Wednesday, October 30, 2013
HF-One: HF-One MKII
I have traded a couple of messages with the seller. The only note of any substance at all is that they are in the process of building their current iteration and will have more information in about a month.
Jot Script Evernote Edition Now Shipping
I'm still looking at the Jot Script Evernote Edition. Since I am not gainfully employed, I probably won't get this, if at all, until Christmas.
There is some more information available now and a video that helps me form some opinions. One, it looks a little thick. Second, they recommend turning the Multitasking Gestures off. This isn't a show stopper for me, but I know some people really like them for navigating about the screens.
On the positive side, it looks like you can rest your hand on the iPad, just as you would a regular pad of paper:
"Why can’t I write with the Jot Script stylus and my finger simultaneously?
When the Jot Script stylus is properly connected, Penultimate gives priority to the stylus and ignores anything else that touches the screen. This makes it easier for people who like to rest their hands on the screen while writing."
And you customize Penultimate to match your writing style (hand position).
There is some more information available now and a video that helps me form some opinions. One, it looks a little thick. Second, they recommend turning the Multitasking Gestures off. This isn't a show stopper for me, but I know some people really like them for navigating about the screens.
On the positive side, it looks like you can rest your hand on the iPad, just as you would a regular pad of paper:
"Why can’t I write with the Jot Script stylus and my finger simultaneously?
When the Jot Script stylus is properly connected, Penultimate gives priority to the stylus and ignores anything else that touches the screen. This makes it easier for people who like to rest their hands on the screen while writing."
And you customize Penultimate to match your writing style (hand position).
Wool
What I'm reading now: Wool. It is a different take on a dystopian future. I'm enjoying the series, but I really need to find something lighter and more upbeat or it'll end up being like the apocalyptic summer of 2010 where I read One Second After, Alas, Babylon, and On the Beach.
Wouxun SPS30 III Switching Power Supply
For those of you who want to have 100% Wouxun shack, you can get a step closer. The Wouxun SPS30 III Switching Power Supply is $75 from BuyTwoWayRadios.com
Specs:
- Input voltage: 110V/220V AC
- Output voltage: 13.8V DC - adjustable between 9.0 and 15.0 V
- Output voltage regulation: less than 2%
- Protection: short-circuit - Automatic current limiting within 30A
- Output current: 30A(max) 20A(continuous)
- Ripple: less than 80mVp-p at rated load
- Fuse: 220V:5A, 110V:8A
- Meter: single volt/current meter - backlit
Specs:
- Input voltage: 110V/220V AC
- Output voltage: 13.8V DC - adjustable between 9.0 and 15.0 V
- Output voltage regulation: less than 2%
- Protection: short-circuit - Automatic current limiting within 30A
- Output current: 30A(max) 20A(continuous)
- Ripple: less than 80mVp-p at rated load
- Fuse: 220V:5A, 110V:8A
- Meter: single volt/current meter - backlit
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Wouxun KG-UV950P: The Results
First, many thanks to BuyTwoWayRadios.com for loaning the KG-UV950P to me. They let me have it with no strings attached - they simply wanted someone to spin the dial on this radio and see what happens. To me, this means they want to be more than just a business that sells radios. Cheers to them!
Secondly, thanks to my father-in-law and to a new ham friend, Frank. Both generously helped me with the testing - lending their equipment and knowledge. I was just talking with Frank on a repeater about the 950 and he suggested bringing it over to his shack, so we could put it on his service monitor. I had never met Frank before, but I was happy to take him up on his offer.
If you haven't already read the review by Hans, start here and come back. He's got a very thorough post and I won't duplicate his pictures or much of his content.
And now the results...
Subjective
On the subjective side, I can simply say I like the radio. I got on the air more in the last several days than I had in a while. I got good reports on my TX audio. As is common with many of the Chinese radios and, as Hans report, the RX volume seems very loud with course increments. I'm not sure why this is so difficult to correct from a systemic perspective. Unlike Hans, I did not have a problem with distortion as I increased the volume. In general, I think the controls were easy to use and the speaker mic felt good in my hand.
Misc Notes
Hans found that 6/10 meters can only be accessed from VFO A and I can confirm that as well. I also discovered in playing around that certain menu options (48 FM Radio, 49 AUT AM, and 50 AM-SW) are only available from VFO A. There is a note about those menu options being on VFO A only in the manual, but I only saw it after I figured out the options were missing on VFO B. In general, I would say the manual was okay - far from the worst I've seen. Even without the manual, I managed to figure out several things intuitively - like exiting the FM radio. Someone asked about scanning speeds, which I found acceptable. You can see the channel scanning and frequency scanning videos and judge for yourself.
Testing
During the testing, we looked at output power, sensitivity, and any problems with spurious transmissions on the harmonics. I can echo the statement by Hans that there were no issues on the harmonics. From a sensitivity perspective, the radio performed very well - no issues to report here either. On to the power measurements now. I know Hans and others were curious to see what I found.
--- 28 MHz Low ---
Hans: 3.7
Brick: 4.7
--- 28 MHz High ---
Hans: 9
Brick: 10
--- 52 MHz Low ---
Hans: 2.8
Brick: 4.4
--- 52 MHz Hi ---
Hans: 32.2
Brick: 47
--- 145 MHz Low ---
Hans: 4.2
Brick: 4.0
--- 145 MHz Med (Low) ---
Hans: 9.5
Brick: 9.7
--- 145 MHz Hi ---
Hans: 42.7
Brick: 40
--- 435 MHz Low ---
Hans: 3.5
Brick: 4.2
--- 435 MHz Hi ---
Hans: 35.3
Brick: 35
As you can see our results are fairly close with a notable exception on 6M at high power. Like Hans, I didn't see much output even on the high power setting for 10M. That might be a showstopper from some - especially those enjoying the conditions on 10 right now.
Conclusion
Wouxun has come out of the gate with a solid quad band offering with the KG-UV950R. If we were only comparing it to the way the initial 920 was introduced, this would be a slam dunk for anyone. It appears that Wouxun did a much better job with this radio.
I didn't have the distortion problem, but Hans' concerns about the channel spacing (lacks 8.33 KHz spacing) and the power issues we both saw may keep some folks away. But given the low price and overall performance, this may be a great option for a lot of people. In fact, Frank, who helped me with the testing said that he was putting the 950 on his short-list, so he could get a quad band in his car.
Thanks again to BuyTwoWayRadios.com, my F-I-L, and Frank!
Secondly, thanks to my father-in-law and to a new ham friend, Frank. Both generously helped me with the testing - lending their equipment and knowledge. I was just talking with Frank on a repeater about the 950 and he suggested bringing it over to his shack, so we could put it on his service monitor. I had never met Frank before, but I was happy to take him up on his offer.
If you haven't already read the review by Hans, start here and come back. He's got a very thorough post and I won't duplicate his pictures or much of his content.
And now the results...
Subjective
On the subjective side, I can simply say I like the radio. I got on the air more in the last several days than I had in a while. I got good reports on my TX audio. As is common with many of the Chinese radios and, as Hans report, the RX volume seems very loud with course increments. I'm not sure why this is so difficult to correct from a systemic perspective. Unlike Hans, I did not have a problem with distortion as I increased the volume. In general, I think the controls were easy to use and the speaker mic felt good in my hand.
Misc Notes
Hans found that 6/10 meters can only be accessed from VFO A and I can confirm that as well. I also discovered in playing around that certain menu options (48 FM Radio, 49 AUT AM, and 50 AM-SW) are only available from VFO A. There is a note about those menu options being on VFO A only in the manual, but I only saw it after I figured out the options were missing on VFO B. In general, I would say the manual was okay - far from the worst I've seen. Even without the manual, I managed to figure out several things intuitively - like exiting the FM radio. Someone asked about scanning speeds, which I found acceptable. You can see the channel scanning and frequency scanning videos and judge for yourself.
Testing
During the testing, we looked at output power, sensitivity, and any problems with spurious transmissions on the harmonics. I can echo the statement by Hans that there were no issues on the harmonics. From a sensitivity perspective, the radio performed very well - no issues to report here either. On to the power measurements now. I know Hans and others were curious to see what I found.
--- 28 MHz Low ---
Hans: 3.7
Brick: 4.7
--- 28 MHz High ---
Hans: 9
Brick: 10
--- 52 MHz Low ---
Hans: 2.8
Brick: 4.4
--- 52 MHz Hi ---
Hans: 32.2
Brick: 47
--- 145 MHz Low ---
Hans: 4.2
Brick: 4.0
--- 145 MHz Med (Low) ---
Hans: 9.5
Brick: 9.7
--- 145 MHz Hi ---
Hans: 42.7
Brick: 40
--- 435 MHz Low ---
Hans: 3.5
Brick: 4.2
--- 435 MHz Hi ---
Hans: 35.3
Brick: 35
As you can see our results are fairly close with a notable exception on 6M at high power. Like Hans, I didn't see much output even on the high power setting for 10M. That might be a showstopper from some - especially those enjoying the conditions on 10 right now.
Conclusion
Wouxun has come out of the gate with a solid quad band offering with the KG-UV950R. If we were only comparing it to the way the initial 920 was introduced, this would be a slam dunk for anyone. It appears that Wouxun did a much better job with this radio.
I didn't have the distortion problem, but Hans' concerns about the channel spacing (lacks 8.33 KHz spacing) and the power issues we both saw may keep some folks away. But given the low price and overall performance, this may be a great option for a lot of people. In fact, Frank, who helped me with the testing said that he was putting the 950 on his short-list, so he could get a quad band in his car.
Thanks again to BuyTwoWayRadios.com, my F-I-L, and Frank!
Monday, October 28, 2013
Foreign Enemies And Traitors - Free Kindle Edition
As a reminder to those interested in The Enemies Trilogy that I posted about the other day, the third book - Foreign Enemies And Traitors, is free starting today until Thursday.
Churchillian Drift
Churchillian Drift:
"the process whereby the actual originator of a quotation is often elbowed to one side and replaced by someone more famous. So to Churchill or Napoleon would be ascribed what, actually, a lesser-known political figure had said. The process occurs in all fields."Via NPR.org
HF-One: HF-One MKII Internals
"Brief description: amplifier and low-pass at the bottom, the motherboard on top. seat with two 2.54 fasten .32 PIN of FFC cable connected to the front face. That's it. machine is only three PCB, can try to patch the patch. deduction locking screws and other low-tech work and some require soldering are:
1 \ Power cord
2 \ Amplifier tube
3 \ forward and reverse power detection coil
4 \ likely six relays have manual welding on
5 \ and antenna pedestal cable
6 \ multifunction port (9-pin serial port power strip)
7 \ 3.5MM stereo jack
good Like no.
motherboard does not seem to require manual soldering. wear only need to manually connect the front face of the 32PIN cable."
HF-One: HF-One MKII Control and SDR
Looks like control will be via USB or serial based on this question:
"Tablet PC, mobile phone via Bluetooth control it?"And answer:
"No, the app via wifi control pc, pc control the machine with usb or com"And when asked about SDR, the reply was:
"There i and q signal output, then the pc sound card or iphone adapter with hdsdr, powersdr, isdr etc. software"
HF-One: HF-One MKII Microphone
A note on the functionality of the HF-One MKII microphone:
"Hand m not dtmf, nor can type frequency, is used to control the recording sheet"
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