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Behold the new Wouxun KG-UV8D. While rumors of an upgraded Wouxun HT have been out for awhile, we have received confirmation from several sources that the KG-UV8D 144/440 version will be available in the United States in late March, 2014. Though no vendor would confirm specific pricing, one source indicated that it will have a street price of less than $150.

According to Wouxun, features will include a large color screen, true dual receive, full-duplex operation (ham sats!) with cross-band repeat, and FCC Part 90 approval (FCC ID: WVTWOUXUN07). Wouxun has yet to publish full specs on their website.

Based on the wild success of the previous Wouxun models, I suspect this radio will sell briskly (especially at the sub-$150 price point). I do hope that Wouxun has addressed the loss of programming issue seen occasionally in some of the earlier versions.

As soon as we get our hands on one, we’ll provide you with a more thorough review of its features. I suspect we’ll also see great reviews from Brick and Jason KC5HWB. It looks like a fun little radio.

Update:

Brick has posted on his blog that BuyTwoWayRadios.com will be selling the KG-UV8D for $139.99 (with free  shipping) and will be taking pre-orders beginning Tuesday.

Last night I had another encounter with Antarctica, namely a QSO with RI1ANC, stationed at the Russian Vostok base. Previous contacts with the land way down under were on 20 meters, but Alex had a nice signal on 12 meters in CW. He didn’t have many takers, so an QSO was easy. Unfortunately it was only a quick exchange, just like the ones with 8J1RL and RI1ANT.

VK0JJJ – Craig, in the Australian Antarctic base of Mawson – doesn’t want any of that and I had the great fortune to have a couple of very lenghty QSOs with him. Olivia was the mode we used, which is especially suited for rag chew QSOs. If you want to catch him try Olivia 32/1000 on one of the 20 meter Olivia channels (14106.5 kHz, then 1 kHz up for the next channel). Even if he is in QSO with another radio amateur it is still fun to read along. When not behind the radio I follow his blog, where you can read interesting things like how they grow vegetables on Antarctica and how they get their supply of water. Fascinating stuff and heartily recommended to visit. He is going back home early May this year, so catch him while you can.

Saturday was the total opposite of Friday. BM2LDT and I had the plan go out to the seaside to take both our KX3s out for a spin. I picked him up in my old clunker and we drove to a place called Qian Zhou-zi (前洲子 in PL05rf), between Danshui and San Zhi.

We got there a little after two in the afternoon (0600 UTC) and set up the MP1 on a stand and a Diamond RHM8B antenna on the car. Strangely enough it seemed there were no conditions, because there were only a few signals around and nobody came back to my calls. So instead we did some antenna measurements with an RigExpert analyzer. My el-cheapo VHF/UHF whip turned out to be very good on 2 meters, but not so good on 70 cm. The Diamond RHM8B was mounted on the car and could easily be brought into resonance. However, it didn’t didn’t perform as well as the MP1.

BM2LDT next to the car with the MP1 in the foreground.

Right after my QSO with OT4A. It’s getting chilly now.

Finally a chance to take out my Shack-in-a-Box and do some outdoor operations. The weather for Friday and Saturday was predicted to be very good, with Saturday being the sunniest. It turned out to be the other way around, because on Friday morning I took my son to his baseball practice and set up the MP1 in a quiet corner of the field, under a blazing sun. With my deck chair positioned under some trees I took this selfie…

It being a Friday the bands were quiet. I worked JR1CXW from Japan on 15 meters in CW and had a nice long QSO with him. Then nothing till almost an hour later when I heard KZ5OM coming in on 12 meters. Because I had already marked the different bands on the MP1 tuning coil it was a breeze to get the antenna into resonance and work him. He came in 559 and I got over the Pacific with a 539 signal. Yeah, two firsts: one for CW QRP across the Pacific and one for CW with the US on 12 meters. Thank you Jerry, great working you.

After that V85TL and JQ2IQW who was interested in my QRP setup. I got some attention from a parent and gave a short demonstration. The exchange with BH1FXN was just a 599 one, but it was enough to impress him.

The sun was shining, the temperature just right and the coffee well brewed, so a perfect Friday morning. To be continued….

The Simi Settlers Amateur Radio Club in Simi Valley, California toured the USS Iowa, worked some DX, and got some great lessons about shipboard life. What an interesting history lesson in this video taken by club president Rick Galbraith, W6DQE!

USS Iowa, lead ship of a class of 45,000-ton battleships, was built at the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York. Commissioned in February 1943, she spent her initial service in the Atlantic and carried President Franklin D. Roosevelt to and from Casablanca, Morocco, in November 1943. USS Iowa is presently part of the Reserve Fleet.

Getting started with HSMM-Mesh™ (High Speed Multimedia-Mesh), also known as Broadband Hamnet™, can be daunting to hams that have the interest, but lack the expertise of network engineers. Indeed, perusing comments and documents on the Web can be confusing to newcomers who want to participate in setting up Amateur Radio broadband mesh networks under FCC Rules in Part 97.

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Gerrit PA3BYA has created an interesting SSTV Security Camera with the Raspberry Pi.

I could see this set up in the doorway of a repeater building on a remote mountaintop somewhere. It would be priceless to see a vandal’s bewildered face!

Would that jibe with Part 97? 🙂