Equipment for PMR446 antenna upgrade ordered and a few other bits

I have placed an order for an SWR meter suitable for the PMR446 channels, I have also added tp this order some PL259s suitable for some cable I found I had lying about which is suitable for use on UHF but not as heavy as RG213, an SO239 coupler identical to what is fitted to the T2LT so the antenna and feeder can be connected together (I will be sealing this up with black sugru to protect it from the elements) and a SMA-F to BNC adaptor to fit the Wouxun in order to attach my Nagoya NA-771 to it when it becomes free again (once the Intek is on the bazooka and operating happily into it)

The SWR meter I have ordered covers from 140MHz (meaning I can use it on 2-meters to double check the slim-Jim on a radio and in situ once I have a license), all the way up to 525MHz (so PMR446 is included), my good CB SWR meter is valid up to 200MHz so for 2-meter antennas I can compare the readings.

The bazooka will be checked for SWR in two places, the first being at Whaston Road car park, my favourite DX spot close to home, the SWR will then be rechecked when the antenna is up in the air, I still need to add some rigidity to the driven element to keep it as vertical as possible (PMR446 units all have antennas that are near enough vertical as almost all type approved PMR446 radios are handheld units (the exceptions to this being the Intek DRS-5070 and it's cosmetically identical predecessor, the Midland BaseCamp446, and the Alan Base446, but these all can operate on batteries and are still portable rather than fixed like a base CB or home Amateur station, the BaseCamp446 has a mic holder on it's rear panel).

I expect to take delivery of the items I have ordered in the middle of next week, and I expect the PMR446 gateway to be moved off the Nagoya and onto the bazooka by the end of next week, range tests will then be carried out once the antenna is up, including to Northallerton, I look forward to seeing if at last I can make it there on PMR446, it's a big ask but it's worth trying.

73 de 26CT730

FRN client on Android

For some time now there has been a Free Radio Network client for Android doing the rounds known as GRNClient, and in that time I have never been able to get it to work, until now.

I purchased a hudl this week, this is a £119 Android tablet sold exclusively by British supermarket chain Tesco, and is as near as makes no difference a stock device aside from a Tesco button on the bottom left of the screen.

The GRNClient app is not available in Google Play, you have to download the apk file, allow the device to install from unknown sources, and then you can install it.

Given that some of the example screens are in Italian on the website it comes from I'll post some English screen captures here from my Samsung Galaxy S4 as it is yet to have the GRN client installed at time of posting and this makes a perfect excuse to do so.

1. Allow the phone or tablet to install from unknown sources, you do this by:
   
   
   

   

   Selecting "Security"

   
   

   

   Ticking "Unknown sources"

   
   

   

   and tapping "OK"
   
   

   
   
   
   
2. Next you want to download the client, click here, the page will be in Italian so you can translate it if you wish, scroll to the bottom and you will find a QR code, if you have a barcode scanner on your device simply scan this, if not there are free barcode scanners on Google Play that you can use.
3. Click the link the barcode scanner gives you, it will look like this, or you can simply press "open browser and it should download.
   
   
4. The download will be in the notifications at the top of the device's screen, pull it down and tap the apk
   
   You will be presented with the following
   
   
   Tap "Install" to install the app, you should then see install progress like this
   
   
   
   
   And when it is done it will then give you the option to open the app like this
   
   
   
   Tap "Open"
5. With the app started you need to do some final things before it can work, you will be presented with this screen
   

This is the screen that will display other clients in the net on the server that you are in, you need to press menu, this will present the following options

If you tap "Settings", you will get something similar to the following

All you need to do now is fill in the information, be aware, however, that you must specify a port number if it is not 10024 or the client will crash, for example if you were to connect to 446Muppets (where my gateways are) you would need to enter the address as normal but add :10025 to the end, this is the port, I figured this out through some trial and error.

And that is it, now you can use your tablet or phone on the Free Radio Network like you would your shack computer, you may find that for best results you should plug in a headset.

Remember to test in the Test room first, use the messages option to send message to start the parrot if you need to.

73 de 26CT730