Compact Mobile VHF Rig: Don, N1JCT, showed his new VHF mobile, a Baojie BJ-218 2m/440 mobile radio purchased on Amazon for $70. Made in China. Radio dimensions ...4.5" x 4" x 1". Output….5-10-25 watts drawing max of 5 amps. Head is not detachable. Comes with programming cable. Programs with Chirp with appropriate software available on line. Was a bit difficult to match the software with the cable chip. (NOTE : This radio is same as Luiton 725-UV...Chirp recognizes and will program the Luiton name/model, but not the Baojie name/model! ) Can change display lights to different colors for monitoring, transmitting, receiving. As shown in the images below, the radio sits on a shelf below his car's dash. A factory hole in the shelf provides cable routing. The three cables: power, speaker and antenna are all routed with the help of split tubing, adhesive tie wrap mounts and tie wraps for a neat installation. Inexpensive DMR HT: Alan, K1AMJ, showed his newly acquired Radioddity GD-77 dual band, DMR/analog transceiver. The radio is $99.99 with a programming cable and an extra battery. See radioddity.com for more information. BitX-40 Transceiver Kit: Jason, W5IPA, showed his version of the popular BitX-40, 40 meter QRP transceiver kit. See www.hfsigs.com for details. American Morse Straight Key Kit: Brent, W1NCH, showed his version of the American Morse straight key kit. Raspberry Pi Display: Brent also showed a display monitor for the Raspberry Pi, making a nice portable package for a Pi-based project. The display uses a DROK LM2596 Digital Control Voltage Regulator (5-32V to 0-30V 24V to 12V 5V), $8.99, from Amazon to provide power. The Raspberry Pi Display Screen Monitor - SunFounder 10.1 Inch HDMI 1280x800 LCD for Raspberry Pi 3 is $115 from Amazon. Microwave Coax Switch: Brent showed a microwave coax switch made from a Transco SP6T coax switch typically $20-40 used from https://www.ebay.com/ and a W6PQL 12 to 28vdc converter available from http://www.w6pql.com/12_to_28v.htm. Headphone Amplifier: Larry, W1IZZ, showed a headphone amplifier built from an article in August, 2015 QST. A copy of the article and a parts list is attached below. RS-HFIQ Single Board 5 watt HF Transceiver: Larry also showed a single board SDR "kit" from HobbyPCB. The RS-HFIQ is an open-source HF transceiver project designed to translate I and Q baseband signals to RF in the 80/60/40/30/20/17/15/12/10M Amateur Radio bands. The I and Q signals must be provided/processed by external signal processing which is usually a PC running HDSDR (open source SDR software). The images below show the transceiver in its enclosure with a small external USB sound card from StarTech.com and show the HDSDR display. Numerous contacts have been made using the transceiver with good audio reports. Further information is available at www.hobbypcb.com. |
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