Thursday, June 20, 2013

Life in the Fast Lane

"It is, unfortunately, one of the chief characteristics of modern business to be always in a hurry."

Leixen VV-808: Menus

Between my broken dial, display, and a manual in Chinese - this may not be 100% accurate. I figure it is a start. Corrections, additions, clarifications, and general insults are all welcome.

1 APO OFF, 10M, 20M, … , 80M, 90M, 2H, 4H, ... , 14H, 16H
2 APRO
3 BC Lock ON/OFF
4 Beep ON/OFF
5 CHASave
6 DTMF ON/OFF
7 DW ON/OFF
8 DecType
9 DecCode
10 EncType
11 EncCode
12 FM Switch to Broadcast FM
13 FM Scan
14 FM SQL
15 FM DW
16 Font SMALL/BIG
17 KeyLock K+S/PTT/KEY/ALL
18 Keypad ON/OFF
19 Lamp CONT/OFF/KEY
20 NameSYS ON/OFF
21 NameCHA ON/OFF
22 NamEdit
23 OpenDIS User Defined/All/Lease Time/Leixen
24 P1 Long Programmable Key P1 - Long Press
25 P1Short Programmable Key P1 - Short Press
26 P2 Long Programmable Key P2 - Long Press
27 P2Short Programmable Key P2 - Short Press
28 P3 Long Programmable Key P3 - Long Press
29 P3Short Programmable Key P3 - Short Press
30 Power HIGH/LOW
31 PTT ID ON/OFF
32 Roger ON/OFF
33 Reverse
34 RPT SET
35 RPTType
36 SaveBat ON/OFF
37 SCAN Starts scan, Menu button will stop
38 SCNMode TO/CO
39 SCANADD ON/OFF
40 SQL 0-9
41 Step 2.5KHz
42 Tail ON/OFF
43 Talk
44 TOT OFF, 10, 20, … , 110, 120 (seconds)
45 TxStop ON/OFF
46 Vox ON/OFF
47 Vox D 15, 25, 35, 45
48 Vox S 0-8
49 VXB ON/OFF
50 WIDNAR NARROW/WIDE

Leixen VV-808: More Popping

So it isn't just me and this is a UHF version. Thanks to SA0CEO for sharing the video! Also, I will add that when the radio is scanning, it is almost continuous popping on mine.

Leixen VV-808: Short QSO Sample

Another fancy iPhone video, but for giving you a small taste, I think it works.

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Funny Thing

If you break the rotary encoder and can only use the keypad on the microphone to cycle through the settings (in an effort to document all the menu options), don't toggle the MENU Item 18 - Keypad to "OFF".

It makes things exciting while you plug the programming cable in and hope you can turn the keypad back on. Good news - it worked.

I'm going to change the my tag line to "Brick O'Lore - breaking radios in more ways than you could ever image."

409Shop Frequent Flyer Points

It needs to be 10 total - not 10 at once. I'd wear it to ham fests.
409Shop you need to buy 10 radio then you can get the jacket for free (@YouTube youtu.be/73M79uNM1fs?a)
Wed, Jun 19 05:15:17 from Google


Name: 409Shop
Location: Hong Kong
Bio: 409 Shop Radio & Accessory Supplier Facebook : http://t.co/rEmDqE9ml6 Youtube : http://t.co/4M9sWA1VDX Weibo http://t.co/xw7uKozlBR
Following: 233 Followers: 203 Updates: 1131



Bracelet Buddies

Slim got me a gift and now we are bracelet buddies like Joey and Chandler (not this kind)! He made one for my wife, too. All kidding aside, I like it a lot.

Leixen VV-808: Popping

Still popping.. squelch is all the way up, tried a difference antenna, and operating from a different QTH. The popping volume is independent of the volume setting of the radio. Sorry for the iPhone video - working with what I got - but you can hear the pop at about 6 seconds. I don't see the green light come on like when SQL is broken and I am actually receiving.

Second Verse, Same as the First

After 450+ miles, time for some new shoes.



Tuesday, June 18, 2013

A Theoretical Question

I have this friend...

Say a couple of guys were looking at taking something apart... because that is what guys do. Just to keep this on topic, let's pretend it was two hams and they were taking apart an inexpensive Chinese mobile radio.

The first guy, who bought the radio, took a few screws out and couldn't easily pull the cover off, so he hands it to the second guy and says, "Can you get this apart?"

The second guy messes with it for a second and then hands back the radio with the cover off. Ta da! Slice of pie, piece of cake!

A little while later, the first guy notices this:



Which leads to this:



And this (sorry - not a great picture, but you get the idea):



So, apparently, it is important to take off the knob first before pulling on the face plate as the plastic that holds the rotary encoder together isn't designed to take much force. Go figure. Oops.

The radio still works - you can use the controls on the microphone. The display is messed up (see image). It is unknown when that happened - during the opening of the case or during subsequent "trouble-shooting." Transmit and receive both seem fine.


The first guy feels like he setup the second guy for failure by just handing him the radio and asking for help. He doesn't think the second guy owes him anything at all.

The second guy feels extremely guilty and wants to pay for the broken radio.

So, theoretically, do you think the second guy owes the first guy anything? I'd like the internet to be the final arbiter in this as we can't keep passing cash back and forth.