TekMaker - make something!

 The first thing is to download the Pi-Star software from https://www.pistar.uk/downloads/ , at time of writing the current version is Pi-Star_RPi_V4.1.5_21-Jun-2021.zip ,but you should get the latest available. I used a Raspberry PI 3B but it is possible to use a PI Zero W or other model. You should then use either Etcher, or the Raspberry Pi imager to copy the image to your SD card, which should be at least 4GB and Class 10 or better, I used a 16GB simply because they are available for little money these days. Simply put the SD card into your PI and attach a monitor and keyboard via USB connection. The PI should boot with the usual rainbow screen, the default login is pi-star and the password raspberry. We will change these soon. To find out what IP address your pi is on type ifconfig and hit return. If you are connected via ethernet you will be able to type http://pi-star.local into a browser and access the dashboard as below - This will redirect after 10 seconds and you will be...

So, having completed the Foundation exam in April 2021, the Intermediate exam in May and the Advanced exam in June  and got my callsigns M7RBE, 2E0HGA and M0RLF (RaLF) I figured one of my next steps was to look at HF Transcievers and see if I could get one at an affordable price. So I had a few watches on Ebay week after week and learned about a few of the more popular classic models. I had a short-list of Kenwood, Icom and the value favourite, Yaesu. Most where selling as mostly working and complete for around 400 - 600 GBP. I knew I would be happy to do some work and use that experience to feel my Youtube channel as I have done other projects like recondition a Yamaha Pacifica Electric Guitar and Marshall practice amplifier before I started the channel and had worked in Electronics for 25 years includinh a stint at Racal Communications on, yes, HF Transceivers. Then on Thursday this week my eyes lit up, a Yaesu FT-101B in 'unknown' condition but appearing complete, i.e. all k...

Having bought one of these transceivers recently I was firstly disappointed in the User Manual, it is in extremely small print, barely 4 point and my first searches online brought a pdf of the same manual scanned badly which was not much of an improvement. Also it is a reference guide rather than a how-to. I think many people would prefer to learn how to use the radio as well as which buttons to press with context. I am only covering the basics as I think once you know those then you will figure out the rest using the two manuals I have linked to below. So here we go! The Baofeng UV-S9 Transceiver, around £25 on Ebay Caution, two things are very important to know before we begin. Firstly it is illegal to transmit on any band that you do not hold a license for. You must check with your licencing authority, which in the UK is Ofcom https://www.ofcom.org.uk. PMR446 is not currently legal for a radio which does not have a fixed antenna and it is illegal to use a Baofeng for this purpose. A...

And why you shouldn’t import too many repeaters to your codeplug like I did! I have made an accompanying video on YouTube at https://youtu.be/dNkdYzQbISY Setting up DMR takes some patience but once you access the repeaters and talk groups you will be rewarded with many QSOs from all over the world in glorious digital quality. DMR (Digital Mobile Radio) is a great transmission/reception mode, it is clear audio in a resilient wrapper that can withstand a lot of QRM - interference and fading. It is pretty much either working, or not with no real distortion. It has been developed due to the availability of cheap micro processors which can process audio into digital encoding and manage complex transmission systems. The DMR amateur radio system allows people to talk one to one or through a repeater in either simplex mode (same TX and RX frequencies) or duplex mode. You can probably access many DMR repeaters in your surrounding area and they provide access to hundreds of talk groups. Now mode...

I passed my Foundation Amateur Radio Exam and have been using the Baofeng UV-S9 for over a couple of months (the first month just listening). I decided it was time for a better radio as a lot of activity seems to be on digital channels and links like Echolink, All Star etc. and the Baofeng scan facility is limited to either all channels, or all frequencies in one waveband. So I pre-ordered the Anytone AT-D878UVII Super as this is the only budget radio that seems to have enough memory to download the entire DMR contact list which now exceed 200,000 registred users.  My new Anytone AT-D878UVII Super The Anytone can hold upto 500,000 so it should be good for a few years. When programming a radio like this people refer to a codeplug, it is not a physical plug, rather it is data that is specific to your radio's frequencies, repeater channels, DMR contacts and personal settings. It will also contain your DMR Id so beware of exporting the data plug to other people without first removing ...

I have had my Baofeng UV-S9 for about three months and while initially happy with it I have come to some conclusions    1- it no longer transmits in UHF or will let you select UHV frequencies manually 2- the front end overloads and renders the whole radio deaf as soon as you go up a hill or fir a better or mobile antenna  3- certain frequencies are really poor reception making contacts almost impossible. e.g. I contacted a guy on 2m, but when we changed channel neither of us could hear each other 5 miles (8Km) away! We where both on the same hill so line of sight really.  4- The FM radio no longer works  I have 2 Nagoya aerials, one whip and one mobile so it's not them. You get what you pay for, better save up for a better brand like Anytone, Retevis, Ailunce of Yaesu, Icom etc. The earpiece and cable are very poor qaulity and the charge base is really hard to engage. The instructions are garbage and better downloaded from Radioddity UV5-RX3. Conclusion...

I wanted a Discone type aerial, they look great! Then I read some reviews and people said that a dual band dipole worked better. I also wanted to be able to use it for different bands. So on YouTube I found the best dual band aerial design I could. Then I found this 2M ground plane aerial/antenna . why not combine elements of both? So why would this work? Well, when an antenna or aerial is resonant it's impedance falls to around 50 Ohms. When it is outside resonance the impedance rises to several thousand Ohms and becomes irrelavent as it reduces the signal. So when you are on 2M the other tripod elements are ignored and you can achive good power transfer and gain. The same is true for each other band. I have seen this on other aerial designs too. It does work I promise you! Antenna vs aerial, what is the difference?  An aerial is to receive radio signals only, there are other design considerations but an Antenna has to cope with high voltages and heat. An antenna is designed to...