10 April 2014

CODAN 9350 console for Nissan X-Trail

So, yesterday was my "sunny day" when I finally receive the custom-made console for my CODAN 9350/9360 antenna.
The assembly is made from a fixed steel plate and a elevated arm on which the antenna is affixed.
It's made from 5mm thick steel and it fixes onto the original rear trail hook. A few solder points and it's capable to support around 100 kg's!

Fixed plate:
Welding:
 Inspection:
 Final look:
 Testing:



22 March 2014

First QSO with Codan-ICOM setup

Yesterday I (finally) received the Codan 9350 support plate. It's a little steel square able to keep the antenna vertical to work from portable setup.

Maybe you know that in this winter I made a cable adapter to connect Codan 9350 to Icom IC-7000 as a first step to a more complex mobile setup.
Well,  the first QSo was made!
The "winner" is UR4IO, Victor from Ukraine with a solid 9+ signal onto my Icom IC-7K in 18 MHz band at 16:15 LT.
My signal was (as reported) nice and strong, a "59" one!
Amazing!
I was so eager to make the first call that I forgot to record it!
But I manage to film this:


As you can see, the antenna is erected in my balcony and without counterpoise. I think it did a nice job in these conditions!

Now I am confident that I can use this setup in portable operations like YOFF, Romanian Fauna and Flora Programm or just fun from mobile. For that I have to complete my car workout...

73 de YO3HJV

01 March 2014

Noi "jucatori" pe piata DMR

Anul 2014 vine cu noutati pe piata DMR, crescand competitia in acest segment.
Devine din ce in ce mai evident ca echipamentele DMR incep sa intre pe piata aducand competitorii fata in fata cu un rezultat previzibil: scaderea preturilor.
Nu poate decat sa ne bucure ca radioamatori, reteaua MARC-DMR avand o rata de crestere impresionanta, ce depaseste cu mult IRLP, ECHOLINK si sufland rece in coasta D-Star.
Avantajul standardului "deschis" devine un avantaj direct pentru radioamatorul care doreste sa utilizeze o statie compacta cu care, totusi, sa poata lua legatura si cu alti radioamatori din lume sau care calatoreste prin Europa (si nu numai) si vrea sa mai auda o voce de acasa.
Daca pana de curand aveam la dispozitie doar echipamente Motorla/Vertex si Hytera, iata ca in anul 2014 vom putea deja vorbi despre o piata in care exista oferte pe toate buzunarele.
Nu pot decat sa ma bucur ca "pariul" meu pe DMR acum vreo doi ani se confirma!
 

KENWOOD 

In sfarsit, Kenwood anunta intrarea pe piata DMR, deocamdata cu doua
modele de statii portabile si, in curand, cu un repetor.
Modelele TK-D200 si TK-D300 sunt disponibile atat in banda VHF cat si in UHF.
Sunt disponibile versiuni cu afisaj si fara, cu tastatura completa sau restransa.
Modelele TK-DxxxG au si GPS incorporat iar durata de exploatare a bateriei este anuntata ca fiind de 18 ore! Ramane de vazut in ce conditii sunt aceste ore...
Kenwood a fost satirizat de lansarea in DMR dar compania a sustinut ca nu fac decat sa concureze pe piata restransa din Europa in timp ce NEXEDGE ramane principalul produs digital pentru restul globului.

  
CONNECT SYSTEMS

O mica firma americana care insa produce in China a anuntat recent intrarea in comunicatiile DMR cu o statie portabila destul de modesta dar care se anunta a fi o adevarata "lovitura" pe piata radioamatorilor intrucat, noua, costa pana in 200 USD (pret in USA)!
CS7000 se gaseste in versiune VHF si UHF si, din cate se spune, este perfect compatibila atat cu Motorola cat si cu Hytera, fiind rezolvate unele probleme la firmware in ultima actualizare.
Statia este "Basic", fara ecrane color si cu un acumulator de capacitate destul de mica (1700 mAh) dar la pretul asta nu cred sa fie prea multi carcotasi si este de asteptat ca piata chineza sa furnizeze rapido niste accesorii mai cu "muschi".
Soft-ul de programare este gratuit (uraaaa) si de abia astept un sample sa ma joc nitel cu ea!

Desi pe ici pe colo se zvoneste ca permite doar mod digital, din specificatii aflam ca sunt doua versiuni, una cu 32 de canale alta cu 1000 si ca ambele functioneaza DMR/FM. Simplu si farabriz-briz-uri, cred ca va fi in curand subiect de vorba si prin YO!

TAIT

Fara pret, destinat evident institutiilor care platesc "fara numar", TAIT este si el un jucator pe piata DMR care vine cu solutii complexe de tip repetor sau trunk.
Il trec aici doar ca sa nu il uit, nu pentru ca o sa vedem prea curand portabilele TP9300 pe meleagurile mioritice...

Nu sunt deloc urate chiar daca afisajul este monocrom...


VERTEX

Vertex se pare ca se desparte de Motorola in ceea ce priveste echipamentele DMR si alege calea "ieftina" furnizand o gama noua, eVerge (???) de statii la un pret de aproximativ 400 USD.
De ce "ieftina"? Simplu! Se vand si pe Amazon, chestie ce mi se pare penibila pentru un producator de talia Yaesu! Probabil insa ca tinta este atat de jos ori disperarea atat de mare incat nu se mai uita pe unde isi intind taraba (sau cearsaful)!

Chiar sunt ieftine insa nu stiu cat de bune. Unele review-uri denota multumire; pretul este bun.


Reteaua MARC-DMR a radioamatorilor evolueaza frumos; acum un an erau putin peste 200 de repetoare, in prezent s-a depasit cifra de 500!

Pentru cei care doresc sa genereze un codeplug cu lista de contacte, CLICK aici.





07 January 2014

LCD to a LPT port on my Thinkpad

I did had some spare time and I was looking around for a quick project.
I am using a Thinkpad X61 with a docking station on which I have native COM and LPT ports. Both are nice to connect something.
In my junk box i do have some toys that was never used.
One of them is a a Vacuum Fluorescent Display (or VFD) from a POS. It's a 2x20 dot matrix display used for showing the merchandise price to the customer.
I want to use it (sometime, in the near future) as a big display for my ICOM IC-7000...
The first step was to check if the display is OK.
According to the self-test mode, it's a CD7220-I display, for 24V DC, with a 5x7 matrix 9,2 x 6 mm character and, best of all, its RS232 compatible!
Works nice and is expecting a small PIC to work with!


After that, my bench was somehow in need for another "action" so I was looking in the junk box and found a  nice 4x20 LCD!
This was best for connecting to my laptop to show some summaries...
So, I connected to the LPT port...


Drop a line for more informations...
73 de Adrian, YO3HJV


13 December 2013

KENWOD TM-D710G



Kenwood announced the latest VHF/UHF mobile radio with APRS and Echolink functionality.
Well, it's a little embarrassing because the Echolink is not the latest trick in connecting remote repeaters or radios (altough the simp[liest one) and a GPS inside the front panel is not a very complicated matter.
As a fact, I done my own RC-D710G (bragging!) a few years ago and it works nice!
Maybe I lost a patent, who knows?


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