Information about Utility Dxing, HAM Radio, Scanners, etc.

allan9sqt@juno.com

Summer is upon us and there are number of things I want to write about this month. Please remember all input is welcome and will be used by your editor, so send your perplexing and outstanding question concerning utility traffic on the HF bands, amateur radio stuff in general, and scanning topics to me.

While I am typing this the Space Shuttle is currently orbiting and Mir has been reoccupied by Russians (one hopes they brought enough duct tape – grin, grin), and the Russians have been again making space to ground amateur radio contacts. However, NASA has no plans for SAREX (Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment) payloads to be carried on future flights, and the last SAREX flight was June 1999. SAREX is the project where Shuttle astronauts make contacts on the amateur radio bands with amateur radio operators all over the globe, and most notable have been their contacts with schools. However, we can all still hear the Shuttle over amateur radio frequencies that retransmit the NASA audio feed. Here in the Chicago area there are two retransmissions over local VHF and UHF frequencies: the Motorola Amateur Radio Club in Schaumburg on 446.575 MHz and link from Schaumburg output from Lisle on 224.36 MHz. There are additional retransmissions on HF frequencies done by the Goddard Amateur Radio Club (WA3NAN) at Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland on 3860 kHz, 7185 kHz, 14295 kHz, 21395 kHz, and 28650 kHz. The Schaumburg and the HF frequencies have been verified by your editor, I do not personally know the status of the Lisle retransmission. One can check these frequencies any time the Shuttle is orbiting and probably hear something if the crew is up and active.

I attended the Dayton Hamvention again after several absence and I still can not imagine any radio hobbyist (SWL, scanner, amateur, CBer) going there and being bored. This year the Hamvention was held in conjunction with the ARRL’s Annual Convention. All the major dealers and manufacturers are there; additionally, there are numerous forums and talks given by amateur radio’s leaders and innovators. The flea market in bigger than almost anyone can imagine and the number of electronic ‘goodies’ being sold is mind-boggling. I saw a number of new and some yet to be released items there of special interest to SWLs and scanner listeners.

Alinco has just come out with a very small profile wide-band hand-held receiver, the DJ-X2. This, not yet type accepted by the FCC in the U.S., radio covers from 522 kHz – 1000 MHz, is triple conversion, has over 100 memories and can receive AM, WBFM and NFM modes. Now, its most interesting feature is the unit’s size and weight; it weighs about three ounces (85 grams), and its size is 2.3 inches wide, 3.5 inches high and 0.6 inches deep. This radio could be literally carried in a shirt pocket with out anyone telling the difference. According to the Alinco representatives at their booth the radio is currently available for sale in Europe and the Far East, and they expect to have all FCC approvals in place by the late summer.

Uniden, owner of Bearcat scanners through the assistance of Rich Barnett of Scanner Master, had a prototype of the yet to be released, but very much anticipated, BC-780XLT. This scanner will track Motorola trunked systems (Type I, Type II, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, VHF and UHF), Ericson/GE trunking, and E.F. Johnson LTR. The coverage will be from 25 MHz to 1000 MHz (no cellular), modes will be AM, WBFM and NFM, PL and DPL decode capability, and it will have the now almost standard Uniden ‘service scan’ hot buttons, but with ranges not currently covered by Uniden scanners. This radio is in the configuration of a base and/or mobile installation. Additionally, the radio will have computer control capability. This radio, too, has not been approved by the FCC, but according to Mr. Barnett they are anticipating a June or early July shipping date.

AOR was showing their next wide band radio, the AR8600; also, a base and/or mobile radio. This radio seemed to be a ‘big box’ version of AOR’s current AR8200. Again, for regular retail sales in the U.S, the FCC has not approved this radio.

Yaesu of course had their VR-500. This of course in not a new unit and has already been on the U.S. market for about nine to ten months. This coverage is from 100 kHz to 1300 MHz (no cellular), reception modes are AM, WBFM, NFM, USB. LSB, CW, and has 1091 memories. Also, this set comes in very small case, it is approximately the size of the VX-5R, Yaesu’s handie-talkie that is currently very popular with hams. The VR-500 is capable of computer control with proprietary software written by RT Systems for Yaesu. Latest news. I have heard over the Internet that Yaesu has just announced a new wide band receiver to be known as the Yaesu VR-5000. Check out Universal Radio’s web-site, <http://www.universal-radio.com>, for the most up to date information. To the best of my knowledge, this radio will be a base type set.

About a month ago I spent most of an evening with the JRC NRD-545, while on my last holiday in California. My DXing buddy, Brian Saade – KF6OOH, through serendipitous circumstance with his company was able to obtain one of these with some significant discount. I only played around with for about three to four hours one evening and although I did not give this set a thorough test I did form some impression and I will say, this is some kinda radio! The receiver is full Digital Signal Processing (DSP), meaning no product detector, no FM detector, no crystal filter, no ceramic filter, no mechanical filter, etc. In other words, when the signal leaves the last IF stage it is feed to an A-D (analog to digital) converter, and then the digitized data representing the signal is processed by the DSP unit. The DSP, based on all front panel settings (e.g., mode, bandwidth, pass band tuning, notch filtering, etc.), then processes the digital data that is then fed out of the DSP and goes to an D-A (digital to analog) converter. The newly created, but processed, analog signal is delivered to the audio stage for feeding speakers or other audio outputs. Since all adjustments are made via DSP settings such as bandwidth, AGC, noise reduction, etc. are adjustable to almost any increment wanted.

From California the NRD-545 received all the stations I tried to get with it. For example, R. Mexico International and R. Educacion came in loud and clear, VOLMET broadcasts from Gander and New York on 10051 kHz came in fine, and other ‘surfed’ frequencies were received fine with out any incident.

The radio has full connectivity to computers via a standard RS-232. There is a full complement of software available to control this set, and I am sure anyone who buys one will find one to their choosing.

Last topic. On the last full weekend in June the ARRL’s annual Field Day is again occurring. Give a listen to any amateur radio band during the weekend and one will hear many calls of ‘CQ Field Day’ and the signal reports will be as ‘2A Illinois, 2B South Texas, or 5A Orange’. The calls of CQ of course are invitations for contact any other station participating and the reports consist of the station set-up and ARRL section. The bottom line is that the number indicates how many operating positions are set up at a given Field Day location. If you listen it will probably at first sound like total chaos and pandemonium, but if you keep on with it there might appear some coherency after you get used to it. Additionally, there will activity on the VHF/UHF simplex frequencies such as 146.52 MHz. If someone hears the callsign N9RJV that will be the call of the Schaumburg Amateur Radio Club.

That about does it for now. 73s to all and good listening.