Hi!
I spent this afternoon using my new DJ-G7T HT on a few passes, with mixed results. Working with the incomplete manual that came with the HT has been a challenge. I still need to use it more, and be ready to make more changes to settings. So far, I'll say it is a good radio for satellite work. Not great, but good.
I first tried this HT on the satellites during the weekend of the Dayton HamVention. The first report I received on it related to my transmit audio - sounding quiet and compressed. There is a mic gain setting in the firmware, which I put to the maximum setting. Over this weekend, I received the EDS-10 speaker/mic adapter cable to go into the speaker/mic jack on the top of the HT - a 4-conductor 1/8" (3.5mm) plug with threads around the base of the plug. Without this cable, I did not want to risk trying full-duplex operation on the birds. With this, I could feed audio through a splitter to my earpiece and audio recorder.
I tried AO-27 and SO-50 passes this (Monday) afternoon around 2120- 2140 UTC. The 5W transmitter and change to the mic gain setting meant I could be heard, but I had difficulties hearing the satellite. Also, I could not hear myself while transmitting. I tried another AO-27 pass at 2301 UTC, and part of the pass was covered up by a loud bout of intermod (Phoenix Fire Department VHF dispatch channel swamped the receiver). Not good.
Before the first AO-51 pass I had this afternoon at 0027 UTC, I talked with John K8YSE about the radio and the problems I had. He suggested I turn off the extended-receive capability of the HT, limiting it to just the ham bands. I did that, and then tried the AO-51 pass. Things went much better. I had an easier time hearing the satellite, and could hear myself through the satellite while transmitting - something I've never been able to do with my IC-W32A.
I still need to go back to AO-27 and SO-50, to see if limiting the receiver to just the ham bands yields any improvement when working those satellites. I can't wait to see a new and improved version of the instruction manual, and improvements to the firmware to fix some of the idiosyncracies I've seen in trying to get this radio set up. Even with those issues, I'm glad I bought the radio. I plan to continue working with this radio, to see if I can improve on what I heard this afternoon on AO-51. This may turn out to be a nice radio for the satellites. For now, it's a work-in-progress. Maybe others who picked this radio up at Dayton - or have ordered it since then - will chime in with their comments about the radio.
73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/
My EDS-10 arrives this week, probably tomorrow. Saturday I did hook the radio up to my ancient Arrow antenna and took a listen to AO-27. Receiving on the subband as I would if working the satellite, one thing odd I noticed was the off frequency response of the radio. If I was 5 kHz off, it seemed that very little could be heard. Most of my other radios give more of a partially readable signal when off frequency. Sensitivity was excellent. I also listened on the triband Diamond rubber duck I purchased to replace the stock duck, and reception was still decent.
I'll agree the manual is horrid, but there is a note included that says it is a preliminary version and an updated one will be posted to the website soon.
More to follow after the headphone adapter arrives.
73, Drew KO4MA
----- Original Message ----- From: "Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK)" amsat-bb@wd9ewk.net To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Sent: Tuesday, May 26, 2009 1:21 AM Subject: [amsat-bb] DJ-G7T and full-duplex satellite operating
Hi!
I spent this afternoon using my new DJ-G7T HT on a few passes, with mixed results. Working with the incomplete manual that came with the HT has been a challenge. I still need to use it more, and be ready to make more changes to settings. So far, I'll say it is a good radio for satellite work. Not great, but good.
I first tried this HT on the satellites during the weekend of the Dayton HamVention. The first report I received on it related to my transmit audio - sounding quiet and compressed. There is a mic gain setting in the firmware, which I put to the maximum setting. Over this weekend, I received the EDS-10 speaker/mic adapter cable to go into the speaker/mic jack on the top of the HT - a 4-conductor 1/8" (3.5mm) plug with threads around the base of the plug. Without this cable, I did not want to risk trying full-duplex operation on the birds. With this, I could feed audio through a splitter to my earpiece and audio recorder.
I tried AO-27 and SO-50 passes this (Monday) afternoon around 2120- 2140 UTC. The 5W transmitter and change to the mic gain setting meant I could be heard, but I had difficulties hearing the satellite. Also, I could not hear myself while transmitting. I tried another AO-27 pass at 2301 UTC, and part of the pass was covered up by a loud bout of intermod (Phoenix Fire Department VHF dispatch channel swamped the receiver). Not good.
Before the first AO-51 pass I had this afternoon at 0027 UTC, I talked with John K8YSE about the radio and the problems I had. He suggested I turn off the extended-receive capability of the HT, limiting it to just the ham bands. I did that, and then tried the AO-51 pass. Things went much better. I had an easier time hearing the satellite, and could hear myself through the satellite while transmitting - something I've never been able to do with my IC-W32A.
I still need to go back to AO-27 and SO-50, to see if limiting the receiver to just the ham bands yields any improvement when working those satellites. I can't wait to see a new and improved version of the instruction manual, and improvements to the firmware to fix some of the idiosyncracies I've seen in trying to get this radio set up. Even with those issues, I'm glad I bought the radio. I plan to continue working with this radio, to see if I can improve on what I heard this afternoon on AO-51. This may turn out to be a nice radio for the satellites. For now, it's a work-in-progress. Maybe others who picked this radio up at Dayton - or have ordered it since then - will chime in with their comments about the radio.
73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/
Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Hi,
The Elk with handle seems to be working fine, and the EDS-10 should be in by the end of the week, as should the digital voice recorder. By the time the rig arrives in 2-3 weeks, you guys will have no doubt figured it all out. Did somebody mutter "cart before the horse?"
As always, thanks for these helpful posts.
Alan WA4SCA
Hi Drew!
My EDS-10 arrives this week, probably tomorrow. Saturday I did hook the radio up to my ancient Arrow antenna and took a listen to AO-27. Receiving on the subband as I would if working the satellite, one thing odd I noticed was the off frequency response of the radio. If I was 5 kHz off, it seemed that very little could be heard. Most of my other radios give more of a partially readable signal when off frequency. Sensitivity was excellent. I also listened on the triband Diamond rubber duck I purchased to replace the stock duck, and reception was still decent.
Mine seems to be a little bit off-frequency, maybe a little on the high side. I noticed that near the end of the AO-51 pass last night, when I stayed on 435.295 later in the pass than I normally would when using other radios. I'll make note of that the next time I try this on the birds, to see if I need to start out at 435.315 for AO-51 or 436.805/.810 for SO-50 or AO-27.
When using the HT on local repeaters, I don't find the radio to be off- frequency. I can tune to the proper frequency for the repeaters on 2m or 70cm (I can't hit the only analog 23cm repeater in the Phoenix area from where I live), and have had good reports from other tests I did last night.
I'll agree the manual is horrid, but there is a note included that says it is a preliminary version and an updated one will be posted to the website soon.
Yes, that note was in there. The manual is a bit of an impediment, when trying to figure out a new radio.
Maybe we can get additional comments from others who have this radio. I'm going to forward my comments to Alinco's US distributor, after talking with those guys at length at Dayton. They are curious to hear how well this radio works for satellite use. Again, this appears to be a work-in-progress, especially with the fact the radio's firmware can be updated.
73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/
participants (3)
-
Alan P. Biddle -
Andrew Glasbrenner -
Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK)