Simoco SRM9000 DB15 pinout connections

 Simoco SRM9000 DB15 pinout connections

just to drop a copy here, in case I have not already done so before.

useful for programming them.

Simoco DB15 pinout connections

Simoco SRM9000 pinouts

John Moyle Field Day 2022 - postmortem

 I went to QF46pu with the intention of  working VHF and above, however after the first hour  of calling and finding nothing and hearing nothing,  (except for  VK2LE/p on 146.500, but they could not hear me). Dave VK2JDS was tuning around 40metres and found lots of stations calling CQ Contest,  so I started working the contest on 40metres, it was great fun, lots of strong signals, easy to work them. There were some serious stations out there, but also many casual contesters who liked a bit of a chat, which I was very obliging with. 

I was not  doing the contest seriously, just give out some numbers.  There seemed like there were many club groups and family groups, one op had his daughters doing the CQ calls while he made the contacts, so I was surprised by the number of young operators, both genders present, some of which had picked up the contest bug and operating very professionally and proficiently, which was great to hear. 

Over the 24 hour period I racked up 50 contacts, in between other projects,  while realistically just having a bit of fun in the contest.  I was operating under my other callsign VK2ABP,  running the Icom 756 Pro2 into a 80metre horizontal wire loop, strung out among the trees. 

Now that I had fun on a HF contest, I think I need to have a go at the RD Contest in August. I think I leave the VHF and above for the WIA VHF-UHF Field Day Contests.

TYT TH-9800 Quad band bios settings

 

TH-9800 Quad Band FM - Firmware Options

• Turn off radio via normal power button
• Press left LOW button AND power button, to enter firmware mode
• Radio will boot in firmware mode: “F1 – SETMOD RESET” on display
  • Press A = MAIN UPDATE
  • Press B = PANEL UPDATE
  • Press F = RF Test mode
  • Press Set = Reset radio settings (keep channels memory)
• Left/Right Dial scroll, switch between mode =
  • F1 = SETMOD RESET
  • F2 = HYPER RESET
  • F3 = MEMORY RESET
  • F4 = ALL RESET
  • F5 = M_ONLY MODE

MAIN UPDATE mode is used to upload new firmware to the body.  

PANEL UPDATE mode is to upload new firmware to the remote head.

the Langstone (SDR) Project

 this looks pretty cool. VHF-UHF-SHF SDR transceiver

Langstone Project - UK Microwave Group Wiki (microwavers.org.uk)

GitHub - g4eml/Langstone: Langstone. An SDR Transceiver for the VHF, UHF and Microwave bands.

PLL boards, Signal Sources etc.

I also bought some cheap PLL Developer boards  to play around with. They suffer from jitter, but  good enough for experimenting with. Also picked up a 4GHz white RF noise source for testing microwave receivers, ie. 1.2GHz, 2.4GHz and 3.4GHz transverters.

http://www.qsl.net/vk2kfj/pll.html

Modifications for the TYT TH-9800 FM quad-bander mobile transceiver

These TH-9800  quad band FM transceivers  (a clone of the Yaesu FT-8900 transceiver) have an issue of blowing the transmit driver FET.  I have documented a modification to fix this, as it would be a considerable amount of work to replace the drive FET, or even the PA FET for that matter. Easier to do the mod and run at less output power, better than having a dead tx PA. It basically adding a 8v (7808) regulator into the supply circuit for the Driver FET,  which is fed hot from the 13.8v DC input.

http://www.qsl.net/vk2kfj/th9800.html

Reducing RFI from your vehicle for operating mobile

I have documented the modifications to my 4WD  vehicle that I use for mobile and portable operation. It was only that in past year I have decided to operate HF, whereas in the past I only ever had VHF and UHF equipment, so RFI radiating out and also from within the vehicle was not so much of a problem, but is more so for HF.  My web page includes photos.

http://www.qsl.net/vk2kfj/holden_jackaroo.html

Motorola GM-339 and Tait 8110

Just some ex-commercial radios  we playing with for 2m and 70cm

Motorola GM-339 UHF mobiles, and Tait 8110 VHF mobiles.  Excellent radios.

23cm portable 8th to 10th December, 2016

I did  a trip to Canberra on 8th December, 2016,  first stopped at the carpark at southern end of Federal Highway, (QF44qu) where it rises up from Lake George, so I could try to work Dave VK2JDS at QF46pu, it was extremely windy and difficult to keep grid pack still or even hear the radio, so we were unsuccessful. It probably should have worked and I was aiming up the lake, above the water.
On 9th December 2016, I visited Mt Ainslie (QF44nr) to try and work Rod VK2TWR at Nimmitabel, but he already packed up, but I did hear Gordon VK3EJ at Cobram on 1296.150 MHz via AE, working Rob VK1KW, nice strong signal from Gordon before quickly fading out. At least this proved my IC-910H and 23cm Gridpack were working.

on 10th December 2016, came up to Mt Ainslie (QF44nr) again and tried on the northern side of the hill, to try and work Grant VK2MAX at Kempsey via AE on 1296.150 bu to no go. Also tried to receive Dural beacon 1296.420 but no go.

Then I moved around to western side of Mt Ainslie (QF44nr) to try Grant VK2MAX again but no good AE path available.

Kenwood TR9130 and TR9500 modifications

I finally got a round to documenting some mods I did to my Kenwood TR-9130 2metre All-Mode trasceiver and TR-9500 70cm All-mode transceiver.  Basically I replaced the incandescant lamp with green LEDs to provide a better backlit Signal meter, plus some other improvements.


see the modifications here on my website:

http://www.qsl.net/vk2kfj/tr9130_tr9500.html