'Mason's Dad' at The Blackpool Radio Rally

Video:YouTube/Mason's Dad

HamGeek 6699-CB * More Information * NEW *

 

So we have some more information on the new HamGeek 6699-CB Radio, with thanks to user 'Sierra Tango' on Facebook

(Click images to enlarge)

NEW - Radioddity CB-606 / CB-606 PRO

 

New radios from Radioddity in the form of the CB-606 and CB-6060 Pro.

LINK: CLICK  HERE

NEW VERSION: President George II+ CB Radio

Following the same progression as the Lincoln II, which came in several versions, we now have the President George II+

The radio has new and improved features including:

Increased Output Power: 15W AM / 50W FM / 60W SSB (Export Mode)

Record/Playback onto Micro SD card

FIVE Memory Channels

Improved 3 Button Microphone

Selectable FM Deviation 2K / 4K (Export Mode)

Improved Noise Reduction Circuit

External S-Meter Socket

Firmware V3.0

   (Click to enlarge)

Price: £349 (€399)

Availability: Soon

27.275 The UK's Legal SSB Calling Channel

Just a reminder that the UK's legal SSB calling channel is on 27.275Mhz (Channel 27 Mid Band).

To help promote the calling channel a Facebook page has been created, please join and share this page and hopefully we can see an increase in stations on the SSB calling channel especially during the current sporadic E season.

Facebook Page: CLICK HERE

NEW: Baofeng DMR-82UV Tier 2 DMR Radio

According to Passion Radio it would appear that Baofeng are about to release a dual band Tier 2 DMR handheld radio.

Hot on the heels of the DM-5R (Tier 1, upgradeable to Tier 2) this radio is expected to be very popular with a price tag expected to be 'well below 100 Euros'.

Frequencies - VH-UHF Dual band	UHF 400-520MHz  VHF 136-174MHz
Number of Channels	128
Number of zones	50
channel spacing	12.5KHz / 25KHz
Operating Current	DC 7.4V (± 20%)
Battery capacity	1800 mAh (Li-ion)
Autonomy (5/5/90)	Digital 20 hours - 14 hours Analog
Frequency stability	± 1.5ppm
Operating temperature	- 20 ℃ / + 60 ℃
Impedance of the antenna	50Ω
Transmitter
RF power	5W / 4W / 1W
FM modulation	12.5 kHz: 8K50F3E 25 kHz: 16KΦF3E;
4FSK modulation (DMR)	12.5kHz (only data): 7K60FXD 12.5kHz (data and voice): 7K60FXE
modulation Limiting	@ 12.5kHz +/- 2.5kHz +/- 5 kHz @ 25kHz
Conducted Emission	DBm≤1GHz -36 / -30 dBm≥1GHz
Adjacent Channel Power	≤ -60dB
Noise FM	-40dB
Audio distortion	3%
Audio response	+ 1 / -3 dB
Digital Voice coding	AMBE + 2 ™
Receiver
Digital Sensitivity	5% BER: 0.25 uV
Analog Sensitivity	0.25 uV (12dB SINAD)
intermodulation	≧ 60dB
Adjacent channel selectivity	≧ 60dB
Spurious Response Rejection	≧ 60dB
Noise FM	-40dB
Audio response	+ 1 / -3 dB
Loudspeaker audio power	1W
Audio distortion	3%
Conducted Spurious Emission	-57dBm

Link to Google Translated Webpage: CLICK HERE

President Lincoln 2+ EXPORT MOD

What we know so far.....

Simon The Wizard gave us a first glimpse of the internals of the radio in EXPORT mode and his photos show an oversized resistor which is located where the white export wire was on the previous versions. This resistor looks like it has been added after production of the radio.

Meanwhile Dave M0OGY shows us a video of his radio in legal HAM MODE (10m+12m) and the resistor is missing from his radio.

Simon then posts a photo of him using the programming software....

...which clearly shows "TEST MODE 24.7150 - 30.1050"

So what do these clues mean? 

Well I don't have a Lincoln 2+ so I can't try anything out but I'm sure anyone with the radio could figure it out....

(By the way, you don't actually need the programming software to do the export mod!)

Links:

Simon The Wizard Blog - CLICK HERE

M0OGY YouTube Channel - CLICK HERE

UPDATE: EXPORT MOD IN FULL - CLICK HERE

President Lincoln 2+ UK Price Revealed!

 

With stock due to arrive soon in the UK, Nevada have become the first to announce the price they will be charging for the updated President Lincoln 2+

Lincoln II Plus InformationLatest version of this very popular 10/12m all mode transceiver ! Makes a great mobile or base station, you can work some real DX on 12m (24MHz) and of course on the very exciting 10m (28MHz) band.
Features :- 

• Rotary switch and Up/down channel selector
• VFO Mode (continuous scanning of 24.880 Mhz to 24.980 Mhz and of 28.000 Mhz to 29.700 Mhz)
• Volume adjustment and ON/OFF
• RF Power
• Manual squelch and ASC
• Multi-functions LCD display
• Frequency display
• S-meter
• Public Address
• Vox function (Hands free)
• ANL filter , NB and HI-CUT
• RF Gain / Mike gain
• Clarifier
• Channels and memories scan
• 6 Memories
• CTCSS (38 tones)
• DCS (104 codes)
• Dimmer control
• MENU function key
• Beep Function
• Roger Beep
• Mode switch AM/FM/LSB/USB/CW
• Dual watch
• Key locking
• SWR (Power Reading /SWR)
• Preset emergency
• TOT (Time Out Timer) adjustable
• Front microphone plug
• External loudspeaker jack
• Back light colour selection : Orange/Green/Blue
• Dimensions H x W x D (in mm) : 52 x 170 x 250
• Weight : 1.4 kg

      Technical characteristics :-

• Bands 10/12m   24/28MHz
• Modulation modes    AM/FM/LSB/USB/CW
• Frequency ranges 28.000 MHz to 29.700 MHz / from 24.880 Mhz to 24.980 Mhz
• CTCSS 38 tones
• DCS 104 codes
• Antenna impedance 50 ohms
• Power supply 13.2 V
• Dimensions H x W x D 52 x 170 x 250mm
• Weight 1.4 kg
• Accessories supplied power cord with fuse
• 1 microphone and its hanger
• 1 mounting bracket with fixing screws

      Transmission

• Frequency allowance +/- 300 Hz
• Carrier power 12 W AM / 35 W FM / 35 W USB-LSB / 12 W CW
• Transmission interference inferior to - 50 dBc
• Audio response 300 Hz to 3 kHz
• Emitted power in the adj. channel inferior to 20 µW
• Microphone sensitivity 3 mV
• Drain 6A (with modulation)
• Modulated signal distortion 2 %

      Reception

• Maxi. sensitivity at 20 dB sinad 0,7 ?V -110 dBm (AM)
• 0,35 ?V -116 dBm (FM)
• 0.28µV-118 dBm (USB/LSB/CW)
• Frequency response 300 Hz to 3 kHz
• Adjacent channel selectivity    60 dB
• Maximum audio power 3 W
• Squelch sensitivity    :mini 0.2 ?V - 120 dBm
• maxi 1 mV - 47 dBm
• Frequency image rejection rate 60 dB
• Intermediate frequency rej. rate 70 dB
• Drain 400 mA nominal, 600 mA max

PRICE: £249.95

Link to Nevada Website: CLICK

The Big Net 2016 - 35 Years of Legal CB!

It's almost that time of year again! - The Big Net 2016 celebrating an incredible 35 YEARS of legal UK CB radio 2nd November 2016.

The main net will be on ch35 UKFM (27.94125) with SSB calling on 27.275* USB and AM calling on 27.125*

* Please QSY once contact has been made.

President Lincoln II + Review Part 1

Video:YouTube/M0OGY

So here it is, Part 1 of Dave's review of the latest version of the Lincoln 2. As you will be aware previous versions have been plagued with faults so it will be interesting to see if President have finally sorted out this radio.

This is the first part of Dave's review and more videos will follow in due course.

One thing I noticed on Dave's video was the missing resistor(Seen on Simon The Wizards radio) which is in the same place as the white wire on previous versions which you cut to allow export mode! Dave's radio doesn't appear to be in export mode at the moment so I'm guessing that once the resistor is removed you may need to enable expanded frequency coverage via the software.... 

... OR Maybe the resistor on STW's radio has actually been added and is required for export?

Superstar 3900EU UK40 EPROM Board

A UK40 EPROM board is now available for the Ranger Superstar 3900EU on the Nevada Radio website. Priced at £21.50 but remember you need to install this yourself so you will need to be handy with a soldering iron!!!!

Nevada Website: LINK

Baofeng DM-5R - Dual Band DMR Handheld?????

Reported on QRZNOW.COM - But surely this cannot be real????

A dual band DMR handset from Baofeng with a price of only $69.99!!!!

Not only does the price seem extremely cheap but the images used are just images of the existing UV-5R range with the lettering changed at the bottom of the radio.

REAL or FAKE - You decide!!!!

Yaesu FT-891 UK Price Revealed!

In their latest advert in RadCom this month, Martin Lynch & Sons have revealed the UK price of the new Yaesu FT-891:

£599.95

So is that a good price? - I'm not sure, you can get an FT-857 for about the same price and that has 2m and 70cm (Missing from the FT-891) or you could pay little extra and get the FT-991 which currently has £80 cashback and effectively costs you only £819.95.

I think that this price may well drop a little over the next few months.....

Blast From The Past - Realistic TRC2001

The Realistic TRC2001 was a basic 40 channel UKFM radio with 4 watts output(Specs say 3!!!). It also had the -10db power reduction switch which was a legal requirement at the time.

Specifications:

You can see this little radio 'in action' by looking at this YouTube video by icomman:

https://youtu.be/RPkqulJRQe0?t=5m10s

(The Audioline 341 is also featured earlier in this video if you'd like to look at it)

Superstar 3900EU - Where To Buy!

So we are still waiting to hear if this radio has a new board or is just a re-badged version of the older radio, however that has not stopped the retailers lining up to sell the Superstar 3900EU.

Confirmed sellers are:

Nevada

Thunderpole

Knights

Radioworld

The CB Shack

UK 4x4 Centre

Sharman Multicom

Nevada, GISCO and The Shack have been named as service centres and are therefore authorised to add the UK40 EPROM board to the radio without affecting the warranty.

I really do hope that this radio is a good one and that the problems reported from previous versions have been sorted out. If this is the case I think it could do really well....

Might even put an order in for one myself!

NEW Superstar 3900????

A new website has appeared online for Superstar CB radios: www.wearesuperstar.co.uk

It would appear that they are re-launching the Superstar 3900 as a new EU Legal radio.

The Superstar 3900EU will come with the standard legal 40 mid band 4W AM/FM + 12W USB/LSB but of course can be modified for export purposes!!!!

This may explain the reappearance of the radio on the Nevada website as reported on this blog yesterday.

Nevada list the price of the radio as £169.95

Previous versions of this radio have been plagued with problems affecting frequency stability so it will be interesting to see if these problems have been sorted out in the new version.

We shall wait and see..... 

UPDATE: Full technical analysis of the radio CLICK HERE

CB Radio: German Duplex Repeater

I've often heard a duplex repeater on channel 40 on the mid band (27.405) and wondered where it was located. With thanks to Reiner who spoke to me on-air via some amazing propagation, I find that this repeater is located 805m above sea level near Ochsenwang (QTH locator JN46RN) in Southern Germany.

Currently the repeater is using a fully legal Midland Alan 48 radio with 4 watts output. The transmitting antenna is a Sirio 827 with the receiving antenna being a Sirio Super 12.

Being a duplex repeater you need to transmit on an input frequency and listen on the output frequency. 

The input frequency is 26.565Mhz with the output being on 27.405Mhz. Please note that the input frequency is not legal in the UK and many other parts of the world but is legal in Germany being on their channel 41.

So why not take a listen when the conditions are right?

If you do decide to use the repeater please make sure you operate in a responsible manner and remember that this repeater was set up to improve local comms in a mountainous area and priority should always be given to local stations. 

The repeater group also has a Facebook page which you can see here: LINK (Closed group, you will have to ask for permission to join)

4meter.se - VHF CB Website

Following the recent CB Radio allocation on 69MHz in Sweden a new website has launched for users of this band. 

Featuring information and a forum this site is sure to prove popular with radio operators in Sweden and around the world. So if you are interested in 4 Meter/69Mhz operation please take a look. Registration is free and only takes a few minutes.

The 69MHz calling channel is on 69.1875 so if you have equipment capable of operating on this frequency take a listen as you may just hear someone calling when conditions are good. 

Link: http://www.4meter.se/

English via Google Translation: CLICK HERE

69Mhz CB Information:

Carrier frequency in MHz:

69.0125
69.0375
69.0625
69.0875
69.1125
69.1375
69.1625
69.1875 CALLING CHANNEL

 
Maximum power: 25 W erp
Duty cycle: <10%

Channel Width: 25 KHz.
On the carrier frequency 69.0125 MHz may only mobile transmitters used
in Västra Götaland and Halland.

78 § 69, from 600 to 69.725 MHz Mobile
radio transmitter.
Maximum power: 5.0 W ERP
Duty cycle: <10%
Channel Width: 12.5 kHz

Carrier frequency in MHz
69.60625
69.63125
69.65625
69.68125
69.70625
69.61875
69.64375
69.66875
69.69375
69.71875

Kenwood TH-D74 UK Price Revealed!

I think we can safely say that the new Kenwood TH-D74 is a bit if a premium product! 

Nevada Radio are now taking orders for the handheld with a pricetag of £599!!!!

Imagine if you were to drop that on the pavement while out DX-Ing!

"Kenwood's TH-D74E introduces radio amateurs to a new world of technology. Equipped with APRS and Digital (D-STAR) capability on 2m and 70cm, this transceiver also provides features such as:

•  Built in high performance GPS
•  Transflective colour TFT Display
•   Weatherproof toughness meeting IP54/55 standards
•  Wide band and multi-mode receive (SSB/CW on HF, VHF, UHF with IF filtering / DSP)
•  Compliant with Bluetooth (allowing audio), microSD and Micro-USB connectivity"

Link to Nevada website: CLICK HERE