Some SINAD tests for my portable radios

As my IFR 2945A is finally arrived, I started to do some tests as part of learning curve (more than 250 pages from the User Manual!!!).
I took two of my collection portable radios, Yaesu FT 530 and Kenwood TH 79 and did a head-to-head test versus the new TH D72.
As I suspected, the results confirmed somehow my opinnion based on pure day by day use. The "old ladies" are still a good stuff!
And the TH D72 is a good radio, also!

YAESU FT-530				KENWOOD TH-79
Ftest (MHz)	uV	Ftest (MHz)	uV	Ftest (MHz)	uV	Ftest (MHz)	uV
410.0000	0.2090	118.0000	0.7500	410.0000	2.3700	118.0000
430.0000	0.1740			430.0000	0.2060
430.5000	0.1600			430.5000	0.2060
431.0000	0.1580	136.0000	0.1700	431.0000	0.2060	136.0000	0.1510
431.5000	0.1580			431.5000	0.2020
432.0000	0.1580	144.0000	0.1660	432.0000	0.2000	144.0000	0.1440
432.5000	0.1580			432.5000	0.1820
433.0000	0.1580			433.0000	0.1820
434.0000	0.1580			434.0000	0.1800
434.5000	0.1580	145.0000	0.1660	434.5000	0.1760	145.0000	0.1440
435.0000	0.1600			435.0000	0.1740
436.0000	0.1600			436.0000	0.1740
436.5000	0.1600			436.5000	0.1500
437.0000	0.1560			437.0000	0.1440
437.5000	0.1560			437.5000	0.1440
438.0000	0.1560			438.0000	0.1440
438.5000	0.1600	146.0000	0.1660	438.5000	0.1530	146.0000	0.1440
439.0000	0.1740			439.0000	0.1530
439.5000	0.1780			439.5000	0.1530
440.0000	0.1970			440.0000	0.1530
460.0000	0.2600	160.0000	0.2370	460.0000	0.6230	160.0000	0.1970
		KENWOOD TH D-72 (AIP OFF)
		Ftest (MHz)	uV	Ftest (MHz)	uV
		410.0000	0.1820	118.0000
		430.0000	0.1680
		430.5000	0.1600
		431.0000	0.1560	136.0000	0.1530
		431.5000
		432.0000	0.1560	144.0000	0.1410
		432.5000	0.1560
		433.0000	0.1560
		434.0000	0.1500
		434.5000	0.1500	145.0000	0.1410
		435.0000	0.1530
		436.0000	0.1550
		436.5000	0.1550
		437.0000	0.1600
		437.5000	0.1600
		438.0000	0.1600
		438.5000	0.1600	146.0000	0.1360
		439.0000	0.1650
		439.5000	0.1700
		440.0000	0.1760
		460.0000	0.1840	160.0000	0.1410

-->
The tests follow the standard SINAD 12db procedure with 3 kHz deviation (60%), 1 kHz test signal, 2 V peak to peak at audio output and, for TH D72, the VHF/UHF AIP was Off.

73 de yo3hjv

MotoTRBO DP4801 - Startup LOGO and Voice announcements

I managed to change the startup logo. I replaced with a personalized one.
Also started Voice announcements.

Motorola TRBO DP 4801 is here!

      Finally, the new "toy" has arrived in my shack (pocket???) and is amazing!
      It;s little, it's powerfull, with a sensitive front end receiver and a loud and clear audio.
       It is not my intention to make a review here but I am happy that Motorola finally made a radio that fits in the pocket with a very good looking appearance.
        If you watch it carefully, you will see a resemblance with Motorola Saber (which was a Storno design, by the way!).
        As we plan to develop the DMR network in the South of Romania, I bet you will see a lot of these (or DP3601) in the use of Ham's around.
        The high range of the features of TRBO-DMR networks will made the future of Ham Radio to look a little like GSM networks with the possibility to select the correspondent for a QSO from local groups, national or even international (within MARC-DMR net).

The world in a pocket!

73 de Adrian, YO3HJV

Kenwood HS-5 modification for Stereo

Yeap, I have a Kenwood HS-5 radio headphones. Nice, comfortable and impressive headphones.
But, there is a "but" here!
They are mono headphones.
One can ask  "Why stereo headphones on ham radio"?
Well, most of modern transceiver has a secondary receiver.
You can use this for listening in split pileups to maximize the chance for a QSO or, in heavy noise you cand use the second receiver as a "Brain DSP" helper.
On two receivers, the noise is different but the signal is the same. The ear-brain DSP will surely take the signal out of noise better than any IF-DSP found in the most expensive rigs!
I can use a HI Stereo headphones but these are special designed for radio communications and does not reproduce the signals below 300 Hz and above 4000 Hz, which means that they will simply reject all the other signal than voice. 

After a couple of years of just wondering how can I made them stereo, today I made it...

I take the time for photos, so, you can click on them to see it in full detail detail.

First thing is to carefully open the outer protection without ruin the plastic bezel. Use a screwdriver and gently remove the metal case.
There a re two tab-locks that keep that metal case to the plastic bezel.

Lift one first and gently separate the metal case; identify the exact position.

 The second one is at 180 degrees; use the screwdriver for that too!




 These tabs are delicate so don't mess with to much muscle on it!

As a generaly reccomandation, in these days, too much force means you didn't choose the right way.

After removing the metal case, you see that the black wire is common for both headphones. We will left this one in place.
The red and the white ones are on our "radar".

You may sold them separately without no other concern, just be careful to put some isolation on the solders.

In my pictures you will see some resistors.
These are two 240 Ohm resistor in series with each transducer.

The reason is that I wanted to reduce the hiss on the headphones when I listen at low volume. Seems that all major radio manufacturers made the same mistake on the audio chain. They tend to put a lot of amplification on the Audio PA stage so, at low volume, there is a lot of noise.
And not the band noise, just the stage inherent noise.

A good way to reduce it without modification on the radio is to listen to high volume; in this case, you need to reduce the sound pressure on the ears.
One way to achieve this is to put some resistors in series with the headphones!

Carefully solder the resistors (may be just one for each side, but has to be the same value - test before for comfortable audition) and put some isolation on them.

After that, place the metal case on the headphones and this is it!

Of course, you have to put a stereo jack on the other side of the cable...

A did a quick test on FT-2000 and the result is amazing! Worth trying this 30 minutes mod!

73 de Adrian, YO3HJV

MotoTRBO on Bucharest UHF Repeater B1

Yeap! The first DMR repeater exclusive for Ham Radio use is in service in Bucharest!
it works on the former B1UHF Analog frequency pair (438.775 MHz / 431.175 MHz) in Dynamic Mixed Mode which permits the use of both DMR (TDMA Digital Voice) AND analog FM for backward compatibility with older radios.

The repeater is a brand new Motorola DR3000 with 30 W output power. We still use the old Proccomm filter.



For analog FM voice operation, the Echolink node YO3KSR-R is still available.
In Digital Voice, are available 2 TimeSlots for Digital Voice users.
The tests are encouraging and the quality of digital voice is astonishing!
The future plans are to migrate on full DMR and to use TS1 for MARC-DMR network and TS2 for a YO wide area UHF repeater network.