Equipment | N4BC

Miracle Drug

I’ve had an older Kenwood speaker laying around that I bought as a companion to my TS-850 when it was new. It had developed a nasty intermittent crackle, traceable to its A/B switch, although all the switches needed cleaning . I’m now using it with my Icom IC-7300. This is a sealed pushbutton switch that I had tried to clean several times before. The only point of entry without removing and disassembling the switch is a tiny hole on top of the switch.

Enter my superhero … Caig Labs De-OxIT! I I remember I used this stuff when I ran a calibration laboratory. Best contact cleaner ever! I bought a 25ml bottle with a needle applicator on Amazon for $21 … not cheap, at all. But … if you can get it onto the contact, it will clean it, protect it, and lubricate it. I know … I know … it sounds like a commercial, but believe me … IT WORKS!

I dripped a small amount into the hole, waited for it to work its way into the switch, and then pushed the switch several times to wipe the contacts and spread the solution. VOILA! No noise! Clean audio!

End of testimonial!

Seriously, if all else fails, get some of this stuff and try it. I think you’ll be happily surprised.

73 de Dick N4BC

This Digital Stuff

The bands have been a bit sparse the past few days, but you can just about always find signals on FT8 frequencies when nothing else can be heard. Last night was a bit lean, but I did work nine North American stations on FT8 … all on forty meters.

There were a few CW stations participating in a CWT Contest, but I have my paddles disassembled at the moment, so I’ll make it a priority to reassemble them and get them back in action. There weren’t a lot of stations there, but several were quite strong. Nothing exciting, though, unless you were actually participating in the contest.

We dodged the bullet on this last Nor’easter … we only had a mix, with no accumulation, mostly rain, and above freezing temperatures. Further north, they got the brunt of the storm. This coming Saturday, we’re looking at some sleet and rain overnight, but the temperatures are supposed be be in the upper forties. I’m ready for Spring!

73 de Dick N4BC

Pffffft!

I got on the bands last night to see what was happening on FT8, and 40 meters was really busy. I tried replying to several station, but either they couldn’t hear me or were ignoring me. I ended up working one station in California that was a repeat contact. Eighty meters had a few stations, but no luck there either. Just a bummer of an evening.

I fired up the DMR rig and hotspot and talked to a couple of guys … one in Yorkshire, England, and another in Malta, and had a pleasant chat with them. That’s a great medium for ragchewing. Crystal clear most of the time … world-wide.

Well, that should hold me for this morning. I’ve got a radio club meeting tonight … not sure what the program is. I should be able to hit the local DMR repeater from our meeting location (which I can’t do from home, thus the reliance on a hotspot). Maybe I can demo some DMR to a bunch of D-Star folks!

73 de Dick N4BC

IC-7300 Firmware Update

I see that Icom has released a Firmware upgrade today for the IC-7300 … ver. 1.21. According to the description, the upgrade is for production process improvement and makes no changes in user operations. There were also no changes to the manuals. Very cryptic. It evidently affects the operation of the Main CPU. The upgrade can be found at the Icom website.

73 de Dick N4BC

Last Weekend

Well, the best laid plans … . I had planned to participate in the NC QSO Party, but circumstances changed that. I just had too many honey-dos to finish.

I did get my Tytera MD-380 codeplug programmed, but can’t hit my local DMR repeater from my house (maybe improved antenna?). I drove a few miles closer and did hit the repeater OK. Checking, I see that his antenna is only at 30 feet, but he does have plans to raise it, I believe.

So, my solution is to add a hotspot to the mix. I have a Raspberry pi lying around, and ordered a dvMega to link into the network from the DMR portable. It should be here on Tuesday, so I’ll let you know how it works. Yes, I know some people say it’s not “real” ham radio if it uses the internet, but I want it for communications, not for awards. I’ve already created a SD card ready to plug into the pi with the Pi-Star image on it.

Well, that should do it for now. I’ve done a lot of research on this DMR stuff, and actually think I’m beginning to understand what’s going on. Oh, I knew a lot, due to working with Motorola radios and systems for years, but this is a new realm for ham radio.

73 de Dick N4BC