03 May 2008

HF+VHF / UHF Diplexer

The following DIPLEXER separates the following bands:
- HF and 6m on one side (= 0 - 52 Mc).
- 2m and 70cm on the other side.
It allows the simultaneous operation of 2 different equipments
(HF and VHF/UHF) over one coax cable, or the use of 2
antennas of the corresponding bands with one coax cable.

That means, you can operate on HF and listen or transmit at
the same time on VHF or UHF, all through the same coax cable.
It is also suitable to connect a 3 band antenna (uhf/vhf/6m) with
the antenna connectors of a transceiver as IC-706,
FT-100, or TS-2000 transceiver.

The following data was measured at 50 Ohm input and output:
- Attenuation of the other band is very high (over 60 db)
- Insertion loss is negligible (less than 0.2 db)

The circuit may be built easily into a metallic box measuring
abt. 11 cm x 5,5 cm x 3 cm.

Here's the circuit diagram:












Component list: all coils 1mm dia enameled copper wire
L1 = 1 turn 5 mm (id)
L2 = same as L1, orientation 90 degr in respect to L1
L3 = 1 1/2 turn 6 mm (id)
L4 = same as L3 , orientation 90 degr in respect to L3
L5 = 7 turn 6 mm (id), 15 mm long
L6 = 11 turn 6 mm (id), 19 mm long
L7 = same as L5
C1 = foil trimmer cap. 9 pf (0.5-9 pf) see note in text
C2 = same as C1
C3 = same as C1
C4 = foil trimmer cap. 32 pf (3-32 pf)
C5 = same as C4 C6 = same as C4
C7 = foil trimmer cap. 135 pf (5-135 pf)
C8 = same as C7
3 HF chassis plugs 50 Ohm (BNC)
1 metallic box (solderable)

Coils may be made of silvered copper wire, but enameled
copper wire serves equally well.
The layout should be equal, otherwise undesired coupling
may occur which hinders proper operation.
Proper adjustment of the unit is very important.
This requires some time and patiance. Prior to adjustment,
make sure that the SWR meter is calibrated exactly for
all measuring frequencies and reads exactly 1.0 when
terminated by dummy load and make sure that
dummyload is 50 Ohm on each band.




















Adjustment procedure:
1. Connect 50 Ohm dummyload to plug 0 - 440 MHZ .

2. Connect SWR meter between 0 - 52 MHZ plug and
TX (51 Mc carrier low power).
(If no 6m TX available adddjust on 10m band)
Adjust C7 and C8 to obtain SWR < 1.1 .

3. Connect SWR meter between 2 m plug and TX on 2 m
(145 Mc carrier low power). Adjust C4, C5, and C6 to obtain
SWR < 1.1 . C4 and C6 should reach the same value.

4. SWR meter same as step 3, but TX on 70 cm
(435 Mc carrier low power). Adjust C1, C2, and C3
to obtain SWR < 1.1 . C1 and C3 should reach the same
value.
- Repeat steps 2 - 4 , as adjustment of one band influences
the other. You will need some patience to reach proper
adjustment on all bands!

Now your diplexer is ready for use. If an antenna analyzer
(e.g. MFJ-269) is available, use this instead of the SWR meter
and TX to make adjustment more easy. Connect analyzer
to plug 0 - 440 MHZ and dummy load to plug being adjusted.

Note: Power is limited by the capacitors. Many foil capacitors
burn at low power. Some types are stronger.
With my trimmers I tested up to 100 w on HF and 6m,
and 50w on 2m and 70 cm.
Use capacitors with higher current/voltage ratings at
higher power, e.g. good air trimmer capacitors.

Original article HERE

20 September 2007

Un nou site cu si despre radioamatori

|Tot scobind prin maruntaiele internetului dupa niste documentatii referitoare la hobby-ul meu, radioamatorismul si statiile de emisie receptie, am dat peste un site tare misto si cu niste perspective de dezvoltare net superioare! Este vorba de www.radioamator.eu.
Site, e cam prea mult spus. Practic, este un forum bine structurat, asezonat cu o galerie de imagini care, prevad, se va dezvolta in lunile care urmeaza.
Ideea de la care porneste este buna, in romania existand destul de putine site-uri cu acest profil iar cele care exista deja sunt usor infantile sau prea batranicioase, in opinia mea. Era timpul sa apara ceva axat pe continut si nu pe aspect, iar baietii (sau fetele) care au pus asta pe picioare imi dovedesc ca stiu cam ce se poate scoate de la un simplu motor de forum!
Sunt curios sa vad cum va evolua pe viitor!
Galeria de imagini este aici.
Site-ul necesita o inregistrare cu o adresa valida de e-mail. Hei, asta poate fi un motiv de temere caci acea adresa este posibilsa inceapa sa fie sufocata de spam, dar, what the hell, eu am deja o adresa de email facuta special pentru inregistrari pe site-uri! Si nu sufera prea mult!

18 September 2007

Echolink Bucharest

UPDATE:
Due to the timless life I have, I was unable to run on a permanent basis this Echolink node.
Fortunately, it is another one here, full time available, YO3KYD which cover the city of Bucharest!
You are invited to access this node!
INFO on YO3KYD-L:
Freq: 145.550 FM
CTCSS:103,5
Node number: 379326


Meantime, I found a Motorola GM900 radio for the UHF echolink node!!! I hope I'll find some time to setup the UHF node here in Bucharest!
12 aug.2008

73! de yo3hjv


This week-end I started again the Echolink 2m node.

There was no more echolink node for Bucharest in he past year due to some malfunction in the yo3hcv-l we experienced. That node was running for more than 3 years with the help of 2 friends, YO3FUU and YO3HCV. It's a pitty because we have had a "vanity" node number, 144.900 which was the frequency on which we run the VHF node.
Now I started the VHF node, but the one designated for UHF, in 144.300 Mhz. I plan to find a UHF Motorola radio to make it work under YO3HJV-L callsign, but I think this will be next year as will be a entirely private investment.

I intend to keep this node operational as long as I can.

Here are the info's:
Frq: 145.300mhz, CTCSS 103,5, node number:43750
Max key down: 210 sec, for both TX and RX to and from Internet.
Output power: 50W, antenna heigh is around 45m, so I will expect a good coverage of 80km around.
The radio is Kenwood TS2000X, Rigexpert+IBM Thinkad T43.
The node is in beta. I plan to use a dedicated radio I have around, Icom IC2100H with a dedicated antenna. Something like an open dipole for a good omnidirectional coverage.
Please feel free to call !

73! de YO3HJV

04 September 2007

Alinco DJ-G5

Big, very "tech-looking" radio but versatile and sensitive!

I have owned the radio for more than 3 years and I sold it... Again, like with my FT-857D, this radio is back in my shack after passing a few fellow hams.
First, I have to say that the original stock antenna is one of the worst I have ever seen! But with a real dual band antenna, the things are changing! I used a Diamond RH771S and now I use a Kathrein K7151219 GainFlex antenna.

What I like

Is a real dual bander! This means that you can listen simultaneous on two different frequencies! The possible combinations are: V/U (reccomended), V/V, U/V, U/U. Add to this the two VFO's per receiver and you have a lot of possibilities!

Feeling. When you keep it in your hand, it feels very solid. The back-case is real-metal.

Cross band repeater. This radio performs a cross band repeater and it does well! This is usefull when in mobile operations, and emergency communications when a external antenna will be a plus! And a nice feature is that you can monitor the communications directly in the radio's speaker. Can work as one way repeater or two way cross repeater. Also is full duplex capable!

Battery life. The radio have a extended range of operating voltage. Somewhere between 4V-13V. So, a 9,6V EBP-36N will last about a week on a moderate receiving operation.

Simplicity in operation. The radio isn't "menu driven". The functions are very easy accesed from F+Key.

Good audio reports. On both receiving and transmitting!

BNC connector for antenna. Is very easy to connect a external antenna for mobile use. Also very easy to replace broken connector.

Good locking mechanism for battery.

Good place for external PTT Microphone/Speaker.

Front end attenuator. This can improve the IMD figure when the radio is use with a mobile external antenna.

Good AM receiving. I often monitor the Airband and the radio is good on this. But not with the stock antenna!
Normal 3.5mm jack for headphones. Is easy to use regular headphone, for one ear, to monitor when walking... No expensive accessory for listners!

I don't like

The radio becomes very hot. Even the power is set to M, the radio will be hot on about 5 minutes of transmission, so if you plan to use it as a cross band repeater, you have to put a fan on the radio!

The keypad inscriptions will be erased in months of moderate usage though the inscriptions above de key (the one on the case) will last for years!

Poor PTT, MON and secondary PTT switches and rubber. The rubber will break. I changed the PTT microswitch after 2 years.

Volume and Squelch controls. I wish I have knobs for volume and squelch for the two sections!

No alpha tags on memory. This can be annoying when you are a "listener" like I am. Hard to remember what frequency is!

No CAT. Can't programm with a cable tough there is a way to save the channels by Air Cloning. You have to record the DTMF's which are sent by the radio with another radio.

Other things about this radio

Is very solid, the screen light can be set on continuous by pushing F+LAMP, the radio have a lot of paging options. Is slow on scanning so I use it to monitor two frequencies instead of scanning. Also a nice feature is the band scope which works OK because it used the other receiver to "take the picture".
By default, the number of memory channels alocated for the two sections is equal but You can change this very easy. (by default 80+80 memory channels).
The radio use in the final stage hybrid modules and the measurements show around 7W on VHF and 6 in UHF when use 12V. Again, the radio will be really hot!

I am searching for a new case for the radio, new keypad and rubbers for PTT.

Overall, the radio is a "power-horse". Is best for backpacking but to heavy for pants! Alinco did a good job. This may be "the last true dual bander" from Alinco!

Here are the specifications from Alinco:

VHF/UHF FM Twin Bander
DJ-G5T/TY/TH

Tx: 144.000-147.995/438.000-449.995 MHz
Rx: 108.000-173.995 AM/FM /438.000-449.995 MHz

  • Channel Scope
  • Full duplex between VHF & UHF
  • CTCSS Tone Squelch
  • Memory channels VHF 80 + UHF 80
  • DSQ selective call
  • 20 auto-dialers
  • 2W output or 5W with the optional EBP-36N battery
  • U x U/V x V
  • Compact 57 x 139 x 27.5 mm body
  • Sweep Scan
  • X-band repeater
  • Direct freq. entry through keypad
73! de yo3hjv

I can't attach here the user and service manual but you can ask me to send by e-mail in pdf. format.

Below, the schematics in
gif format:

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