What's AMEA?Originally Posted by mtnbkr
What's AMEA?
Asia Middle East Africa
Chris
I bought one of these little radios because I wanted something small and semi-disposable to drag along with me when I was doing non-radio things but might want to randomly get on the air (family trips, non-radio-related camping trips, trail runs, etc). My initial experiences were good and I even built a nifty 40/20/10 EFHW antenna that worked well. But, I noticed a hum while in 20m (similar to 60hz AC hum). Turns out it is caused by the OLED display, for which a partial fix was incorporated into the build instructions. Mine was built appropriately, but it's still there. The Tr(uSDX) forum is just about useless and seems to take the tact that any issues are the owner's fault and not a design issue. Then, I broke my antenna.I built a new one, but I can't seem to get the RF output I was getting with the old one. No idea why, it's just 1-2w down on 40m. I tweaked the coils, got it looking good on the bench, but when I took it out this evening it was still low AND SWR was high where it wasn't before. The bandwidth on 40 is super narrow. Also, been experimenting with FT8, which has been a disappointment. I just can't get this thing working to a level that makes its compromises worthwhile. I suspect the build was done poorly by the "authorized vendor", but I lack the time and skill to zero in on what specifically is wrong.
I'm at the point of "why bother when I have a perfectly good KX2 I should be using anyway". I may just pack it up and put it away until this winter when the days are short and I'm more inclined to spend time at the bench piddling with this sort of thing. All I know is I'm about over this science experiment and the community that surrounds it. Documentation seems to consist of crappy YT videos that barely explain anything.
Chris
I decided to try one of the cheap Chicom QRP HF rigs and just preordered a Xiegu G106.
https://www.radioddity.com/products/xiegu-g106
Ken
BBI: ...”you better not forget the safe word because shit's about to get weird”...
revchuck38: ...”mo' ammo is mo' betta' unless you're swimming or on fire.”
That looks interesting. Let us know how it works out.
Chris
Will do - I have a new EFHW to break in, plus several verticals.
Ken
BBI: ...”you better not forget the safe word because shit's about to get weird”...
revchuck38: ...”mo' ammo is mo' betta' unless you're swimming or on fire.”
I've been reading lately about the Chinese AN/PRC-148/152 knockoffs by TRI and TCA. The radios seem to have evolved out from reskinned Baofangs marketed to the airsoft/MilSim crowd to ruggedized radios that can take real Milspec batteries and accessories. They've developed an interesting following - there are 20 page threads on ARFCOM and M4C.
"When the phone rang, Parker was in the garage, killing a man."
While they have improved considerably, I'm still dubious of anything Baofeng-related. they have a front end you can drive a truck through and have historically had poor TX control (spurious emissions everywhere). But, they have been improving. A buddy bought a new one recently, not the UV-5r series, but a different one, to get 440mhz capability. We did some "cross parking lot" testing, which went well enough, and he did some A/B testing while doing a SOTA activation. The remote parties couldn't tell it apart from his Icom. That doesn't mean it isn't spewing garbage on adjacent frequencies, but at least it performed reasonably well to those on the designated frequency.
I suppose they're good enough for cosplay, but I'll stick to my "Big 3" radios for anything "mission critical" (which for me does not rise to the level of "life and limb, health and safety").
Chris
Agreed - I'm generally allergic to the Chinese manufactured products like the Baofang, and my Yaesu has far more potential than I have knowledge. That combination has kept me from experimenting. But there seems to be a big difference between products like this...
Amazon.com Baofang AR-152
....which presents a reskinned UV-5R that mimics the military form factor but not the dimensions, uses a plastic body, and takes standard accessories...and I'm pretty doubtful of the 10W advertising (the Specter Gear guy posted a test on Youtube). But for $90 is probably fine for LARPing. I expect it is as 'dirty' as other products in the lineup.
And then there are these, which start at an eye popping $300+, apparently take a beating, accept many of the actual military accoutrements (headset, batteries, antenna), seem to perform better than the original Baofangs, and keep adding functions with each generation (i.e. tri-band).
More than I ever wanted to know...
ARFCOM: TRI AN/PRC-152
M4C: PRC-148 Radio, First Impressions and Initial Setup, and Follow on Setup on Chest Rig
In any case, kinda interesting rabbit hole.
"When the phone rang, Parker was in the garage, killing a man."
Oh, crap - I hadn’t heard of these.Agreed - I'm generally allergic to the Chinese manufactured products like the Baofang, and my Yaesu has far more potential than I have knowledge. That combination has kept me from experimenting. But there seems to be a big difference between products like this...
Amazon.com Baofang AR-152
....which presents a reskinned UV-5R that mimics the military form factor but not the dimensions, uses a plastic body, and takes standard accessories...and I'm pretty doubtful of the 10W advertising (the Specter Gear guy posted a test on Youtube). But for $90 is probably fine for LARPing. I expect it is as 'dirty' as other products in the lineup.
And then there are these, which start at an eye popping $300+, apparently take a beating, accept many of the actual military accoutrements (headset, batteries, antenna), seem to perform better than the original Baofangs, and keep adding functions with each generation (i.e. tri-band).
More than I ever wanted to know...
ARFCOM: TRI AN/PRC-152
M4C: PRC-148 Radio, First Impressions and Initial Setup, and Follow on Setup on Chest Rig
In any case, kinda interesting rabbit hole.
Ken
BBI: ...”you better not forget the safe word because shit's about to get weird”...
revchuck38: ...”mo' ammo is mo' betta' unless you're swimming or on fire.”
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