AO-92 L/V with an Alinco DJ-G7T full-duplex (long)
Hi!
I have written a bit about the Alinco DJ-G7T and using it on satellites on this list over the years. I wrote about using it on AO-92 in both U/V and L/V modes last year:
http://amsat.org/pipermail/amsat-bb/2018-February/066923.html
Until the past weekend, I had always worked AO-92 L/V with two radios - transmitting on 1.2 GHz from the DJ-G7T, and receiving the 2m downlink with my Kenwood TH-D74 (which can also record the downlink). I have used a couple of different antennas, but have wondered if the DJ-G7T could work the L/V mode full-duplex like it can work U/V (with some caveats) full- duplex. Now, I have tried this for myself, and will ask the question...
Can the Alinco DJ-G7T work AO-92's L/V mode full-duplex? Yes.
Before the past week or so, I was aware of the triplexers offered by Diamond that included a 1.2 GHz port. Those are noticeably larger than the diplexers from Diamond and other manufacturers, and a larger price tag as well. I saw something online that mentioned the Diamond MX-37 diplexer, having one port for HF through 470 MHz, and the other port for 800-1300 MHz. Physically, the MX-37 diplexer is similarly sized with other diplexers, and it has two coax pigtails for those two ports - coax with an N connector for the 1.2 GHz port, and a PL-259 on the other pigtail for use with the lower frequencies. The common port is an N socket. After I received this diplexer in the mail, I was ready to fit it into my portable AO-92 L/V station.
I have been using a 10-element 1.2 GHz Yagi for AO-92 L/V in the past few weeks, and I tie that to the PVC handle of my Elk log periodic. I decided to tie the MX-37 diplexer to the PVC handle behind the antennas. This allowed me to connect the 1.2 GHz side of the diplexer directly to the coax pigtail from the Yagi's driven element. I used a 3-foot/1m length of coax from the PL-259 connector on the other side of the diplexer to the Elk's coax feedpoint. From the common port on the diplexer, I ran another 3-foot/1m length of coax to the DJ-G7T.
To keep from causing audio feedback while transmitting, an earpiece or something like that needs to be plugged into the DJ-G7T. The DJ-G7T uses a single 4-conductor 3.5mm jack for speaker/mics. To split out the speaker jack so I can use an earpiece and an audio recorder, an adapter is needed. I use Alinco's EDS-10 adapter, which provides a 3.5mm speaker jack and a 2.5mm microphone jack (don't need anything in the smaller jack for this). Alinco also has an EDS-14 adapter, which looks very similar to Yaesu's CT-91 adapter used with a few HTs (VX-6R and VX-7R, among others) - where the two jacks are on short pigtails from the 3.5mm plug. The Yaesu CT-91 adapter works fine with the DJ-G7T.
The DJ-G7T only allows transmitting from VFO A, the upper VFO on the HT's display. I put the 1267 MHz uplink frequency in this VFO, along with encoding the 67.0 Hz CTCSS tone. I use 5 kHz tuning steps on this radio for 1.2 GHz. I set the volume for this VFO to 0, and tightened the squelch to the maximum. For the lower VFO (B), I put 145.880 MHz with the squelch left wide open, and adjusted the volume to a reasonable level using my earpiece.
I used this setup for 3 passes over the weekend. The antennas were a little heavier with the diplexer on the handle, but I could still control them with one hand. I held the DJ-G7T, along with the splitter and patch cable to my audio recorder. I could still adjust the knob for the transmit VFO, and made some contacts on those 3 passes. It was fun to be able to use just one HT for AO-92 L/V.
There are some tradeoffs when going from a two-HT setup for AO-92 L/V to just the DJ-G7T. The 2m receiver isn't as good as with other HTs, certainly not as good as the TH-D74 I have normally used when working L/V. I heard some other signals mixing with the AO-92 downlink on parts of a couple of passes. Of course, the DJ-G7T does not come with a built-in recorder like the TH-D74. There may have been a little less power going to the 1.2 GHz Yagi, passing through the coax to the diplexer's common port and then out from the diplexer to the Yagi, but I still got through. During one of the L/V passes, I was still able to get through AO-92 transmitting at low power from the DJ-G7T (rated at 300mW for 1.2 GHz).
I posted some pictures of this setup on the QRZ satellite forum, in a long- running thread "Where's AO-92???", starting at:
https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/wheres-ao -92.614536/page-34#post-4986044
Audio from my recorder on the 3 passes I worked last weekend with this setup is in the "Satellite_Audio-2019" folder in my Dropbox space:
The direct link for the pass I worked Saturday evening, where the recording started at 0537 UTC Sunday (3 March), is:
https://www.dropbox .com/sh/v3byggtuqw33fkk/AAA_gyTts4RpjT3jZa8GJI5ha/Satellite_Audio-2019/20190303-0537UTC-AO92-DM43bl.mp3? dl=0
Audio from the 1709 UTC pass Sunday morning is at:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/v3byggtuqw33fkk/AACeV6R0Bjh-RRPXTrNpblAca /Satellite_Audio-2019/20190303-1709UTC-AO92-DM43bl.mp3?dl=0
and the late-morning pass at 1843 UTC Sunday:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/v3byggtuqw33fkk/AADmbAfFYtHARDfULAR _J5eSa/Satellite_Audio-2019/20190303-1843UTC-AO92-DM43bl.mp3?dl=0
It is nice to see that the DJ-G7T is capable of L/V full-duplex operation, just as it is capable of U/V full-duplex operation, in line with Alinco's advertising for the radio - with some caveats. I can now alternate between a one-radio setup and a two-radio setup for AO-92 L/V. More fun with radios... :-)
73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK or http://twitter.com/WD9EWK
Patrick, I found a Comet CF-416 Diplexer at the superstition hamfest back in December for $25.00 pretty much just as the one you have (Common--> N connector the 1.2 pigtail the same and the 144/430 a PL259. Stopping on the way home tomorrow to get the EDS-10, I don't see the EDS-14 you spoke of offered anymore.
I see HRO ahs the CF-416W, which is essentially the same: https://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-007421 ,
Rick Tejera (K7TEJ) Saguaro Astronomy Club www.saguaroastro.org Thunderbird Amateur Radio Club www.W7TBC.org
-----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB [email protected] On Behalf Of Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) Sent: Tuesday, March 05, 2019 4:23 PM To: AMSAT [email protected] Subject: [amsat-bb] AO-92 L/V with an Alinco DJ-G7T full-duplex (long)
Hi!
I have written a bit about the Alinco DJ-G7T and using it on satellites on this list over the years. I wrote about using it on AO-92 in both U/V and L/V modes last year:
http://amsat.org/pipermail/amsat-bb/2018-February/066923.html
Until the past weekend, I had always worked AO-92 L/V with two radios - transmitting on 1.2 GHz from the DJ-G7T, and receiving the 2m downlink with my Kenwood TH-D74 (which can also record the downlink). I have used a couple of different antennas, but have wondered if the DJ-G7T could work the L/V mode full-duplex like it can work U/V (with some caveats) full- duplex. Now, I have tried this for myself, and will ask the question...
Can the Alinco DJ-G7T work AO-92's L/V mode full-duplex? Yes.
Before the past week or so, I was aware of the triplexers offered by Diamond that included a 1.2 GHz port. Those are noticeably larger than the diplexers from Diamond and other manufacturers, and a larger price tag as well. I saw something online that mentioned the Diamond MX-37 diplexer, having one port for HF through 470 MHz, and the other port for 800-1300 MHz. Physically, the MX-37 diplexer is similarly sized with other diplexers, and it has two coax pigtails for those two ports - coax with an N connector for the 1.2 GHz port, and a PL-259 on the other pigtail for use with the lower frequencies. The common port is an N socket. After I received this diplexer in the mail, I was ready to fit it into my portable AO-92 L/V station.
I have been using a 10-element 1.2 GHz Yagi for AO-92 L/V in the past few weeks, and I tie that to the PVC handle of my Elk log periodic. I decided to tie the MX-37 diplexer to the PVC handle behind the antennas. This allowed me to connect the 1.2 GHz side of the diplexer directly to the coax pigtail from the Yagi's driven element. I used a 3-foot/1m length of coax from the PL-259 connector on the other side of the diplexer to the Elk's coax feedpoint. From the common port on the diplexer, I ran another 3-foot/1m length of coax to the DJ-G7T.
To keep from causing audio feedback while transmitting, an earpiece or something like that needs to be plugged into the DJ-G7T. The DJ-G7T uses a single 4-conductor 3.5mm jack for speaker/mics. To split out the speaker jack so I can use an earpiece and an audio recorder, an adapter is needed. I use Alinco's EDS-10 adapter, which provides a 3.5mm speaker jack and a 2.5mm microphone jack (don't need anything in the smaller jack for this). Alinco also has an EDS-14 adapter, which looks very similar to Yaesu's CT-91 adapter used with a few HTs (VX-6R and VX-7R, among others) - where the two jacks are on short pigtails from the 3.5mm plug. The Yaesu CT-91 adapter works fine with the DJ-G7T.
The DJ-G7T only allows transmitting from VFO A, the upper VFO on the HT's display. I put the 1267 MHz uplink frequency in this VFO, along with encoding the 67.0 Hz CTCSS tone. I use 5 kHz tuning steps on this radio for 1.2 GHz. I set the volume for this VFO to 0, and tightened the squelch to the maximum. For the lower VFO (B), I put 145.880 MHz with the squelch left wide open, and adjusted the volume to a reasonable level using my earpiece.
I used this setup for 3 passes over the weekend. The antennas were a little heavier with the diplexer on the handle, but I could still control them with one hand. I held the DJ-G7T, along with the splitter and patch cable to my audio recorder. I could still adjust the knob for the transmit VFO, and made some contacts on those 3 passes. It was fun to be able to use just one HT for AO-92 L/V.
There are some tradeoffs when going from a two-HT setup for AO-92 L/V to just the DJ-G7T. The 2m receiver isn't as good as with other HTs, certainly not as good as the TH-D74 I have normally used when working L/V. I heard some other signals mixing with the AO-92 downlink on parts of a couple of passes. Of course, the DJ-G7T does not come with a built-in recorder like the TH-D74. There may have been a little less power going to the 1.2 GHz Yagi, passing through the coax to the diplexer's common port and then out from the diplexer to the Yagi, but I still got through. During one of the L/V passes, I was still able to get through AO-92 transmitting at low power from the DJ-G7T (rated at 300mW for 1.2 GHz).
I posted some pictures of this setup on the QRZ satellite forum, in a long- running thread "Where's AO-92???", starting at:
https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/wheres-ao -92.614536/page-34#post-4986044
Audio from my recorder on the 3 passes I worked last weekend with this setup is in the "Satellite_Audio-2019" folder in my Dropbox space:
The direct link for the pass I worked Saturday evening, where the recording started at 0537 UTC Sunday (3 March), is:
https://www.dropbox .com/sh/v3byggtuqw33fkk/AAA_gyTts4RpjT3jZa8GJI5ha/Satellite_Audio-2019/20190 303-0537UTC-AO92-DM43bl.mp3? dl=0
Audio from the 1709 UTC pass Sunday morning is at:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/v3byggtuqw33fkk/AACeV6R0Bjh-RRPXTrNpblAca /Satellite_Audio-2019/20190303-1709UTC-AO92-DM43bl.mp3?dl=0
and the late-morning pass at 1843 UTC Sunday:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/v3byggtuqw33fkk/AADmbAfFYtHARDfULAR _J5eSa/Satellite_Audio-2019/20190303-1843UTC-AO92-DM43bl.mp3?dl=0
It is nice to see that the DJ-G7T is capable of L/V full-duplex operation, just as it is capable of U/V full-duplex operation, in line with Alinco's advertising for the radio - with some caveats. I can now alternate between a one-radio setup and a two-radio setup for AO-92 L/V. More fun with radios... :-)
73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK or http://twitter.com/WD9EWK _______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Hi Rick!
I didn't look for the Comet equivalent diplexer when I had HRO ship me the MX-37. Looking at the two, it seems like it's a matter of tradeoffs in picking one over the other (except for price - the Comet diplexer is $10 more at HRO - and not clearly in stock at any of those stores). You get lower insertion loss with the Comet, but better isolation between the band ports with the Diamond.
Alinco's EDS-14 had been more widely available for a while, but now it looks like it has been replaced by the EDS-10. The manager at the Phoenix HRO store was the one that told me about the Yaesu CT-91 speaker/mic adapter working with the DJ-G7T, which I confirmed for myself. Alinco's web site still shows both the EDS-10 and EDS-14 as "plug conversion cables" to take the speaker/mic jack and split out separate jacks for the speaker and microphone, where the latest PDF version of the owner's manual allocates an entire page to the EDS-14 and doesn't mention the EDS-10.
Do you have a 1.2 GHz antenna of some sort? There are WA5VJB designs for that band, a Comet antenna sold at HRO and other stores, and a couple of Yagis available on eBay (among other options). There's at least 3 of us who work AO-92 L/V from the DM43 side of metro Phoenix (you can also hear K7TAB and N7NEV on AO-92 L/V). Other than two weeks ago when K7YDL was on from DM33, there hasn't been regular L/V activity from your side of the city. Join us!
Hope to hear you soon on AO-92 L/V. 73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK or http://twitter.com/WD9EWK
On Wed, Mar 6, 2019 at 1:06 AM Rick Tejera [email protected] wrote:
Patrick, I found a Comet CF-416 Diplexer at the superstition hamfest back in December for $25.00 pretty much just as the one you have (Common--> N connector the 1.2 pigtail the same and the 144/430 a PL259. Stopping on the way home tomorrow to get the EDS-10, I don't see the EDS-14 you spoke of offered anymore.
I see HRO ahs the CF-416W, which is essentially the same: https://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-007421 ,
Rick Tejera (K7TEJ)
Patrick, for me the tradeoff was the price. I bought the same Yagi you did, came this week. I do plan on making a hybrid antenna for L/V. The design I saw was for 1296, I want to reach out to Kent and see if there are any significant alterations to bring it down to 1267.
Rick Tejera (K7TEJ) Saguaro Astronomy Club www.saguaroastro.org Thunderbird Amateur Radio Club www.W7TBC.org
-----Original Message----- From: AMSAT-BB [email protected] On Behalf Of Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) Sent: Tuesday, March 05, 2019 7:08 PM To: AMSAT [email protected] Subject: Re: [amsat-bb] AO-92 L/V with an Alinco DJ-G7T full-duplex (long)
Hi Rick!
I didn't look for the Comet equivalent diplexer when I had HRO ship me the MX-37. Looking at the two, it seems like it's a matter of tradeoffs in picking one over the other (except for price - the Comet diplexer is $10 more at HRO - and not clearly in stock at any of those stores). You get lower insertion loss with the Comet, but better isolation between the band ports with the Diamond.
Alinco's EDS-14 had been more widely available for a while, but now it looks like it has been replaced by the EDS-10. The manager at the Phoenix HRO store was the one that told me about the Yaesu CT-91 speaker/mic adapter working with the DJ-G7T, which I confirmed for myself. Alinco's web site still shows both the EDS-10 and EDS-14 as "plug conversion cables" to take the speaker/mic jack and split out separate jacks for the speaker and microphone, where the latest PDF version of the owner's manual allocates an entire page to the EDS-14 and doesn't mention the EDS-10.
Do you have a 1.2 GHz antenna of some sort? There are WA5VJB designs for that band, a Comet antenna sold at HRO and other stores, and a couple of Yagis available on eBay (among other options). There's at least 3 of us who work AO-92 L/V from the DM43 side of metro Phoenix (you can also hear K7TAB and N7NEV on AO-92 L/V). Other than two weeks ago when K7YDL was on from DM33, there hasn't been regular L/V activity from your side of the city. Join us!
Hope to hear you soon on AO-92 L/V. 73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK or http://twitter.com/WD9EWK
On Wed, Mar 6, 2019 at 1:06 AM Rick Tejera [email protected] wrote:
Patrick, I found a Comet CF-416 Diplexer at the superstition hamfest back in December for $25.00 pretty much just as the one you have (Common--> N connector the 1.2 pigtail the same and the 144/430 a PL259. Stopping on the way home tomorrow to get the EDS-10, I don't see the EDS-14 you spoke of offered anymore.
I see HRO ahs the CF-416W, which is essentially the same: https://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-007421 ,
Rick Tejera (K7TEJ)
_______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Which Yagi 1.2 GHz that you use ?
73 de Yono YD0NXX
Sent from my mobile device
On Mar 6, 2019, at 6:23 AM, Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) [email protected] wrote:
Hi!
I have written a bit about the Alinco DJ-G7T and using it on satellites on this list over the years. I wrote about using it on AO-92 in both U/V and L/V modes last year:
http://amsat.org/pipermail/amsat-bb/2018-February/066923.html
Until the past weekend, I had always worked AO-92 L/V with two radios - transmitting on 1.2 GHz from the DJ-G7T, and receiving the 2m downlink with my Kenwood TH-D74 (which can also record the downlink). I have used a couple of different antennas, but have wondered if the DJ-G7T could work the L/V mode full-duplex like it can work U/V (with some caveats) full- duplex. Now, I have tried this for myself, and will ask the question...
Can the Alinco DJ-G7T work AO-92's L/V mode full-duplex? Yes.
Before the past week or so, I was aware of the triplexers offered by Diamond that included a 1.2 GHz port. Those are noticeably larger than the diplexers from Diamond and other manufacturers, and a larger price tag as well. I saw something online that mentioned the Diamond MX-37 diplexer, having one port for HF through 470 MHz, and the other port for 800-1300 MHz. Physically, the MX-37 diplexer is similarly sized with other diplexers, and it has two coax pigtails for those two ports - coax with an N connector for the 1.2 GHz port, and a PL-259 on the other pigtail for use with the lower frequencies. The common port is an N socket. After I received this diplexer in the mail, I was ready to fit it into my portable AO-92 L/V station.
I have been using a 10-element 1.2 GHz Yagi for AO-92 L/V in the past few weeks, and I tie that to the PVC handle of my Elk log periodic. I decided to tie the MX-37 diplexer to the PVC handle behind the antennas. This allowed me to connect the 1.2 GHz side of the diplexer directly to the coax pigtail from the Yagi's driven element. I used a 3-foot/1m length of coax from the PL-259 connector on the other side of the diplexer to the Elk's coax feedpoint. From the common port on the diplexer, I ran another 3-foot/1m length of coax to the DJ-G7T.
To keep from causing audio feedback while transmitting, an earpiece or something like that needs to be plugged into the DJ-G7T. The DJ-G7T uses a single 4-conductor 3.5mm jack for speaker/mics. To split out the speaker jack so I can use an earpiece and an audio recorder, an adapter is needed. I use Alinco's EDS-10 adapter, which provides a 3.5mm speaker jack and a 2.5mm microphone jack (don't need anything in the smaller jack for this). Alinco also has an EDS-14 adapter, which looks very similar to Yaesu's CT-91 adapter used with a few HTs (VX-6R and VX-7R, among others) - where the two jacks are on short pigtails from the 3.5mm plug. The Yaesu CT-91 adapter works fine with the DJ-G7T.
The DJ-G7T only allows transmitting from VFO A, the upper VFO on the HT's display. I put the 1267 MHz uplink frequency in this VFO, along with encoding the 67.0 Hz CTCSS tone. I use 5 kHz tuning steps on this radio for 1.2 GHz. I set the volume for this VFO to 0, and tightened the squelch to the maximum. For the lower VFO (B), I put 145.880 MHz with the squelch left wide open, and adjusted the volume to a reasonable level using my earpiece.
I used this setup for 3 passes over the weekend. The antennas were a little heavier with the diplexer on the handle, but I could still control them with one hand. I held the DJ-G7T, along with the splitter and patch cable to my audio recorder. I could still adjust the knob for the transmit VFO, and made some contacts on those 3 passes. It was fun to be able to use just one HT for AO-92 L/V.
There are some tradeoffs when going from a two-HT setup for AO-92 L/V to just the DJ-G7T. The 2m receiver isn't as good as with other HTs, certainly not as good as the TH-D74 I have normally used when working L/V. I heard some other signals mixing with the AO-92 downlink on parts of a couple of passes. Of course, the DJ-G7T does not come with a built-in recorder like the TH-D74. There may have been a little less power going to the 1.2 GHz Yagi, passing through the coax to the diplexer's common port and then out from the diplexer to the Yagi, but I still got through. During one of the L/V passes, I was still able to get through AO-92 transmitting at low power from the DJ-G7T (rated at 300mW for 1.2 GHz).
I posted some pictures of this setup on the QRZ satellite forum, in a long- running thread "Where's AO-92???", starting at:
https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/wheres-ao -92.614536/page-34#post-4986044
Audio from my recorder on the 3 passes I worked last weekend with this setup is in the "Satellite_Audio-2019" folder in my Dropbox space:
The direct link for the pass I worked Saturday evening, where the recording started at 0537 UTC Sunday (3 March), is:
https://www.dropbox .com/sh/v3byggtuqw33fkk/AAA_gyTts4RpjT3jZa8GJI5ha/Satellite_Audio-2019/20190303-0537UTC-AO92-DM43bl.mp3? dl=0
Audio from the 1709 UTC pass Sunday morning is at:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/v3byggtuqw33fkk/AACeV6R0Bjh-RRPXTrNpblAca /Satellite_Audio-2019/20190303-1709UTC-AO92-DM43bl.mp3?dl=0
and the late-morning pass at 1843 UTC Sunday:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/v3byggtuqw33fkk/AADmbAfFYtHARDfULAR _J5eSa/Satellite_Audio-2019/20190303-1843UTC-AO92-DM43bl.mp3?dl=0
It is nice to see that the DJ-G7T is capable of L/V full-duplex operation, just as it is capable of U/V full-duplex operation, in line with Alinco's advertising for the radio - with some caveats. I can now alternate between a one-radio setup and a two-radio setup for AO-92 L/V. More fun with radios... :-)
73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK or http://twitter.com/WD9EWK _______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Hi Yono!
I am using a 10-element Yagi from eBay, from a link in a post here on the AMSAT-BB last October:
http://amsat.org/pipermail/amsat-bb/2018-October/069868.html
73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/ Twitter: @WD9EWK or http://twitter.com/WD9EWK
On Tuesday, March 5, 2019, Suryono Adisoemarta [email protected] wrote:
Which Yagi 1.2 GHz that you use ?
73 de Yono YD0NXX
participants (3)
-
Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK) -
Rick Tejera -
Suryono Adisoemarta