2-meter dipole revisited

Yesterday I dug out my homebrew dipole for 2-meters, and the dipole centre I bought from the Blackpool Rally and reassembled the dipole onto it, this was then hung up but the SWR was reading high, between 2 and 3 on the meter with the radio (the Leixen VV-898) at 10 watts, not good, moving it seems to have brought the SWR back down to the 1.7 it was at, still not brilliant but at least it's below dangerous levels for now, I suspect it's being affected by objects indoors and is best placed outdoors however the centre is not waterproofed and I have no means to hang it outdoors yet, my plan is to waterproof the centre with self amalgamating tape (another yet used Blackpool purchase) and put it onto my fibreglass mast and see what it can really do, the mast won't be extended to full-height as it is in need of TLC but it still has sufficient height to get out, this will give me a much more reliable SWR reading.

For the fibreglass mast to work as intended it needs to be fitted into a base, a parasol base from a DIY store should suffice here, I do need to make sure this tuning is done before I tape up the centre in case I need to do any more work so a dry day for the first run, if we even have a summer this year, would be good, and I could potentially put a Slim Jim on here later and save the dipole for other work, I could also put a lightweight Yagi on here, as I still wish to operate CB (my Grant II is in the shack for this very reason) I can put my T2LT on here, assuming it still works which it should do, on 2-meters I should be able to get out much further on the dipole so more simplex calls should be possible, I have no antenna for 10 meters despite having the rig for the job which may be the next antenna I work on, and with the mast on a parasol base it makes it temporary therefore should get around planning permissions, so let's see what I can get away with antenna wise.

73 de M6RSQ

Slim Jim antenna revisited

As you may be aware, I built a Slim Jim antenna for 2 meters at the club sometime over a year ago but left it on the floor in my hallway for some time so I think it suffered damage and put the SWR above safe levels, upon suggestions from two other club members I intend to build another Slim Jim, after finding some instructions on the Internet, out of 450 Ohm ladder line, with the antenna enclosed in conduit either in a dark colour or painted in wood stain to blend in with my windows(the new windows are a dark wood effect outside) as the intention is this antenna is put outside, I've seen instructions that suggest to use a clip-on ferrite to stop common-mode currents but I may use the tried and tested choke approach instead.

I plan to get the feeder for this antenna into the flat by using a short piece of thin coax through the window so it will still shut, and running a short length of RG213 inside to keep the losses down, rig wise at the moment will be my Leixen VV-898 until I obviously get something that can do SSB as well, at the moment my rig purchasing priority is for the Yaesu FTM-100DE for the car and a replacement 2/70 antenna as the small one I currently have isn't brilliant and I'd rather have something improved for System Fusion, though I might try this out on the Slim Jim before it goes in the car assuming I get this antenna built and up before the rig is ordered (or bought from the Hamfest in September)

Before I do this I need to make sure my "shack" is in order again which I can spend tomorrow doing as it's a Bank Holiday, then I'll move on to getting hold of the parts I need

73 de M6RSQ

Temporary mobile setup

I have a temporary mobile setup for 2m/70cm in the car, although it's also impractical, so probably use it for repeaters, this consists of my Baofeng UV-5RC Plus, the battery eliminator I picked up from Blackpool on Sunday and the speaker mic I also picked up from Blackpool, the drawback is this setup can only produce 5 watts on 2 meters, maybe slightly less if antenna feedline losses are accounted for, the antenna does not look out of place on my current car and is roughly central on the roof.

I appear able to get into GB3IR from Northallerton using this setup but I have had no reports on how well this is working.

This setup is only temporary until I get the Yaesu FTM-100DE, though again restricted to 5 watts until I pass my intermediate, it is impractical as changing repeater or frequency can only be done at the handheld itself but it makes the best of a difficult situation, I could easily fit a cigarette lighter plug to the VV-898 but this cannot be permanently mounted in the car, the Baofeng handheld can clip on to something using its belt clip, I  can look at the options for the VV-898 another day though it needs reprogramming as it is used as a home rig.

I am happy to have a mobile setup even if it is just a stop gap

73 de M6RSQ

Blackpool Rally - post rally

As mentioned in my previous post I visited the Blackpool rally today at the Norbreck Castle Hotel, some changes from last time were I was able to park the car immediately in the main car park, I was also informed about bacon sandwiches on sale in the rally and me being a fan of the bacon sandwich soon sniffed these out and had a cup of tea with one, then onto the rally itself, the usual junk stalls, some of the well known traders, and, of course, the local clubs of the north west of England, and yet again I did not speak to any of them to find out what they were doing in the world of Amateur radio.

I did not leave the rally empty handed either, this time I left with two rolls of self-amalgamating tape as I've been meaning to get some for quite some time, a wire dipole centre, a speaker-mic for my handhelds, and a battery eliminator for my Baofeng UV-5RC Plus so I can use it in the car (the antenna is on the car roof at the moment).

So, next year, a preliminary date is the 9th April so yes I am going

73 de M6RSQ

Blackpool rally 2016 - pre-rally post

First post since November! My goodness I am behind, lol

Now, as you may or may not recall, I visited the NARSA rally at the Norbreck Castle Hotel in Blackpool last year, though it took an absolute age to get the car parked, so I intend to go much earlier as I am definitely visiting again, and I can also add extra rallies to my diary this year, Ripon at the end of April, the Hamfest in September at Newark (subject to my current car passing it's MOT), and finally the Bishop Auckland rally in December, but for now my focus is on Blackpool.

Having looked on the website for the Blackpool Rally already it looks like it will be much the same last year, I didn't get to talk to any of the local club members myself last time so I might do that this time and see what goes on on the other side of the hills.

I might see if I can pick up a decent rig for a bargain price, or failing that some antenna building components, either way I can get a lot of this stuff dirt cheap of stalls at rallies, also I am still intending to get a Yaesu FTM100DE but unless I can get one on a good finance deal then it will have to wait.

Hopefully I won't have a repeat of last year, that being stuck circling the car park for anything up to an hour, my plan is to get there early and maybe just stick my 2-meter magmount on the roof of the car on one of my handies, whether I tx or not is another matter, I might just listen to save the battery on the handheld as I lack a battery eliminator.

Last year I came out of the Blackpool rally with a free Baofeng BF-888 and the Intermediate Licence study book, perhaps this time I'll come out with more than just things from the RSGB.

In other news, with my window fitting taking place last month I had to completely disassemble my "shack" so the windows could be done, and I have only just got it back together, this does not include the ShackCam as I intend to find another camera for this and free up my JVC camcorder for other uses, so that might be offline for a while, other changes include all the programming leads for the radios are connected to the computer, along with the USB Serial port, they seem to coexist fine, the Midland BaseCamp446 is currently not back in place as I don't require it at this time, the chargers for the PMR446 and handheld CBs are also not plugged in for the moment, this will take place later as and when I need these. the home made extension speaker (merely a shower radio housing with only the speaker intact) is not in place either and will be sorted later, the President Grant II and the Leixen VV-898 both made it back in and both power on fine though I am not able to test the TX on them as I have not hooked up a dummy load or antenna to either radio, the window fitting also forced me to move the (extremely drifty) receiver I have in the kitchen window, although this has been put back into place now.

Obviously I've not done anything mobile since I was forced to scrap my old car as I've not found time to figure out how to fit a working rig to my current car that would not involve drilling holes everywhere, something I can do with the Yaesu FTM100DE as it has a detachable faceplate and the main unit can sit under the driver or passenger seat with the display on the dashboard, though I believe the microphone is connected to the main unit which obviously restricts where this can go.

As I'm all out of things to post, for now, the next update should be after the Blackpool rally

73 de M6RSQ

The previous Sunday local net on GB3IR

I don't often post about the regular local net on GB3IR unless there is something of note, and, although this is a couple of days late coming, there was something noteworthy the previous Sunday.

First off, the Sunday evening net on GB3IR is open to anyone who can access the repeater either direct on RF or over Echolink, it's not strictly local and it's nice to hear new voices on the air.

So, how is it noteworthy, by use of the Leixen VV-898 and my homebrew yet unfinished dipole of course, it was still hung up and I thought to save the batteries on my handhelds (of which I have reprogrammed to include all 2-meter analogue and System Fusion voice repeaters in the UK), performance wise the antenna was getting into the repeater fine (though I could just as easily use a very leaky dummy load or a piece of wet string though of course I'd not recommend that given that I am very close to the repeater).

This has been the first time the VV-898 has been used for a Sunday net on IR since removal from my previous car, it has not been fitted to the new car as it would be much easier for me to fit a radio with a detachable front, hence my interest in the Yaesu FTM-100DE (which I think is an after-Christmas purchase though I am seeing this rig in the flesh soon to see what it is like), though I am also interested in this rig for the benefit of System Fusion, the ability to turn up the TX power once I have my intermediate, and the APRS side of things as well as I'd like to get a bit more into that, all of these things are beyond the VV-898 (except the APRS with a little bit of extra hardware), hence why it has been now demoted to home radio, and it only puts out 10-watts anyway

The VV-898 seems to be performing well as a home rig on the homebrew dipole, the next thing to do is put the antenna outside and see what it can really do, but first there is waterproofing to do, as for the VV-898, it will be taking place in most Sunday nets on GB3IR and perhaps any simplex nets once I get the antenna outside the window, I just need to waterproof the coax join, I was initially going to use black Sugru but I may use blue Sugru instead as it matches the blue on the dipole elements..

As for the Sunday net itself, nothing of note to mention really apart from the antenna and rig I used, just leaves me to finish it off, roll on payday and a trip to somewhere I can get blue Sugru from

73 de M6RSQ

How to get a Leixen VV-898 to transmit and recieve on APRS

Just exactly how do you get a Leixen VV-898 to transmit and receive on APRS? This is how it is done.

Firstly you need to find the pinout for the mic, a Google search will bring it up in no time, using my method you may also need to find an Ethernet pinout as well, but be aware that the pin numbering may be opposite to that of the VV-898 mic plug diagram, it remains for you to match and note the colours.

Next you need an interface, I already had one lying around but my shack computer has no physical COM port onboard so a USB to Serial adaptor had to be used, the one I have is a Prolific type, be aware that these may need older drivers as newer drivers reject some cheap programming cables that are allegedly based on a Prolific chip but it is in fact a non-genuine chip, and the Serial adaptors may have one of these rather than a genuine Prolific chip, my serial adaptor appears to have a genuine chip in it unlike my mass of programming cables and TTL lead, my interface is wired up to pin 7 on the serial plug (RTS) though you can wire it to pin 4 (DTR).

On your computer you need to install a sound card TNC, I use UZ7HO's Soundmodem, there is a high speed version as well but we do not want this for APRS, it needs no installation, just extract from the zip file to a convenient folder (desktop on my shack computer with the icon pinned to the taskbar), set up the modem as required (APRS is 1200 baud AFSK), then set it up for the PTT on your COM port, in my case this was COM 7 but yours may differ, unless you have a physical COM port which is always COM 1 (modern computers rarely have more than 1 onboard COM port)

Next you need to set up your APRS client, I use APRSIS32, this client can be used without a radio to connect to the Internet, and also as an iGate or digipeater, but we don't need that functionality and it would require the appropriate NoV and a full license from what I understand, it needs to be able to talk to sound card TNC, this is found on localhost (unless the machine you're running the client on is on your network separately from sound card TNC), if you have a second sound card in your computer (I do) then ensure that is set up in the sound card TNC first so your main sound card can be used for other things like Echolink for example, plug a lead into the back of the VV-898, I placed a ground-loop isolator on this line to eliminate unwanted noise, power it up, and tune to the APRS frequency (in the UK this is 144.800 MHz, in other European countries it should be the same, but check first before you transmit), ensure you have disabled the APRS-IS side of APRSIS32, and it is not set up as an iGate or digipeater (turn off options for RF to IS and IS to RF and if you wish disable Internet access entirely), if the soundmodem is working and APRSIS32 is talking to it you should see a list of callsigns and other items scrolling on the top left of the window.

Now you can test your interface, tune the rig to a clear frequency or connect it to a dummy load, and connect the circuit to the mic socket, the rig should do nothing, if the red light comes on and it has gone into transmit this indicates a problem with the interface wiring, if not you're good to go.

At this stage don't plug the audio feed into the computer, if you are doing this into a dummy load there should be no need to identify, you should still be able to listen on a handheld placed close to the dummy load and tuned to the same frequency, you will also need to get the volume set up correctly, you can use existing APRS transmissions as a reference, if your interface is built with a potentiometer, as mine is, you may need to adjust this, too quiet the iGate and other stations won't receive the transmissions properly, too loud is just as bad and may cause interference, once you have it right, connect your rig back to the antenna and send a packet to APRS, if it is heard by an iGate you should appear on aprs.fi, if not your packet was not received properly by the iGate if at all, in this case check all your settings carefully.

Once it all works give yourself a pat on the back, you've got a radio with no TNC port to transmit APRS packets successfully.

Though if you are in my situation and want to use the same rig for voice, just disconnect the leads and reconnect the mic, job done.

73 de M6RSQ

(note that this isn't an exact guide, the full ins and outs are a lot more detailed)