Scooter CB... the reality coming soon maybe?

As you may recall I have been planning on investing in a 50cc scooter to get me about as I am finding bus fares costly and they have indeed gone up, a second issue that has since arisen is cuts to all the bus services in the local area that are not commercially run, that would be 95% of them, you may also remember I plan to install a CB radio and chose a Midland Alan 42 Multi for this very reason.

Once I have the scooter I can properly look at fitting anything needed, including a cigarette lighter socket for radio power, though I plan to fit one anyway for my phone as I may need to charge it on the go.

once I have looked at the scooter and located where best to fit the coax, mount, and the radio itself, as well as fitting a headset in my motorcycle helmet then I should in theory be able to chat on the move on the CB in a limited capacity, what I would also need to check is that the engine, a GY6 type engine, doesn't generate any QRM, if it does generate any it may be difficult to isolate, however I can only check for this when the engine is running and running at various different RPM as any QRM may get worse at different RPM.

I'll keep you informed.

73 de 26CT730

Shack tidy up

I figured today I should have a little bit of a tidy up in the shack, this is for a few reasons.

First and foremost I will be getting the shackcam back online at some point soon, and if the shackcam is on I'd rather have a tidy shack than a messy one.

Secondly as I plan to do a short video of any new and interesting radios I get for publishing both on the blog and my radio communications website I would prefer the shack look reasonably tidy before any filming takes place

Thirdly, as the desk was getting extremely cluttered it was difficult to work which is not at all helpful, also some other things needed moving, it looks somewhat better now.

Due to issues with the CB gateway that still cannot be resolved (heavy CPU usage sending false audio indications to the Free Radio Network client, I am thinking of using that computer for the shack computer again and using my newer laptop for the CB gateway as it has unfortunately suffered damage rendering it's internal display inoperable, as it is currently at my work I will be retrieving it this week, and looking at how I could get it to work for this purpose, though the CB gateway may, in the end, remain on the existing machine, but I'll see what happens.

I'll keep you updated and I aim to get the shackcam working this week as well

73 de 26CT730

The DX5000, is it worth it?

I am looking into treating myself to the K-PO DX5000 for my birthday in April, the question is though, is this radio worth the money?

I have heard mixed reports about it, and over time it has got better, the current version is version 6.

This radio is also known as the Anytone AT5555, the Maas DX5000, the Intek HR5500 and other names

Out of the factory it is generally programmed for the 10-meter Amateur band and thus sold as a radio for that band, but it is expandable to cover the 11-meter band as well, generally this has to be done with a data cable.

Power outputs are reportedly 12 Watts AM, and about 40 Watts FM and SSB* however this is adjustable on AM and FM (not SSB as the power output is dependent on your audio going in).  Though the UK gets SSB and AM on the midband this year, the power output is 12 Watts PEP for a legal radio on SSB and 4 Watts on AM, and as this radio exceeds it it would not be legal to use on the midband for SSB and AM.

When I get this radio, I will hook it up to a dummy load and see what is what with it, and can report further, receive would require me to connect it to an antenna, the antenna that I have in my loft for the CB gateway works OK on receive but it also is very prone to picking up QRM owing to it's location, but at least I'll have some idea if I do, and having looked at the mic pinout it appears I can avoid plugging the mic in for receive, though to use my powered desk mic I'd have to wire 3 out of the 4 wires.

So, will this radio be worth the money I will be paying for it? We shall see, and I hope it to be the first radio I can connect to my Sirio GPE 5/8 as that antenna will be going up when I get a house, and there's only so much you can do in a council-rented flat, and an antenna with radials on it won't get past the planners, housing, or my grumpy downstairs neighbour, a shame really because I'm on a hill and that's a good location for good DXing.

Anyway, keep your eyes peeled, a DX5000 will hopefully be appearing in my shack very soon.

73 de 26CT730

*SSB power output is measured as PEP (Peak Envelope Power)

PS, I will probably make a small video on my thoughts of the DX5000 after I get it, that will be available here and on YouTube, probably with another video later, keep watching this space

CB testing

I recently constructed a dummy load, using instructions I found on the Internet, that consists of nothing more than salt water, a container, a SO239 in top of container, some silicone sealant, and two pieces of copper wire (Google search for "salt water dummy load" if you're interested and want to make this yourself), because it contains salt water and a large amount of RF will heat it up, it makes it perfect for use on legal CB radios that output at 4 watts, at the moment it is connected to my Midland 78 Plus Multi B, though I plan to swap it to my Moonraker FA5000 as I reserved the Midland for car use.

The primary reason for connecting it up is because I had built it some weeks ago and had initially calibrated it on the Midland, and after that it had been stood for some time so I was not sure if it was still working as it did when I built it.  I do own a Zetagi DL50 dummy load that can take 50 watts but reserve this for serious rig testing (for example if I suspect the finals have blown in a CB), this saltwater load, which I keep connected to a spare SWR meter, is for using the rigs short range, for example testing the received audio on the Free Radio Network CB gateway, as I suspect right now that it is a bit over the top on some rigs, it appeared to be on my Midland 78 so I will look into dropping the volume down a touch, the test room parrot may be of some help here, thus the secondary reason for connecting it to a radio.

I have to go to conduct the remaining audio tests on the gateway, as well as other things, so will return soon with more of my goings on in the world of hobby radio

73 de 26CT730

Updates

I have not been able to update this in a while as I have been very busy, not been able to get on air much either but that should be set to change.

The CB gateway is now operational part-time, I managed to get an antenna up in the loft, an "excalibur" antenna which is the smallest antenna I could find and the only one that would fit in there, though still had some SWR issues so have had to use a matcher as a stop-gap, but I can hear it on a handheld at least two miles away on it's rubber duck antenna so it must be getting out fine, it's times of operation, though not totally set in stone, are 9am-5pm Monday to Saturday, it may not operate on Sundays, and we're almost into week three with it.

I have yet to achieve my Amateur radio foundation license but I hope to get that this year if all works out well, and GB3IR, the local 2m repeater, is still operating, something I sometimes listen to either on my Wouxun handheld or the RTLSDR though that is currently purposed for something else right now.

Once I got the RTLSDR going properly I was able to receive APRS, pagers (which surprised me), ADS-B at 1090MHz, GSM phones (though for obvious reasons I was not able to decode them), the television band (which is solely occupied by DVB-T and DVB-T2 transmissions), some VHF business band transmissions, PMR446 (including the Richmond PMR446 FRN gateway which of course is in the same room), the broadcast band, the airband, and a radio controller for a novelty inflatable robot that operates somewhere in 49MHz (I think) and interestingly using AM to carry both voice and it's data packets to control the toy it goes with, I was not successful in receiving any CB traffic though the tuner can tune down there, even to 27.555MHz.

I have also put together a salt water dummy load from instructions I found on the Internet as I had all the parts required and it works reasonably well, not perfect but I only need it to dump RF into if there is no antenna rather than test power output which is what my manufactured dummy load is for.

I also discovered another issue with radio's public enemy number one, PLT adaptors, it has been found that these things not only wipe out radio spectrum but they also have the potential to connect to other houses in the same street, there's evidence on the Internet of this where BT Internet customers have found their connection suddenly change to TalkTalk, which without the PLT devices is not possible because the BT Home Hub cannot authenticate to TalkTalk's systems, so a massive security hole there, perhaps less of these things will be in operation now for fear of other people connecting to them and "stealing" internet.

I'll try and update more often and I should be back on the air properly soon

73 de 26CT730

SDR in the shack

The RTLSDR device arrived this morning and I have it currently in the shack connected to the shack computer, when I have a bit more time I will play with it further, perhaps even on my Android phone as I hear with a USB OTG cable this is possible.

I shall let you know how I get on

73 de 26CT730

Software Defined Radio

I am adding Software Defined Radio to the shack, this is in the form of a Realtek RTL2382U based USB DVB receiver, equipped with a R820T tuner that can receive from 24MHz and up, the shack computer has been set up in order to be able to utilise the RTLSDR when it arrives.

The receiver in question is this device from Amazon.co.uk.  The device comes with a very short antenna that plugs onto the unit using an MCX connector so you will need an adaptor to the Belling-Lee connector, then if you want a reasonably better connection you can get an adaptor from Belling-Lee to F connector

As a stopgap you could use a pair of "rabbit ears", which you can get from Poundland in the UK (or whatever you have in your country that is similar), something I have actually done with the FM broadcast receiver in my living room's Hi-Fi system and it works well in Band II despite suffering some damage, though it should receive other frequencies but a better antenna and coaxial cable would be more beneficial when possible, especially an outdoor antenna as it would be less prone to interference.

The same coaxial cable used for satellite dish LNB feedline is also a good idea as that is low-loss.  There are instructions online on how to build antennas for use with these devices as well as suitable software for all platforms and the drivers to make the devices work, do not use the CD supplied with the device as this is the software for using it as a television device.

This is something I have been meaning to play with for a long time, now I have that opportunity to do so, stay tuned for more.

73 de 26CT730