld.co.uk, though of course they report it out of stock as it was new in 2008, making the radio at most 11 years old, my oldest CB is 13 years old this year).

The radio is one of the few that have CTCSS on board that are type approved for the 11-meter band, the original RoadCom,the TTI TCB-1100 and at least one or two Albrecht radios have this as well but it is very rare to find it on a CB radio, "export" radios (those meant for 10-meters) have it due to the fact that 10-meters is an Amateur band and occasionally you will find repeaters there that would require CTCSS to access them, there are no repeaters on 11-meters but FRN gateways do sometimes operate there with CTCSS on board, though this is rare (the gateway in Clacton-on-Sea, for instance, is open on UK29).

The radio started a trend of DIN size radios with front speakers, the Albrecht AE6491 and its rebadged cousins being an example of this, the TTI TCB-1100 is also similar in this regard, both these radios are still available new however.

Naturally on arrival I will inspect the radio and anything that comes with it and test as appropriate, RF generators into dummy loads, cables for continuity, mic audio on the radio's TX during tests, my Maplin linear supply would happily run the radio, however current draw from the linear may require me to use a slightly higher current rated supply, I have an old ATX supply under the desk I was using to power the SS9900 with.

I'll update on this when the items arrive

73 de 2E0EIJ/26CT730

Retevis RT87: my next HT?

Now I wouldn't normally rush out to buy a radio based on a YouTube review however in this case I am tempted to after two very positive videos surrounding the Retevis RT87 by Lewis M3HHY on his 'Ringway Manchester' channel, which I watched in reverse order, the second video he did was a test on top of a local to him high spot called Werneth Low, where apparently high power transmission stations were present that should flatten the front end of any Chinese radio, particularly Baofeng radios, or even the Leixen VV-898 which I know to be terrible for this, however the video showed Lewis operating happily from the area working stations in Oldham and Stretford and other locations as well as two local repeaters, the first video being the unboxing and describing of the radio.

I found the radio on Amazon for £54 plus shipping with the data cable, the cable is needed as this radio is IP67 rated and uses a pogo-pin arrangement to make the connections (the pins are on the accessory, contacts are on the radio under a waterproof cap, my network radio has a similar connector but I believe it is not IP67 rated), otherwise I'd be spending hours programming a radio like this by hand.

So I certainly will order this radio, and put it through its paces, for £54 plus a programming cable you certainly cannot go wrong.

Probably does not work with Chirp yet so I'd have to install the Retevis software on my shack computer, it's not much different to Chirp and looks simple and easy to use compared to most Chinese radio programming software.

I'll keep you informed

73 de 2E0EIJ

New telescopic mast ordered in time for The Big Multimode net and also for portable Amateur HF ops

I have ordered a new mast from SOTAbeams today, this one is a 7m mast as opposed to a 10m mast though this is not any real issue, with there being just under two weeks before the Big Multimode Net I needed to remedy the mast situation.

Though the news I posted yesterday is still fresh in my mind I understand that the hobby must go on and though the net on the 27th is for 11-meters (CB radio) it is still radio none the less, and I will operate that day as 26CT730/P from, I hope, Tan Hill, and hopefully achieve something I've wanted to do for many years, work Roy in Corsica if he is listening and the conditions are good on the day.

The radio I hope to use is my President Grant II, it has had very little airtime since I bought it, and it's legal for 11-meter SSB use.

Of course the mast I've bought will be grand for portable HF ops when I have some portable HF gear (I've been looking at Yaesu FT-817s as these are becoming available a little cheaper due to the 818 but still outside my price range), I will still, however, use type approved CB equipment for 11-meters even in portable ops so anything for Amateur HF will be for exactly that, I believe that the SOTABeams masts are good for long wires, though I suspect two spaced appropriately can support a full sized G5RV when I finally do get the portable HF on Amateur radio off the ground.

The Big Multimode Net is a good way to get interest in the radio hobby, no licence and no special equipment, just a normal AM/FM CB radio and an antenna is all you need to get started, you can power a radio easily off the car cigar lighter socket if it's a normal CB.

There is a second "Activate all Counties" event on the same day as the Big Multimode Net at the same time to get all of the English Counties on the air, if you have a CB setup I urge you take part in this, also if you want to do more than what a set of 80 channels on 27MHz and 16 channels on 446MHz allows you to do then go get your foundation licence, it is worth it.

If you're a CB/11-meter operator I look forward to working you on the air on the 27th June

73 de 2E0EIJ/26CT730

Portable ops and pager intermod follow up

Today I went back to the old racecourse in Richmond and gave another go at portable operation there but this time using my KT-8900D, this radio suffered from the intermod issue as well but nowhere near as bad as the VV-898, as for me to hear it I had to open the squelch (which is shown in the video I took).

I managed one QSO, and almost got another one too but there was some confusion on S20 as to who was calling who, no matter, one was better than none at all.

This has drawn me to the conclusion that I must now build a notch filter (or spend US$90 or so on one pre made which I'd rather avoid), as my intent is to block out pagers I can use the pager frequencies and the RTL-SDR to tweak it and suppress the pager transmissions so they don't cause intermod.

Looking online there are some designs for these, some use a coil of wire and capacitors and screened enclosures, of course what I need is something that can basically work to TX on 2 and 70 without any issue so I will look at that of course, however the ultimate aim is to stop the pager noise dead in its tracks.

I will obviously test the final design with the worst offending radio, the VV-898, in the field at the old racecourse.

73 de 2E0EIJ

Portable ops... ruined by pagers

Yesterday I went out to do some portable ops on 2-meters (FM only considering my equipment though I could have done DMR had I took an adaptor with me for the Anytone which I did not do), I took my Leixen VV-898 as the radio simply because I could go as low as 5 watts (which is QRP in my opinion) if I wanted though I stuck with 10, however no matter what channel I went on in the FM simplex range or any of the repeaters, the radio was wiped out by intermod from pagers in the 155-158MHz range, and though pagers are not as common as they were because of the SMS facility on mobile phones, they are still in use as they work almost anywhere a mobile phone does not as they use high power transmissions from their base stations.

I will of course be doing a test with my QYT KT-8900D to see if it has better rejection of the paging traffic or not in the same location, and will also make a point to promote the hobby at that time and also the local club to try and get some more numbers there, after all it makes some sense.

I have a video of how the VV-898 was swamped by the pager noise in the pipeline, a short one but it gives you an idea of what the problem was, and I will do some footage of the KT-8900D when I go up next to the location to show if the KT-8900D is a better radio or not.

I am also looking at fitting a notch filter to the VV-898 to see if that helps get rid of the pager intermod as that seems to be the worst problem for it.

The pager issue itself will not go away, but there are means to help prevent it interfering with Amateur radio operations.

The video should appear on YouTube and here in the next day or two, and an update regarding if the KT-8900D is also suffering intermod from pagers will be posted as and when.

73 de 2E0EIJ

Edit: the video is live on YouTube and is also available here, comment on YouTube if you have one of these radios and have suffered the same intermod problems

homebrew dipole working

Last night I got my homebrew 2-meter dipole antenna tuned and working while the rain held off, to use it I clamped the upright to an open window and the boom with the antenna on the end was outside the window, GB3CD was able to be accessed but it seemed to be below my squelch and a little in the noise, as were a couple of the stations on the S12 net I discovered, one in Darlington could hear me as I could hear him just fine, from the location given the station in Darlington was on the other side of Darlington to myself up near the retail park and car dealers, this was enough confirmation the antenna was in fact doing its job satisfactory, GB3HG and GB3IR obviously were not going to prove a challenge for the antenna given their locations.

Tomorrow if the rain holds off and the weather is good I may set up a portable station on Richmond's old racecourse with this antenna, the radio I will take I have yet to decide, also undecided is if I will go QRP or not, my VV898 can go as low as 5 watts (QRP levels) however the KT-8900D can only go to 10 watts at its lowest settings, after all this antenna is meant to be a portable design requiring nothing more than a screwdriver to disassemble the support from the boom, the VV898 may of course need reprogramming depending on how it is currently configured.

The next antenna I'd like to make is an antenna to work the FM satellites as I have still yet to do that, this dipole is my third successful antenna, the first being the T2LT for CB work and the groundplane antenna for 2-meters that was my original homebase antenna.

The coax on the antenna itself is a short run of RG58 to a BNC, this meant I have had to use a BNC-PL259 adaptor and a SO239 coupler to connect the feedline, which is the repaired feeder that was from the groundplane antenna after it was cut and it works great and is fitted with a crimp on PL259.

I shall see what happens tomorrow and see what stations I can work simplex if I go portable.

73 de 2E0EIJ

The trusted T2LT antenna for 11-meters, how does it perform over a commercial antenna?

Well to find this out YouTube user "Amateur and 11m radio Tim" (sorry Tim I don't know your callsigns yet) rigged up a commercial antenna, a Sirio 4000, and a T2LT, needless to say those results were impressive.

I have built the T2LT myself as you know, and I know it works as I have got out on it and it pulls in a lot of stations though last time I had it out the conditions left a lot to be desired, however for 11-meters it is the most practical antenna you can get, it can be hung from trees or fibreglass masts and it gets you on the air, how much power it can handle is a different matter entirely as I have never actually tested this and there is no legal way to do that, however the T2LT gets its next outing at the end of June.

Going back to Tim's video, it is here so you can make your own decision on whether for portable 11-meter operation a T2LT or a commercial antenna is the right choice for you.

73 de 26CT730

The Big Multimode Nets 2018

With 4 years since we got legal AM and SSB in the UK on 11-meters many stations will be celebrating this anniversary on Wednesday 27th June, this will include myself from a very particular place, Tan Hill, home of a very famous pub (remember the Waitrose adverts at Christmas anyone? It's that pub), and that location is perfect for radio, this is also WX dependent though in June snow is not expected, but high winds can pose an issue as they have before when I took a rental car up there and could not open the door.

I've always wanted to operate radio from Tan Hill, I've done a little on 2-meters up there but with little success, 11-meters has been a band I've wanted to do from there for some time as I know, even on an HT with the correct conditions (see my YouTube channel for my pre DX-pedition evaluation) a lot can be received, one thing that is true with radio no matter what the band is that height is might.

Of course I couldn't go without filming it and putting it onto YouTube for all to see, which of course I shall do.

On the day I should be operating between 6 and 11pm (respecting the locals of course though it is isolated up there so the locals are 95% sheep and 5% people) as 26CT730 of course, hopefully on legal SSB subject to tests of my President Grant II which are due to be done anyway, after all this is a celebration of the legal CB modes, of course the conditions on 11-meters on the day will also serve as how many QSOs I can log not just the height.

Although this is a UK big net what I would really be pleased to do is work Roy 104CT011 in Corsica, as he has been on the list of 11-meter operators overseas I want to work for a number of years (other callsigns used by him are 104ET001 and 104DA101), but again conditions need to be favourable and he also needs to be listening to the frequencies.

My contacts will be logged as well so I know how many I have worked on legal power, I will get a logging system arranged as soon as possible.

Operating conditions will be the Grant II, stock mic, and T2LT antenna on the fibreglass mast in the drive on mast stand.

Looking forward to making some great contacts in my first participation of the Big Multimode Nets

73 de 26CT730

Amateur satellite

After watching a segment of episode 12 of TX Factor about operating through satellites I thought I would give this a go myself as all I need to do this is a suitable dual-band HT, as all mine are Chinese one would think they wouldn't be suited, as they can do what the offerings from the big names can do then they are fine for the purpose.

The satellite I am interested in, and as noted on the TX Factor episode referred to above, is SO-50, as it has an FM transponder, with uplink on 2-metres and downlink on 70cm, as it would be massively impractical to use the -600kHz split on a satellite due to the size of the cavity filters used at 2-meter repeater sites that achieve this so the signal goes up on 2-metres and comes back down on 70cm, but it isn't that straightforward as the Doppler effect has to be compensated for, programming the HT with the frequencies for the satellite beforehand will save you trouble here, the frequencies for SO-50 and other Amateur satellites are available on the Internet.

Knowing when the satellite is to pass is another thing you need to know, I have already gone ahead and downloaded two pieces of software for this purpose, on my Android phone I have AmsatDroid Free, and for my laptop I have Orbitron, the latter software being mentioned in the same TX Factor episode noted above, and this runs fine on Windows 10, so now I know where SO-50 is at any given time the next bit requires I be able to transmit from my HT through the satellite and my HT's rubber duck antenna simply will not do, for this a Yagi is the best antenna to use, but it needs to be of a design that will work on both bands, the most popular antenna appears to be the "Arrow" antenna, the original of which is actually made from arrows for the antenna elements, and because we're doing cross-band operation we also need a diplexer (this is correct, it is not "duplexer"), which from what I can tell is simply two passband filters, one high-pass for 70cm and one low-pass for 2-metres.

The Arrow antennas are not cheap, so in the spirit of Amateur radio it makes perfect sense to build one using bits from the junk box, and from a DIY store (B & Q in my case as it is the closest one to the home QTH), and I like to build rather than buy antennas where I can to save money, and considering that one may simply use their arm to move the antenna with the satellite it needs to be lightweight, wood for the boom would work well here, but if you do use wood it should be varnished to protect it should you be out on that hilltop and the heavens open, waterproofing the coax connections is also advised.

Once you have all the information regarding your chosen satellite, an antenna, a programmed HT, go out and make some contacts, but be aware that satellite QSOs through SO-50 are similar to contesting, usually callsign, location (locator square) and signal reports as the satellite passes for a short duration and is often very busy, listening before keying up is well advised, as is the use of headphones so you can hear the satellite better, also run the radio with an open squelch.

As a foundation license holder I am restricted to 10 watts, as is anyone with a foundation licence, antenna gain may push your actual radiated power beyond this level so dropping the radio to a lower power setting may keep the foundation licencee within their power limits and still legally use the satellite, gain and other such factors are beyond the scope of this blog, and from what I understand SO-50 doesn't need more than 10 watts anyway into it and by the time the signal gets there it probably falls well below that.

Having a second person on hand to assist with the operation may also be a good thing, as they are not transmitting they do not need to be licensed, adding a second pair of headphones for the assistant to help with logging may be a good thing too, the assistant can also help position the antenna leaving you free to carry out the QSOs.

And finally, building the antenna simply requires a search on Google as there is a lot of information on the subject and many designs are available, and you could further this and build the diplexer as commercial ones are about £30+ depending on where you go, and you get the pleasure of building the entire thing yourself if you do, and save money.

I look forward to working some stations through a satellite very soon, just got to get the festive season out of the way first.

73 de M6RSQ

Another Baofeng DMR?

With the DM-5R now being confirmed as a real radio and examples of it out there in the wild and a US$10 upgrade to make it work with Tier 2, it seems Baofeng may be releasing another DMR that will work with Tier 2 out of the box, the DMR-82UV, again dual-band, based on a UV-82, which in turn forms the basis of the GT-5.

Again this information was found on Delboy's radio blog and he had found it in turn on an external site that he had to translate from Google, the site showed a picture of a pair of these HTs, showing a vastly different display to the rest of the Baofeng range, though to me it looks much the same as a stock UV-82, though a stock UV-82 has the UV-5R display in it.

Price? Well early reports suggest less than €100, this is from Delboy's source, this one seems like a more viable alternative than the DM-5R but I would consider buying both to see how they fair, all Baofeng HTs are generally cheap, and both these are likely to get you onto DMR for sub-£100, however I still maintain the best one to go for is the well established TYT MD-380 (or the newer MD-390), though it is 70cm only whereas the Baofeng HTs are dual-band though I do not know if any DMR activity takes place on 2-metres here in the UK, though these HTs can do FM as well so all is not lost.

I suspect that as time progresses with Baofeng DMRs is that they will become popular with those wanting to use DMR and cheaply, I maintain my position as being more of a fan of System Fusion as it sounds better, is less of a hassle to set up for both repeater and station side, and it coexists with FM much better due to the AMS on the current available radios for it (all Yaesu of course but maybe one day a radio will come along by someone else that works with it), though I do want to play a little with DMR to see what's what with it, I still maintain an aversion to D-STAR to keep out of the way of Chance Callahan KD0MXN until the FCC do something about his many breaches of Part 97 of which they are aware of.

Well on this latest development from Baofeng I will let it play much like I let the DM-5R saga run it's course and I will post any notable updates

73 de M6RSQ

National Hamfest 2016... post Hamfest

So the National Hamfest is done for another year, and I did not come back empty handed, to replace my Baofeng UV-5RC Plus (as the battery keeps falling off it and for that reason I'm converting it to be used as an APRS radio as I can simply strap the battery on with a rubber band and deactivate the keypad) I picked up another Baofeng, this time a Pofung (Baofeng's newer name) GT-5, a radio that has a unique feature, two PTT buttons, one for each frequency/preset displayed), the RSGB Radio Communications Handbook for £20 with a free backpack, the last one they had too, a free cap off Yaesu (who were in attendance and me being me forgot to ask them about any upcoming improvements to System Fusion, and a LED badge (with blue LEDs) that I programmed with my callsign initially by hand, but since returning home I've managed to program it using the computer so it shows my callsign and name.

The GT-5 radio had charge in it out of the box, it did also come with a 2-pin EU plug rather than a 3-pin UK charger plug but there was an adaptor provided to allow it to plug in, though I've not connected the charger up.

What I did note is that the ARRL (the American Amateur radio organisation) were there, their membership was £60 for one year, and being an American organisation I'd have had to pay that out in one go if I were to join them, trouble is is that Chance Callahan KD0MXN is a member of ARRL and thus receives their QST magazine, which I suspect they publish a list of new joining members in much like RSGB do in RadCom, and if my callsign appeared in there then he would again accuse me of stalking owing to his delusional beliefs about me and possibly attempt to have me ousted from the hobby as soon as possible, it is for this reason and the £60 fee that put me off signing up for a membership of the ARRL, though I may consider it if the FCC finally revoke KD0MXN once and for all after my reports to them earlier this year and several reports to them since then.

Also in attendance were Ofcom, much to my surprise, I decided not to bother them and keep out of their way, perhaps they wanted to advise on their new licencing portal, which I am not a big fan of but find it works OK.

The traders present were otherwise consistent with last year, the GT-5 was purchased from Moonraker as they had them and several other Baofeng radios (including the Intek brand one that can do 8 watts) for a reduced price, I picked the GT-5 as it seemed rugged over the GT-3 and most other UV-5R derivatives.

So, what else to report? Nothing really, another great Hamfest and I plan to do it again next year, perhaps with a little more money to spend

73 de M6RSQ

Ooops...

Well, the possibly fictitious Baofeng DM-5R apparently has a problem...

Delboy has reported on his radio blog that customers who have ordered this radio have received an email saying the supplied firmware has a bug that makes upgrading it for Tier II (which I believe is needed for DMR repeaters) may brick the radio requiring it be sent back to Baofeng for repair.

They offer the option for the customer to wait until the firmware bug has been ironed out, as well as the option to receive the radio as-is and cancel the order, needless to say I have not ordered it as I don't trust I'll get a radio as it just looks far too much like a standard UV-5R just with all the buttons coloured black except the side button above the PTT.

Sooo... I'm still not convinced it is a real radio, and Radioddity aren't convincing me either, again if it is real it will be on my YouTube and also the video will be here, I will be keeping a very close eye on this, new radios coming to the market often pass me by but this one stuck out like a sore thumb, probably because it's reportedly DMR, but also because there is the possibility it isn't real.

Maybe I'll be proven wrong in the next month or two, maybe I'll be proven right.


73 de M6RSQ

Baofeng DM-5R, the plot thickens

The price of the supposed Baofeng DM-5R has gone up in the last few days at Radioddity according to Delboy's Radio Blog  since "launch" to around the US$90 mark ($89.99 in fact), still cheaper than the well established TYT UHF DMR handheld that is known to exist.

This still does not make me believe the radio is real though, until I see a working model online, even in the hands of Simon The Wizard or Dave M0OGY as the both of them I regard with anything to do with radios, I also have regard for Delboy as he is an active member of a lot of radio forums.

Once I know the radio to be real I should have one in the shack, and then upgraded for Tier 2 so it would work with DMR repeaters (none in my locale though because of complicated reasons) as well as properly registered for use on the DMR systems, though my initial tests will probably be into a dummy load with an RTL-SDR doing the RX and decode.

73 de M6RSQ

UPDATE: At the time of writing this they are, ironically, out of stock, perhaps they are out of stock because the product does not exist? Who knows? In the next week or so we'll find out.