tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post2688537386829933449..comments2024-03-28T08:06:43.198-04:00Comments on The Silicon Graybeard: Receivers and Other Radios SiGraybeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-69633791639230216382016-09-03T23:49:07.226-04:002016-09-03T23:49:07.226-04:00I know that this post is almost a year old now, bu...I know that this post is almost a year old now, but I have some experience with 2 meter HT's, and while I agree that you get what you pay for, the Baofeng is to me one of the best innovations to hit ham radio in years. This is simply because it fulfills a niche that until now has gone completely empty. It is a VERY inexpensive little handheld that is useful for not only the beginning ham but can also be nice for one who has been in the game for awhile, who just wants a radio that they can toss into their bag or car as a back up. It has surprising features for such a cheap, um, inexpensive radio. I find the best thing is that it has the ability to be programmed via your computer. It makes set up a breeze, and eliminates much of the problem of the needing the manual just to run the thing. I have used a couple of the old Radio Shack HT's before, and these Baofengs run circles around them. One bit of advice and that is to upgrade the antenna, at least to a better ' rubber duck' type. It helps me to get to repeaters that I can't with the original one. Sorry, I have no numbers, so you just have to go with anecdotal tales.pigpen51https://www.blogger.com/profile/01036907880805485560noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-32734311192339661902015-12-09T23:22:30.573-05:002015-12-09T23:22:30.573-05:00Yep, the waterfall is great. Ever since I've h...Yep, the waterfall is great. Ever since I've had my Flex radio 5000 I've become a believe in them. I had a panoramic adapter for my Kenwood TS-950SDX, but it just isn't in the same league as the one for the Flex.<br /><br />Yeah, a lot of Old Fart Hams are doing a disservice to the entire Amateur Radio community with their attitudes that "If it ain't HF CW DX (or traffic), it ain't shit".<br /><br />One of the major things about Amateur Radio is that it should be a learning experience. If you find a niche you love, great. But don't knock-down the new guys because they found a different niche.<br /><br />Us older guys who've been around are supposed to help the new ones, and educate them in the finer points so they avoid the missteps that we all take.<br /><br />I agree about the cheap gear. If it works for what you need it to do, that's great. I just get a bit upset at some of the people that say it's better than it is without backing it up with numbers, or real-world experience.drjimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05647484115197408897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-47342115347815606692015-12-09T01:50:24.055-05:002015-12-09T01:50:24.055-05:00DrJim,
Thanks for the response. I've got a c...DrJim,<br /><br />Thanks for the response. I've got a cheapo DV3 RTL and it is letting me look at some of the things I mentioned. The best part is finding signals with the waterfall.<br /><br />I moved from the little antenna to a dual band, and got on my new RS discone this week. Had to turn some settings down, but I'm getting good reception now, in the bands I'm mostly interested in (VHF, UHF, and 800 and 900.) I'm in the Houston metro area, and not having problems getting crushed.<br /><br />I'd hate to have missed out on either it or the Baofang, because I heard someone didn't like them for not being more than they are. They're cheap, they're limited, but they are a great gateway on to other parts of the hobby, and a low commitment way to explore. <br /><br />I might be a little sensitive about it, because I was turned away from the hobby as a kid, by some guys who sneered at what a friend and I wanted to know. I had no way of knowing that those kind of guys are a minority and I missed out on decades I might have spent with ham radio. I see a LOT of sneering from the 'old guard' directed at new hams who have come in thru prepping, with their cheap gear, and sense of urgency. Less now than 3 years ago, as some of those guys have gotten chinese radios themselves, but there is still a lot of 'if you're not on HF, working DX with your big beam on your tower, you're not a real ham. These younger new hams are MUCH more interested in communicating, than in being 'hams.' <br /><br />As long as the cheap gear gets the job done it has a place on the bench...<br /><br />nickAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-5089462787106024262015-12-08T14:34:21.574-05:002015-12-08T14:34:21.574-05:00Hi, Nick
I'm very familiar with the dongles, ...Hi, Nick<br /><br />I'm <i>very</i> familiar with the dongles, as I've tested and experimented with probably 10 or 12 of them, from the $10 Bargain Basement models through the Fun Cube Pro and Pro+ models.<br /><br />Most of the $20 ones are junk, and simply fall apart when in a high RF environment, like here in the Los Angeles basin.<br /><br />They only do 8-bit conversion, which severely limits the Dynamic Range they can handle.<br /><br />They're very good teaching and learning tools if you want to "get into" SDR stuff on the cheap, but without adequate front-end filtering, they just fold-up. Even when you cut the RF gain way back, you'll still get strong signal "breakthrough" from other services.<br /><br /><br />I've used them extensively for APT weather satellite image reception, and even made a couple of contacts through FO-2 using one, BUT in those cases I use an M2 "eggbeater" antenna along with an SSB Electronik preamp, which has some good filtering to keep out-of-band signals out of the dongle.<br /><br />I had paging transmitters that were a few miles away come up and completely wipe out an APT pass before I put the SSB preamp at the antenna.<br /><br />I bought a $300 HackRF model, and dumped it a few days later as it, too, only had an 8-bit converter. Yes, the HackRF will transmit, but at an extremely low level, and won't do full duplex.<br /><br />My primary gripe about them is directed at the people who claim the $20 dongles are the all-signing, all-dancing answer to all you radio reception problems.<br /><br />They aren't. <br /><br />You can only do so much with software when you're hardware limited, and while it's pretty neat you can push these things so far with some FOSS, they just don't cut it in some areas.<br /><br />The whole idea that's appealing about them is "DC-to-Daylight for under $50", but to really use them, you need another few hundred dollars of antennas and filters.<br /><br />I'm sure they're better in rural areas, but here in RF Alley, they just roll over and die unless you put some good band-of-interest filtering in front of them.drjimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05647484115197408897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-69526471350409619692015-12-08T11:11:47.393-05:002015-12-08T11:11:47.393-05:00@DrJim, why the disparagement of the dongles? The...@DrJim, why the disparagement of the dongles? There are more than a few people who do actually know something about radio who are using SDR and the RTL dongles to push the limits of what is possible. They are listening to satellites, experimenting in the ghz ranges, inventing new RDF techniques, tracking and mapping aircraft and vessels, downloading satellite imagery, and a host of other more mundane activities too.<br /><br />They're building down and up converters, building cheap panadapters to get more use out of older traditional gear, exploring digital modes, and other traditional ham activities.<br /><br />The dongles are just another tool, and an incredibly cheap and powerful one at that, so what gives?<br /><br />nickAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-23322690926891210062015-12-07T23:37:42.568-05:002015-12-07T23:37:42.568-05:00good intro to rx vs tx...
i'd also look at va...good intro to rx vs tx...<br /><br />i'd also look at various scanners, analog/digital like the uniden home patrol series, and of course ssb radios, my favorites are the tecsun pl-600 and the gp-5/ssb units...<br /><br />when discussing amateur options like the baofeng uv5rs, these are entry level/throw/give away rigs for newbies and local persons...<br /><br />danmorgan76/brushbeater/sparks31 all do a great job on discussing the various comms options..<br /><br />don't forget sdr as well...<br /><br />get a radio shack discone antenna for rx.....<br /><br />the goal, imho opinion, is to have a multi layered approach to comms, for both rx locally/regionally/nationally and tx, locally and regionally...i really don't care what happens to Cali or russia for dx ....<br /><br />here's a good article on comms 101.. <br /><br />https://informops.wordpress.com/2015/03/22/comms-101-vhf/<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-58729352873647582242015-12-07T22:06:27.287-05:002015-12-07T22:06:27.287-05:00Funny you should mention the VX-6 as an "EDC&...Funny you should mention the VX-6 as an "EDC" radio. I thought about getting one, but I questioned whether the MF-HF receive was really going to be useful. I could see no evidence of a BFO in any of the documentation, thus I didn't believe it could credibly be useful for CW/SSB/Digital reception. I ended up with an FT-60 (VHF-UHF only) instead.<br /><br />So this begs the question: Do (can) you use it for any of those modes?<br /><br />As for the commenter asking about the Yaesu instead of a Baofeng, I can't answer for Graybeard, but I can say that I spent the extra for mine because my experience with Yaesu is that they're rock-solid tough and reliable. I've not had the same luck with other equipment. Don't know if that helps...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-37922348757753734302015-12-07T12:07:38.429-05:002015-12-07T12:07:38.429-05:00Can I ask why you chose the VX-6R and not one of t...Can I ask why you chose the VX-6R and not one of those Baofeng radios from China? Your Yaesu is over $200 while the Baofengs are under $50. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-63823134143269653932015-12-07T11:17:28.654-05:002015-12-07T11:17:28.654-05:00Nice post, SiG. Thanks.Nice post, SiG. Thanks.Weetabixhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06106614092497408546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-69460671083972153432015-12-06T20:50:28.943-05:002015-12-06T20:50:28.943-05:00Just glad you didn't mention the $20 USB "...Just glad you didn't mention the $20 USB "dongles" that seem to be all the rage amongst those who know little about radio!<br /><br />One thing you might have overlooked about the VX-6R is that it's not particularly "user friendly", especially to a beginner.<br /><br />I've got one, and unless I keep the manual handy, I have a hard time using it. I suppose if I carried it more I'd remember all the functions, but it's got a lot of stuff crammed into a very small box.drjimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05647484115197408897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-53348864217680227562015-12-06T20:17:02.980-05:002015-12-06T20:17:02.980-05:00Terry - Collins is either shutting down the filter...Terry - Collins is either shutting down the filter operations in Costa Mesa, or has already closed down. Very few radios are using 455 kHz IFs anymore and that's pretty much the limit for mechanical filters. Most use crystals in the "few" MHz range. As you suggest, many go into an A/D converter and filter in software. <br /><br />raven - I was thinking of that exact scenario. I thought I said something about it being less likely to draw attention, but must have edited that out. Or the thought evaporated before I typed it. SiGraybeardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-60744269696131582372015-12-06T19:36:27.969-05:002015-12-06T19:36:27.969-05:00This is slightly OT, but perhaps a useful thing to...This is slightly OT, but perhaps a useful thing to know. Ferfal, over at Surviving in Argentina, has run a few interviews, excerpts etc from folks in the Ukraine. Apparently if the checkpoints find a radio with a transmitter, they get very "concerned"., as they figure the owner could be calling in a fire mission on their location. So a receiver only could have some benefits.ravennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-75907767329144143952015-12-06T17:13:35.755-05:002015-12-06T17:13:35.755-05:00Did not know about the grab the antenna test. My $...Did not know about the grab the antenna test. My $20 Radio Shack close out passed. But Radio Marti on 9565 is pretty strong here this afternoon. Greenville, SC<br />On another but related subject, I read that Collins was going to stop making mechanical filters. I considered that really bad news. Is there anything else with the same performance? DSP at IF? I guess I better decide if I want one for the HFs and buy up. They have audio DSP. <br />Terry<br />Fla.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com