We Parked on the A591 and went up the Western side yesterday instead of walking straight up the path from the other side , A few years since we did that and it’s actually a nicer walk in my view. Was well ahead of time so took our time ascending and stopped a few times to look at the views.
The Anytone 779 mobile radio serves well most of the time but is susceptible to whatever the phenomenon is that blocks signals on some of the Northern fells , anticipating this , I tried opening local repeaters and was getting nothing back on VHF . I worked Reg on Ling Fell who I could almost see and he was getting through OK , however when he worked Derek 2E0MIX giving him 5x9 I could not hear Derek at all . I quickly swapped to the FT65 which seems immune and I also had him 5x9 , so the 779 was retired to the bag for this one . Whatever it is, does not even break squelch on the no 1 setting , only cancels the signals out . If I turn the SQ off it’s full scale of noise , normally anywhere else , turning the squelch off only lights a couple of blocks on the S meter . Filtes not as good as Yaesu likely?
I took a few calls on 2m then set up the EFHW using the first transformer I made a couple of years ago I’ve dismantled it and rewound it with thicker wire on the 140-43 toroid using all 14 turns side by side instead of the cross over 7 each side way . What it seemed to do was make the 10m band like the other three resonant where I wanted it rather than at 29MHz + which it was before . I did 40m and among the rest I got S2S with Alex on Coniston Old Man and on 20m I had a S2S with OE1CCX/P in Austria . I then had a listen on 10m and worked Alex again on the Old man , before packing up and heading home . We stopped at The Craggs Coffee House on the 591 South of Bothel for a coffee . Very nice it was .
Richard.
The rewound unun for the 40-10m EFHW
Richard - ah, yes, Binsey, casually activated many times by me (and others)! A great spot, great views. ‘The most Northerly Wainwright’! Interesting that the Anytone was pretty hopeless there (I’ve contacted Derek from Binsey I think, but pretty scratchy from memory) . It’s really useful to share these experiences via WOTA / Discourse. I try to travel light, and 99% of my WOTA activations have been VHF on Yaesu handhelds with a dipole. The Yaesus seem pretty reliable, even if my most used VX150 needs care because of its over-worn SMA antenna connector. For hard work in possibly rough environments, handies need proper BNCs, not vulnerable sticking out SMA adaptors! 73, Phil
The bnc connections such as fitted to scanners are more robust aren’t they? I use an SMA to so239 with a rubber washer as a spacer to hopefully stop it bending as it does not screw down flush with the body of the radio.
I don’t know what to make of the Anytone issue ? As mentioned above .The interference is full scale with the squelch off but it does not break the squelch on setting no1 , it does however cancel any incoming signal and audio below s9 though? I often wonder if it’s something to do with the various and not very helpfully named squelch settings available in the menu on that radio which could be an issue?
Richard.
a few years back i was on Binsey and had a mobile radio with me. It was called a sonic sain
Gt 890 (Baofeng) 10 = 25 watts Steve 2e0xup at the time and Alex G7kse called but i could not hear anything.Some one told me that they where calling so i swiched to the yaesu ft 25 and they came in load and clear.I do think the radio does need a good front end in that area because there is some kind of anomaly around there.
One other thing Richard when the big military aircraft when past i was getting a load clicking on the radio and stopped after it had gone.The fast jets also seem to cause interference i think it is maybe the ground following radar has some thing to do with it ?.
Reg
Good point Reg , and yes I had the Anytone issue today on Blencathra . I don’t emember issues on there before , but thinking about it I may have travelled light the other times on G/LD-008 and only taken the Yaesu 65 ?
I set the same gear up in the back garden on my return today and was getting the GB3GD /DG / MX and LA repeaters returning no bother , and you’ve seen it perform well elsewhere ,so obviously a locaton and anytone issue. Something an inline filter might fix but you’d have to know what you wanted to filter I suppose?
Richard.
