ILLS Weekend


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The Portable Antenna Kit

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  Here is the details on the portable antenna kit I use. This Sunday I set up in my back yard, as my regular antenna is current unserviceable. The operating position was using the terrace furniture for the Icom IC7300 and the Emtron EAT300A ATU A Squidpole and a 40M dipole as an inverted "V" worked great Details of the Portable Antenna Kit I have assembled. VK2WI ARNSW Sunday Morning News.  Great signals on 40M AM and 30M SSB  OK on 5.425kHz (VKE580)
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Interfacing PCs and Transceivers

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My Icom IC7800 has a built in USB Soundcard and CAT interface which works well, but I  have been looking at ways to interface my icom IC708 transceiver so I may also use it for JT65, JT9, PSK31 and other data modes. The Audio data side is quite simple but to be able to CAT control the IC708 as been an issue. Both the CAT to USB leads sourced have had issues with the chipset/driver which has made them useless or unreliable. Then I spotted this little device called SUCCI - Simple USB CAT & CW Interface. Besides being a USB to CAT interface there is optoisolated CW and PTT outputs, a Keyline input suitable as a remote PTT, (e.g footswitch) and three LEDs to show status. SUCCI-T is configurable as Yaesu, ICOM or Kenwood control by jumper selection. The build is excellent and has all the appropriate RFI components fitted. The driver is the reliable  FTDI USB to UART chip FT-232RL. For more visit  http://www.kotarov.com/projects/succi
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The Radio for the Go-Box

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It is a QYT KT8900D, a UHF & VHF Chinese transceiver. Works well for the money and is very good value compared to the big Japanese brands. The minor issues are;  1/ The knobs are rubber and sometimes fall off.fixed using a very small amount of Quick Grip.  2/ I have yet to prove this, the switching from Tx to Rx is a bit too slow for data, e.g. APRS.  3/ The rotary encoder sometimes forgets which direction it is going if you turn too quickly.  The good news is; 1/ The price can be as cheap as $109 to $130 AUD Including a real programming lead.  2/ It is very small and would fit in most vehicles and go kits.  3/ Works well  and  4/ Is so easy to program using Freeware Chirp Software.
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