Topsung TS-689: 10W, Triband

I waited a few days to do my regurgitating of Hans' discovery of the Topsung TS-689. I thought I might see what others thought as his posts usually get people chiming in if they have any experience with a particular radio. In this case, no one seems to have the 10 watt, tri-band handheld transceiver. I couldn't even find a different picture of the radio.

Description:Tri-band: 136-174MHz / 350-400MHz / 400-470MHz• Tri-band, dual display and stand-by• DTMF encode and decode• ANI function• 2 tone encode and decode functions• 1750Hz tone• CTCSS / DCS• 200 memory channels• FM radio• Torch light function• Reverse function• HI/MI/LO power selective, max.: 10W• Scrambler function

While 10W and a tri-bander might interest some, I agree that the extra 5W isn't worth much and there are better choices than 350 – 400 MHz.

Portable SDR

PortableSDR:

"The PSDR is a completely stand-alone (no computer needed), compact, Portable Software Defined Transceiver (hence the name, sorta). Originally designed for backpacking use by Ham Radio operators. It includes complete coverage up to about 30Mhz (plus 144Mhz), it has a 168Mhz ARM processor, color display, and an innovative interface. "

Via reddit

Standards

Not a joke! RT @rjek: Today is World Standards Day. Except in the US, which celebrates it on 23rd. http://t.co/ePc5KIvpIa
— Thomas Robitaille (@astrofrog) October 14, 2014

Leixen VV-898: Hans Reviews

Hans reviews the Leixen VV-898:

"The receiver is sensitive, very sensitive. With an average sensitivity of -127dBm the Leixen is amongst the most sensitive radios around. Sensitivity isn’t everything though; the capability to separate wanted signals from unwanted signals is much more important. 

That proved to be something the Leixen VV-898 can’t do at all. Even on a relatively deaf antenna, a Diamond discone, I heard mixer products and out-of-band signals all over VHF and UHF."

CWNP

I'm looking into the Certified Wireless Network Professional program for my next cert. CWNP is vendor agnostic. I've never formally done any training or studying on the wireless side, but after reading a couple of chapters, I'm excited about the (no surprise) overlap with ham radio topics. I spotted a ham calling "CQ" in the CWNP forum.

Wouxun KG-UV950P: 800 MHz Receive

BuyTwoWayRadios reminds us that the Wouxun KG-UV950P quad band radio will also receive from 700.000 to 985.000 MHz. The trick is to make sure you are using the "A" side of the radio to hear the 800 MHz band:

"To access the 800MHz band, simply press the A/B button and switch to A, Press the 2 Key (MHz), and enter a frequency from 700.000 MHZ to 985.000 MHz. Once entered, you can also scan the entire range of those frequencies on the A side by pressing the * (Scan) key for two seconds to initiate the scan."

409Shop Introduction Video

A little promo video about the 409Shop...

Baofeng UV-82: $29.99

You can get a Baofeng UV-82 for $29.99 at Radioddity.

DC Rainmaker's Handy Tools & Apps Page

A good list of various on-line tools for runners, cyclists, etc. For example, I've used this one to download all my Garmin data since there isn't a way to do a bulk backup of it from the Garmin Connect website. A foolish oversight if you ask me.

Alinco = AnyTone

Hans points out that Alinco is rebranding Anytone radios.

While the looks are still typical Alinco, inside it’s another story. The Alinco DR-138 and DR-438, two mono-band radios, are incarnations of the AnyTone AT-588 mono-band radios. The ‘all new’ DR-638 dual-band radio is an incarnation of the AnyTone AT-5888.

As I was posting this, I was going to add the Alinco label/tag and realized I had never used it before. Funny that I've made it four years without using it and now I add it because of Anytone.