Maxon CM70 cb radio, 10m FM/AM (new for £60)

Maxon CM70 on 29.100MHz (shown here in frequency display mode rather than channel display mode). In researching it, I hadn't found a picture of it displaying frequency so wasn't sure until it arrived.

Step is 10KHz with readout ending in a 0KHz (PO) or 5KHz (RU). I'm using it in PO mode in the picture. It is bang on frequency.

This CB radio has an incredible coverage of 25MHz - 30.1MHz. As shown in the picture, the output is approximately 3w on 29.100 (the start of the new simplex FM allocation in the UK).

There are no conventional rotary controls on the front panel which is good for reliability and robustness for mobile life. Most of the important features can be controlled from the microphone.

Audio souds strong and clear on both FM and AM. Time will tell how the rx is but reports are that is plenty sensitive on CB frequencies.

Electronics are mostly surface mount and build quality looks good apart from a large blob of solder which was rattling about inside the case on arrival.

Bought for £60 (72 Euro) from http://stores.ebay.co.uk/radi0shop. Free post and packaging from Greece. It took 5 days to arrive, truely a modern miracle. My thanks goes to
Yiannis Kontarinis for providing this radio at £40 less than anyone in the UK.

Black Sea Cup RN3F and UW1M

I was going to play on 10m this morning but couldn't be bothered due to the Black Sea Cup contest in full swing. I am a contester myself, so it wasn't that the contest itself was unpleasant, it was the standard of transmissions that immediately turned me off. RN3F was on again with an interesting variation on his previous poor transmission. I'd like to think he's trying to do something about the QRM he causes every contest, as there is a noted difference as shown below.

He now has a 300Hz wide chirp which means he is no longer the worst offender. That title has now got to go to UW1M (top left, above RN3F). He was 594K (actually 59+30dB) and approx 2KHz wide.

I had a look at QRZ for UW1M and he is sitting next to what looks like an IC7700 so it must be the dreaded home-brew amplifier or operator error (ALC or overdriving). No wonder contesters get a bad name.

I normally argue against the non-contest fraternity, that contesters are striving to improve themselves by perfecting all the radio disciplines pertaining to their station before the contest, the contest itself being the result of that hard work. The above station clearly needs to spend more time doing this.

Cheap "Peli" type case for dxpeditioning

1) Case:
Part Num. Line Price. Description. Mfr Part. Mfr Name.
SG32901 23.19 WATERPROOF TOOL BOX D00468 DURATOOL
(not inc. tax and p&p)

Provides maximum shock protection to contents, Waterproof, Can be padlocked for additional security, Built in pressure valve, Corrosion proof, Colour - Black, Depth (external) - 225mm Length - 515mm Width (external) - 435mm
http://cpc.farnell.com/duratool/d00468/waterproof-tool-box/dp/SG32901?Ntt=sg32901

As you can see the case has 4 pressure locking tabs:


2) Packing material:Pick and pluck foam, 5+6 layers, 50mm thick
£36.19 inc. tax & p&p

"Each pack contains 5 pieces of Pick 'n' Pluck Foam size 560 x 350 x 50mm (22" x 13.8" x 2") and 6 pieces of lining foam size 560 x 350 x 12mm (22" x 13.8" x 1/2"). Each side of the removable squares in the grid is 25mm (1")."

http://www.efoam.co.uk/

The finished item with foam interior

Plenty of room for the K3, Small SMPS, laptop, headset and footswitch etc. Weight of case + fully packed foam is 4.5Kg (no equipment added yet). I will blog again when I have finished plucking and packing.

Total cost so far approx £65.

RSGB AFS CW

Lowest score ever, 187Qs. Was it my imagination or was the turnout lower than usual?

I spent the morning taking down my doublet (suspect water ingress after 7 years in the air) and replaced with a dipole. I didn't have time to install it properly so ended up with an inverted V configuration.

Signals certainly were always strong from G throughout the contest but the number seemed down. My Q rate was very poor with occasional answers to my CQ calls. It's annoying to work a really inefficient run station doing all the usual unnecessary chat like CQ AFS, my call DE his call, CFM, GA, GL BK 73s etc only to find on the exchange that his serial is much higher than mine. Oh to have one less letter in the call and live in an area with several large clubs!

Enjoyed the contest but the score is less than helpful for the GMDX team.

Paper QSL cards are dead....long live eQSL and LOTW!

I was in the Apple shop buying a present for someone. The assistant asked if I would like a paper or electronic receipt which would be sent to my email address. It forced me to think about which one would be easier for me. The answer for me was most definately electronic due to the convenience factor. Which would you choose?

It's a very gradual process, but I now know I will live to see a day when paper cards are a thing of the past. The first positive sign of their demise is the absense of hand written contest logs and the benefits this brings to everyone (faster/easier adjudication and results).

Why does this matter to me?
1) I enjoy contesting and the IOTA contest causes me no end of hastle from card collectors whinging on about confirmation for a contact to this island or the other.
2) I have to pay for the QSL bureau as part of my RSGB membership. I'd rather this contribution was used for more pressing matters such as spectrum management.

What harm does paper QSLing do?

1) I believe card collectors are selfishly causing the demise of the hobby for rare and desirable stations. They don't think about the station that they are demanding a card from. If everyone hunts him for a QSLs card for every contact he makes, surely he will be forced to QRT. When last did you hear a rare station calling CQ on a regular basis?

2) The environment, just think of all the millions of unwanted QSL cards that have been dumped since the beginning. What a waste!

3) I have been present in meetings where a dxpedition has not been sponsored on the basis of not providing paper QSLs. I was angry with myself for not piping up and questioning this, but it probably wouldn't have made any difference as I was outnumbered by old fuddyduddies.

With a view to speeding this process, please can someone tell me what a paper card gives you that eQSL and LOTW combined doesn't already provide?

Also consider why the majority of card collectors/award hunters for the last 10-50 years wouldn't want progress to electronic means.

Please consider what this global cash wastage would be better spent on.

Reverse Beacon Network Aggregator 1.4 setup

Thought I'd blog some of my setup problems and their solutions here:

1) Problem : No connection from new aggregator to RBNserver.
Solution : In the setup menu in cw skimmer under the "Telnet" tab, "Allow SKIMMER commands" check box must be ticked.

2) Problem : No connection to local user on port 7550.
Solution : The aggregator application must be located in an unprotected area on the c: drive. I run Windows Vista and had the aggregator application in the same director as skimmer under the program files directory. It wasn't until I moved the aggregator application to a folder directly under the c: drive that I was able to connect as a local user on port 7550.

Hopefully these tips will help someone else trying to contribute to the RBN collective.

Elecraft K3 band-select and quadripple band-stacking

Reading eham reviews you would think the K3 has none of the above features. The people who have made these remarks haven't RTFM. Band Select: To select the (10/12/15/17/20/30/40/80/160)m band I do the following: M>V and then press the appropriate keypad key (1/9/5/7/2/3/4/8/0) configurable. Band stacking: To select any portion/mode (cw/data/beacon/ssb) within any band I do the following: M>V and then press the appropriate memory key (M1/M2/M3/M4) configurable. In this way I can get to any band portion within 4 key presses. In some ways the Elecraft system is better than Yaesu/Icom/Kenwood as instead of scrolling round bandstacking registers with continual key presses of the band button, with the Elecraft system you select exactly which portion to jump to. Unfortunately the above system isn't implemented in the default menu settings of the K3, so the ops that give up too easily or that can't use menus don't get the benefit of these essential features. Pressing the band and mode up/down buttons is for appliance operators only :-).