4m Gateway getting the Go-Ahead, but not as we hoped!!

The 4m Gateway looks like it will get the go-ahead after all, but not on the frequency that was hoped for. It will not be on 70.400 but on 70.350 Mhz FM. The reason for this is that "certain" people think we should adopt the same band plan as the UK, even though our band differs from our UK brothers and sisters.
For example the UK use 70.000 to 70.500 where we use 70.125 to 70.450, another difference is that our calling channel is 70.2625 FM and the UK is 70.450 FM....
This will put our Gateway on the ONLY other 4m Gateway frequency on the Island of Ireland, the other gateway is: EchoLink Node Number: 483251, Frequency 70.350, Callsign: MI0RTX,  CTCSS Tone:110.9Hz, Location: Dromara, Co. Down, Northern Ireland. (A total line of sight of approx 45 Miles).

But having said all that the frequency for the 4m gateway will be on 70.350 and also will have a CTCSS of 88.5hz. Unfortunately this will stop a vast amount of people with Ascom and pre-programmed radios from using the gateway, which is very sad indeed. The whole point of this gateway was to encourage the activity on the 4m band here in EI.
In time I hope to be able to re-program up the Simoco PRM radios that the local hams have here around County Louth and have them "Gateway Ready" before the Gateway goes live.

4m Gateway Idea May Be Scrapped..

It is with deepest regret that due to complications brought on by third party involvement the Dundalk Amateur Radio Society may have to withdraw its application for a Gateway on 4m.

There have been too many objections by certain parties to frequency and CTCSS tones etc.

The idea was to set up on 70.400 FM with no CTCSS in order to facilitate people who were already able to access that frequency with their pre-programmed radios.

Certain parties would rather us follow the proposed UK band plan and set up our gateway on the same frequencies as them, 70.400 is not one of the frequencies.

If we set up on the same frequencies as the UK we may cause co-channelling with gateways over there.

The option we then have is to stop the co-channel issues would be to add a CTCSS, which would mean that 75% of the operators who are enjoying the use of 4m locally would not be able to use the Gateway. 

I hope that this will not happen, I will update the Blog with further details.  

Simoco SRM 9000 For 4m.

One of my favourite EX-PMR radios is the Simoco SRM 9000 range, easy to convert and great if you want to use it as a “hideaway” radio in the modern car.

I own quite a few of them and use three of them in my car for 4M, 2M and 70cms. These radios are available for several  bands but of course we are only interested in the ones that we can use on Amateur Radio Bands,  66-88 MHz(E0),136-174 MHz(AC),400-450 MHz(TK),400-480 MHZ(TU) and 430-500 Mhz(UW-L), in this case I will be talking about the 4m Band 66-88 Mhz (E0), but the programming and setup is exactly the same for each band.

The radio body itself is a Simoco SRM9000 and the Microphone I use is the SRM9020 one which gives a few extra buttons which I have programmed up to do the most common tasks needed, for example: High and Low Power and Squelch adjustments, Scan and a Calling/Favourite Channel buttons. The On/Off button is on the top of the microphone and the volume is on the right hand side. The display on the microphone is a backlit 6 digit display so with the 4m frequencies I have left in the decimal point, this works well on frequencies like “70.400”, “70.475” etc.  but “70.2625” will show up as “70.262” and “70.4875” will show as “70.487”, I think this is a good compromise as the only digit missing will always be the “5” and this will only be on the “in-between” channels.

Microphone Buttons.

To program the radios you will have to get the appropriate lead, these can be found on eBay for about £10 or so and of course the software. I will be making the software available on this blog later with all instructions and Channels set up as a downloadable file so that all you have to do is simply download software and file and simply connect to your computer and program your radio.

Frequency Listing.

Reading Radio.

Picking the radio and band.

You will see a few screen shots of the software screen in action. I have the whole 4m band already programmed in 70.000 to 70.500 in 12.5 KHz steps and power output is 25 Watts High and 5 watts Low. The SRM can only scan a batch of 15 Channels at a time so I have programmed in the most popular 15 Channels, also several more “batches” of 15 channels can be programmed in to cover a various Pick and Mix to suit, these “Scan Bands” can be named i.e.: Scan1, Scan2 etc. or whatever you like and when the radio is in Scan mode the Scan band required can be changed by the Channel up and down buttons.

The Memory/Call channel button I have programmed to my local net frequency which is 70.400, this puts the radio on a handy “near” middle of the band, to access channels that are not in the “SCAN” batch all I have to do is press the Channel Up/Down buttons to get to where I want to transmit. The Squelch Level can be adjusted up and down with these same buttons, or turned down and off completely if I want to hear a very weak signal.

Three Radios in back of boot.

As you see I have three of the radios in the boot of my car, these radios have 2 leads each running to the front of the car one for the microphone and one for the speaker, the microphone lead is simply a CAT5 cable with a CAT5 Joiner used to extend the microphone. I am lucky in that the battery for my car is under the back seat so the DC leads are very short. I only use 2 Mag Mount antennas for the radios, one antenna is a 4M with a centre loaded coil and the other antenna is a Dual-Band antenna, you will see the Duplexer in between the 2M and 70cms radios.Having the radios in the boot means that they are out of sight of prying eyes and the microphones are unplugged and locked in the glove box when not in use, the antennas are also stored in the boot when I am not using the radios.

Socket and Lead for 4M.

Sockets and Speakers.

You will see the sockets and speakers for the radios are down beside the centre counsel, the 4m socket is on the left and the 2m and 70cms are on the right, all of the speakers  are together and out of sight.
The three microphones sitting in their clips look well on the dash,and with the three radios on scan I will not miss much while mobile....

Showing off with three microphones on dash.

I will go into more detail on the programming of these radios and any problems that you may find at a later stage and will also have the Operator’s Manual, Software and instructions available to download then.

Some Local 4m Operators.

(Click on photo to enlarge)