tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83815652411079528562024-03-05T22:51:15.672+00:00M1AVVM1AVVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238229774801022898noreply@blogger.comBlogger44125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381565241107952856.post-21019831793257715512022-05-03T20:01:00.001+01:002022-05-03T20:01:07.764+01:00Helium Mappers<p>Using a <a href="http://www.lilygo.cn/claprod_view.aspx?TypeId=62&Id=1281&FId=t28:62:28">Lilygo TTGO T-Beam</a> to run <a href="https://mappers.helium.com/">Helium Mappers</a> software. 100mW on the 868MHz band.</p><p>The <a href="https://bytemeta.vip/repo/Max-Plastix/tbeam-helium-mapper">code is by Max-Plastix</a><br /></p><p>What is <a href="https://www.helium.com/">Helium</a> ? Seen a load of small vertical antennas going up on nearby houses? Wondering why the price of good coax cable just rocketed? All the important things you need to know are:<br /></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Paradigm Shift</li><li>Decentralised</li><li>Blockchain<br /></li></ol><p>OLED display comes with the unit but needs soldering on (4 pins) <br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_PLo233BP_S9v0121qF1hkY3K240Tnu_MVilRE7wjzHjHVsEviqTaXTMemj-DxZ9zhGUVbv8Wa3y29W8cDDc9hlDxJh1fFPKNm1IJmiDfn3B_ztBOFzQpzsvewLg6Rkq6ND2qaIFVHKtpq79Kn9MS9TR1OEaHWfpKnOh2Wghh90fw2W6mhM_BdBUS0g/s1577/mapper_parts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1248" data-original-width="1577" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_PLo233BP_S9v0121qF1hkY3K240Tnu_MVilRE7wjzHjHVsEviqTaXTMemj-DxZ9zhGUVbv8Wa3y29W8cDDc9hlDxJh1fFPKNm1IJmiDfn3B_ztBOFzQpzsvewLg6Rkq6ND2qaIFVHKtpq79Kn9MS9TR1OEaHWfpKnOh2Wghh90fw2W6mhM_BdBUS0g/w400-h316/mapper_parts.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p>A professional car installation, perfectly balanced on my phone holder<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjItsSTE-A8ynRhWXzeD2pYYvTCIF3urVNxE6JJzEur8q9SP-ompgfSKQtV2jeU7hp3lfk7nBNKCf1G0MG9ypCA7V7-XV1dr_yiK1dPfspfRjxJaTk3v_VULMpXubA_SVH8fBLp6s5wUYZrBlaI5KeRQqZupxl-1rx5-2TYtoE5QPUC6ya19zLeJAitGQ/s1476/mapper_car.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1476" data-original-width="1345" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjItsSTE-A8ynRhWXzeD2pYYvTCIF3urVNxE6JJzEur8q9SP-ompgfSKQtV2jeU7hp3lfk7nBNKCf1G0MG9ypCA7V7-XV1dr_yiK1dPfspfRjxJaTk3v_VULMpXubA_SVH8fBLp6s5wUYZrBlaI5KeRQqZupxl-1rx5-2TYtoE5QPUC6ya19zLeJAitGQ/w365-h400/mapper_car.jpg" width="365" /></a></div><p></p><p>There's a holder for a 18650 cell but it runs on a USB power bank and no cell<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjONRDzFu1bkqUlPIAFG8ho2aGFgzFTrR9fK9kQf64qPmuIUp3UeNz36CR-e5MZSVdYZSL2Vx5mOfaoo-8dSbJMQyZszouBR3WR_Ja0CJAeor_RyZz38UxnIiJBPh7RuXDowUzz5NsD3BHyVkBeQ-z-rzUd3lwX85qqApd_vyXvWesx4aB1AEfQP1y5w/s1313/mapper_walney.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="783" data-original-width="1313" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjONRDzFu1bkqUlPIAFG8ho2aGFgzFTrR9fK9kQf64qPmuIUp3UeNz36CR-e5MZSVdYZSL2Vx5mOfaoo-8dSbJMQyZszouBR3WR_Ja0CJAeor_RyZz38UxnIiJBPh7RuXDowUzz5NsD3BHyVkBeQ-z-rzUd3lwX85qqApd_vyXvWesx4aB1AEfQP1y5w/w400-h239/mapper_walney.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p>Mapping the A590. This area was previously uncharted territory. Some transmissions are getting across Morecambe Bay from inside the car (see top right, receiving hotspot is at Heysham)<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrqN4xMYFTnZ9sscK303KCS-2_gyqxRGw_ZlAwHgW2p4pes1m2jFEl5o60Ok0TXCsDgI8zJbR_mduhAkEZ0KIv6GybVSQ-CmoObNvNmk905aQa8gUhM5bZ_GZFAnbIAqH9jSh3UTDyV8_1pCb9qqlkDiJI0zQYh-dFp3c-oL7RSy_NR9HQb7blJkqdmQ/s1040/A590-2022-04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="950" data-original-width="1040" height="365" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrqN4xMYFTnZ9sscK303KCS-2_gyqxRGw_ZlAwHgW2p4pes1m2jFEl5o60Ok0TXCsDgI8zJbR_mduhAkEZ0KIv6GybVSQ-CmoObNvNmk905aQa8gUhM5bZ_GZFAnbIAqH9jSh3UTDyV8_1pCb9qqlkDiJI0zQYh-dFp3c-oL7RSy_NR9HQb7blJkqdmQ/w400-h365/A590-2022-04.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p>Some good locations in Barrow, getting across The Bay<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQj7QGLxHliI3-9pBgncpb0D-7AFlvOSfW8gb_tvgefEs3il19hf-3xHFrruu4rqb_i6wRjYd93B5mjIy6qP9Q7EjK6kIQllWsr4tXDGbsh2HuoE1PPiBQQ_s5SmK-twjfZR-PdeVdcyokxUp15R9V7fm-FZGBUoM-7bFZU7oknlhtOJCeFd1xeSEKiQ/s2044/hawcoat2022-04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2044" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQj7QGLxHliI3-9pBgncpb0D-7AFlvOSfW8gb_tvgefEs3il19hf-3xHFrruu4rqb_i6wRjYd93B5mjIy6qP9Q7EjK6kIQllWsr4tXDGbsh2HuoE1PPiBQQ_s5SmK-twjfZR-PdeVdcyokxUp15R9V7fm-FZGBUoM-7bFZU7oknlhtOJCeFd1xeSEKiQ/w211-h400/hawcoat2022-04.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJp_0s8nIGdKuwYYJGwTdRTlLSMANEF2XL2mJ1iwAim2izN3otUrdP4YBsCsvrIOUWJBnWK0utwHT0LeefAkC44XuqBKZTNqqF_t7SKC9nfxI1aCn6-wUizjPavTDwY6HzFsQg7QW70KlTVvMgzbjnHqiV8qwEROnFJMotpt2xi1s-5m5SUa5eQUXyNQ/s2039/thorncliffe1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2039" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJp_0s8nIGdKuwYYJGwTdRTlLSMANEF2XL2mJ1iwAim2izN3otUrdP4YBsCsvrIOUWJBnWK0utwHT0LeefAkC44XuqBKZTNqqF_t7SKC9nfxI1aCn6-wUizjPavTDwY6HzFsQg7QW70KlTVvMgzbjnHqiV8qwEROnFJMotpt2xi1s-5m5SUa5eQUXyNQ/w211-h400/thorncliffe1.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiba7KGI7MXfmcedJGx83fUZIvDTPBuRag3YSxnEDTDZBWy_Bt72RmssVetTe3nXS0jmi1g89QrBOtNmNRyDCjKRBNZcPv80y_D2sCHcKZT-N9gWL_CshUPhSErfdswwjJBJQTbOOw6siMWJzBrxD4SCfC6tPYCa1y2KFhINgk3GQZGjwCPlTU17npiQ/s2041/thorncliffe2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2041" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiba7KGI7MXfmcedJGx83fUZIvDTPBuRag3YSxnEDTDZBWy_Bt72RmssVetTe3nXS0jmi1g89QrBOtNmNRyDCjKRBNZcPv80y_D2sCHcKZT-N9gWL_CshUPhSErfdswwjJBJQTbOOw6siMWJzBrxD4SCfC6tPYCa1y2KFhINgk3GQZGjwCPlTU17npiQ/w211-h400/thorncliffe2.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>M1AVVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238229774801022898noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381565241107952856.post-36754883842985129632021-09-14T21:18:00.001+01:002021-09-14T21:18:35.011+01:0050p Door Intercom50p from B&Q in the bargain bin. How could I say no?<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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</div>The blob on a board is to generate an alarm sound.</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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</div><br></div>M1AVVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238229774801022898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381565241107952856.post-16942646303197903522020-07-11T18:51:00.001+01:002020-07-11T19:01:20.912+01:00Equipment ListJust a quick update on what I'm using..<br />
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<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.yaesu.com/indexVS.cfm?cmd=DisplayProducts&ProdCatID=106&encProdID=2804F70E1A8F3C4B638CB8E0F201158C">Yaesu FT-7900</a> 2m/70cm mobile. At home, connected to a 2m dipole in the loft (was in the car, but brought indoors recently).</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.crtfrance.com/en/mobiles-radio/711-crt-millenium-3140650024302.html">CRT Millenium</a> CB/10m mobile. In the car, with a springer mobile antenna on a Sirio magmount.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.yaesu.com/indexVS.cfm?cmd=DisplayProducts&ProdCatID=111&encProdID=E28C87590C67439440323C0FEDAC1BEB&DivisionID=65&isArchived=0">Yaesu FT-4X(E)</a> 2m/70cm handheld. This is my main handheld radio for analogue FM.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.retevis.com/RT8-IP67-VHF-or-UHF-Waterproof-Dustproof-DMR-Digital-Radio/#A9115Z-UHF">Retevis RT8</a> VHF DMR handheld. Very similar to the TYT MD380 (same firmware and programming software). </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.wouxun.com/radios/two_way_radio_KG-699E.aspx">Wouxun KG-699E</a> 68-88MHz handheld, covering the 4m amateur band. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/UBC3500XLT">Uniden UBC-3500XLT</a> handheld scanner. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.sdrplay.com/rsp1a/">SDRPlay RSP1A</a> software defined radio (receiver). Used for all bands, but at the moment it's my only receiver for SSB and data modes, so is often being used for receiving FT-8. </li>
<li>The HF antenna is a dipole in roughly an L shape (no particular length), with one side along the gutter and the other sloping down to the garden fence.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://hamgear.wordpress.com/2014/12/14/review-baofeng-gt-3-mark-ii/">Baofeng GT3</a> 2m/70cm handheld. </li>
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M1AVVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238229774801022898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381565241107952856.post-57787424901767205722020-02-26T20:35:00.001+00:002020-02-26T20:41:18.375+00:00Retevis RT-8Got the VHF version of the Retevis RT-8 DMR handheld for Christmas. There it is alongside my Uniden UBC3500 on a trip to Newcastle last month. <div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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</div><br><div>Nandos<br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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</div></div></div>M1AVVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238229774801022898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381565241107952856.post-32560325953699792062019-12-17T20:06:00.003+00:002019-12-17T20:06:46.987+00:00Last 20 QSOsMy last 20 radio contacts<br />
95% FT8 <br />
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<br />M1AVVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238229774801022898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381565241107952856.post-83671961497525515482019-12-06T19:10:00.001+00:002019-12-06T19:10:35.262+00:0010 Years OnTen years ago to this day, I sat in the Ashton Under Lyne Travelodge and started this blog which is mostly about my amateur radio activities (well I'd made one post in 2007 with this account but forgotten about it).<br />
Since then, I've discovered quite a few things:<br />
WSPR<br />
APRS<br />
Other digital modes such as JT65/FT8<br />
SDRs - both receive and HF transceiver<br />
Digital voice - I've tried D-Star and DMR (then there's Fusion and even Network Radio, which I've not tried)<br />
LORA<br />
The 23cm band - and it was from the Travelodge I ordered a handheld with 23cm.<br />
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I'm much less active from portable locations now (it's over 2 years since I did a qualifying SOTA activation), which has also meant I've not had as much to write about.<br />
At the moment I'm mainly doing HF FT-8 and WSPR using 5-10 watts into a dipole that's partly hidden under the gutter, have a Yaesu FT-7900 dual band mobile fitted in the car and a few handheld radios which nearly always come out on walks (even if receive only and not in the hills).<br />
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Something has broken in the Comet GP-15 tri-bander on my chimney (probably the coax plug), so here is the temporary loft dipole for 144MHz, connected up when I recently got all the decorations down. <br />
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<br />M1AVVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238229774801022898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381565241107952856.post-83669021599271840912019-04-05T19:44:00.002+01:002019-04-05T19:44:52.842+01:00Yaesu FT-4XEA couple of weeks ago I ordered myself a new dual band handheld, a Yaesu FT-4XE.<br />
For the last 2 years, my main handheld transceiver had been a Baofeng GT-3, which cost only £30 but had some big problems, like being unable to use it anywhere there were other strong signals. On an external antenna at home it was unusable at VHF but even some locations out of doors strong broadcast signals were overloading it.<br />
When Yaesu's new range of cheaper FM only handhelds came out, (FT-65, FT-25, FT-4), I suspected that they could be nothing more than rebadged Baofeng type radios, especially with them having features like FM broadcast reception (but no other wideband coverage of airband etc.). But after reading <a href="https://qrpblog.com/2018/09/yaesu-ft-4x-review-it-is-after-all-a-baofeng/">this review</a> and it being the cheapest 'proper amateur' dual band radio by a long way, I decided to go for it.<br />
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It's a small radio, and you could almost call it credit card sized, here it is hiding behind a card. <br />
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and next to the old GT-3<br />
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Only a volume control on top, a tuning dial is one of the things you give up to save money. Using only buttons to move up and down frequency or through the memories is a pain unless you're going to be using the thing on a small number of channels. That and the slow scanning speed (6.5 channels per second, a whole 30% faster than the Baofeng's 5) are probably the things that make it still feel cheap. Some features may be limited by the transceiver on a chip RDA1846 which it shares with the Baofengs though. At least there are 200 memory channels for the radio to take a leisurely stroll through, compared with the Baofeng's 128.<br />
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Yes, it does 6.25KHz channels, at least for the 'E' model (the other model may not, there is nothing in the PDF version of the manual about it, with 5 and 10KHz being the minimum in there).<br />
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The real test of this radio's performance was connecting it to an outdoor antenna. I knew that the Baofeng could receive nothing on VHF when connected to my 6/2/70 tribander. The FT-4 received just fine, and gave realistic looking s-meter readings. There must be filtering to reject broadcast signals above (DAB) and below the receiver's 136-174MHz range, which is missing from the Baofeng.<br />
S-meter S9 is around -96dBm and S5 is about 10dB lower, giving appoximately 2.5dB per point. There is a 'S10' and 'S11' above this.<br />
The supplied antenna is about 16cm long, similar to other handhelds. For its size, it performed best near to the 144MHz amateur band compared to a few others of the same size I had around. On UHF though, it was actually worse than any other handheld antenna, which is surprising as I've found when testing handheld antennas at 430MHz there isn't very much difference between them, nowhere near as much as there is at VHF, and the higher frequency means a wider bandwidth.<br />
Around 165MHz the antenna was worse than a no-name model of the same length which I paid less than £2 for on AliExpress, but that's going to be the price to pay for more efficiency on frequency, nowhere near as bad as the Alinco DJ-G7's stock antenna though.<br />
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Yaesu have made quite a good effort with the memory and tuning features of this radio, with 10 memory banks and 10 programmable band edges. Then there are Yaesu specific features like Automatic Range Transponder System, so obviously not just some other brand being re-badged.<br />
The programming software is free from Yaesu, quite basic, no facility to import/export or sort frequencies, but allows you to organise the memory banks.<br />
I found a video on YouTube showing the wiring of the programming cable (2-wire TTL, using R&S of a 3 pole 2.5mm jack plug) and made up a cable from an old FT-817 USB adaptor and a diode.<br />
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So, I wasn't disappointed with this radio, it was clear what it's limits were going to be before buying it (no tuning dial, no extremely wide receive coverage, no digital modes) but it does improve on the £20-£40 range of handhelds which are so common these days.<br />
Unless you were going to use a handheld radio under very limited conditions (a local repeater which could be worked on a short antenna or indoors, monitoring a few channels rather than tying up a more expensive radio etc.), I'd definitely go for this rather than trying to save a few quid.<br />
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What about the FT-65? It's about another £25, bigger battery but is the performance going to be the same? M1AVVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238229774801022898noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381565241107952856.post-62150015668072903382018-12-29T21:21:00.000+00:002018-12-29T21:21:05.073+00:00DATA SocketI'd been using an FT-847 with a data modes interface to my PC, completely isolated with transformers in both transmit and receive paths and a mechanical relay to switch the PTT. It used the 3.5mm jack on the rear of the FT-847, which is what you must use for transmitting on SSB (the usual 6-pin mini DIN is for FM transmit only).<br />
Everything worked OK on data modes like FT-8 and WSPR, but I noticed that when making a recording of voice, there was something wrong with the frequency response. At first, I thought that this output might be bypassing the de-empasis circuit on FM, but when looking at the frequency response, even on SSB it rolled off below 1KHz.<br />
The transformers I used in the interface were from a 'ground loop isolator' designed for car audio systems, and when tested between the output and input of the PC, showed a response within 2dB down to below 100Hz.<br />
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Eventually I thought about the transformers and their impedance. 600 ohms is a common value for them, maybe there was a mismatch between that and the output impedance of the radio.<br />
Checking the schematic for the FT-847, the final op-amp in the 'RX1200' circuit goes to a 100nF capacitor, then this goes through separate 4K7 resistors to both the 3.5mm and DIN sockets.This would explain why there was such a big cut in low frequencies.<br />
At the worst case, driving a short circuit, the 4K7 and 100nF would make a high pass filter with a frequency of about 340Hz. The specification of the data output says a 10K impedance, and with a 10K impedance (which would be in series with the 4K7), the frequency would be around 100Hz. That's fine for any voice or data modes, even 340Hz would be usable.<br />
But the transformer will also create a R-L high pass filter, with its impedance increasing with frequency (DC resistance is about 100 ohms so increasing from that), against the 4K7 resistor. This output is not really suitable for driving an isolating transformer if you want anything like a flat frequency response.<br />
The resistor and capacitor could be replaced with different values (higher capacitance, lower resistance).<br />
I had a look a schematics for other radios made by Yaesu, that had a 6-pin data socket. Although they all used similar op-amps to drive the RX1200 output (NJM2902), 3 radios had 3 different combinations of resistor and capacitor in series.<br />
FT-847 - 4K7 / 100nF<br />
FT-817 - 1K / 1uF<br />
FT-8900 - 220R / 1uF<br />
That's a 20:1 range of output impedances, although every time this is specified as for use with 10K input impedance on whatever equipment is connected. If you're making a direct connection from the radio to the Line In of a PC or amplifier, it probably won't matter as the input impedance will be quite high. But the circuits for most home built and commercial data mode interfaces have isolating transformers, and will affect the frequency response.<br />
<br />M1AVVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238229774801022898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381565241107952856.post-50515891515718917232018-02-22T21:05:00.002+00:002018-02-22T21:05:52.232+00:00VHF FT8After reading on Twitter that some people were trying the very popular FT8 data mode on 144MHz, I had a go. I don't have anything like a VHF DX station at home, with just a Comet GP15 vertical on the chimney, fed with a bit too much coax.<br />
The frequency for 2m FT8 is 144.174. <br />
I started off using my new SDRPlay receiver and found that I was able to decode a few stations, outside my usual VHF range (G4KUX in IO94 and <a href="http://gm4fvm.blogspot.co.uk/">GM4FVM</a> in IO85).<br />
After connecting up a transceiver, I was able to make some 2-way contacts at this distance, and was even getting reception reports of my signal via PSK Reporter from up to around 300km. This makes the 2m band a bit more interesting, and because data modes software like <a href="https://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/wsjtx.html">WSJT-X</a> automatically sends reports to <a href="http://www.pskreporter.de/">PSK Reporter</a>, even if I'm away from the radio, it's still worth leaving it on all day just in case someone calls CQ.<br />
At the moment, there aren't really any 'lift' conditions on 144MHz, at least not which you would hear if listening to FM or even SSB, and most of the long distance propagation is from reflections off aircraft. Reflections off fast moving objects like aircraft shift the frequency from the doppler effect, and it can be over 100Hz. With FT8, the bandwidth is very narrow, so if there are multiple paths, the same signal can appear on 2 different frequencies. See below for some FT8 activity where there are multiple decodes.<br />
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On some days I've received 10 different stations on 144MHz FT8.<br />
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<br />M1AVVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238229774801022898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381565241107952856.post-50836018055359723842017-10-28T20:11:00.002+01:002017-10-28T20:15:19.572+01:00More UHF APRS TestingI tried the E32-TTL 1 watt 70cm LORA module a bit further away from home, again using APRS software to send the position to the internet.<br />
The location I tried first was some high ground just off the A65 to the west of Settle (grid reference somewhere around SD786669) on the narrow road above the <a href="http://tx.mb21.co.uk/gallery/austwick.php">Austwick TV mast</a>. This has a good take off towards the west.<br />
Instead of the mobile antenna I put a short antenna directly on top of the module and taped the thing to a mop handle so it could be as high as possible while operating. This also gets rid of any coax cable loss.<br />
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Video camera also fixed to mop handle<br />
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View to the west from near Settle<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKlB9J0PC4In7qx0nZAh4lTQ5KJzovFjfXOhfAxArqD8hqpPnGTTF4utZUVFRSGdSdpyWzGscIw4A5n6HYmoaVwGTb0LpGB55UbBi0WoikH8C2FfeFrMCKMDQ6PRshS-23UVEolFk2BYLv/s1600/IMG_20171021_130652.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1440" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKlB9J0PC4In7qx0nZAh4lTQ5KJzovFjfXOhfAxArqD8hqpPnGTTF4utZUVFRSGdSdpyWzGscIw4A5n6HYmoaVwGTb0LpGB55UbBi0WoikH8C2FfeFrMCKMDQ6PRshS-23UVEolFk2BYLv/s400/IMG_20171021_130652.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
But did it work? Yes it did, at a distance of 37.7 miles (60.7km), with more than one transmission being received as I moved around the parking area.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWvcJEhcydNauGHy_pIAgFvR7o4cWUJkSCuHulMj9zXozURB__mITs_y-yrv_6_AEO7qrHiSuipA1rX6dc8SARtGyfEXjgMG_ZewqADNYoSpDKdWyGhJImJBKxyv4PjRcOZwqKjn2hut6E/s1600/settle-aprs.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1328" data-original-width="1070" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWvcJEhcydNauGHy_pIAgFvR7o4cWUJkSCuHulMj9zXozURB__mITs_y-yrv_6_AEO7qrHiSuipA1rX6dc8SARtGyfEXjgMG_ZewqADNYoSpDKdWyGhJImJBKxyv4PjRcOZwqKjn2hut6E/s400/settle-aprs.png" width="321" /></a></div>
I tried another two locations further south, which weren't on high ground, but received nothing. These were at the Lancaster (Forton) M6 motorway service area and just outside the boundary of the Charnock Richard M6 motorway service area.<br />
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My next experiment was to compare the performance of the LORA module against normal 1200 baud packet radio using an FM mobile transceiver.<br />
Using the same antenna as in my last blog post (it's a small Moonraker dual bander, about 40cm long, on a mag mount), I transmitted APRS beacon messages from my Yaesu FT-8900 on its 20 watt setting. The frequency was the same as I had used for the LORA test.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDWpaoJZV3eKlsnk6cUeWqYXfWzSlziLXCV3_6fReN49tkxMKIqGa6ZwbvjbA3CCBI0wX4VDdYgd9abweuxWCY2MnVLp3E8rjSBjHMvzKrhAsHviQTxWCUk8NdUp1U1oTcCZVOPBYFTo9s/s1600/uhf-aprs-x.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="974" data-original-width="1360" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDWpaoJZV3eKlsnk6cUeWqYXfWzSlziLXCV3_6fReN49tkxMKIqGa6ZwbvjbA3CCBI0wX4VDdYgd9abweuxWCY2MnVLp3E8rjSBjHMvzKrhAsHviQTxWCUk8NdUp1U1oTcCZVOPBYFTo9s/s400/uhf-aprs-x.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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See the results of the LORA test below<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1O4_4HxmN5DLYsJqRBM39kUIMLL1NFBLsZZFolBhHRwAnnkKjhChsfhoeVALO1vqCJo22VbdNtwPddlHK3dTuteuvFuFFto54OxjcJem2pkjyu3Usaxg0ywi-YheiWKeBKqHNrterVcXO/s1600/e32-mobile-dalton-x.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="865" data-original-width="1588" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1O4_4HxmN5DLYsJqRBM39kUIMLL1NFBLsZZFolBhHRwAnnkKjhChsfhoeVALO1vqCJo22VbdNtwPddlHK3dTuteuvFuFFto54OxjcJem2pkjyu3Usaxg0ywi-YheiWKeBKqHNrterVcXO/s400/e32-mobile-dalton-x.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Result? A lot worse than the 1 watt LORA transmissions. Because the car APRS tracker has no logging function, I could only guess where any failed transmissions were from. I know that it beacons every 110 seconds so I've put red Xs in rough locations of where it should have worked but didn't.<br />
The blue O shows where it actually worked but no location was sent (my tracker is programmed to send some other information every few beacons instead of the location). I had stopped the car there, which would have helped as I wouldn't have been passing through any multipath dead spots while transmitting.<br />
So with 13dB (20x) more power on the same frequency, traditional packet radio is still worse than LORA when used mobile. Even if you compared VHF packet with UHF LORA, I don't think 20 watts VHF (to a 0dB gain antenna like the Moonraker) would get much further than 1 watt UHF.<br />
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And here is <a href="http://www.dalesradio.co/">Dales Radio's</a> Ingleton antenna (103.0 MHz), covering the area further west of Settle, with Settle itself on 104.9 MHz.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGBnOb1RH8UVrmC1pLs3L18-qu01A3thJHYfxTrRNGezKVHCo6tJVDssNudjEpZ2e5KdP-ZZmIYdpCKHMXFJF5hd7nOEIXQi0CwytWguZoXK_eQ-hAmgijzL4PCxfTVm5iZWLC81F7230a/s1600/IMG_20171021_124627.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1440" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGBnOb1RH8UVrmC1pLs3L18-qu01A3thJHYfxTrRNGezKVHCo6tJVDssNudjEpZ2e5KdP-ZZmIYdpCKHMXFJF5hd7nOEIXQi0CwytWguZoXK_eQ-hAmgijzL4PCxfTVm5iZWLC81F7230a/s400/IMG_20171021_124627.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />M1AVVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238229774801022898noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381565241107952856.post-49735254617378244302017-10-19T21:26:00.001+01:002017-10-19T21:26:22.425+01:00433 MHz LORAExperimenting with a couple of 1 watt 410 - 441MHz LORA based modems.<br />
The part number is E32-TTL-1W (there are also 100mW versions available).<br />
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<a href="http://www.cdebyte.com/en/product-view-news.aspx?id=108">Manufacturer's website</a> and <a href="http://www.cdebyte.com/en/downpdf.aspx?id=108">data sheet</a><br />
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Only about £12 each on the usual sites<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Z5fiRkBBQuDFOyOn3UhdvRJHhBacVPm4kQF1k3Q8nuWWFm-aeIYCycwzlJagimMpgcQ1R1Lk2_AjgfLMqJg7eBjBt2r-liYbFB12cQroZ63Zn0GGWturPIjOE_PZl3i-Xe9ePLNPxzym/s1600/e32-aliexpress.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="817" data-original-width="1214" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Z5fiRkBBQuDFOyOn3UhdvRJHhBacVPm4kQF1k3Q8nuWWFm-aeIYCycwzlJagimMpgcQ1R1Lk2_AjgfLMqJg7eBjBt2r-liYbFB12cQroZ63Zn0GGWturPIjOE_PZl3i-Xe9ePLNPxzym/s400/e32-aliexpress.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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With most electronic equipment shipped from overseas, the specifications are usually quite 'optimistic' so I wasn't really expecting 1 watt from them. Especially as the 100mW version looks exactly the same. But they really do put out around 1 watt.<br />
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They fit nicely inside a Choc Box once you cut out the bit which is supposed to go through the terminal block. The cable is a USB to TTL serial adaptor, they were less than £1 each.<br />
The power is supplied from the USB cable (red wire), with the current on transmit 670mA (I couldn't actually measure this using a USB tester, maybe the quick variation in transmit power confused it).<br />
Although they draw quite a high current from the USB port, I had no trouble using them on a PC USB3 port and my phone's USB-C connector (through an On The Go cable).<br />
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Programming software. These settings are for the highest power output and slowest transmission rate (greatest range). There are 65536 addresses available, but #FFFF can be used as a broadcast address.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXIyIUsAITYdUU3qbiOGcOr9gc-2hnGKIQySWmSmYRUr0Ew6ix03hWdEFiG96vKv5h9A8cKIbn_Bm8dIPe1QyUu7QBbnPR1BUR1Y_wh3vnpzc-tVQPOWXiP80m4Ru7S5WAlRNRWSwgsv5S/s1600/e32ttl-setup.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="393" data-original-width="634" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXIyIUsAITYdUU3qbiOGcOr9gc-2hnGKIQySWmSmYRUr0Ew6ix03hWdEFiG96vKv5h9A8cKIbn_Bm8dIPe1QyUu7QBbnPR1BUR1Y_wh3vnpzc-tVQPOWXiP80m4Ru7S5WAlRNRWSwgsv5S/s400/e32ttl-setup.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPpg58-Qnx5rXI3VurVbOXIvEw7aCrudhnPRZRMdyfJyeFK9x4EpgdovFh3On4_kgb3SQqFG-wRLsFkmSsN1L6SogJAz1kvJRyfxwcXqOT30kam6RAhpG7YTvhRR2ez-f2xpefJF6opja9/s1600/chocbox.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPpg58-Qnx5rXI3VurVbOXIvEw7aCrudhnPRZRMdyfJyeFK9x4EpgdovFh3On4_kgb3SQqFG-wRLsFkmSsN1L6SogJAz1kvJRyfxwcXqOT30kam6RAhpG7YTvhRR2ez-f2xpefJF6opja9/s400/chocbox.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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Only 1 MHz channel steps are available, and the transmission is 125 KHz wide, centrered on the MHz. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirZFYR9cLN-87UdMv6A6T9ucmwgGRp26Oe8r-fTUXpyTr9XAztmeSwt_ho9EcX5y8jASqzorNsZERtGX8CU_LGxjv3bVzi-mrhADCwxNWDlgXUyvel-60kerLVpVP0Dubk0Rz1NGb6RTWJ/s1600/e32ttl-sdr2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="684" data-original-width="563" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirZFYR9cLN-87UdMv6A6T9ucmwgGRp26Oe8r-fTUXpyTr9XAztmeSwt_ho9EcX5y8jASqzorNsZERtGX8CU_LGxjv3bVzi-mrhADCwxNWDlgXUyvel-60kerLVpVP0Dubk0Rz1NGb6RTWJ/s400/e32ttl-sdr2.png" width="328" /></a></div>
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How far do they go? LORA is supposed to work with very weak signals at the lowest transmission rates. I connected one modem to the car antenna and the other to the base antenna on my chimney. The data I transmitted came from an Android App on my phone <a href="https://aprsdroid.org/">APRSDroid</a> and was received by <a href="http://aprsisce.wikidot.com/">APRSIS32</a> in Windows.<br />
To these applications and the APRS internet servers, it looked just like I was using packet radio TNCs and the normal APRS frequency (in the UK) of 144.800 MHz.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX50gp4DRW56SaMJMLDPx3bA5ZiCxjCegJPwwDwCbpiddhnRn9wPSIEkhxmYlW_S5OlLlVbwaxlvHwiTltyicgJsQP1p8qQMdNWJvU5QxKm7mOc9Su_CKlVj_LSZMytPeVQg3km8x9wXo8/s1600/e32-mobile.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="763" data-original-width="935" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX50gp4DRW56SaMJMLDPx3bA5ZiCxjCegJPwwDwCbpiddhnRn9wPSIEkhxmYlW_S5OlLlVbwaxlvHwiTltyicgJsQP1p8qQMdNWJvU5QxKm7mOc9Su_CKlVj_LSZMytPeVQg3km8x9wXo8/s400/e32-mobile.png" width="400" /></a></div>
Transmitting at least once every 2 minutes, I drove to a point over 8km away. At this distance there was no line of sight. It even worked in Dalton town centre, behind a hill. Over the route there were only 2 locations where the signal was lost, see the Xs on the map below<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_xZbX_sArjcx1ZDzwDGWKWbQ3H1GJXtg9Z0rCVZO62diezKmXCKbiaUFPigmGx1QWmL27tyq0kFVkfFx1ez4TdRzfikGl-l-6e5IRL2tsmfp2UIXoTvDao6AxHMDp7YStCCm3B3ZPwRdx/s1600/e32-mobile-dalton-x.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="865" data-original-width="1588" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_xZbX_sArjcx1ZDzwDGWKWbQ3H1GJXtg9Z0rCVZO62diezKmXCKbiaUFPigmGx1QWmL27tyq0kFVkfFx1ez4TdRzfikGl-l-6e5IRL2tsmfp2UIXoTvDao6AxHMDp7YStCCm3B3ZPwRdx/s400/e32-mobile-dalton-x.png" width="400" /></a></div>
These locations are at the back of a hill, I would have expected it to be worse in the town centre than there but at least I know where to test in future.<br />
Range would have probably been well over 8km if I'd carried on further east along the A590.<br />
These are good results for 1 watt, probably as good as 10 watts on VHF APRS using normal 1200 baud packet radio. <br />
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This would be interesting as a weak signal mode when propagation is good on UHF. Using terminal software you can just type and they transmit, much like PSK31 but with error correction.M1AVVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238229774801022898noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381565241107952856.post-15426805004170906062016-02-11T17:15:00.003+00:002016-02-11T17:15:51.338+00:00WSPR in LinuxI'm typing this from Linux Mint 17.3, while running WSPR. It was quite easy to install the Windows version of WSPR 4 using Wine. The only problems were no choice of sound devices (I have both internal and USB audio, often a different radio application is using each one) and the list of serial ports for CAT control of the radio still showed COM1 etc. which don't exist in Linux. I think these can be set up to use the proper device but I just chose VOX to transmit.<br />
When I was installing Linux Mint I chose to install it alongside Windows, and it installed itself on an external USB HDD (with the boot menu on the internal HDD).<br />
You can see on the screenshot where I had to turn the input level up from its default of 0. It still managed to decode 2 stations with only half the time slot though.<br />
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<br />M1AVVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238229774801022898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381565241107952856.post-53455282246186886212015-09-20T20:24:00.001+01:002015-09-20T20:24:40.974+01:00PC Specs<b>Main PC:</b><br />
<a href="http://www.lian-li.com/en/dt_portfolio/pc-7-plus/">Lian Li PC7</a> case (bought in 2006, none of the original contents remain)<br />
Be Quiet PSU <br />
Asus <a href="https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/M5A78LMUSB3/">M5A78L-M/USB3</a> motherboard<br />
<a href="http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+FX-8350+Eight-Core&id=1780">AMD FX-8350</a> CPU @ 4GHz<br />
8GB RAM (2 * 4GB PC3-10700)<br />
Onboard graphics (DVI) - Radeon 3000 series<br />
<a href="http://www.iiyama.com/gb_en/products/prolite-b2409hds-1/">iiyama ProLite B2409HDS</a> 24" monitor - 1920*1080 pixels <br />
250GB SATA HDD - pinched the old 1TB drive for use in the NAS<br />
2 * DVD writers<br />
Windows 10 Pro<br />
<br />
<b>Laptop:</b><br />
<a href="http://www.ebuyer.com/698278-lenovo-b50-30-laptop-mca39uk">Lenovo B50-30</a><br />
Intel Celeron N2840 CPU @ 2.16GHz<br />
15.6" display 1366*768 pixels <br />
4GB RAM<br />
500GB HDD<br />
Windows 10 Home<br />
<br />
<b>Storage:</b><br />
WD 2TB USB HDD (usually connected to main PC for backup)<br />
<a href="http://sharecenter.dlink.com/products/DNS-320">D-Link DNS-320</a> NAS, with 2 * 1TB HDDs in RAID1 (for music and video)<br />
Integral Neon 32GB USB3 flash drive (almost permanently connected and backed up, for everyday files)<br />
Toshiba 640GB USB portable HDD<br />
Seagate 250GB USB portable HDD <br />
<br />
<b>Networking:</b><br />
BT Openreach VDSL (FTTC) modem<br />
Technicolor TG582n ADSL modem/router/WiFi (ADSL not used)<br />
<a href="http://www.edimax.com/edimax/merchandise/merchandise_detail/data/edimax/global/wi-fi_bridges_n300/cv-7428ns">Edimax CV-7428nS</a> WiFi Bridge (to connect the wired office/shack network to Wi-Fi and internet)<br />
<a href="http://www.zyxel.com/uk/en/products_services/gs_105b.shtml">Zyxel GS-105B</a> 5 port gigabit switch (to keep main PC and NAS on a gigabit network)<br />
<br />
<b>Other networked devices in the house:</b><br />
2 * Now TV streaming boxes<br />
Sky+ HD box<br />
Measy Android TV stick<br />
Brother MFC-J265W wireless printer/scanner<br />
iPhone 4<br />
iPhone 5S<br />
iPad Mini 2 (with Retina Display)<br />
Samsung Galaxy Note 3<br />
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<br />M1AVVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238229774801022898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381565241107952856.post-13860866095541768752014-11-29T09:23:00.000+00:002014-11-29T09:23:01.788+00:00WSPR 4.0I've installed a new version of WSPR (4.0 r4171) and it's more stable than 2.21 on Windows 8. The old version would run for about 8 hours before stopping with the scary sounding Fatal Python error. This one has had no problems so far.<br />
<a href="http://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/WSPR4.00r4171.exe">It can be downloaded from here</a><br />
I've tried WSPR-X a bit but it doesn't have band hopping and that's something I use a lot. M1AVVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238229774801022898noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381565241107952856.post-59116660806775596312013-08-10T20:47:00.001+01:002013-08-10T20:49:34.329+01:00Brown Carrick HillA more successful SOTA activation yesterday than Wednesday's attempt at See Morris Hill. Brown Carrick Hill (SOTA GM/SS-260) is near to Ayr and Kilmarnock and there are a few people listening to 145.500 in the daytime.<br />
The true summit is not the part with the masts on, it is to the west, across a bit of boggy ground that is below the 25m limit of the activation area.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq9GsrzF_vuKjmkYG8OzahxQopDG6lxT3GbLOCR6Igk9wD_dWGTreW1PsaMt4gOPIxSO0404naMnfsDWiSzX5h-cPH3d1AcFYbRHrdFq16JeBgwB27cdI3YxXKByCPW7mKFg-i1DeWW_0K/s1600/brown-carrick-2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq9GsrzF_vuKjmkYG8OzahxQopDG6lxT3GbLOCR6Igk9wD_dWGTreW1PsaMt4gOPIxSO0404naMnfsDWiSzX5h-cPH3d1AcFYbRHrdFq16JeBgwB27cdI3YxXKByCPW7mKFg-i1DeWW_0K/s400/brown-carrick-2013.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGqDeId917BBel69AoRi-aSHGbFcVL8b2P62vNmfABBhE-MnJOgnz7ZRL2aLlKw28aUS0hjjB4h8c2FQyBaIxLtI_5RD6vzSp-xl5vM8zZuvrezpEXucbFL4QYPK5DB4R8Qp1sdnbXPxCZ/s1600/brown-carrick-pole2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGqDeId917BBel69AoRi-aSHGbFcVL8b2P62vNmfABBhE-MnJOgnz7ZRL2aLlKw28aUS0hjjB4h8c2FQyBaIxLtI_5RD6vzSp-xl5vM8zZuvrezpEXucbFL4QYPK5DB4R8Qp1sdnbXPxCZ/s400/brown-carrick-pole2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOzYEU3fyKl3ki7n1qBzgRdgkaDvIIeKLcj3ScUSrif4U34ds3h6HMtp7mAhZMJgD0ZHdfj_PI5fBZwZWstZotYoLI784kTGeOeu65j83IOYvJnEDu3xCjh4nOG1NixN4fdQHSS5Uss4XA/s1600/brown-carrick-pole.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOzYEU3fyKl3ki7n1qBzgRdgkaDvIIeKLcj3ScUSrif4U34ds3h6HMtp7mAhZMJgD0ZHdfj_PI5fBZwZWstZotYoLI784kTGeOeu65j83IOYvJnEDu3xCjh4nOG1NixN4fdQHSS5Uss4XA/s400/brown-carrick-pole.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWY1vJmQ9Nx2DVMka5kldEkOMkU_TQZNjMUJ3KTAQbLbT9s1SGK6EeI7nYwJ9st53WZDWwY_UoFO09YnwlbYNk_dJsj0CifUMHayYpaKIF7f285wPkpZBuu3OfakDiDqMnUj8OciKirn_1/s1600/brown-carrick-si.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWY1vJmQ9Nx2DVMka5kldEkOMkU_TQZNjMUJ3KTAQbLbT9s1SGK6EeI7nYwJ9st53WZDWwY_UoFO09YnwlbYNk_dJsj0CifUMHayYpaKIF7f285wPkpZBuu3OfakDiDqMnUj8OciKirn_1/s400/brown-carrick-si.jpg" width="327" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsKwCw7Tn6fS8eh_M1QhDW8fhld-8WLsJobW5Whz1N_7IN0WAFUq9i4z0jQgaP3gnV1qYqD9ceYKwqfIW4Myl0LO65ZrNJrz718p27wQHgZwcAcA2i_KanFPEUMHS83XEF_XHxZLMqlVaP/s1600/brown-carrick-tape.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsKwCw7Tn6fS8eh_M1QhDW8fhld-8WLsJobW5Whz1N_7IN0WAFUq9i4z0jQgaP3gnV1qYqD9ceYKwqfIW4Myl0LO65ZrNJrz718p27wQHgZwcAcA2i_KanFPEUMHS83XEF_XHxZLMqlVaP/s400/brown-carrick-tape.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Brown Carrick Hill masts today</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp5WxXP0HAiRk2DEnSr0Xx8DOVylR-WmG8yXRqX53gb0JX47If3iu8WSgqTVBC7BDMbpTeOWyS5-xhacdXSJ3_0Ig2h8txtNtsPiHFlvJsiUxmS8cmReoIGeo4J_L8LK9Ae1qBrnWYL6e6/s1600/brown-carrick-2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp5WxXP0HAiRk2DEnSr0Xx8DOVylR-WmG8yXRqX53gb0JX47If3iu8WSgqTVBC7BDMbpTeOWyS5-xhacdXSJ3_0Ig2h8txtNtsPiHFlvJsiUxmS8cmReoIGeo4J_L8LK9Ae1qBrnWYL6e6/s400/brown-carrick-2013.jpg" width="400" /> </a></div>
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The masts in 2009 when I was last here</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhurOfV_-MCOpSFleVKoYEh0hKB1IPJhCb39GjCvHoFWzUu4mLqD00fwIdEjkvQuV9of9R7owm4cnR8TnKTVf_rPj0L474DT429wNFucXRGp32dlzwIHP3iQAEGCkfxcxFE-JxuWc2h3o5j/s1600/brown-carrick-2009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhurOfV_-MCOpSFleVKoYEh0hKB1IPJhCb39GjCvHoFWzUu4mLqD00fwIdEjkvQuV9of9R7owm4cnR8TnKTVf_rPj0L474DT429wNFucXRGp32dlzwIHP3iQAEGCkfxcxFE-JxuWc2h3o5j/s320/brown-carrick-2009.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Some of the antennas have gone from the masts, all the emergency services have now moved to TETRA (the 4-stack dipoles with extra supports). DAB antennas are on the most distant of the 3 masts.<br />
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This ship was just off Ayr <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFkcnKC9hL5BjhMYSVUyeb6RA1mf7DMqsisSCWoEJVAWKPlk_ZErHkXuMCEFom_28NxFJbQcrbzTQPdQBlIU_l8HD3zfJDu9ldNKoBbtAL9-dTcyveGFKpxP_noJUgqWR6K2dus5hnx1k3/s1600/ship-ayr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFkcnKC9hL5BjhMYSVUyeb6RA1mf7DMqsisSCWoEJVAWKPlk_ZErHkXuMCEFom_28NxFJbQcrbzTQPdQBlIU_l8HD3zfJDu9ldNKoBbtAL9-dTcyveGFKpxP_noJUgqWR6K2dus5hnx1k3/s320/ship-ayr.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />M1AVVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238229774801022898noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381565241107952856.post-78947587650759258152013-06-01T17:45:00.002+01:002013-06-02T10:15:29.920+01:00More antenna results<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Full results so far</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga28aZ_jP7i9Gr5TQsRcGxT4uH3iG5pbFv4h3EV5DxfJeMxDEIXMtrXIo1EP0NyvV4NaXX3gQACYkwIIDqiA2UDACd07pCV16KjsB8DVJA3zjK9auBcim6hrFBVLvar55X8t1v3G_XnzQB/s1600/table.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga28aZ_jP7i9Gr5TQsRcGxT4uH3iG5pbFv4h3EV5DxfJeMxDEIXMtrXIo1EP0NyvV4NaXX3gQACYkwIIDqiA2UDACd07pCV16KjsB8DVJA3zjK9auBcim6hrFBVLvar55X8t1v3G_XnzQB/s400/table.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil13I3WnKrDFjvODcAl1vInSgRirNM9OLFu5njSXaaNO4bYBPZ7nhc8W723bkFf4krHOeqNxy1c1UoiYfr8gsI1PzoT8YzVPC0nBrpa4teHH6-qqkZww6mwP3w7mm_lSwEgsxDiNTOT-b_/s1600/sdr-mobile-test-ants.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil13I3WnKrDFjvODcAl1vInSgRirNM9OLFu5njSXaaNO4bYBPZ7nhc8W723bkFf4krHOeqNxy1c1UoiYfr8gsI1PzoT8YzVPC0nBrpa4teHH6-qqkZww6mwP3w7mm_lSwEgsxDiNTOT-b_/s400/sdr-mobile-test-ants.jpg" width="283" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1X7v5H0j4e91veoz3jV46TKB7pQnIzqBotdQuig3e8qaY4Fk8S-wnfBSD0qRPgk30hQq89bTB9YrBKYEJnVI0Up6QdmOmZxS9M5KS4NeZ1q-b2vIMHa59MjEunGZRTuXt3aDMygjXU8_0/s1600/sdr-test-ants-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1X7v5H0j4e91veoz3jV46TKB7pQnIzqBotdQuig3e8qaY4Fk8S-wnfBSD0qRPgk30hQq89bTB9YrBKYEJnVI0Up6QdmOmZxS9M5KS4NeZ1q-b2vIMHa59MjEunGZRTuXt3aDMygjXU8_0/s400/sdr-test-ants-2.jpg" width="361" /></a></div>
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M1AVVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238229774801022898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381565241107952856.post-60778646137660621712013-06-01T10:29:00.001+01:002013-06-01T10:30:39.913+01:00Mobile / Handheld Antenna TestTested some more mobile and handheld antennas using my RTL TV tuner dongle in the car.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXGjW-MkVbIfE8Z1LFRPWHB0yk7H49guQSzP_Y3y6R5VcCACsRoyTE_-7mK5vOeF0yqpnXjUoQgw3b5RTO94waoBif8dWA7Vex2yxi3SnG-hgnQ2DS91mpB2WmUkirc8Gnu1MQrV5qIGih/s1600/sdr-mobile-test-ants.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXGjW-MkVbIfE8Z1LFRPWHB0yk7H49guQSzP_Y3y6R5VcCACsRoyTE_-7mK5vOeF0yqpnXjUoQgw3b5RTO94waoBif8dWA7Vex2yxi3SnG-hgnQ2DS91mpB2WmUkirc8Gnu1MQrV5qIGih/s400/sdr-mobile-test-ants.jpg" width="283" /> </a></div>
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There was also a Moonraker 2m/70cm mobile antenna which I'd bought recently and which is now getting used as my main mobile antenna (see earlier blog post).</div>
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1. Straight whip with PL259 connector, a 1/4 wave on 145MHz</div>
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2. <a href="http://www.409shop.com/409shop_product.php?id=102336">Nagoya NL77B</a> 2m/70cm PL259 mobile</div>
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3. <a href="http://www.409shop.com/409shop_product.php?id=102312">Nagoya NA702</a> 2m/70cm SMA flexi whip. This isn't resonant on the amateur bands at all, it seems to really be tuned to around 165MHz, making it more useful for scanners.</div>
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4. <a href="http://www.radioworld.co.uk/catalog/w-801_watson_25-1900mhz_regular_gainer_bnc-p-4029.html">Watson Regular Gainer</a> BNC flexi whip. Sold as a scanner antenna, it is tuned to 150/450MHz.</div>
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5. <a href="http://www.radioworld.co.uk/catalog/wsma-7000_watson_2m_70cm_dual_band_antenna_sma-p-4027.html">Watson WSMA-7000</a> 2m/70cm flexi whip.</div>
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6. The stock antenna from a <a href="http://www.rocketradio.co.uk/uniden-ubc-3500xlt-2500-ch-scanner--ukeu-spec-ubc3500-1268-p.asp">Uniden Bearcat UBC3500</a> scanner. </div>
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The USB device shown is a cheap TV/FM/DAB tuner based on a RLT2832U and R820T chip design. It cost about £7 and can tune from 24 - 1800 MHz in all modes and bandwidths using RTLSDR software. The SDR# software has a spectrum display with a dB scale which I used for this test.</div>
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I set the receiver gain so that the strongest signal in the SDR bandwidth (it converts down to a 2 MHz bandwidth for the software to process) was around 10dB below full scale to make sure nothing was being overloaded.</div>
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All antennas were tested on a magmount on the car roof. The car roof makes it slightly off vertical polarisation but at VHF it probably won't make much difference with these short antennas.</div>
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The coax shown in the photo is the original (75 ohm?) stuff which came with a short TV antenna whip on. I just soldered a PL259 plug onto it.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilOURZk79o54VU4TcgS9DyePmjRJ0s3QjrK5J5gO0cjS3BCY7R-Acbo3tbxP2fdY1w5cWLfIicLKA7VP12rv-RD8LN6MAs_knqd3KHNpvuUlmTw_WLDzNSf8GYecYao7kDc0O5F8qre4hW/s1600/20130407_171545opt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilOURZk79o54VU4TcgS9DyePmjRJ0s3QjrK5J5gO0cjS3BCY7R-Acbo3tbxP2fdY1w5cWLfIicLKA7VP12rv-RD8LN6MAs_knqd3KHNpvuUlmTw_WLDzNSf8GYecYao7kDc0O5F8qre4hW/s400/20130407_171545opt.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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Here are the results, I took readings on 2 different bands, around 140 and 164 MHz. These give a good signal source as there are some nearby transmitters operating 24/7. On 140MHz I had the RF gain turned up full without overload. I turned it down a bit on 164MHz. The USB tuner is off frequency, usually by about 45ppm but I didn't bother correcting it for this test.</div>
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All readings are in dB relative to whatever I got with the 145MHz 1/4 wave. </div>
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<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 349px;"><colgroup><col style="width: 48pt;" width="64"></col>
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<td class="xl22" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt; width: 48pt;" width="64">Photo</td>
<td class="xl22" style="border-left: none; width: 118pt;" width="157">Antenna</td>
<td class="xl22" style="border-left: none; width: 48pt;" width="64">140 MHz</td>
<td class="xl22" style="border-left: none; width: 48pt;" width="64">164 MHz</td>
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<td class="xl23" height="17" style="border-top: none; height: 12.75pt;">0</td>
<td class="xl23" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">Moonraker Mobile</td>
<td class="xl23" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">-1</td>
<td class="xl23" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">-1</td>
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<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl23" height="17" style="border-top: none; height: 12.75pt;">1</td>
<td class="xl23" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">Straight Whip (50cm)</td>
<td class="xl23" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">0</td>
<td class="xl23" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">0</td>
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<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl23" height="17" style="border-top: none; height: 12.75pt;">2</td>
<td class="xl23" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">Nagoya Mobile</td>
<td class="xl23" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">-2.5</td>
<td class="xl23" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">-1.5</td>
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<td class="xl23" height="17" style="border-top: none; height: 12.75pt;">3</td>
<td class="xl23" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">Nagoya 702 SMA</td>
<td class="xl23" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">-6</td>
<td class="xl23" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">0</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl23" height="17" style="border-top: none; height: 12.75pt;">4</td>
<td class="xl23" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">Watson Reg Gainer BNC</td>
<td class="xl23" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">-5</td>
<td class="xl23" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">-10</td>
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<td class="xl23" height="17" style="border-top: none; height: 12.75pt;">5</td>
<td class="xl23" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">Watson 7000 SMA</td>
<td class="xl23" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">-10</td>
<td class="xl23" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">-23</td>
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<td class="xl23" height="17" style="border-top: none; height: 12.75pt;">6</td>
<td class="xl23" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">Uniden UBC3500 SMA</td>
<td class="xl23" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">-15</td>
<td class="xl23" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">-9</td><td class="xl23" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"></td><td class="xl23" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"></td>
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The straight whip is the best performer, but isn't suitable for UHF. The Moonraker and Nagoya mobile antennas are similar on UHF but the shorter length of the Nagoya is probably letting it down at 140MHz.<br />
Antenna 3, the Nagoya 702 flexi whip, is shorter than any of the mobile antennas but is equal or better than the larger antennas at 164MHz. This is in line with what we see from the SWR readings of this NA702, it also shows that the mobile antennas are not really that good up at 164MHz if they can be beat by a 29cm long whip.<br />
At 140MHz the short length and 165MHz tuning of the NA702 is showing, with -6dB gain. The Watson Regular Gainer is even shorter at 21cm but has 1dB more gain on the lower frequency. The extra loading coil needed to get it working on 150MHz is narrowing the bandwidth a bit though, with -10dB gain on 164MHz. It's marketed as a 25-1900 MHz wideband antenna but the NA702 (which doesn't look like it could have any loading coil inside it) is actually a better choice if the 8cm extra length isn't a problem (try the Watson Regular Gainer around 200MHz - it's hard to tell if it's even plugged in!).<br />
The Watson 7000 SMA antenna is very poor at 164MHz, probably because it has been carefully tuned to the amateur bands despite its small size, and this makes it useless for anything else. Even the Nagoya NA702 and Watson Regular Gainer (neither of which are resonant in the amateur bands) will be better than this on 145MHz. But it is one of the shortest and this is going to limit the bandwidth for anything you could transmit into.<br />
Lastly, the Uniden scanner's stock rubber duck antenna isn't very good at anything (it's just as bad on UHF), but it's the smallest. I'd guess it was designed for about 160MHz.<br />
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For the car, I'd choose the Moonraker if I was looking for something compact.<br />
For short under 30cm handheld antennas I'd choose the NA702 even though the tuning is a bit off.<br />
Another time I'll test some larger mobile and handheld antennas.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6lis45tQFAU2f3eqgNbNvEA9wHuGX5eGh6XWveWXOj25m5jgyrKO_AzX-YEEkhUBXI7OtolKfsgFijzx9GFHIyNT1_DGH5LIIMRdMji13ZerFd1QqQUuardRWC9pQRC6HvnyMfJ1XmkYi/s1600/moon164.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6lis45tQFAU2f3eqgNbNvEA9wHuGX5eGh6XWveWXOj25m5jgyrKO_AzX-YEEkhUBXI7OtolKfsgFijzx9GFHIyNT1_DGH5LIIMRdMji13ZerFd1QqQUuardRWC9pQRC6HvnyMfJ1XmkYi/s400/moon164.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br /><!--30cm-->M1AVVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238229774801022898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381565241107952856.post-49542821077267700582013-05-03T14:47:00.002+01:002013-05-03T14:47:41.389+01:00Mobile AntennasNagoya NL77B 2m/70cm mobile antenna. I've had this for over 3 years. It's not resonant on 2m, with the SWR not even going below 1.5:1 on any VHF frequency.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9IGOzeVh5ORW6-h3SM57qa4jz-frDxd7_9XIqds-gTDeS4-UzJ5OwAUQ8AS9V0M0_U0DNWsz9rQTsYYu5XKJgG9LZ0-soegkeqahsTPLQwnBvBcUHGcPFX3uaJgstq6uNeP-nUfrei2CF/s1600/P1020027opt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="343" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9IGOzeVh5ORW6-h3SM57qa4jz-frDxd7_9XIqds-gTDeS4-UzJ5OwAUQ8AS9V0M0_U0DNWsz9rQTsYYu5XKJgG9LZ0-soegkeqahsTPLQwnBvBcUHGcPFX3uaJgstq6uNeP-nUfrei2CF/s400/P1020027opt.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
It's about 40cm long, so shorter than 1/4 wave on 145 MHz.<br />
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Last month I bought another compact 2m/70cm mobile antenna, the <a href="http://www.moonraker.eu/Amateur-Radio/Mobile-Whip-Antennas/Dual-and-Tri-Band/MRQ525-270-MOBILE-ANTENNA">Moonraker MRQ525</a> which is slightly longer but still less than 1/4 wave at 145 MHz.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizCXAzlWBOiYwshzecSlYfQ5D3ULtlo6aCxqthPN2bM4C9_u_Sw1fXR1KY3DJwUJ_Z64UuW9pTDkb8zNs4gCt-r01g4M8Q_pPgAmkJr2ovi28j9oiF7yf2Dfrl3BumR91XapYIp6j5NQXe/s1600/20130407_171545opt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizCXAzlWBOiYwshzecSlYfQ5D3ULtlo6aCxqthPN2bM4C9_u_Sw1fXR1KY3DJwUJ_Z64UuW9pTDkb8zNs4gCt-r01g4M8Q_pPgAmkJr2ovi28j9oiF7yf2Dfrl3BumR91XapYIp6j5NQXe/s400/20130407_171545opt.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
There isn't much of a difference between them in SWR readings, neither give a very good SWR when used on the same mag mount.<br />
I compared them on receive along with a straight 145 MHz 1/4 wave whip, on the same mag mount.<br />
In the 145 MHz amateur band, both were worse than the straight whip (they are shorter so expect them to be worse) by between 0 and 1 bar on the Yaesu FT-8900 meter.<br />
At around 165 MHz, there was little or no difference between all 3 antennas, the 2 dual banders would be around 1/4 wavelength tall at this frequency. A straight whip cut for the exact frequency would be better but then it would not be a match for 145 MHz.<br />
At around 455 MHz, the dual banders were very similar, but the straight 145 MHz 1/4 wave was down by around 3 signal bars (5 bars on the dual banders was 2 bars on the straight whip).<br />
Without the centre phasing coil, the straight antenna acts as a 3/4 wavelength on UHF, with an uneven radiation pattern. That's fine if you have no interest in UHF at all.<br />
There was nothing in the 430 - 440 MHz band to test it with at the time. The results would probably be around the same as on 455 MHz as they all seem quite wideband.<br />
At 393 MHz, which none of them were designed to cover, the straight whip was still about 3 bars down and the Moonraker was slightly better than the others.<br />
I also had a Watson W770 2m/70cm dual bander but this has developed a fault which made it worse than all 3 of the tested antennas.<br />
A Watson W770 copy (by Sharmans) that I also have, is a bit worse than the 2 short dual banders around 165 MHz but better on 145 MHz.<br />
<br />
Although the Nagoya is a 'cheap' brand, mine has had no faults after 3 years when it has been left on the car day and night, it is solidly built. I've had Moonraker antennas fail after a short time before, so it will be interesting to see what happens to this one. They are probably all built in the same factory in China anyway.<br />
For everyday use where wideband reception is also important, these small dual banders are as good as anything else. Higher gain models will have smaller bandwidths.M1AVVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238229774801022898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381565241107952856.post-40179403869128174382012-02-17T17:46:00.003+00:002012-02-17T17:59:10.663+00:00Flex 1500 settings<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDJaZUT4sF56OVII0qBzMEMPzK0LvZg69XxxPzdK9AWOvboJsAwVyM9Q2TMtIbyIzyegeWoloizL9QYnQwtHpmHqNIg40iwyEXVFzlfVxTO8XsCy2cLwVs-14cn2tPYVxxSx7eJflfPGxE/s1600/flex1500audio.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDJaZUT4sF56OVII0qBzMEMPzK0LvZg69XxxPzdK9AWOvboJsAwVyM9Q2TMtIbyIzyegeWoloizL9QYnQwtHpmHqNIg40iwyEXVFzlfVxTO8XsCy2cLwVs-14cn2tPYVxxSx7eJflfPGxE/s320/flex1500audio.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5710162478921187442" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-jtNG9FPhf-hWLOq98DIBQ-oKQ0eRt2YL1gGGMvMo7Vi85_6jXUgoTSFJUjSZL8HCLHHdIhjY1RO-Q6dGCKAA85wzUaAQekNDe5gvUMsdrQzKeA12w7JomLAe3y2N1Z2yEqkA6fUbN5Ln/s1600/flex1500cat.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-jtNG9FPhf-hWLOq98DIBQ-oKQ0eRt2YL1gGGMvMo7Vi85_6jXUgoTSFJUjSZL8HCLHHdIhjY1RO-Q6dGCKAA85wzUaAQekNDe5gvUMsdrQzKeA12w7JomLAe3y2N1Z2yEqkA6fUbN5Ln/s320/flex1500cat.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5710162483664501858" border="0" /></a><br />PowerSDR setup for audio and CAT. COM6 is a virtual serial port.<br /><br />TX audio is set to -5dB as this is the level which gives just under 100% output power on SSB when fed through a virtual audio cable from WSPR. I got an email from someone telling me my WSPR signal was spreading all over the (200Hz wide) band, so trying to be careful to avoid any distortion. I think the distortion might have been to do with getting 20ms breaks in the audio though, sometimes the receive audio was getting clicks and whatever was holding up the USB interface would have been doing it on transmit too. Re-installing the Flex1500 driver sorted that out. To WSPR, these clicks made all the received signals look like they were spreading over a wider bandwidth.<br />The RX audio might not need to be so low but anything higher usually puts data software into the red on waterfall type displays.<br /><br />Had a problem with the radio recently where the transmit power was next to nothing (it just about moved the needle on my power meter). I thought the PA might have gone (the software was showing 100% output power and a normal looking spectrum) but when I installed an older version of PowerSDR (version 2.0.19 instead of 2.2), it went back to normal.M1AVVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238229774801022898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381565241107952856.post-36625267796708628572012-02-02T19:41:00.004+00:002012-02-02T19:47:36.277+00:00Flex 1500<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-pzZKj-mbn5LLFrTaDbM1FNDgqECkKva82VSHsx48LnnBjaswnfVHjkcRils_aog2s_xGnSRFsT_LpJtNLixcU7I2EvCgZFBgiZPJCyDAACTMUz3dLOSbqVs1wUdwLrJjtxecK62Q38wg/s1600/flex1500front.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-pzZKj-mbn5LLFrTaDbM1FNDgqECkKva82VSHsx48LnnBjaswnfVHjkcRils_aog2s_xGnSRFsT_LpJtNLixcU7I2EvCgZFBgiZPJCyDAACTMUz3dLOSbqVs1wUdwLrJjtxecK62Q38wg/s320/flex1500front.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5704626024829901490" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Flex 1500 SDR and LDG auto tuner. The tuner and radio are supplied from the 4 way splitter cable. Another useful little cable I have a few of is a 2.5mm into 1.7mm power lead, with which you can run an FT-817 (or Alinco DJ-G7) from the more common power supply connectors.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpBoHLps3n42RsqRYbP9-wQNpCpNx9HZEi-CZvy8SrUixZ0VcYYVvbSpZDfI7Zp9WQ1SmekXlz1X0PzGTx0aeR3wsaLMpRbO8J6y087-Vly3vgHkPCGXIxDT_YtLnC4qdgdeXBcsqPJ-by/s1600/flex1500back.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpBoHLps3n42RsqRYbP9-wQNpCpNx9HZEi-CZvy8SrUixZ0VcYYVvbSpZDfI7Zp9WQ1SmekXlz1X0PzGTx0aeR3wsaLMpRbO8J6y087-Vly3vgHkPCGXIxDT_YtLnC4qdgdeXBcsqPJ-by/s320/flex1500back.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5704626030381124482" border="0" /></a><br />The photos were taken with my <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_Note">Samsung Galaxy Note</a>M1AVVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238229774801022898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381565241107952856.post-17219329968482955502011-09-15T19:10:00.005+01:002011-09-15T19:46:11.571+01:00Windows 8<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjihL12XAHqsqMFVkY1sXvC298-l3wIvvhX5uryt7mrXBCkTAEq1yJFPrb9zFH9jyRuEZP6k5orGYHmnbHQBfLBi98fr8wCMVWU8F6NmphUJk8gdg3Sp55F2IY61r4E9sy_mL2q7bl0nX_1/s1600/win8tiles.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjihL12XAHqsqMFVkY1sXvC298-l3wIvvhX5uryt7mrXBCkTAEq1yJFPrb9zFH9jyRuEZP6k5orGYHmnbHQBfLBi98fr8wCMVWU8F6NmphUJk8gdg3Sp55F2IY61r4E9sy_mL2q7bl0nX_1/s320/win8tiles.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5652659005941360018" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Installed the <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/13/microsoft-launches-windows-8-developer-preview/">Developer Preview of Windows 8</a> tonight. Apart from the screen resolution being limited to non-widescreen settings of 800x600, 1024x768, 1152x864 and 1280x1024 (none of which will scale up to the full size of my monitor, which is 1920x1080), everything so far has worked the same as in Windows 7.<br /> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgImY7TzD0_EKvUV1TG5WqO9iXruGgKDLULOnnGnG6pFdrh8vIAiWmsq8yXtVfsUc2h0Gp4kmKCPRRKb29V0AXXn1Vfp5ceZyluvNImg5CUraPhn86FaJw6wAYFK-SyhhIT0HG67wES2qd/s1600/win8explorer.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgImY7TzD0_EKvUV1TG5WqO9iXruGgKDLULOnnGnG6pFdrh8vIAiWmsq8yXtVfsUc2h0Gp4kmKCPRRKb29V0AXXn1Vfp5ceZyluvNImg5CUraPhn86FaJw6wAYFK-SyhhIT0HG67wES2qd/s320/win8explorer.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5652659264203004674" border="0" /></a><br />I've tried installing some of my regularly used software and it has all worked. One program needed .NET but Windows downloaded it automatically.<br />The usual desktop and Windows Explorer are there behind the new tiled UI, and work mostly the same.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzQm-fRe-vhvUrD3WbvR0bLVvblTyfrF3zSiTu5Y4QnhLZy998xz_5vZPNBl1U7YOTDiOaZgz-7oP2Y-CrX41jgjJ20z5ua_LWyiv9yOvXlqSM0lM0JVun4oGcqX9aKz3MX4YvKFHD0i-2/s1600/win8desktop.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzQm-fRe-vhvUrD3WbvR0bLVvblTyfrF3zSiTu5Y4QnhLZy998xz_5vZPNBl1U7YOTDiOaZgz-7oP2Y-CrX41jgjJ20z5ua_LWyiv9yOvXlqSM0lM0JVun4oGcqX9aKz3MX4YvKFHD0i-2/s320/win8desktop.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5652659156908201378" border="0" /></a><br />At the moment I'm running WSPR 2.0 and it's definitely transmitting and receiving somewhere so the sound card and serial port are working.<br />But will Windows ever have PDF support or have single-click turned on by default (it's only been <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Explorer#Internet_Explorer_4">available for 14 years</a>)?<br /><br />Holmfirth on 21MHz WSPR tonight (IO93CN, 111Km).M1AVVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238229774801022898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381565241107952856.post-7837922411842119912011-04-27T21:44:00.005+01:002011-04-27T22:33:56.748+01:00SRC 9:1 UnUn<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoFtKm65ji79IRtRrwQ-5eJXc1BebwU8CO8RwssMululg0FYuKKcI7P0yy43ug6TYzHdSa93ZHYtFPD2HAgEbSHKE4jwtLTj68OVGw5ZWGF_bJUgXIxNGTqSEjngh9tAFw3KwpbMalcxzN/s1600/src-19mhz.png"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 169px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoFtKm65ji79IRtRrwQ-5eJXc1BebwU8CO8RwssMululg0FYuKKcI7P0yy43ug6TYzHdSa93ZHYtFPD2HAgEbSHKE4jwtLTj68OVGw5ZWGF_bJUgXIxNGTqSEjngh9tAFw3KwpbMalcxzN/s320/src-19mhz.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5600367386528466258" border="0" /></a><br />SWR plot of <a href="http://www.snowdonia-radio-company.co.uk/ourshop/prod_514858-SRC-91-UNUN.html">Snowdonia Radio Company 9:1 UnUn</a>, with about 7.5m of wire on a 5m fishing pole. The wire was coiled loosely round the bottom half of the pole to fit the extra length.<br />Fed with about 5m of RG58 coax, and no earth (except for grounding through radio power cable to car body).<br /><br />Compare that to my own end fed half wave for 14 MHz which I have at home, using a similar transformer:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLQVUktSC_1956utR68LfWQheOiktItu5d6o2jOJj3qPJAJIr8k73eJgFkloYTnX40IYuOCzAKe_hWPsQtQdConFFghxk__0jSe5C9WGYzvIe6AZjQ-aPN7ECdVljsAc3G7AgxasTv76FR/s1600/wire-10m-all+hf.png"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 184px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLQVUktSC_1956utR68LfWQheOiktItu5d6o2jOJj3qPJAJIr8k73eJgFkloYTnX40IYuOCzAKe_hWPsQtQdConFFghxk__0jSe5C9WGYzvIe6AZjQ-aPN7ECdVljsAc3G7AgxasTv76FR/s320/wire-10m-all+hf.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5600377831605941538" border="0" /></a><br />The basic SWR curve looks the same but there are some other resonant frequencies below 14 MHz where the SWR is not so bad. This might be because the wire is going across the back yard, close to buildings and telephone wires (also radiation from the coax). I shouldn't really be able to operate on 3.5 and 7 MHz with it but it works OK with a tuner.<br />Do "magic" short antennas like transformer fed wires/verticals just couple into other wiring when used at home?<br /><br />Rooted my HTC Hero Android phone (<a href="http://software2tech.com/tag/download-universal-androot/">Universal Androot</a>) so the time can be synchronised with an NTP server. It's now accurate enough to be used as a WSPR beacon. Set up an alarm clock to play a recording of the correct WSPR tones at a certain time. Even if I'm away from network coverage, the time stays within a second as long as I've synced it in the last day.<br />Better than my new Samsung N150 netbook, which always says the clock is 5 seconds off when synchronising over NTP, but then sets the clock with a 5 second error.M1AVVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238229774801022898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381565241107952856.post-53436499790612131782011-04-10T22:20:00.005+01:002011-04-10T22:33:51.223+01:00Icom CAT/data modes cableI bought a data cable for Icom HF transceivers from the Blackpool rally today. It's something like the <a href="http://www.xggcomms.com/page3.htm">Icom IC-Cable-8 (cable 8 on this page)</a>.<br />The cable I made myself used the 6-pin mini-DIN socket on the IC-7000 but this one uses the 13-pin accessory socket and the 3.5mm jack (CAT interface). This replaces separate CAT and PTT/audio cables, freeing up a serial port.<br />PTT is possible via both CAT and serial port (RTS line). When using the 6-pin socket, there was no transmitted audio if CAT was used to key the radio (so there is no need for the hardware PTT circuit anyway). This doesn't happen with the 13-pin socket but there is one problem, the microphone sockets aren't disconnected. So when operating data modes using this cable, the mic gain needs to be turned to 0. If there is someone keying up with no modulation then it's probably me forgotten to turn the mic gain back up for voice.<br />The level of the PC Line Out also needed to be turned up from 10 (using my 6-pin cable), to 25 (using the 13-pin cable) to get the same output power.<br />I also got a <a href="http://www.snowdonia-radio-company.co.uk/ourshop/prod_514858-SRC-91-UNUN.html">Snowdonia Radio Company 9:1 Unun</a><strong><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><strong><a href="http://www.snowdonia-radio-company.co.uk/ourshop/prod_514858-SRC-91-UNUN.html"></a><br /></strong></span></strong>M1AVVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238229774801022898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381565241107952856.post-6160133110186412952011-03-05T21:01:00.003+00:002011-03-05T21:15:01.684+00:00New CarSome photos of the new mobile set up in Vauxhall Meriva VXR. I've not put the APRS tracker in yet but that should be able to go back on its sticky mat.<br />Yaesu FT-8900 main unit on passenger side. CRT extension speaker.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh55JyWVn7LKHSVmpc2WNty0q5L2Q0WhMhyphenhyphen28Ff_ceyiC6Xwiq3QSAMVxXOr7dxRrbb2x9UvQml5K2qhdiHPZxrz94y24H3GFJK6_z00kUf4NgDY0KLtFqezn74q4Qx0CD7T1WEBklF0tpz/s1600/P1020039opt.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 252px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh55JyWVn7LKHSVmpc2WNty0q5L2Q0WhMhyphenhyphen28Ff_ceyiC6Xwiq3QSAMVxXOr7dxRrbb2x9UvQml5K2qhdiHPZxrz94y24H3GFJK6_z00kUf4NgDY0KLtFqezn74q4Qx0CD7T1WEBklF0tpz/s320/P1020039opt.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5580704168113594482" border="0" /></a><br /><br />FT-8900 front panel fixed to air vent using some old air fresheners and clothes pegs. The CD player will play MP3 discs.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLUWt0JP6fALGce-0J2yphNmFFz62O4VCdjJE582O2PIzFDj6uoKhbcIQpod32MQBlUaHcmcjd37Pj1VRQe-EGXQxvxcSi0qBCwVRAAk2I6TVUUcC26F6XfW3mR-zMA5U6_l_3oquJcv3_/s1600/P1020042opt.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 255px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLUWt0JP6fALGce-0J2yphNmFFz62O4VCdjJE582O2PIzFDj6uoKhbcIQpod32MQBlUaHcmcjd37Pj1VRQe-EGXQxvxcSi0qBCwVRAAk2I6TVUUcC26F6XfW3mR-zMA5U6_l_3oquJcv3_/s320/P1020042opt.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5580704160743091762" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.radiogearpro.com/main/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=12&products_id=673&osCsid=qsjfexubq">Nagoya NL-77B</a> 2m/70cm mobile antenna on magmount<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRhgQiEwhxdYLdgbfuSjk9FfdnCwsEMM4sqAsJkM_7PPsF3b0tqelwG4F3wsBrm-j_XHzWpRfW1xHfppVu1bw13vX8hZgMpvikBL7AsBqNPOFQwJJs7aUVuXCzJG2vNUjph8QhEcbZmJL4/s1600/P1020030opt.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 318px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRhgQiEwhxdYLdgbfuSjk9FfdnCwsEMM4sqAsJkM_7PPsF3b0tqelwG4F3wsBrm-j_XHzWpRfW1xHfppVu1bw13vX8hZgMpvikBL7AsBqNPOFQwJJs7aUVuXCzJG2vNUjph8QhEcbZmJL4/s320/P1020030opt.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5580704160830408114" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaEbcqgmpRbb17sUKKy-AYVBzlZp8atz_ara1ZRqpsScgCSUeT529YFbjwVnL_GR_BzP-ozXdfWWN5HnJEKE48peyWejkxkChWWklgLKQDl4br4y41FHL_9Q3jpGDdK6Adg1HwWY7eR5yH/s1600/P1020027opt.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 275px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaEbcqgmpRbb17sUKKy-AYVBzlZp8atz_ara1ZRqpsScgCSUeT529YFbjwVnL_GR_BzP-ozXdfWWN5HnJEKE48peyWejkxkChWWklgLKQDl4br4y41FHL_9Q3jpGDdK6Adg1HwWY7eR5yH/s320/P1020027opt.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5580704155665122578" border="0" /></a>M1AVVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238229774801022898noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8381565241107952856.post-2844378301713556802010-12-22T18:01:00.004+00:002010-12-23T10:26:14.599+00:00Puxing PX-2RI recently ordered a <a href="http://pxdz.com/english/showpro.asp?id=2372">Puxing PX-2R</a> handheld and it arrived today.<br />This covers 400 - 470 MHz, with 2 watts RF power.<br />The battery is a 3.7v mobile phone type and charging is through a Nokia type 2mm power connector at 5 volts, so it will charge from a USB port (cable supplied) or Nokia phone charger.<br />It has a female SMA antenna connector (unlike other Chinese handhelds).<br />The manual has no information about how to store frequencies into the 128 memories or connect to a PC for programming, but there is programming software available on the Puxing website and the 2.5mm speaker/mic socket must be used for the PC connection. There is no mention of 6.25KHz steps either, the menu allows only 12.5 or 25 KHz channel steps, but if you type in a 6.25 KHz offset frequency (e.g. 446006) then it tunes in 12.5 KHz steps from that frequency (446.00625, 446.01875 etc.)<br />As usual for this type of radio, the S-meter is useless, taking about 2 seconds to respond to any change in signal and showing either full or nothing.<br />For £28 including postage this is worth the money though.<br /><a href="http://www.transmission1.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=9364">Forum discussion on this handheld</a><br /><a href="http://www.transmission1.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=9364&sid=afb48dc9f1fd10384e714cebd528f3a9&start=75">Instructions on storing memories</a>M1AVVhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18238229774801022898noreply@blogger.com3