EI4FMG still on test, but not for much longer..

EI4FMG on test in my Shack.

I have not posted about the 4m Gateway EI4FMG in a while, that’s because I have been having a small issue with it and it took a while and a bit of head scratching to sort it out.

The gateway works perfectly when on test in my shack, but as soon as I bring it to site it plays up and picks up a steady noise level on the interface when everything is connected up.

I brought it up to a friend’s QTH recently with a view of leaving it there on test and see how it behaves but the issue was still there, after turning off his electricity in his house and connecting a portable generator the problem was still there.

So we disconnected everything and brought it home, set it up in my shack on a dummy load and it was fine!!!! 

I reckoned it was an grounding  problem and went through it all again, took it off my power supply and put it on a temporary power supply  and the problem returned, so all I done was connect a wire from the chassis of the radio to the chassis of the computer and the noise disappeared.

So now the plan is this week to locate the gateway to a secondary testing location, it will probably only be on beacon mode for a while to ensure that it keeps performing to proper parameters.

Tait TM8110, Altai 5-7amp Power supply, EI4JR interface.

On test.

When the gateway returns to service it will be operating from a new radio, a TAIT TM-8110, running 15 watts and an Altai 5-7 amp power supply, also updated is the computer, the old one became faulty; the sound card started to play up and did not want to accept any input audio…

The interface by EI4JR will still be used, the gateway node number is still the same: 57006.

Simoco PRM8041 up and running.

Recently I posted that I was looking for help with programming a Simoco PRM8041, the Simoco is an unusual one in that it is not widely used over this part of the world.
I put my post on a ham radio Facebook page in Australia, seeing that this type of Simoco was originally  made for the Australian market.
One of the guys who read the page sent me a message that he had the software that I needed and that he would be willing to send me a copy.
So he sent me a link as to where I could find it and I downloaded it and put it on my very old Windows 95 computer.
The software itself dates back to 1997, so you can imagine how old the radio is!!!

After I played around with the software, it is very similar to the PRM80 and PRM8030, I managed to figure it out!!!
The radio needed to be programmed via the Control Head, which is different to what I normally do with the Simoco's. The software required me to do two sets of programming, one for the control head and the other for the eprom.
Now here is the unusual thing, once I had it programmed (with 20 popular 4m channels) I decided to plug the Control Head into a second PRM8041 body that had PMR frequencies on it, the head automatically reprogrammed the body to work on 4m,
So there you have it, with many thanks to the guy in Australia with the facebook name of "Yobbo Muller" I have the Simoco PRM8041 up and running on 70Mhz...

Tony Fay EI6EQB picks up his prize.

I had the very great pleasure today of getting to meet the winner and  hand over the Cleartone CM-7200 4m radio to it's new owner.

Let me introduce Tony Fay EI6EQB (In his own words):

My Name is Tony,

I live in Artane, on the North side of Dublin City, Locator IO63VJ.

I have an interest in all things electronic.

My Father is Tom, EI6K, who was an RO in the 50's and did Radio and TV repairs from the family home, and it is to him I owe my interest in radio, electronics and computers from an early age. I have been working in Data Comms and the computer industry since 1979.

Since 1992 I have been a member of the North Dublin Radio Club EI0NDR.

I am mainly active on VHF/ UHF but I am now redeveloping my interest in HF now that I have erected a Dipole antenna for 40 Meters at my QTH.  The take-off for this antenna is NE and SW.

I am delighted Tony has won the radio and he promised me that he would make me his first contact on 4m!!!
Keep an ear for him on the band and I wish him lots of hours of enjoyment with the radio.

Competition for Cleartone CM-7200 4m AM/FM radio is now closed.

I have been overwhelmed by the number of people who have put their name in to see if they would win the radio, it is a pity that there can only be one winner.

I was over at the local Post Office yesterday and got prices for postage to the different countries  from where the call signs below are from. 
(For Ireland €12.50, For Europe €40.00 and for UK €30.00).

So when the lucky person is drawn today there will be also 2 runner's up drawn, I will email the winner with postage details and make arrangements for payment, the radio will be posted as soon as I have a day from work which should be no later than next Saturday, if the winner changes his/her mind about the radio for any reason then the 2nd runner up will be notified, if the 2nd runner up changes his/her mind also then the 3rd runner up will be notified, nobody is under any obligation what so ever to take the radio, all three call signs will be put on my next post this evening.

One of the following 40 people will be the winner of the draw:

EI7IW, EI2HEB, EI3HGB, PA3BAS, PA1FOX, EI4IP, PD1BT, PC5E, PE1PQX, PE5ED, MI6CQS, EI2HJB, PA2EFR, PA0HJA, PE2AAB, ON4PC, PE5HV, PA0FMY, ON7WP, PE1IOC, G8JGO, EI4IN, M0XTA, G7AGI, EI3FW, EI2HX, EI2HYB, EI3HBB, EI6EQB, ON2TD, EI3HCB, EI6FR, EI9KF, PA7EY, EI4GGB, MI0RRE, EI5GN, PA3MET, EI4FNB, GW4JQP.

Winner will be announced later today.

Cleartone CM-7200 Giveaway.

I am going to give away one of these fine radios to someone, the radio will be:
completely and absolutely free, you only pay for postage.

The one I am giving away is the one I reviewed in my Blog. See POST below for all details on the radio..
Please note the radio is a second hand (used) ex-pmr radio.

Now, here are the rules!!!! 

Firstly you must have PayPal or be able to pay postage by PayPal and also I want you to email me with the reason as to why you should get the radio, not an essay, just a few words.
Secondly, you must have a Ham Radio license, I am unable to give the radio to a person who has no Ham Radio License, I do not think it would be fair to that with actual Ham Radio Operators applying to win the radio.

This is not a joke or anything like that, just send me the details and that will be that…

Email me at: ei4dib@gmail.com

Winner will be notified on 30^th June about postage costs etc and arrangements will be made to get the radio shipped to you. If by chance that the winner changes his/her mind or thinks the postage is prohibitive then the next runner up will be notified.
The radio will not be given away until after the 30th June, I will not end the competition early for any reason, all people who send in a request their names will be put into a hat and my 6 year old grandson will pick out the winner.
One more thing... When the winner receives the radio I would like for them to send me a photo of you with the radio so that I can put up on my Blog...

GOOD LUCK......

New ICOM IC-7100 transceiver with 70 MHz.

ICOM IC-7100 (Click for larger photo)

The IC-7100 is a HF, 6m, 4m, 2m and 70cms all mode compact radio with an innovative slanted touch-screen LCD controller. A first for an Icom transceiver, the IC-7100 is designed to the 70MHz band in European versions where 70MHz is open to Amateur radio enthusiasts. To maintain its commitment to D-STAR, all versions of the IC-7100 will come with standard D-STAR DV mode.

Since the launch of the original IC-706 in 1995, Icom has been leading the market of HF/VHF/UHF multi-band mobile radios. The popularity of vehicular mounted amateur radios may not be as high as the times of the IC-706 series, but the IC-7100 has been carefully designed to reignite Amateurs’ interest in mobile communications and brings digital communication opportunity to a wider range of radio Amateurs.

Planned Features include

• Slanted front separated controller with large touch screen dot matrix LCD (controller cannot be attached to body front)

• Speaker is self-contained inside the controller

• Full mode (SSB, CW, AM, FM, RTTY decode) and D-STAR DV

• HF (100W) / 50MHz (100W) / 70MHz (50W) / 144MHz (50W) / 430MHz (35W) (Note: Power may be different according to version. The 70MHz band is available for some versions only)

• Lower current consumption / cooler operation (compared with the IC-7000)

• SWR meter function also works for VHF and UHF bands

• Remote power on / off

• IF DSP for filtering / interference removal / noise reduction

• SD memory card slot, voice recording

• USB Audio In / Out, remote control

• +/- 0.5ppm frequency stability

• 505ch memory channels