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The magazine Practical Wireless is celebrating 80 years of publication this year and has a permit to use the special call GB80PW. I don’t usually make a point of hunting for special callsigns but as a reader of the magazine I particularly wanted to work this one which I knew would be on today it being the publication date of the October issue and the actual 80th anniversary day.

I switched the K3 to 40 metres which I thought the station would be operating on and and began tuning down the band. Lo and behold, GB80PW was the first station I heard, on 7120kHz, coming in at 5 and 7 at the top of the QSB. I switched the magnetic loop from 30m APRS duty over to the K3 so I had a choice of either the loop or the multiband dipole. Switching between the two there was almost nothing to choose between the two antennas but the magnetic loop just seemed to have the advantage by a whisker so that is what I chose to use.

I cranked the power up to 100 watts. After my first call it was clear that Rob had quite a pile-up of people wanting to work him and he couldn’t pick anything out of the pile. For the second call I gave my call twice, once phonetically, and added “… in Cockermouth, Cumbria.” Straight away Rob came back with “the station in Cockermouth, Cumbria.” I thought that would get his attention as the magazine’s technical editor G1TEX comes from here! I went on to have a very nice, if brief, chat with Rob before letting him get back to the pile.

2 months to supply a switch, 2 months!

My PSU has a faulty switch (as diagnosed by a telephone conversation with a the suppliers service dept). Ah ha a replacement should fix that sir. Great, well I can live with the mark up if it turns up quickly and I can get back on the air.

A completely different switch was supplied. Several conversations and apologies later a second one was despatched, second class. Again different and again returned. This so far has taken 2 months and a lot of chasing on my part.

I felt a ‘snot-o-gram’ was needed, one was crafted and sent yesterday evening. Today I received a phone call and more apologies after then being passed around 3 people the last person told me to de-solder the one they are going to send to me and re-solder the wires on the switch of mine that they have. Good quality British customer service.

Would it not have been easier to say this 2 months ago?

I will now be taking some deep breaths.

Today, September 13th, Practical Wireless is 80 years old! In 1932, the very first Practical Wireless was published and was at that time a weekly.

Amateur radio magazines available on the High Street have come and gone over the years; ‘Short Wave Magazine’ of course. Who remembers the UK’s ‘Ham Radio Today’ and ‘Amateur Radio’ in the 1980s? For one reason or another all these have come to an end leaving ‘Practical Wireless’ as the only remaining solely Amateur Radio magazine that can be purchased at your newsagent.

My grandfather loved Practical Wireless and as a boy, we worked on crystal sets and transistor radios together. It gives me a thrill that now I am able to contribute in a small way to the magazine and I hope, enthuse people to enjoy our hobby.

Look out for GB80PW being operated today from the home of PW’s Editor, Rob Mannion, G3XFD. I gather there are plans to be on 7MHz SSB (or, in PW style s.s.b.)  during the morning and early afternoon, after which time the station will move to 14MHz SSB – with hopefully some 3.5MHz PSK31 in the early evening.

If, like me, you’ll be at work today, look out for GB80PW on Saturday 15th September – the plan is to be on 7MHz SSB between around 0930 and 1500 local time (0830-1400z).

Happy birthday, Practical Wireless!

This afternoon I rode my bicycle to Old Hill Village on the
Pemigewasset River. Just as I was about to call an Italian station,
a Black Hawk Helicopter landed in the field in front of me.

I wasn’t really surprised… the National Guard from Concord flies training missions along the river. It’s a wonderful, isolated place… not just for nature-loving radio ops, but for helicopter training maneuvers as well.

So I put down the key, and walked out into the field as the helicopter was about to take off again. They had left an airman on the ground.

I walked over to see what was going on. “You want me out of here?” I asked the airman. “No, you’re fine,” he replied. He explained that the helicopter was going to circle the area, drop a rescue litter and then circle again and haul the litter aboard. They were practicing rescue operations. The airman is a medic, and his team is leaving for Afghanistan at the end of the month. I thanked him, wished him godspeed in Afghanistan, and walked off the field to watch the practice session.

Soon the helicopter returned and dropped a line to the airman who guided the litter to the ground.  Afterwards, they hauled both the litter and airman back aboard. Soon I could hear them repeating the drill in a field on the other side of the river.

I returned to my setup at the edge of the field. I was running the little Chinese HB-1B on 20 meters with a half-wave vertical wire. As soon as I sat back down, I heard R1NA calling CQ. Alex was pretty strong and answered my call. He gave me a 449 and copied all of my information. He was north of St. Petersburg, not far from the Finnish border… about 4,000 miles from Old Hill Village.

After the QSO, I packed up and started back to the car. It was a glorious afternoon in Hill. The day was balmy, early fall flowers were in bloom, and I was exhilarated to be in the outdoors once again.

Like everything else in Amateur Radio, CW has its supporters and its detractors. Me, I am neutral. I encourage those with the dedication to pursue proficiency with this mode and to be able to copy code at blinding speeds. I think it is great that this part of our radio heritage is preserved and that there is even growing interest today. Just like Boy Scouts who use two sticks to start a fire. Do they still do that or do they prefer the magic of a butane lighter today?

There was a time when I could copy code at 20 WPM with my trusty No. 2 Dixon Ticonderoga pencil. And after I got my general in 1955, I pinky-swore that I would always use CW as my primary mode. And you know that among kids a pinky swear is the most powerful swear you can make.

NOT! After a few months, I fell under the spell of AM and spent more and more time on the phone bands. I was running phone patches and participating in the AREC (the predecessor to ARES) emergency nets. Night after night was spent roaming the 20 meter phone band, searching for a new country. Pushing the envelope to see how close I could get to the edge of the band without a pink ticket; speaking in tongues and only to fellow addicts I met on the air. It was not a pretty sight.

There is something about CW that is the essence of ham radio. Like the “purity of essence” mentioned by General Jack D. Ripper, just before he blew his brains out in the movie, Dr. Strangelove. So when I came back to the hobby in 2009 after a hiatus of forty plus years, I promised myself that I would get back to the purity of CW someday. I am afraid that I haven’t made it back there yet.

In spite of the best efforts of my friends to coax me, support me, lend me a key and a keyer, challenge me with a bet and regale me with stories of DX contacts on the low end of the bands and listening to W1AW code practice sessions. I have to confess, the magic isn’t there. Somewhere along my path, I lost the purity of essence that CW represents. I surrendered to the Dark Side of the Force (SSB).

Its pretty good over here on the Dark Side you know. I have plenty of projects that need to get done and that challenge my skill set. Improving antennas, camouflage techniques, installing mobile HF, eliminating RFI, better grounds, more automation and improving my audio. All those are wicked diversions from the purity of essence.

There are plenty of pileups for rare DX or special events and contests, on sideband and CW. Though CW purists believe they can get through when SSB can’t, that is in a perfect world. A CW operator has to deal with bad manners, QRM, splatter and guys running 2 KW against their 100 watts too.

On the other hand, SSB can be a more personal mode. While in a CW QSO, you get to know the operator by their fist, its more like texting; only faster. On SSB you actually hear the other guy’s voice, their tone and timbre. The little nuances of speech that make them human. You are face to face, mano a mano. SSB contests take on the character of an old fashioned bar fight and some rag chew nets go on and on like old radio soap operas.

But, I promise that I will get back to CW someday.

Is this the Chinese mobile radio at a good price point ($275) people have been waiting for? The specs list a detachable head, cross-band repeat, 50/40 watts, 758 memories, AM aircraft receive, wide-band FM receive, and 2013 FCC compliant. Ed’s site even mentions that it’s Part 90 certified.

Here is the text of Ed’s e-mail:

After the dismal performance and high price of Wouxun’s dual band mobile radio, I’m excited to share information about the AnyTone AT-588UV. I have been testing this radio for a couple of weeks and I’m impressed. I think this will be the Chinese dual bander that takes the market.

It’s computer programmable and the control head separates from the radio via a CAT5 cable. This radio is easy to manually operate because there are no sub-menus and there are matching controls for the left and right sides. Either side can be set for VHF or UHF or both the same. It has dual receive (two signals at once) and when transmitting, you can set the off side to be muted if desired. Unlike the Wouxun, with the AnyTone, you can scan one side while monitoring the other side. It only takes a couple button pushes to set up cross band repeat. And unlike the other brand, this cross band repeat actually works! It has AM Aircraft receive plus 220-260 MHz receive (sorry NO 220 transmit).

The company has given me this timeline for availability. They plan to produce a small run at the end of September and hopefully full production by the end of October. I suggested they make a larger test run because I’ve found nothing major that needs improving. I’ve made a few suggestions for firmware changes which they quickly approved. This company is interested in producing a good product. When the AT-588UV is available to purchase, I will send an announcement to this mailing list.

The owners manual is not yet available but I have a list of the various functions. I will post this information and the programming software on my web site as soon as I can. This will take you to that location.

Best Regards,
Ed Griffin

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So, what do you think?  Will you be in for one of these?

Which would you choose, this radio or a Yaesu FT-7900R ($350) or Icom IC-208H ($345)?