Comments for Ham Radio Blog PD0AC

Comment on Setting up and programming your UV-5R by Hans

Hans — Sat, 25 May 2013 17:35:52 +0000

No. You would need 2 seperate VFO’s. By using the programming software you can make ‘odd splits’ (transmitting on one band, receiving on another). There aren’t many cross-band capable hand helds made in history. In general you only see this option in mobile/base radios. Example are the Kenwood TMV-71, the Yaesu FT-8900R and Alinco DR-635.

Comment on Setting up and programming your UV-5R by José Maria

José Maria — Sat, 25 May 2013 17:18:57 +0000

Do uv5r do cross band?
Thanks for any opinion. PY2BB São Paulo Brazil.

Comment on Setting up and programming your UV-5R by Charlie Brown

Charlie Brown — Sat, 25 May 2013 00:48:01 +0000

The ‘Step’ function in the menu.

Comment on Post #250 by Chris

Chris — Thu, 23 May 2013 16:45:24 +0000

Comment on How to make your own Icom IC-V90 by Bas PE4BAS

Bas PE4BAS — Thu, 23 May 2013 12:23:30 +0000

Heel slim, handel is handel….en alles draait om geld. Ook in China!

73, Bas

Comment on The most read article by Sledge

Sledge — Wed, 22 May 2013 04:11:50 +0000

It’s a good article. Very well written indeed!

Comment on D-Star still marginal? by GekkePrutser

GekkePrutser — Tue, 21 May 2013 11:38:32 +0000

I wonder if the number of dongle users is really that high… Considering the price of a DV Dongle is about the same as that of a full-blown D-Star radio. There’s cheaper options now like the DVRPTR with AMBE board but for years the DV Dongle was the only way, and a very expensive one at that. Everyone I know that has the dongle also has several D-Star radios.

Also I think the percentage of actually active HAMs using D-Star is much higher. There’s loads of inactive hams in those 3.2 million and also many older ones who will never take up any new mode regardless of whether it’s proprietary or not.

I also wish D-Star was more open, especially the codec. But I don’t see any alternatives at this point. Yaesu’s digital offering uses the same codec vendor and doesn’t have the widespread repeater network that D-Star has, so I don’t see any advantage to using it.

Comment on Review Baofeng UV-B5 / Baofeng UV-B6 by Nicholas Jack Farentino

Nicholas Jack Farentino — Tue, 21 May 2013 08:30:02 +0000

On the software for the FD 880 all I have found was version 1.0.3 which said it was current, so if they have a ver 2.03 I can’t locate it. I haven’t gotten the FD 880 yet but I expect to have it in 3 or 4 days.

Comment on Review Baofeng UV-B5 / Baofeng UV-B6 by Nicholas Jack Farentino

Nicholas Jack Farentino — Tue, 21 May 2013 08:22:15 +0000

UPDATE on my Baofeng UV B5 : I’m not sure what was wrong with the one I got but I but I did a factory reset on it, then I reprogrammed all the channels into it and presto! For whatever reasons the display looks brighter, the LCD looks a little better, and I also replaced the stock antenna with an RH-901S which has a center load and it’s 18 1/2 inches tall, and the upper 9 inches of it is ultra flexible and thin, but it does stay straight when the radio is set on the table. The thing I noticed most was a few guys on the local repeater asked me what I was using because it was so LOUD ! I told them it was the UV-B5 I had bought for $53 and they were amazed at the quality and loudness of the transmit audio. This radio hears things that the UV-5R and KG-UV6D have trouble hearing. ( I own both of those also) What also has impressed me was I’ve tested the stock antenna against the RH-901S and the 901S wins hands down, it punches into repeaters that are 30 miles away, whereas the stock antenna will not bring those repeaters up at all, it hears them, but wont bring those repeaters up like the RH-901S antenna will, so I’m convinced that this extra long center load antenna has more gain. Overall I’ve gotten used to not having the extra bells and whistles that my Wouxun, and Baofeng UV-5R have, and I have found myself using this UV-B5 more than the other two. Basically I really like the louder transmit audio, and the more sensitive receiver on this radio. I thought I had gotten a Monday morning special at first but after a Factory Reset, and reprogramming it’s performing beautifully. What I wish they had done on the B5 radio was use the side button that does nothing to activate the display lamp so you can turn that on and have it stay on a while as you’re checking things in a dim room or at night. The way I have to do it now is to hit the A/B button to cause the lamp to come on then I check it. So to sum it up I think it is a very good radio, it hears extremely well, and the transmit audio is loud and clear, and I also note that I can use it all day without draining the battery with moderate transmissions. I have a spare battery that I keep in the charger so battery power is not a problem at all. I got the RH-901S antenna on Ebay for $5.19 with free shipping from Hong Kong… If you have one of these radios and it’s not working properly, try the factory reset, it just might take care of the problems.

Comment on Tokyo Hy-Power XT-751 SSB/CW handheld by Erik (VE1FE)

Erik (VE1FE) — Tue, 21 May 2013 02:52:21 +0000

interesting! i’d definitely look at getting one!