HAM radio operators are compulsive hoarders

There it is. I said it. Time to turn the tide. Enough is enough. What’s the point of having five HF rigs? A dozen or so receivers? It’s time to sell off some gear.

I know the reason behind my reluctance to sell off gear. When I sold gear in the past, I always regretted it later. The equipment I have is always in pristine condition, both electronically and cosmetically. You will have a hard time finding gear in the same condition. There’s always a voice in my head whispering “Do you really think the new owner will take care of it the same way you did?” Sigh.

Unfortunately I’m running out of space. My Yaesu FT-840 already found a new owner and will be picked up later this week. Next on the list of things to go is my FRG-7700 with all the accessories that come with it: converter, tuner and preselector. Darn, I will miss that beautiful warm audio… The FRG-8800, including the built-in VHF converter, will be put up for sale after that. Darn, I will miss that beautiful warm audio…

There’s a lot of interest for my FT-7B and YF-7B, and I could sell my complete FT-901 line without placing an ad. I’m not ready for that though. One step at the time.

The Baofeng UV-3R Craze Continues: the Mark II Arrived

The Baofeng UV-3R – there aren’t many HAM radio operators left in my part of the world who haven’t got one. Less than $50 for a true dual-band hand held, it just seemed too good to be true. The big question was whether the phrase “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is” did apply or not. Well, it did, and it didn’t.

The UV-3R with a Nagoya NA-701

When I placed my first order, I ordered two of them. One was destined to be used on a daily basis, just like my other hand held transceivers, the second one was destined to be sacrificed to science. Science here means disassembling, connecting all kinds of testing equipment to it, without the intention to ensure its survival. This blog post is not intended to be an extensive Baofeng UV-3R review, nor a Bible, but the attached PDF file probably is. Download Baofeng UV-3R FAQ here.

Daily use, reception
Not too bad, actually, as long as you stay away from (commercial) towers that emit strong signals. My neighborhood, also known as ‘Intermod Alley’, is likely the worst place to be when a receiver doesn’t meet basic requirements regarding selectivity. If you live in a rural area, littered with strong VHF or UHF signals, you will be a very disappointed Baofeng owner. The receiver might collapse completely, making the HT totally useless. At my location the combination of intermod and hiss/noise is so bad that I even can’t receive the PI2FLD repeater, which is only a few miles away. This is a very strong repeater, with its antenna almost 100 meters above ground! My other Chinese hand held transceivers, such as the Quansheng TG-UV2, the Wouxun KG-UVD1P and the Feidaxin FD-268B manage these unwanted signals without a hitch.

The lowest setting of the volume is too high for indoor use. Changing one resistor solves that problem. It didn’t bother me, as I exclusively use these devices during outdoor activities.

Daily use, transmitting
The excellent modulation quality is something you wouldn’t expect at this price point, but some of the biggest names in the business really should take notice. However, there’s a catch with the earlier models; harmonic suppression or, more precise, the lack of it. While the UV-3R does a reasonably good job on UHF, the suppression on VHF is virtually non-existent. Even worse: the second harmonics proved to be as strong, or even stronger than the frequency in the display. Some mods are available for quite a while now, but these are quick & dirty at best.

Battery and charger
Battery life is average, as the capacity is just 1200mAH @ 3.7V. I can use the UV-3R for just two days at 2 Watts output. Original Baofeng spare batteries aren’t expensive by any means, but you should know that a Baofeng battery is identical to a Fuji NP-60 battery (minus the sense contact). Fuji NP-60 replacement batteries work just as good, some even better, and can often be found at one third of the price. I bought a few here.

The same applies to the charger, and I would advise every Baofeng owner to go to eBay, buy an intelligent charger and throw away the one that comes in the box. The Baofeng cradle doesn’t contain any intelligence at all, just two wires connected to the contacts. No exploding batteries have been reported, but nobody really trusts the thing – and for good reasons! If you buy a third party charger, make sure that you buy one that’s compatible with the Fuji NP-60, not the Casio NP-60! This is the one I picked up for less than $8.

Third party antennas
The original UV-3R comes with two separate antennas. Although they’re quite good, continuously switching antennas is a pain. I tested a bunch of popular after market dual-band antennas, made by Nagoya. The NA-701 (sturdy) and the NA-666 (flexible but easily bent at the base) proved to be the best performers. The NA-771 was really crappy on UHF, and so were other long (>= 40cm) versions. Some did slightly better on VHF though.

Don’t drop them!
Make sure you handle a Baofeng with care. The construction is ok, but dropping one can easily damage the circuit board, the display or crack the plastic case. I was lucky once, but other owners weren’t.

Baofeng UV-3R Mark II Camouflage

The Baofeng UV-3R Mark II
Recently the Baofeng UV-3R Mark II popped up in eBay shops, and I immediately ordered one. In camouflage colors, haha! The differences: volume problem solved (*), harmonic suppression on VHF is now reasonable (40-50dB down), a dual-band antenna is now standard, and it features a new dual frequency display. Forget the older version and go for the Mark II.

Conclusion
You get what you pay for. The new ‘Mark II’ version solves a few known problems and is worth every penny. I see this HT as a toy (just as the customs declaration often states, BTW). Don’t expect the UV-3R to match the performance of more expensive models. Nice as an addition to the collection though, that’s for sure.

(*) Not everyone has the same experience, it seems there are some differences from copy to copy.

A Mythbuster Special: IT9RYH

10. A well known game developer pulled the plug on “Finding Nino”.

Confirmed. The game wasn’t challenging enough. Almost every player found him immediately on 14.195 MHz.

9. Yaesu is one of the biggest sponsors of Nino.

Confirmed. Although Yaesu officials frantically try to deny this, the evidence is compelling. Almost every Yaesu stock photo shows 14.195 MHz in the display.

8. Icom is trying to take over Yaesu’s sponsorship.

Confirmed. Icom company officials were clearly embarrassed when I contacted them, and quickly switched over to deny mode. The frequency displayed in recent stock photos, they said, was a chosen randomly. Really. Read our lips.

7. His official call sign was not IT9RYH.

Plausible. According to some, the issued call sign was originally India Delta One Oscar Tango, but he managed to bribe a few officials to get it changed.

6. Nino is a valued customer of SteppIR.

Busted. A SteppIr is pointless when you use one single frequency.

5. There is a IT9RYH fanclub.

Plausible. This might be a secret society, searching Google generated just 43 (quite sketchy) results.

4. There seems to be a picture of his next rig somewhere on the Internet.

Confirmed.

3. There seems to be a picture of his next Yagi somewhere on the Internet.

Confirmed.

2. The IT9RYH soap will continue in 2012.

Confirmed. Nothing will change. Sorry.

1. When I look at this post, you must be really bored.

Confirmed! Merry Christmas everyone, and a happy new year!

The shortest day, 10 meters still going strong

Five days ago I switched over to the mobile version of the Albrecht, because I want to make some small modifications to the internal power supply of the AE497W.  KQ2H was fine today, but yesterday it was another story. The signal didn’t exceed S5, and I had a hard time getting into the repeater system. This was the display of the Albrecht AE485S:

KQ2H only S3 on average, a far cry from the 9+10dB I was used to.

Today everything was back to normal. Looking forward to more sunspots, a higher flux and the longest day!

Review Tecsun PL-310

I’m probably more of a listener than a ham. Many of my antennas are dedicated to listening, not transmitting. Receivers outnumber transmitters by a factor of 2. In spite of modern technologies such as satellite and the Internet, listening to shortwave stations is alive and kicking. While it is great to sit behind a professional desktop receiver connected to excellent outdoor antennas, I don’t always want to spend a large part of the day in the shack.

As my old Aiwa SW portable started to die, I went online to check out the current breeds of portable SW radios. One of the brands I ran into, was Tecsun. The models were so cheap that I could buy a truckload of them and still keep some of the the money I reserved for replacing the Aiwa. After reading (sometimes raving) reviews elsewhere, I ordered three models: the PL-310, the PL-390 and the PL-660. This is the first review in the Tecsun series and covers the cheapest of the lot, the PL-310. I bought mine here.

Tecsun PL-310

In the box:
The radio, three rechargeable batteries, soft pouch, earphones, USB charger / power supply. Note: other sellers will ship an external wire antenna instead of a USB charger. Compare the extras each seller offers before buying.

Look & Feel
Measuring only 141(W) X 87(H) X 30(D) mm, this radio will slide into your pocket easily. It is thoughtfully designed, beautiful even, and all the buttons and knobs are exactly in the right place. The amber LCD gives more information than you can dream of: frequency, time, bandwidth, signal strength (in dBµ!), signal-to-noise ratio, temperature (in Celsius or Fahrenheit), battery type, charge indicator, battery level, and the time you want the alarm to go off. The LCD illumination can either be temporary or continuous, an option I never saw before.

Connections
At the right side of the radio you will find the tuning and the volume knobs. Both are driving opto couplers, so no crackling pots to worry about. At the left side you will find two 3.5mm connections for a stereo headphone and an external antenna. There’a also a USB connector present, which can only be used to power the radio and/or charge the three NiMH AA cells this radio uses. The type of batteries (standard or rechargeable) can be selected from the front panel. This will not only prevent problems, but will also display the right battery level.

Basic specifications
The PL-310 is designed around the Silicon Labs Si4734 chip, which basically is a complete DSP receiver in one small package. All Tecsun had to do was to link it to an audio amplifier, buttons and knobs, a display and such and voilá, one working radio! Brilliant. For more specs you can go to the end of this post and download the manual.

The frequency range is as follows: LW: 153 – 513 KHz, MW: 520 – 1710 KHz, SW: 2300 – 21950 KHz, FM: 64 – 108 MHz. The desired MW spacing, 9 or 10 KHz, is user selectable. When set at 10 KHz, which is the norm in the USA, the temperature will be automatically displayed in Fahrenheit instead of Celsius. The integrated DSP is nothing short of amazing. When listening to SW stations, the bandwidth can be set to 6, 4, 3, 2 or 1 KHz. As this is not an audio DSP but a ‘real’ IF DSP, this thing really works. Splatter and such can be filtered out with ease, and easily defeats some of the desktop receivers I own.

Tuning
Tecsun offers more than one way of tuning. One of them is, of course, tuning manually. The second option is entering a frequency by using the keypad. The third way is to let the Tecsun itself find all the stations. This system, dubbed ATS (Automatic Tuning System), will find all stations within the selected band and store them into memory. After scanning, the tuning knob will enable you to quickly switch from station to station. Similar systems in other radios often failed miserably, as they couldn’t distinguish noise from real signals. Tecsun got it right this time though, and it’s a blessing when listening to shortwave. Just after the hour, when stations come and go, I let the Tecsun scan again, after which the old memory contents are overwritten with active stations.

Something to get used to is the way Tecsun implemented manual tuning. When you rotate the tuning knob fast, the radio will skip frequencies by the standard channel spacing (e.g. 9 KHz on MW, 5 KHz on SW). When rotating slowly, the radio will tune one KHz at the time. It proved to be very challenging to get the rotation speed just right.

Performance LW, MW
When you buy this radio, you will quickly discover that LW is disabled by default. This seems odd, but as it turns out there’s a reason for that: on LW this radio is as deaf as a post. Even a reasonably strong station such as the BBC (198 KHz) is hardly noticeable. As the external antenna input only serves FM and SW, connecting a long wire won’t help. On MW the performance is quite good though. Sensitivity is above average, and the selectivity is excellent. AM 747, the strongest MW transmitter here, and located very close to me, didn’t manage to overload the receiver. Note: the to-be-reviewed-later Tecsun PL-660 did collapse completely.

Performance FM, SW
On FM, this radio is excellent. Not much else to tell here. Period. On SW, especially with an external wire antenna connected to the radio, the performance is much better than one would expect from a small package like this. Only one thing is slightly annoying: the hard coded (and sometimes completely wrong) frequency range of SW bands. 41 meters, for example, starts at 7.1MHz instead of 7.2Mhz (in effect since March 29, 2009). Bottom line: tuning manually is a must now and then. Many stations transmit outside these outdated and limited ranges embedded in the Silicon Labs chip.

Audio quality
The audio quality is a pleasant surprise. You can turn up the volume without any distortion, and the frequency spectrum is better than any other similar sized radio I ever owned. Great stereo sound on FM too, when using a headphone.

Conclusion
For less than $45, you get an amazing piece of technology; the price/performance ratio is off the scale. A nice touch is the inclusion of the 4 meters band, which is already available to hams in some countries. The Tecsun PL-310 is not perfect though. The radio is completely deaf on LW, uses outdated or limited SW ranges, and manual tuning can be challenging.

Tecsun PL-310 Manual download (PDF)