APRS with Baofeng UV-5R, follow up

Now that I have got an ideal replacement for my Baofeng UV-5RC Plus since the battery keeps falling off it, in the form of the Pofung GT-5, I can now make progress on the UV-5R APRS project I am working on.

So, the only Bluetooth TNC I can find is the Mobilinkd TNC2 from across the pond, this would consist of the unit itself and a short jumper cable to connect it to the UV-5RC Plus, I intend to use my Samsung Galaxy S4 with APRSDroid for this as before, as there should be no audio issue over the Bluetooth like the direct connection to the radio as I previously attempted.

Already having APRS in the car I of course want to expand on where I can use it, having a UV-5R and this unit in a backpack and the spare phone (which won't be connected to the mobile network as I would not need this except for Google Maps) would work well, I sometimes walk places and sometimes have a HT with me, I don't always use the car.

Prior to this I'd need to reprogram the UV-5RC Plus to only operate on 144.800, not a difficult thing to do with CHIRP, as far as I can tell it's just a case of programming it into one of the memories and disabling the menu and a few other things.

This should be the next thing on my list, though I may also need a ferrite, as apparently some Baofeng radios have an issue where if RF gets into the mic line it can latch the PTT, which I suspect my UV-5RC Plus may have, but I can obtain ferrites locally

73 de M6RSQ

GB3HG success

I am pleased to report that I am able to access GB3HG and access it well from my home QTH, had a short QSO with a station in York before the Baofeng's battery hit critical.  You may now be asking why I did not switch to the Wouxun, this was for one very good reason, my previous attempt to access GB3HG was with the Baofeng, and in the interest of a fair run I thought it best I stick to this radio for today.

Tomorrow hopefully will see another go on HG, this time the radio will be my Leixen VV-898 in the car, paired to the cheap Moonraker antenna on the roof, the rig can hear HG no problems in Richmond and Catterick, so it's only fair to see if the rig can open HG.

I will let you know how I get on.


73 de M6RSQ

GB3HG access tests

As regular readers may or may not know, I am within range of two 2-meter repeaters, GB3IR, which I can hit very easily with 1 watt as it's just down the road from my QTH, and GB3HG on Sutton Bank near Thirsk, so today I decided to give HG a go.

Test conditions was set up using Baofeng UV-5RC Plus with stock antenna inside my flat.

Keying up at 1 watt was not sufficient enough to open HG, releasing the key there was no response. 5 watts appeared to be enough to open the repeater, upon releasing the key the repeater appeared to be open, however there was no one else listening to give me a report on how well the repeater was actually hearing me or even if it was at 5 watts so I may give it another go, for fairness I will use the same radio with the same antenna with the same power output.

Another nearby repeater is GB3CD but I am not within range of it at my home QTH as far as I know (was unable to hear it before they switched it over to Yaesu System Fusion, not tried since but suspect I still cannot hear it), though it doesn't matter if CD is out of range as it is on Echolink like GB3IR so can do one of two things, connect IR to CD or connect to CD through my phone or computer(s)

I'll post more on this as time permits

73 de M6RSQ