28 July 2016

Sad News.....


It is with great sadness that I announce the passing of a North East radio legend, Stan -The 'Bottlestopper' - A handle he gained whilst working in the pub trade over many years.


Stan could often be heard blasting out across the North East of England and beyond on channel 38 'The Northumberland Net' from his home and from his mobile station. Stan was also a licenced radio amateur (Callsign 2E0RVY) and spoke to many stations around the world.

Seen in the photograph above (middle) with two of his radio friends, Bob and Norman, what he lacked in height he more than made up for with passion and enthusiasm for the radio hobby he loved so much.

Stan was a good personal friend and I know that he will be sorely missed. 

Channel 38 will never be the same again…..



25 July 2016

New Midland M10 In Stock @ Nevada


Now in stock on the Nevada website, the Midland M10 with Bluetooth and USB. 

Bluetooth enables hands-free communications via optional Midland acessories and the USB socket can be used to charge mobile phones/tablets etc.


Features :- 



NEW - White LCD display

AM/FM mode change switch

Automatic digital squelch

ANL: automatic noise limiter

Noise blanker system

Emergency channel 9-19

USB socket for charging most devices

2 pin socket for accessories

External loudspeaker socket

4 pin microphone connector


Supplied with : hand mic, power lead, fixing kit

Price: £109.95

LINK: CLICK HERE

23 July 2016

CB Radio: President Texas 1800 Power Mobile Antenna


Video: YouTube/Chris TheHulk

A quick video showing the frequency coverage of the President Texas 1800 mobile antenna.

22 July 2016

OFCOM - New Online Licensing Portal - SOON!


OFCOM have announced that their new Amateur Radio Licensing Portal will be going live next week.

The new system will enable a more effective way of managing personal information and amateur radio licences, including club licences.

They expect the new system to be live on the OFCOM website from Wednesday 27th or Thursday 28th July 2016.


LINK: CLICK HERE

President Grant 2 Installation



Video: YouTube/James Fletcher


A video by James Fletcher showing a vehicle installed President Grant 2. The radio looks quite at home in the dashboard and James has made a good job of it for sure. 

20 July 2016

Sirio Gainmaster Review (CBRADIOMAGAZINE.COM)


Whilst pottering about on the internet today I noticed this great review of the Sirio Gainmaster on the CBRADIOMAGAZINE.COM website:

LINK: CLICK HERE

Well worth a read!



14 July 2016

NEW: Baofeng UV-50X3 Tri-Band Radio




Baofeng have announced their new Tri-Band mobile radio - The UV50X3
(Click images to enlarge)


"The BTECH UV-50X3 is a tri-band radio with Full Duplex capabilities (which enables simultaneous TX/RX within VHF/1.25M/UHF) - as well as dual V/V and U/U receiver capabilities. The UV-50X3 operates on 136-174MHz, 222-225MHz, and 400-480MHz


The UV-50X3 is more than just a radio - it can also act as a full cross-band repeater! Allowing you to connect or extend the range of your repeaters, handhelds, and mobiles. The Cross Band repeater works in between VHF and UHF frequencies.

The UV-50X3 will transmit at 50 watts on both UHF and VHF; and it will transmit at 5 watts on 222-225MHz.



AIRBAND (AVIATION AM) AND WIDE RECEIVER RECEPTION

The UV-50X3 was includes a wide receiver that can receive beyond the transmitting frequencies on VHF/1.25M/UHF.

The UV-50X3 can also receive:
.5-1.71MHz (AM Radio)
76-108MHz (FM Radio)
108-135.995MHz (Air Band (AM))
136-250MHz
300-399.995MHz
400-520MHz


INDEPENTENT - VFO, AUDIO LEVELS, AND SQUELCH

The UV-50X3 includes separate volume adjustments for the independent VFOs. The UV-50X3 has dual speakers in the LCD panel - allowing stereo audio when one station is being received, but separate monaural speakers when both VFOs are active - which are controlled by the separate volume knobs. A third speaker is located on the radio body - which can be set as the only speaker, simultaneously be used with the panel speakers, or can be unused as well.

The UV-50X3 has both line-in and line-out jacks that allow you to output the radio audio to your own speaker system. The UV-50X3 allows you to listen to a line-in source while still monitoring your local nets.

The squelch is adjustable on each side of the display. Separate wide and narrow ceramic filters enable true narrow band operation.



1000 MEMORY CHANNELS

The UV-50X3 has 1000 memory channels and 2 separate memory banks (The Right VFO has 500 channels, the left VFO has 500 channels). You can program both active (TX/RX Channels) and passive (RX Only) channels into the same Memory bank.

SEPERATE, CUSTOMIZABLE FRONT LCD PANEL AND DTMF MICROPHONE

The UV-50X3 has a front panel that is separated from the main radio body. The panel is connected with standard Ethernet cable (15' included) allowing the radio body to be remotely (or trunk) mounted. The Front Panel includes several mounting accessories including a suction cup mount. You can set the LCD Panel to 8 different colors.

The Front Panel has a built-in microphone which allows you to either use either the included DTMF Microphone or Panel Microphone. The Separate DTMF microphone can also be plugged directly into the Main Radio Body.

PROGRAMMABLE AND CUSTOMIZABLE

The UV-50X3 can be completely programmed without a computer (including Channel Alpha-numeric names). 

The UV-50X3 is FULLY supported through the free CHIRP programming software (requires the PC05 Programming Cable). The UV-50X3 is the first radio to exclusively only use CHIRP software for programming. CHIRP is compatible on Windows, Linux and OSX (macOS).



GROUP TONES SUPPORTED

The UV-50X3 supports the most common Analog Tones. It supports CTCSS, DCS, and DTMF calling methods. Set-up your calling methods to call by group tones. Tone calling (private line) is required by most repeater applications and the UV-50X3 supports the latest standards.

The UV-50X3 can send DTMF tones. This allows for sending ANI (Caller ID) or remote commands that require DTMF tones.

THOROUGH QUALITY CONTROL

Each UV-50X3 is individually tested during extreme temperatures (-22 F) to ensure every radio can meet advertised performance requirements. 

The UV-50X3 can endure harsh environments and still perform in the most extreme situations."

Price: Starting at $339

11 July 2016

Baofeng Chargers - Fire Hazard?


A very interesting post on the Charlie Tango forum from Jamie (Cookster) who reports that he has had overheating issues with Baofeng chargers:

"Hello Guys,

I bring you greetings and some disturbing news....

I had a UV-5R charger almost catch fire a few weeks ago. It started to melt, the PCB was charred and split in two and the fumes that it gave off were nauseating.

Here is what happened next.......

I quickly complained to the Amazon seller. After a while they sent me another. This was identicle to the one which melted.

Today I decided to use it for the first time. ...

Guess what.... that same strong chemical fume cloud filled the room, the plastic dock started to melt again and the plug charger was red hot. I opened the bottom and once again found the board burned out. 

Now, my other Baofeng radio has a different plug and does not get hot or seem hell bent on setting fire to my carpet.

See photos ....... it's groundhog day all over again"

(Click images to enlarge)





Jamie then posted a photo of the two chargers that he has:


"The charger on the LEFT is the dodgy type which gets hot and melts the docking station.

The charger on the right is more stable, nothing to worry about, no heat, no melting"


It would appear that different suppliers are sending out different chargers with the radios. I decided to take a look at which chargers were sent out with my Baofeng radios:

 
My Baofeng UV5R came with above charger which delivers 12v to the base. The base actually states that the input voltage should be 10v!!!! (This could certainly cause excess heat)




My Baofeng GT3 came with the charger shown above which delivers 10v to the base, the correct voltage!!!

I must point out that I have not had any issues with either of my chargers, but both of my chargers are different to those supplied to Jamie. There does not appear to be a 'standard' charger.

Of course this problem is not unique to Baofeng radios, many other radios and indeed completely different electronic devices such as mobile phones have seen reports of overheating chargers.

Personally I never charge anything unless I am able to keep an eye on the charging process. I certainly would not put one of these devices on charge then go out and leave it unsupervised.....


Have you had any problems with your chargers?

Does your charger look like those shown above or do you have a different one?

What is the output voltage of your charger? Does it match the input voltage of the base?


I would be interested to hear from you....!

  

CB Radio: Roy in Corsica 104ET101 - 104CT011





A short video featuring the legend that is Roy - 104ET101/104CT011


8 July 2016

President Grant 2 vs Grant 2 Premium!



Video: YouTube/thegrcc



A short video which shows that not all Grant 2's are made equally....!

It's totally amazing that even after several revisions President still haven't sorted out the problems with this radio.

2 July 2016

Yaesu FT-817ND Only £407.95!!!!

With the Yaesu cash back promotion the FT-817 has never been so cheap.....

Price after the £40 cash back:

LAMCO - £407.95 - LINK

Martin Lynch - £409.95 - LINK

Nevada - £409.95 - LINK

Waters and Stanton - £409.95 - LINK



Balun Magic PART 1



Video: YouTube/TRXbench



Another very interesting video from the guys at TRXbench.