Yesterday I saw something where someone thought they'd be able to use Amateur radio to wind up truckers, thinking it is exactly the same as CB radio, which it is not.
I will do a video on this but before I do I will post some things here.
Firstly, CB radio is, in most countries, licence exempt on 27MHz, the 11-meter band, limited in power to 4 watts AM or FM (but see below about the next uneducated thing from this same person), and 12 watts PEP SSB, depending on the rules and regulations in force in the country it is used in, ie no FM in the USA, usually 40 or 80 channels again dependent on country, Australia has UHF CB in around 477MHz (40-80 channel) with a 5 watt limit.
Amateur radio on the other hand requires a licence, which is obtained by taking and passing an examination which goes over knowledge of most fundamentals of radio transmission and reception, and gives access to frequencies all over the radio spectrum, and transmission power sometimes in excess of 1kW (I know this to be the case in the United States) though here in the UK and also in Australia I believe the top power limit for full licencees is 400 watts, using modes ranging from morse code, SSB, AM, FM and various digital modulation modes, the US limit their licencees on spectrum access rather than power limit, they get 1.5kW off the bat, kind of worrying when you factor in Chance Callahan KD0MXN.
The controls on a CB radio are limited to channel, volume, squelch, and RIT/clarifier on units capable of SSB transmission, and possibly a CB/PA switch to allow use of a PA speaker, on an Amateur radio set there are usually more buttons and a DTMF keypad on units that operate on the VHF and UHF bands where repeaters are common, none are channelised unless a ham uses converted PMR or CB equipment which they are legally allowed to do for the VHF/UHF or 10-meter bands respectively.
Amateur radio requires callsigns be used, and the operator must give their callsign at the appropriate intervals including at the start and end of a QSO, in CB there is no requirement for callsigns though an unofficial one can be got from various online groups such as Charlie Tango and Transmission1.
So, the person that decided they wanted to use an Amateur radio set to wind up truckers decried everything apart from AM and FM, these are modes of modulation that even Amateurs and CB operators use, not exclusive to broadcast, as it turned out this person had done no research into the subject matter and used this in an attempt to wind me up, however as I have more knowledge on this subject it backfired on them as I was laughing.
I later discovered the set in question is an old Australian UHF CB set, not an Amateur radio set, needless to say this person is very short on their ability to use Google, so perhaps this person should do their research before attempting to use references to Amateur and CB radio to wind me up, and also should they get a radio set to wind up truckers they could find themselves in trouble with the authorities of their country, as radio has rules, and misuse of radio can put someone in serious trouble
Video coming soon
73 de 2E0EIJ
Ban PLT
Wednesday, 12 December 2018
Wednesday, 5 December 2018
ShackCam work
With my ShackCam being down for as long as it has I felt it was about time to remedy that situation, prior to my QTH move the camera was to be based around a Raspberry Pi Zero with a camera module inside the housing of a £1 dummy CCTV camera (which I still have and gutted for that reason (was just a couple of wires, battery contacts and a red LED), I plan to buy a newer Pi camera than what I have and a Zero W for this project because the Zero W has the WiFi onboard, power will be the only required cabling to the camera and the shack computer deals with the video feed from the camera.
Though I have moved QTH I plan to use the same camera housing, only this time I cannot fix it to the ceiling as I intended, this time I plan to run an overhead support from either the desk or the shelving unit for the camera, how power will get to it will remain to be seen, which has to be sourced from the mains supply to keep the camera on and ready for the shack computer to pick up the feed.
I also plan to set up a portable operations ShackCam over a 3G/4G connection with a feed back to the home server, I have written up pages to support displaying this however this requires another Raspberry Pi Camera and a 3G or 4G connection to send the data over securely back to the server at home, and a means to power it in the field, battery or solar power would suffice but a Raspberry Pi requires 5VDC and a supply rated at around 2A so I would need to make sure that at least that amount of current is available.
The original plan was to get the ShackCam on after last year's National Hamfest, this fell through for various reasons, including me shutting down the original web server used to host the page, with a new server up and running it is more likely that the ShackCam should return soon.
73 de 2E0EIJ
Though I have moved QTH I plan to use the same camera housing, only this time I cannot fix it to the ceiling as I intended, this time I plan to run an overhead support from either the desk or the shelving unit for the camera, how power will get to it will remain to be seen, which has to be sourced from the mains supply to keep the camera on and ready for the shack computer to pick up the feed.
I also plan to set up a portable operations ShackCam over a 3G/4G connection with a feed back to the home server, I have written up pages to support displaying this however this requires another Raspberry Pi Camera and a 3G or 4G connection to send the data over securely back to the server at home, and a means to power it in the field, battery or solar power would suffice but a Raspberry Pi requires 5VDC and a supply rated at around 2A so I would need to make sure that at least that amount of current is available.
The original plan was to get the ShackCam on after last year's National Hamfest, this fell through for various reasons, including me shutting down the original web server used to host the page, with a new server up and running it is more likely that the ShackCam should return soon.
73 de 2E0EIJ
Retevis RT87 first writeup
As I managed to get a free 30-day trial of Amazon Prime I was able to get free next day delivery and the Retevis RT87 arrived the next day, interestingly the Raspberry Pi I ordered the same day as the radio to run my websites from arrived the same day as the radio so I had a lot of work on but was still able to start some filming for the RT87's outing on YouTube.
The radio itself certainly feels like it was well made despite its Chinese origins, a nice clear LCD display, audio sounds good, not sure on transmit yet as I am working on that, and also not sure if it truly will get away without being overloaded by pagers or any other strong signals but we shall see.
I am not going to write up too much about the radio as I am still filming on and off and have yet to get to the outdoor tests, this will be on my days off next week as the weather has not been right for it this week, however I should have the video up soon, also I have done the power tests but can't reveal too much on that until the videos are up, I don't want any spoilers now, do I?
73 de 2E0EIJ
The radio itself certainly feels like it was well made despite its Chinese origins, a nice clear LCD display, audio sounds good, not sure on transmit yet as I am working on that, and also not sure if it truly will get away without being overloaded by pagers or any other strong signals but we shall see.
I am not going to write up too much about the radio as I am still filming on and off and have yet to get to the outdoor tests, this will be on my days off next week as the weather has not been right for it this week, however I should have the video up soon, also I have done the power tests but can't reveal too much on that until the videos are up, I don't want any spoilers now, do I?
73 de 2E0EIJ
Wednesday, 28 November 2018
RT87 on order
With the last post covering the Retevis RT87, a radio that received positive review from Lewis M3HHY, I have ordered one from Amazon, and will be making a video putting the radio through its paces, and also doing a power measurement before going out with it (the radio's specs from the official Retevis website specify that it should be able to produce up to 5 watts on high power, and a watt on low power, though it does not specify if this applies to both bands or just VHF (I've found UHF to be lower in most cases on pretty much every HT I've tested), this will start a trend on that every radio (save for network radios) I review or feature will be put through a power test as part of the video, though at present I only have a dummy load that can take up to 50 watts all bands, and a salt water dummy load that may not take a lot at all.
I won't be testing the IP67 rating, someone probably has already done so and I would rather not risk destroying a brand new radio, might be on YouTube somewhere, range and front-end test from the racecourse in Richmond will certainly take place (my VV-898 and KT-8900D both had problems with pagers here though the latter less so, no doubt my Baofengs do as well, my Wouxun and AnyTone may get away lightly but I don't know and will probably test them too if time permits), and although other videos on other YouTube channels cover it I'll briefly go over the programming of the radio using the supplied data cable, and also I will include a link to the Amazon page where I ordered the radio from in the YouTube description.
It may take a few days for the video to get onto YouTube as I do have to work and obviously the hilltop test at the racecourse will be weather dependent also, I can start the unboxing and programming parts first then get the rest filmed and then the whole video put together in a timely fashion.
I will update this when I get my hands on the radio.
73 de 2E0EIJ
I won't be testing the IP67 rating, someone probably has already done so and I would rather not risk destroying a brand new radio, might be on YouTube somewhere, range and front-end test from the racecourse in Richmond will certainly take place (my VV-898 and KT-8900D both had problems with pagers here though the latter less so, no doubt my Baofengs do as well, my Wouxun and AnyTone may get away lightly but I don't know and will probably test them too if time permits), and although other videos on other YouTube channels cover it I'll briefly go over the programming of the radio using the supplied data cable, and also I will include a link to the Amazon page where I ordered the radio from in the YouTube description.
It may take a few days for the video to get onto YouTube as I do have to work and obviously the hilltop test at the racecourse will be weather dependent also, I can start the unboxing and programming parts first then get the rest filmed and then the whole video put together in a timely fashion.
I will update this when I get my hands on the radio.
73 de 2E0EIJ
Saturday, 24 November 2018
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
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
Wednesday, 21 November 2018
SWR concerns
Running a mobile station the biggest issue is the environment in which it is set up, that is a moving vehicle which is subject to all manner of rattles and bumps as you're driving along, and also anything overhead that may catch on the antenna and damage it, as well as feeding the coax from a magmount through a vehicle door or boot lid or tailgate (the latter of the three in my case), where the cable may get squashed and this can potentially change its characteristic impedance (which for 2-way radio purposes is 50 Ohms), so it is wise, especially if you have a "big three" radio, to check the SWR from time to time, this was the first time I'd checked it since installing the rig and antenna into the current car.
The SWR on 2-meters was acceptable, even at the full 50 watts the radio could do, the SWR on 70cm simplex however was unacceptable, though when I checked the SWR at the frequency used for the Jumbospot (which I occasionally have in the car) it was acceptable at all three power levels, I since adjusted the antenna and got the SWR on 70cm down to 1.7:1, still some loss present, and as the radio is being fed with RG58 anyway I expect loss on the line anyway at those frequencies, the only cable I have similar in size to RG58 is RG8 mini which has a foam dielectric and would be crushed in the tailgate and would create a new problem so I'd need to find coax that is less lossy at 70cm and wouldn't simply be squashed by the tailgate. a tall order but worth it to get the message across.
I plan to do a second SWR check in a week as I do a lot of driving and things may change, though they shouldn't as long as I avoid any really low branches or multi-storey car parks.
Adjustment of the antenna was difficult as the adjustment points had all seized, however a squirt of WD-40 soon sorted that, the grub screws holding the antenna together were easy to get out with an allen key though, all good in that regard, and with a better SWR at 70cm I feel confident that I won't destroy the finals in a £500+ radio that would certainly be out of warranty by now and the finals would not be covered by that regardless as no manufacturer honours the replacement of the finals, however if the final power transistors are of a common type and are through hole I see no reason why I could not replace these myself however the FTM-400XDE is a modern rig and has a lot of surface mount components so chances are I'd have to send it to the pros to be fixed as I cannot solder surface mount, hence why it is critical I don't blow the finals.
73 de 2E0EIJ
The SWR on 2-meters was acceptable, even at the full 50 watts the radio could do, the SWR on 70cm simplex however was unacceptable, though when I checked the SWR at the frequency used for the Jumbospot (which I occasionally have in the car) it was acceptable at all three power levels, I since adjusted the antenna and got the SWR on 70cm down to 1.7:1, still some loss present, and as the radio is being fed with RG58 anyway I expect loss on the line anyway at those frequencies, the only cable I have similar in size to RG58 is RG8 mini which has a foam dielectric and would be crushed in the tailgate and would create a new problem so I'd need to find coax that is less lossy at 70cm and wouldn't simply be squashed by the tailgate. a tall order but worth it to get the message across.
I plan to do a second SWR check in a week as I do a lot of driving and things may change, though they shouldn't as long as I avoid any really low branches or multi-storey car parks.
Adjustment of the antenna was difficult as the adjustment points had all seized, however a squirt of WD-40 soon sorted that, the grub screws holding the antenna together were easy to get out with an allen key though, all good in that regard, and with a better SWR at 70cm I feel confident that I won't destroy the finals in a £500+ radio that would certainly be out of warranty by now and the finals would not be covered by that regardless as no manufacturer honours the replacement of the finals, however if the final power transistors are of a common type and are through hole I see no reason why I could not replace these myself however the FTM-400XDE is a modern rig and has a lot of surface mount components so chances are I'd have to send it to the pros to be fixed as I cannot solder surface mount, hence why it is critical I don't blow the finals.
73 de 2E0EIJ
Tuesday, 20 November 2018
YouTube video editing facilities now in shack
The facilities are essentially my former web server which has more RAM and two independent CPUs and different video editing software over my personal desktop computer, this should make my YouTube videos better than what they are now in some regards (cameras remain the same at present), I have not got one in the can at the moment but plan to get something up soon.
I also have moved my audio mixing desk into the shack and plan to use it with the video editing, ideal for recording and inserting audio into videos, I won't be connecting this to a radio, another plan was podcasting, however since discovery of the ICQ Amateur/Ham radio podcast I may have to come up with something unique, I have a few ideas however whether this comes to anything remains to be seen, given I am busy at present with work so no time to play radio really either.
The same machine has enough grunt to run RTL-SDR related software without complaining though I have not fully tested it yet and the antenna feed might be longer than I'd like unless fed with RG213 which would negate losses at the frequencies the RTL-SDR would operate, as I may want to include RTL-SDR feeds in videos.
I have tested the setup and found an audio abnormality on the sound card I fitted, I swapped the audio input and output between the fitted sound card and my Creative SoundBlaster Live 24 USB, noise gone, the video processing has not been tested as yet but will be tested as part of processing the first video, the camcorder simply connects as a USB drive as per other machines.
The software running on the machine for video processing is Kdenlive rather than Openshot (which I had on my desktop), so hopefully this will be a big improvement in the quality of my videos.
As you will know I purchased my first Network Radio at the 2018 National Hamfest, I have planned to do a review on it for some time but this has not happened, with my shack now somewhat organised I should be able to get this one, I have not transmitted on the Network Radio yet either apart from tests, so I hope to get the review made and up now I have new editing facilities for my videos.
I also hope as a result of this I can now have more content to YouTube not only on my Amateur radio channel, which applies here, but also my electronics channel, my cars channel and my Internet videos channel.
Keep an eye out on my YouTube channel for my Network Radio review (Radio-Tone RT3) and more videos from my part of our wonderful hobby, and keep an eye out for me at rallies, I may be at Spennymoor this year depending on circumstances and plan to start next year's rally season either at Blackpool or Ripon, whichever comes first and hope to get videos of these rallies up on my channel too, and if you see me at any of them do say hi, and hopefully by Hamfest 2019 I should be an M0 (I will update the blog and YouTube channel on how I do), wish me luck :)
73 de 2E0EIJ
I also have moved my audio mixing desk into the shack and plan to use it with the video editing, ideal for recording and inserting audio into videos, I won't be connecting this to a radio, another plan was podcasting, however since discovery of the ICQ Amateur/Ham radio podcast I may have to come up with something unique, I have a few ideas however whether this comes to anything remains to be seen, given I am busy at present with work so no time to play radio really either.
The same machine has enough grunt to run RTL-SDR related software without complaining though I have not fully tested it yet and the antenna feed might be longer than I'd like unless fed with RG213 which would negate losses at the frequencies the RTL-SDR would operate, as I may want to include RTL-SDR feeds in videos.
I have tested the setup and found an audio abnormality on the sound card I fitted, I swapped the audio input and output between the fitted sound card and my Creative SoundBlaster Live 24 USB, noise gone, the video processing has not been tested as yet but will be tested as part of processing the first video, the camcorder simply connects as a USB drive as per other machines.
The software running on the machine for video processing is Kdenlive rather than Openshot (which I had on my desktop), so hopefully this will be a big improvement in the quality of my videos.
As you will know I purchased my first Network Radio at the 2018 National Hamfest, I have planned to do a review on it for some time but this has not happened, with my shack now somewhat organised I should be able to get this one, I have not transmitted on the Network Radio yet either apart from tests, so I hope to get the review made and up now I have new editing facilities for my videos.
I also hope as a result of this I can now have more content to YouTube not only on my Amateur radio channel, which applies here, but also my electronics channel, my cars channel and my Internet videos channel.
Keep an eye out on my YouTube channel for my Network Radio review (Radio-Tone RT3) and more videos from my part of our wonderful hobby, and keep an eye out for me at rallies, I may be at Spennymoor this year depending on circumstances and plan to start next year's rally season either at Blackpool or Ripon, whichever comes first and hope to get videos of these rallies up on my channel too, and if you see me at any of them do say hi, and hopefully by Hamfest 2019 I should be an M0 (I will update the blog and YouTube channel on how I do), wish me luck :)
73 de 2E0EIJ
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