Christmas List

I'm going to start my Christmas list now to make things easier on my wife. She says I am hard to buy for.

Quansheng TG-Q5: Unboxing Video

In July I was hoping for a video and now we've got one. Here is the 409Shop listing. I would be interested in a VHF version of something like this. There are a handful of repeaters that I listen to most frequently, so a "lucky stone" in my pocket would be even better than a UV-3R.

Baofeng UV-5R: UV-5RC

And in addition to the UV-5RE, Ed is going to sell the UV-5RC.

Baofeng UV-5R: UV-5RE Unboxing Video

In all of its glory...

Wouxun KG-UV920R: Yahoo Group

There is a Yahoo Group for the Wouxun KG-UV920R... 195 members and only 165 messages since it was created in late 2010. I'll join and see if it has anything to offer beyond what we see in the original Wouxun KG-UVD1P (etc.) group.

Wouxun KG-UV920R: CheapHam

From the recent CheapHam.com newsletter:

"Wouxun KG-UV920R Mobile - We are please to announce that tesing is going well on the KG-UV920R. Our lab tests show excellent overall quality of the product. We are working with the factory to continue to improve the product and work towards FCC certification. We do not have a certification or general availability date at this time. We re also working with the factory to have more competitive introduction pricing. Additional details will be sent out to our newsletter readers as they become available."

.radio Domain Name

With all the other drama around new TLDs, I had not even thought about this one.

arrl IARU Supports Proposal for .radio Domain Name: The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) has expressed public... bit.ly/OqBBNIWed, Aug 29 10:03:03 from twitterfeed

Ciriculum, Curiculum, Curriculum

One of those days... while completing a form for my daughter's preschool, I tried to answer the question:

"Why have you picked this developmental program for your child?"

My answer was:

Reputation and educational ciriculum curiculum curriculum.

I sure hope she gets more book learnin than I did at skool.

KG-UV920R: Hands on Reports from VA3ISP

Lots of good stuff here... all these posts give me the impression that this radio is no different than lots of the other Chinese radios in that there is a price for being first. Hopefully, they will correct the problems in short order.

Initial review and pictures:

Pros: microphone is also a speaker, split tones - TX and RX settings are independent
Cons: DC noise is very loud when using the remote head, touchy VFO

Thoughts after three days:

"Lack of proper cross-band repeat is a killer for me. I’ve tried all their modes and none of them let me use a repeater on one vfo and simplex on another. It just simply does simplex-simplex repeating. So if you need a simplex cross-band repeater then your in luck."

Crossband repeat fail:

"So I contacted Wouxun yesterday and asked them specifically what steps I needed to take to enable the XBand repeat.

Everyone that has one that I have spoken so has the same problems. (apparently except Ed over at ImportRadio, Somehow he has his working.)

Here is what I got from them.

1. Press MENU+3+1—MENU—UP/DOWN to select ON—MENU—EXIT
2. MENU+3+0—MENU—UP/DOWN to select ON—MENU—EXIT
3. MENU+3+2—MENU—UP/DOWN to select X-DIPRT/X-TWRPT—MENU

So after trying this multiple times, doing a complete wipe of the radio and starting over I can’t seem to get it to work. Anyone else?"

(I will add that Kight Radio also said they could not get the Cross Band Repeat to work - and then they did get it working by selecting x-twrpt in Menu 32.)

Alternator Noise Demo

DC Noise Root Cause:

"[Wouxun] have confirmed that the flat cable included with the radio does not provide adequate shielding ( which we already knew ). They have replaced it with a standard CAT5 cable and RJ45 connectors.

I have done the same and noticed quite a reduction in the DC noise in the audio when my truck is running. My next step will be to add a clip on choke and see if that gets rid of it altogether."

Dual Receive/Same Band Problem:

"I was on my local repeater last night and had a simplex channel that I use with a few friends in the area. Anyway… I noticed that when I have a conversation going on on one VFO the second doesn’t rx anything. They were both VHF."

Wouxun to Fix Dual Receive/Same Band Problem

Adding VA3ISP to my RSS feed now!

 

KG-UV920R: Programming from your PC

So the programming software for the KG-UV920R was uploaded to the Wouxun Yahoo Group. And it turns out that Wouxun has called the software: KG_UV920R Commander V0.1.0. Beta - Programming Software by Wouxun. Ed notes that Wouxun is aware they have appropriated the name "commander" that has been used by Jim for his popular KG-UV Commander software for quite some time.

I guess we should just be happy they didn't call it the Commander CHIRP programming software.

I also see you can get the USB programming cable on eBay now.

Updated after posting: VA3ISP has a fix for an import error when trying to use the software with an Excel file.

Baofeng UV-5R: UV-5RE

First, a warning: What has been seen, cannot be unseen.

UV-5RE

Via the UV-5R Yahoo Group

HYS TC-UV55: Notes from Ed

YAWKG-UV920R* gripe session on the Wouxun Yahoo Group included a link to this radio on eBay. This radio being the HYS TC-UV55 that has been written about here and here.

The interesting part was when Ed Greany - the other very helpful Ed on the Yahoo Group - had this to say:

"I can speak to this subject. I have a prototype of that radio that I was considering carrying it as a mobile alternative with the Wouxun HT. It is NOT certified and the company wasn't interested in spending the money to certify it. I guess it runs about $5000 according to them. I don't know. I still have the new unit in a box. It replicates the Kenwood TM471 radio. I even did a price survey for them and they asked me for a recommendation on the button layout for the front of the radio. My price answer was between $199 and $250. Perhaps they settled on $239 - not sure.

I stopped negotiations when he said he was best friends with the owner of Wouxun. I didn't want Wouxun to think I was going behind their backs while I am their dealer.

It's unfortunate this is not legal in the U.S. It is a great radio as far as I can tell without resulting in my prototype becoming a "used" radio."

*Yet Another Wouxun KG-UV920R

Political 90X Insanity!

I always thought it was Power 90 Extreme. It must be Political 90X. And thus the Democratic response is Insanity.

Game of Thrones and SEC Coaches

Pretty funny and not too far off - Game of Thrones and SEC Coaches - especially Hodor as Les Miles.

Wouxun KG-UV920R: eBay

The auction ended with a winning bid of $306. Not much of a deal since Ed sold his 10 for $325 (including a free KG-UV2D HT). I can only assume that scarcity is keeping the price high at this point.

Baojie BJ-UV55: 409Shop

Steve discovered that the BJ-UV55 is now available on the 409Shop site for $223.

Wouxun KG-UV920R: Reselling on eBay

Someone is selling their unused (new except for opening the box) KG-UV920R. There are four bids at the moment with the current bid of $102.50 - reserve not met. It will be interesting to see where this goes.

Cannon

Forget 9mm vs .40 or .45.

Forget AR vs. AK.

Forget Glock vs M&P.

Forget 1911 vs. whatever.

Forget revolvers vs. semi-auto.


I'm getting a cannon.


Via SayUncle