Review soon! G600 Microscope.

Chinese purchases have been few and far between during the last 12 months or so, apart from a few component orders. With time as scarce as hens teeth lately I have not written a review for sometime, but I have returned and have one or two interesting items coming shortly, it will nice to be back.

This one made my mouse button make a sudden impulse buy, as I thought it could be a useful addition to the workbench, especially those like me having ailing eyesight with close up work.

The G600 Microscope including screen, could be a bonus to our hobby arrived this morning, however there is one little extra that needs purchasing before I write anymore, should of ordered it when I placed the intial order. So I guess it will be another month or so before that arrives from China?

A visit to Telford Hamfest & the GQRP club

My amateur radio activity has been very much on the back burner during the last few months due to other commitments.

However, rather than cut the lawns, wash the car on a Sunday morning and look forward to a roast beef lunch, sandwiches were a better offering this last weekend. I had arranged to go to the Telford radio rally and maybe pickup a few items. Don't bring back any junk, said my wife! Ugh!

                                        So it was time to get up early dig out the badge.


The Telford radio rally had always been hosted in the centre of Telford town centre for many years, but about 10 years ago it was moved to the Enguity Centre at Coalbrookedale  museum, in the centre of Shropshire where the industrial revolution started.

We arrived quite early and people were certainly up with the larks to get a place in the queue, and maybe grab a bargain? 

This year the rally had teamed up with the GQRP club which had moved it's famous annual QRP convention from Rishworth. Most of the team were there, including George (G3RJV) and Graham (G3MFJ). Bringing along their wealth of experience with the rest of the crew from the hub of the club, giving members free advice, sales, and trying to recruit a few new ones to the fold:

Sadly my snap of the club stand came out blurred and I don't have another replacement, much to my disappointment! If anyone has a photo, please send me a copy and I will edit it in..

However I did purchase the mug to prove my support for the GQRP club.

If you didn't visit the convention you can always join the GQRP club, at £6 for a year's UK membership and not much more for international, it is really an amazing bargain! Including 4 Sprats  (the quarterly magazine of the club) posted to your home! Sprat is packed with designs, QRP circuits, membership news etc. Edited by George Dobbs since the formation of the club in 1974. How can many say they have done a job like that for over 40 years, again amazing!


                                                            Join the GQRP club here.

 
The RSGB had also popped along to offer their helpful sales team with some exciting new publications to read.

Even though I didn't buy much this year it proved to be a very good social event, meeting up with quite a few other Amateurs who share the same interest which I know from around the country.We all picked up a few ideas, hints and tips, and learning news which we wouldn't of heard of online.

The rally was well supported by an excellent showing of folk, quite a few good traders had also showed up for the event. But, I can't help feeling that the Internet has taken over many aspects of the supply of components for our hobby, which are now available very quick and cheap from our friends in the far East.

It was time to have a look outside at a few traders that had setup shop, and grab a cuppa before returning back home late afternoon.

Maybe see you there next year, or you never know where I am going to pop up next!

PW makes an appearance at WH Smith

Until recently Practical Wireless was only available on the newsstand at larger branches of WH Smith. Getting hold of a copy proved useless at smaller branches unless you had it reserved in advance, infact I gave up many years ago asking why it wasn't present every month?  In the end I got a local corner newsagent to reserve it for me, I guess he has been grateful of the business ever since.

However could the tide of policy changed it's direction at my local small branch of WH Smith and others? PW is once again available on the shelf, forefront, alongside with it's sister magazine Radiouser.

Practical Wireless is the only independent magazine representing the amateur radio hobby in the UK, it is good to see someone has finally done something to get it back where it belongs, so a new generation can peruse and purchase it along with us old timers.

IO IO it's off Yahoo groups we go!

With all the recent Yahoo data breach furore and various problems at times of access to Yahoo groups, many Amateur Radio groups are turning their backs on Yahoo and moving to a new group service.

Groups.io is the new place where Hams and I guess many others are moving their discussion groups from Yahoo. I was first notified over a month ago that QRPLABS was moving over, I created an account with groups.io and sure enough if by magic it apppeared in my new groups.io account. Using it has become very easy and straight forward, and I find it doesn't suffer from the access lag that Yahoo groups suffered. Since joining, the BITX20 group has also moved and so have a few others, I expect many others will follow.   

Groups.io has a full automated transfer service for groups that wish to transfer over:https://groups.io/static/transfer  I have not used the transfer myself, but all the groups that have moved I am member of that have chosen to move to the new service appear to have gone over smooth, and they popped into my group.io account.

New link HF Signals added

A new link for Ashhar Farhan's new BITX40 production website, HF signals added to the right hand side column of my blog. Sites that do it for me.


You can guess what I am going to write about next?

CQ CQ CQ from a beach using a Baofeng

Last week we took our late holiday to North West Wales (GW land), of course I had packed a Baofeng UV-82 at the side of my toothbrush.  Most of the week when we had been around, I had not heard much break the squelch while the rig had been left switched on and left on the table inside our caravan.

Later on in the week getting a bit bored, I decided to take the Baofeng down on the beach.

Our temporary QTH was situated mid way on the Cambrian coast, making it ideal for contacts over to the North (Abersoch and Cricceth area), and to the South of the bay which lies the seaside town of Barmouth.

I must admit after nearly a week of hearing nothing but noise on 2m I wasn't too hopeful of hearing anything.

But the first CQ I put out, straight away an instant reply! MW0RHD came back and give me a 5/5 reporting wind noise on top of my modulation, however we managed to exchange names and QTH's,  he was about 6 miles NW across the bay from me as the crow flies, near the coastal town of Pwllheli, using an Icom from an homebase with an excellent take off towards the South where I was situated.



The sun was begining to set, and so was my battery,  the radio started beeping low and interupted the short QSO. I had left the radio on all week in standby mode with no thought of topping it up on the charger.

What this does prove you might not think there is any one around when the band is so quiet, so do always try a CQ. Always make sure the battery is well topped up, or better still take a spare charged pack and you won't get caught out like I did.

Exciting times - Baofeng DM-5R arrives in the UK.

There has been much talk about the Baofeng dual band VHF/UHF DMR DM-5R recently.

I noticed while viewing ebay today, that one seller now has it available, but only ready out of the box for Tier 1, although I understand it can be easily upgraded to Tier 2. The price makes it even more exciting, at half the price of a single band model currently offered from TYT. Typical of Baofeng to get into the act at the right price!

I am in no rush to buy one yet, as there are very few DMR repeaters in my area, although one is due soon a few miles North of me at Stafford. So for the time being I will just sit back and await the many reviews to appear, before I decide.

QSO Today interview with VK3YE

A peruse around the web I came across a recent interview with the multitasking amateur radio constructive video producer VK3YE.

This is well worth a listen, when having your midnight cocoa:


http://www.qsotoday.com/podcasts/vk3ye

I can only reflect some of the similar things of visiting the dump, or being given old televisons & radios to pull apart that got myself interested in the hobby many years ago..

RSGB grants permission to use images of book covers.

It has been sometime since I wrote the short review of the RSGB Radio Communication Handbook  12th edition:

Cover courtesy RSGB

At the time of writing I didn't have permission from the RSGB to include images from their books.. However I have recently been in touch with the RSGB and have been granted permission to include them on my blog, subject to asking at the time I require.

Thank you 

Mark Allgar, M1MPA
RSGB Commercial & Membership Manager

That particular blog has now been updated with the cover image, see link above.

USB - Simple idea of attachment

Universal Serial Bus (USB) is one of the few interfaces on computers that is certainly a big success story. You plug in your Camera, Memory stick etc, and in most cases it loads up the drivers and in a few seconds you are away, who can remember the hours spent messing around configuring RS232? However, on smaller devices, Tablets and Mobile devices, the USB socket and plug are scaled down in size (micro or mini USB), my Chuwi Vi8  is no exception with only "One" micro USB socket and one mini HDMI:

The One and only micro USB socket is not only used for data, but also for charging the device. A lot of excess daily wear and tear, plugging in and out, switching between USB devices. Of course the idea of cutting down to one socket is to help keep costs down in production, but how long can the socket possibly last before something gives? 

The best way is to expand by using a cheap USB Hub, and there are quite a few different types available for a couple of Pounds. These also allow conversion back to standard USB for other devices, and a seperate power feed via another micro USB socket which can be used to charge the device while the hub is connected in theory anyway, read on:

Although this solves the problem of USB connection. There is another problem with this arrangement, the weight of the hub and devices hanging on the end of the Tablet, putting unwanted stress on the USB micro socket on the side of the Tablet, there has got to be a be a better way of fixing this and tidying it all up.



I was lucky, I had a  case that came with a USB Keyboard, could I work out some sort of method of attaching the hub to the case? I had an idea!

A visit to a discount stationary shop while I was in town, I came across a packet of medium sized binder clips. The sort you use for holding files of paper together and hanging up on a hook for reference. The clips came in a pack of twelve for 69p making the fix less than 6 pence!

The clip provides an excellent amount of force suitable for the job of trapping the hub to the rear of the case. There is no movement and it is quite secure:

Once happy that it is square and fixed to the rear of the case, the two leverage arms, hooks or whatever you wish to call them can be detached from the main body of binder clip and discarded.

This provides the solution, and as you can see all the weight and stress is removed off the main cable and the micro USB socket on the tablet. With the sockets happy and tidy on the back of the case ready for use:


All seemed ok? I could then use the hub with various USB devices, but when I came to charge the tablet via the micro USB charging socket on the hub, this was found not to work? I came to the conclusion it was not wired into the hub or faulty in someway, I contacted the ebay dealer for a replacement he offered me $1, so I had to use the ebay tools to force his little Chinese hand to give me my full refund.

Shortly after, I found what looked to be a better USB hub from another "reliable" ebay dealer. This type has a switch to change between charge, or data, plus an extra USB Port:

This was a tighter fit under the binder clip due to the hub casing being slightly thicker, but all is now well, I can now charge the tablet without removing the micro USB from the side of the tablet, plus I have three USB sockets at hand, one which is taken up with the USB keyboard in the case:

Problem sorted and all put to good daily use using keypad and mouse, all fed by the USB hub attached to the rear of the case:

Ref Cases with keypads:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Micro-USB-Keyboard-PU-Leather-Stand-Case-For-7-8-9-10-inch-Android-Tablet-Cover-/331700602824?var=&hash=item4d3ae587c8:m:m5pToynDbevJvNqycuFaZAA

October QST went missing?

Each month brings three Amateur journals, two arriving via the post. I get used to the time of the month when they arrive. QST is always the later one, but since it changed some years ago to bulk shipping for it's distribution (Shipped to the UK then redistributed by another company over here) it has never arrived any later than the 23rd of the month..

Of course I receive the automatic email telling me I can read the electronic version of QST, somehow though this method never has the same appeal as the real paper version.

September was nearly at the end, the leaves were falling off the trees Autumn was well in process, but still no QST. I knew it was lost, can we even trust the postman these days to deliver our mail? I contacted the circulation department at the ARRL, I soon received a quick response to my email. I was asked to hold fire until the 1st of October and contact them again, which was only a few days more to wait, a bit more patience never hurt anyone. The 1st came, still no QST, so I was back on the keyboard again, I was informed one would be sent out straight away from the USA. Today it arrrived 7 days later..

After many years of being an overseas ARRL member this is the first time I have never received QST. It is good one can send an email and get sorted very "quickly" well done ARRL! 

     

The Wouxun KG-UV8D arrival.

You can wait in for some parcels for days, your promised they will be there but they never quite arrive when you expect. I predicted the Wouxun would arrive from Martin Lynch & Sons on Wednesday, I told the XYL to be around as I would be out working, she had just got back in time from the hairdresser. Arrival, there it was 11:10am delivered by UPS.

There is a lot of technical info out on there about this radio, the best, if you want a fair and unbiased review, get down to Hans PD0AC who has tested many Chinese radios with the proper test gear to a professional standard.

What do I have to say about it so far:

Like all new toys one is always eager to have a play. The radio came complete with external charger, wrist strap, belt clip, dual band antenna etc. A quick read of the well detailed manual might put your head in a spin, plenty of stuff to note. But like most of these Chinese radios once you understand the menu system it is easy to get to grips with. I slided the 2600mAh battery on the back of the main chassis case, it snapped and locked into place with a firm click. This made the radio feel quite weighty and rugged, I only have small hands and they only just made it around the body while holding it firm. 

Switching on, we were in business, a clear bright display made a change from the simple plain two line LCD HT's I have.

A quick test to check the internal firmware version, is achieved by holding down the 3 key while turning on the radio. Mine showed Version V1.05, which I understand is the latest which is shipped with the radio during production. *Note there is no user way of upgrading the firmware from an external PC..

  
2m and 70cm are always very quiet around here, but I was lucky my friend Gary M0TTO was just signing with someone on the 2m band over at Lichfield QTH. I pushed the PTT and gave him a shout, he came straight back to me, he reported the audio sounded really nice and crisp! I said what was the signal strength like? He said end stop! But of course it would be, he only lives about 6 streets away, I turned the power down to Low, still end stop. The  received audio sounded good, and plenty of volume still left in the wick should I have required a bit more. In the middle of the QSO it suddenly stopped TX, I was still pressing the PTT, I released the PTT and then pressed it again, it started Transmitting again, but shortly after the same thing happened. I was a bit curious at first, but I remember these radios have a Time Out Timer "TOT" Menu 06 this was only set at 60 secs, I increased the time out period and it stopped the annoyance.

Conclusion: I have always rated Wouxun as being the better of the quality end of production from China, I feel this radio brings them into a new era and still keeps them at the top! Certainly they have had problems in production like any other, but I am sure the Japanese big three feel the threat. So far I am pleased with what I have bought at the price of £69 inc UK delivery makes it an excellent buy. I still have to program it up for repeaters etc with the free software. Which can be downloaded from Wouxun or you can use the free Chirp multi radio programming software, which also supports this radio in a basic format at the moment.

Binding up!

The normal good old British early Spring wet weather, had stopped any Sunday outside activity, even the cat was having non of it, she was well tucked up after her lunch. Nothing interested me on the television, a boring afternoon ahead or maybe a sleep in the chair?

I remembered there were 2 years worth of Practical Wireless magazines and a few Sprats scattered over the house. 14 were together, 2 were stuck in a drawer by the bed, and the rest were eventually found mixed up with several other piles of junk, which had been dumped together when the XYL had been on one of her recent mad cleaning rounds.
 

Someone had got me the binders for a present last year, again they took a bit of searching for? But I eventually found them, and set to work. After an hour or so, all were now together sorted and bound, ready for the bookshelf a real professional job!

I like to keep my magazines bound together, making quick reference easy when I want to go back to an article. Todays effort will help with a bulk of projects on the list which you will hear about in the future . 

Surprise in the post from ML&S

Yesterday evening I received an email from Martin Lynch & Sons that they had despatched a package to me. I was a bit puzzled at first, as earlier in the week I had received my early birthday present I had ordered a day or so before, so I couldn't work out what the package would be, perhaps they had made a mistake?

Then I remembered, I had entered the ML&S guess the Caption competition on their Facebook page. A quick surf over there and I found I had won a Kenwood hand towel, which arrived promptly in this mornings post:

I certainly won't be using it on my face, it will be put on the wall in the soon to be refurbished shack.

If you want to keep up with the top deals and offers at ML&S, join in by liking their Facebook page, it is well worth keeping your eye on! 

FLDIGI ported over to Android

The FREE multimode digital software package that many have used for years with Windows and Linux, has now been ported to Android. Again available without any restrictions!

Download the APK file, manual, and other details from here.

The software seems to cover many of the same functions, and modes, as its big brother Windows version.


I have only had a short time to play around with this tonight, but soon after I downloaded the APK on to my phone, a quick easy configure it was up and running within 5 minutes.

This now opens the door to cheap home and portable operation, using FLDIGI's modes likes PSK31 etc. Using simple Android tablets and Android PCs available from the likes of ebay for less than £50!

My 7" Android PC below, which should be suitable for use with FLDIGI.

 

The £10 external meter for the Yaesu FT-857/897

It was find a birthday present for one of my Amateur friends, well he is going to be 70 in a few weeks, so it was time to look for something useful or interesting.  A bottle of Scotch maybe or a woolly hat? Then I had a thought he owns a Yaesu FT-897, and I had seen the Chinese selling external meters on ebay for this radio. There are two versions available, white backed scale, or black versions. I decided to take the risk and send for one in black, will it arrive here before his birthday? It did! It was delivered in less than 10 days from HK, although the sellers address was Shenzhen China?

The analogue meter replicates everything you see on the digital bargraph meter on the front of the FT-857/897 (S, PWR, SWR & ALC).

First thoughts not bad, quite weighty, excellent black anodised metal case, with a 3.5mm jack to plug into the external meter socket under the VFO knob on the front of the FT-897, or the left handside bottom front ext meter skt of the FT-857. It was time to take the roof off and have a look inside, well I did want to make sure it was ok for him?

There is plenty documented on the Web about making an external meter for these radios and really there is not much to it. But the Chinese have really made a very good job of this for the money, its not just a meter stuck in a box, they have taken their time to produce a little PCB with the calibration pot which can  be easily accessed from the rear of the case through a small hole. The PCB has then been bolted across the two rear meter terminals and it is a real solid job.

There were no instructions in the box that it came in, but these are well documented at the bottom of the ebay sales literature, and reference to all of this is set out within the Yaesu manual.

Conclusion: Well made and produced for the cost, you would find it very difficult to get all the bits together including the case and build it for the price. I wasn't able to test it out as I don't own either radio, time to wrap it up and put some kisses on the birthday card.

Reference:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-External-S-meter-SWR-Power-meter-for-Yaesu-FT-857-FT-897-Black-/121480229454?