Manpack is gone and the new QRP rig is ordered

Well the manpack radio has been sold in preparation for another addition to the stable....the Youkits SK-1A

With Chinese new year coming up it may be slightly delayed. I've kept the LiPo battery pack from the manpack and with an operating voltage range up to 15V I should not need to use the voltage regulator. I'll be pairing this with my Z11 tuner.

...and where have I been again?

...life just gets in the way. I've been slimming down the radio herd so most of the Motorolas, the Alinco HH, and the scanners are gone. I still have not managed to sort out the issue with the manpack although I am getting closer with slipping a choke over the mic cable but will pull it apart again to try and add some onto the feed line - thanks VK2ZRH. Who knows I may even start talking on the radio soon ;-)

....and where have I been for the last number of months

Busy, busy, busy. A lot on at work, then a new role, contracting with a different organisation, holding my first photography exhibition (http://owenflynn.com/projects/) plus putting some time in on my own business (http://zenitil.com.au) - has all left me with little to no time to spend on radios. I did have a week off between roles and spent it building this (took a lot more of my time than I thought it would).

10m Manpack is finished

After a bit of work the 10m manpack is finished. It's built on a Philips TP-92 portable chassis (originally for the Philips FM92 radio) and one of the benefits is that any compact/mobile radio can be added to the unit. I've currently got the Dragon SS485H in there but with a bit of rework my Alinco DX-70 could be used instead.

 

The radio is attached by removing the top cover and riveting it to the TP-92 door. I could have gone with a normal mounting bracket but wanted to maintain the lowest profile for the unit. This makes it a pain to open up the unit as the radio has to be unscrewed from it's top plate but not the end of the world.

 

 

I'm running a 5AH LiPo battery from Turnigy which replaces the original SLA batteries. The original charging circuit and speaker have also been removed. I've added a Power-Meter to monitor the battery......but have put it after the regulator so won't get too much useful info although the ammeter measuring instant and peak current is a good tool to have. With the LiPo in place and the potential to dump a lot of current quickly I have gone fuse crazy with 2 internal fuses and one chassis fuse on the outside.

 

Without the original internals it does lose some of it's weight and potentially some of it's stability although I have not seen this as being an issue so far. Current weight without an antenna is 4.4Kgs.The main antenna is the 2.7 metre ANT-129 military antenna I got in from Greece - great buy and recommended. Without a tuner I am still getting a sub 1.7 SWR on 10m. If you are looking for one for yourself I bought mine on eBay from a great seller (and their eBay photo below):

Military-Whip-Antenna-ANT129-22-30Mhz-New-Old-Stock-PRC-Army-Radio-Singcar-radio

 

I'm not running any counterpoise at the moment as when I tried 2 3m wires my receive went backwards so that area needs a little bit of work.

 

I'm thinking it's nearly time to join the SOTA ranks and start hiking........

VX-7R can hear again

RF Repairs got back to my email with a lead time of 6 weeks for the part to be in the country. I spoke with the guys at JNB Electronics (http://www.jnb.com.au/) who had the part on hand, shipped next day and in my letterbox the day after. Great service. After a stiff drink I opened up the handheld, following TimC's instructions (http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~timc/e/vx7r.html) I was able to easily replace the part and then put the unit back together...twice - I forgot the battery latch. Whack on an antenna and hearing was restored. Always great to make your own repair and I'm glad it was through hole as I'm not an SMD guy.

Yaesu VX-7R has gone deaf

I turned on my Yaesu VX-7R after a long time of inactivity and found it to be a little deaf. By comparison my Alinco DJ-G5 was a powerhouse of sensitivity. Swapped antenna, completed a factory reset...no difference. It's out of warranty so no chance of getting it repaired from the original buyer - Andrews Communications. Time to google it and I found that there is a problem with one of the ceramic crystals in the radio that fails and leads to no sensitivity on NFM receive.

http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~timc/e/vx7r.html

I've hardly used this unit so I'm not very pleased that it has broken while sitting in a drawer. Anyway, I emailed RF Repairs (http://www.rfrepairs.com.au/) and will see if they have the part on hand and if I can get it going again.

When masts are not as they should be...

Myself and Dan went to pick up the 10m mast and found it was not one continuous mast, not even 2 pieces, but about 5 seperate sections bodgied together - even had a tyre iron in there to complete the friction coupling. I got a lot of RG213 co-ax, the UHF CB 6DB and 9 DB antennas, the sections of mast and that was it. The antennas have seen better days but I have restored one of them to a working condition which will probably go up on the new mast. Speaking of which I will still need to buy a new mast but can use the sections I got on the weekend as a cross beam.

No new contacts to report but I have made some progress on the 10 metre man-pack/portable. I purchased a Philps TP-92 which was used to set a Philips FM-92 up as a portable unit. I've now put my Dragon on there and started re-fitting a lot of the old and obsolete components. The watt meter has arrived and I'm waiting on the Li-Po battery and regulator to arrive before I commence the wiring.