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I like to play with new radios and own a small collection of Wouxun and Baofeng models. After my recent issues with my Wouxun HTs, I’ve been looking at trying the new AnyTone AT-3318. Has anyone here had a chance to use one?  If you get a chance to use one, come back and leave a comment to share your thoughts about it.

The specs look promising and the price is competitive ($99.00).

• 5 Watts VHF
• 4 Watts UHF
• RX & TX 136-174 MHz & 420-520 MHz
• RX FM Broadcast 79-108 MHz
• Wide Band & Narrow Band
• 2.5 kHz tuning step for splinter frequencies
• 5/Tone encode and decode
• 199 Channels with Alpha Tags
• Squelch level adjustable for each channel
• Squelch tail elimination
• CTCSS that really works – when scanning channels, radio will stop ONLY when CTCSS tone is present
• VFO Scanning – frequency limits can be set for both VHF & UHF
• Channel Scanning – scanned channels can be ADDED or REMOVED via the keypad
• Frequency Reverse button – exchanges TX & RX frequencies
• Talk Around button – sets TX frequency to repeater’s output frequency
• Programmable by computer
• EASY to manually program
• Keypad totally lockable to meet FCC Part 90 requirements

Matt Thomas, W1MST, is the managing editor of AmateurRadio.com. Contact him at [email protected].

I try to not editorialize too much on this blog, but rather report on real activities that strike me as interesting in the radio hobby. I didn't start the blog to present opinions, but rather experiences and adventures. However.....

There have been many reflectors, bloggers, etc... commenting on the current state of affairs in the high-end expedition world. Some of these expeditions have budgets in the $300,000 - $400,000 range. Many commenters discuss that unless amateurs contribute more, these expeditions will no longer happen and the "deserving" will be left with log books devoid of the most rare destinations. And that somehow, its is the responsibility of the non-expeditioning population to insure that these trips are properly funded and if you don't contribute, somehow you aren't paying your fair share.

My feelings, very simply, about this issue fall along the lines of how I manage my personal finances. If I can't afford it, I don't go. No-one is "obligated" to insure that my expedition is funded. That said, I have no issue with someone asking me to help defray their costs, e.g., I am paying for my expedition, if I do a good job and you want to make a contribution, then thank you. But not the approach; I need for you to contribute or I can't go. Two very different approaches.

All of this said, there is nothing new under the sun. I have been an amateur for 25 years and the same issues come up all the time. The fact is, no matter how expensive it gets, someone will go. If we need the entity and we feel inclined, then we should make a contribution, but don't put a guilt trip on me to pay for someone elses trip.

Back to regular programming.
Mike Crownover, AD5A, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Texas, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

Paul Stam, PC4T, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from the Netherlands. Contact him at [email protected].

The original version of K1JT’s WSPR software had pop-up “tip” windows that showed the power in watts when you hovered the mouse over the dBm setting. Very useful for duffers like me that can’t do a watts to dBm conversion in my head. The new version WSPR-X doesn’t, however.

I found (or more truthfully Google did) an online watts to dBm converter on the web which I have duly bookmarked.

Julian Moss, G4ILO, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Cumbria, England. Contact him at [email protected].

Like a lot of you in other places, we’ve been on a bit of a temperature roller coaster lately.  Last weekend, after Christmas, it was up in the mid 50s (12C) here in New Jersey. This weekend, after New Year, we went as low as -3F (-19C) and our high for the day on Saturday was about 20F (-6C). That was just two days ago.

This morning, when I drove into work, it was 54F (12C).  Now, after lunch, it is 38F (3C) and the temperature continues to free fall.  By the time I leave to go home, I am sure that the temperature will be somewhere around the mid-20s (-4C).  And over the next 24 hours, we’re supposed to get some of the coldest weather we’ve had here in over 20 years.  The temperatures are expected to go below 0F (-17C) at night again, but this time with wind chills way lower than that. Tomorrow’s high is supposed to be only somewhere around 11F (-11C).  But then, later towards the upcoming weekend, it’s supposed to warm up again to more like springtime temperatures.

Stop the roller coaster, I want to get off!  I am NOT a big fan of the cold, but I sure wish that it would already stay one way or the other for a while.  It’s winter time, so even though I don’t like it, I can deal with the cold for a bit.  This teasing of Spring, and then the plunge back into the deep freeze is just cruel.

On a radio note, I was looking at the solar conditions yesterday and I was licking my lips.  High SFI, a goodly number of sun spots and low A and K values. Having some free time for a change,  I got on the air, expecting to hear a lot, and for a while I thought ALL my antennas were on the fritz!  Nothing much heard yesterday, and nothing much worked.  What a let down.  At first I thought maybe everyone was working the ARRL RTTY Roundup, but even RTTY signals seemed sparse to me.  In a major RTTY contest, we often get interlopers all the way down to the lowest of the low part of the bands. Yesterday, all the RTTY stations that I heard seemed to be staying way above the .060, QRP Watering Hole areas.

Maybe all the RF is freezing from the cold air and is just dropping out of the sky.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

Larry Makoski, W2LJ, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Jersey, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

Yesterday’s post entitled “Car keys in the 70 cm band” showed a very busy band around 433.92 MHz with up to 10 simultaneous transmissions. That snapshot was taken on a Sunday afternoon at 16:32 local time. Here is a much less crowded snapshot taken with the USB SDR-RTL dongle under the same conditions as the previous blog post. The difference is that this is from late Monday night at 23:34 local time:

Press image for a larger view

Thanks to all viewers who have made the former blog post the most popular on my blog for this week. Thanks also to the RTL-SDR blog which gave it publicity in the blog post “Looking at the 432 to 438 MHz ISM band“.

Related posts:

• “Car keys in the 70 cm band”
• “Video of busy 70 cm ISM band due to car key fobs”

Sverre Holm, LA3ZA, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Norway. Contact him at [email protected].

It’s always a pleasure to work Bert (F6HKA) in France but especially so this morning when I heard the familiar strong signal here on the east coast. He always has a 599 signal. This morning I worked him on 10 meters. I’ve been very busy since the beginning of the new year and Bert was my first DX contact for the 2014  log book. He was sending K3Y/EU but I knew exactly who he was when I hear him. We’ve worked 9 different times now and he always takes a few extra moments to say hello and how are you? He’s a true gentleman and he enjoys working QRP stations.

I was skipping across the bands now and I worked the next station who was in Madrid and on 12 meters. This contact into Spain was much more difficult but I finally worked EC4DEX after several attempts.

I now dropped down to 15 meters and caught this station (IQ2CJ) in Northern Italy. It was also difficult to copy but we finally managed to exchange call signs and move onward to other stations. I was hearing a station in Ireland but couldn’t work him.

It’s freezing cold this morning. The temperature is -11 Celcius and the wind is blowing at 32 kph. We’re expecting a low tonight of -20 Celcius with a wind chill of -39 C. BBBBrrrrrrrrr……….

As I continued to travel towards the lower bands; I stopped on the 30 meter band and threw my call out on the QRP frequencies. I was answered by Hal (KA4SDU) in nearby Louisville Kentucky. He lives next to the Ohio River and enjoys watching the barge traffic as it moves downstream. We both being Navy Veterans, we had a delightful talk about several different things.

 Hal loves to play with antennas and produces a really neat one called Hal’s Bamboo Beast

The month of December brought NO outside activity for the WV Chapter of the NAQCC Club and I doubt for the next couple of months. I don’t want to end up like that frozen rabbit in the upper picture.

Our monthly club breakfast, at the Charleston downtown restaurant, is this coming Wednesday. A few days later Eric (AC8LJ) will drive to a fellow CW operators home to see a variety of different keys. I’m assuming the weather will be a little warmer at that time.

Don’t want to end up like that frozen rabbit……



    
                                                         

John Smithson, Jr., N8ZYA, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from West Virginia, USA. Contact him at [email protected].