Radio

HF Mobile Antenna CBL-561

September 15, 2024September 15, 2024BenLeave a comment

CBL-561 Review

The new CBL-561 antenna is strong and light that is fit for mobile work, camping or remote radio use. I plan to use this on our next outback trip!

This antenna supports a frequency range of 25-30MHz, covering both 10-meter and 11-meter bands.

With a SWR of ≤1.3:1 and a high power capacity of up to 500W, this makes an ideal mobile or camping antenna.

This antenna is compatible with the following radios:

Radioddity QT40

Radioddity QT60

Radioddity QT80

Radioddity CS-47

Radioddity CB-27 Pro

Radioddity CB-500

Radioddity CB-900 Pro

and all other brand’s that transmit in the range of 25-30MHz.

I use the QT80 radio with this antenna, so I highly recommend you seeing that review.

Tuning the antenna

I found tuning the antenna was simple. Just a small Allen Key allowed for adjustment between bands, however some bands were close enough as you can see in my video.

If you mark the antenna to the correct lengths, then it becomes easier still.

The antenna is built from aluminium alloy, so it shouldn’t rust. It is strong and windproof plus I’ve tested it mobile with the M916 base (extra) with great success.

The coil on the antenna is strong and doesn’t rattle at all.

The antenna has a standard PL259 on the bottom of the antenna so it fits my antenna connector that was already on my 4×4 which will save me wiring it all in.

More information

More information is available on my YouTube channel here.

There are several mounting options to the car, this is the base we use, th M916 Heavy Duty Magnetic Antenna:

Purchasing Tips

If you go via this link, you will get a discount (then search for CBL-561):
https://radioddity.refr.cc/bensangster

Radio is here https://www.radioddity.com/products/radioddity-cbl-561

Radioddity QT80

August 20, 2024BenLeave a comment

The new QT80 radio by Radioddity is a fantastic radio and I have a lot of contacts on it already.

QT60 Vs QT80

This is a QT80 model but there is also the QT60 model so what’s the difference?

QT80 has a higher power of 80W, while QT60 only has 60W
QT80 does not have NOAA (alarm) feature, while the QT60 has
In addition to unlocking 25-30 MHz, QT80 can also support 15 meters (21MHz) after unlocking, while QT60 cannot

One thing I did notice was the antenna plug on the back. It is a little bit tricky to put the plug on the back of the radio because of the big heat sink as you can only get to about 2/3 to turn it you can’t get your finger right around unfortunately. But that is not a deal breaker for me once it’s on it’s on and I don’t usually swap them around too much. You can purchase an adaptor if you want to.

Changing Modes

To change from Channel mode as you can see in Channel mode to VFO mode just hold and press the band button.

You can change the colour of the screen and there’s several colours to chose from. Some are a bit harder to see than others. While this is a bit gimmicky, it would be good mobile to turn down the screen or have it match your car interior.

Each button around the screen has at least three things that it can do depending upon which mode you are in. You can press each button, or press Function first, or long press it.

The radio also has a scan function here so you can press scan and you’ll see that this SC starts flashing and it’s scanning up the band if we want to go in the opposite direction just turn the VFO knob and it should go in the opposite direction. If you are in channel mode it will do the same there. If you hold the scan on the channel it’ll remove it from the scan list.

Turning the Beeping off

To turn the beeping off just press the function button here hold it in and menu item number one then press the VFO knob and it’s on one and turn up louder or off and then press function again to store that. Now if you selected off, it doesn’t beep.

You can make the radio show it’s SWR while transmitting, and preset what the maximum SWR you will allow the radio to transmit on.

The microphone has an up and down button, plus a predefined button on it that you can change as to what it will do.

The VFO knob is a clicking knob which is a bit CBish which is a shame, but just something to get used to.

Repeaters

Press the function key and then split and you can adjust to minus then you can set the offset. Then when you transmit, you will have a minus offset. You can do this on any more which is funny.

Unlocking the radio

Place the radio upside down with the speaker facing up and undo the top four screws on both sides of the radio.

Take the cover of the radio off, the one with the speaker on it.

Right at the front of the radio here there’s a little pin there and if we have a look closely you can see that it is currently connecting one and two we want to pull this out and change it to connect two and three

Put the cover back together

Hold the band button down the memory button down and then turn it on.

Then we have got two choices here as you can see it says ham.band or if I turn the knob we got HF.band so you got to choose which one you want. HF band is all the frequencies between 21 and 29 MHz or select ham.band which is just 10 metres.

Everything I have said above is in the video below which shows you step by step instructions.

The radio is not too big it fits easily in the car so it is great for mobile work or camping. I intend on using it on our next trip across Australia, rather than take my big HF radios that take up a lot of room.

If you want to see how I went connecting it up to the PC, then there is a video for that also:

If you are planning on purchasing this radio this link will give you a discount: https://radioddity.refr.cc/bensangster then search for QT80.

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Baofeng GT-5R Pro

August 6, 2024May 24, 2025BenLeave a comment

The first thing I noticed after receiving the radio was the size of the radio. It is small yet not to small that it is hard to use. It fits comfortably in your hand.

Not only is it physically small, the price is amazingly small also. How I would have loved to have this radio when I started in the hobby 35 years ago!

Saying that, I see this as a great entry level budget radio. Or a small radio for camping or in the car rather than putting an expensive radio in.

The GT-5R PRO is an enhanced version of the classic GT-5R, capable of receiving a wider range of frequency bands including UHF, VHF, FM, NOAA, Airband, 1.25M, and 1M.

I was easily able to program the radio via the keypad putting in my local repeaters with the required offset and tone squelch.
But it was even easier to program it via Chirp Next and I have a video on how to do that.

It is a 5 watt radio complete with VOX if you want to go hands free.

The GT-5R PRO is fully compatible with the UV-5R’s accessories. Such as the car charger, speaker mic, ear piece, antennas plus more.

The GT-5R Pro comes in a standard single-unit version as well as a kit version that includes a long antenna and programming cable. I got the kit version, so be shore when purchasing you know if you want the kit or the single unit version.

Contents
• Radio
• Fast desktop charger
• Antenna
• Long antenna
• Li-lon battery pack
• Wall adapter
• Belt clip

It supports UHF VHF dual band transmission and a wide range of reception frequency bands, including 136-174MHz, 400-520MHz, 76-108MHz, 108-136MHz, 200-260MHz, 350-390MHz, and NOAA weather channels.

Receiver Frequency:
FM 76-108 MHz;
AM 108-136 MHz;
VHF 136-174 MHz, 220-260 MHz;
UHF 350-390 MHz, 400-520 MHz

Transmission Frequency (US version): 144-148 & 420-450 MHz
Transmission Frequency (EU version): 144-146 & 430-440 MHz

It has 128 memory channels and I love how when you program them from the radio, you can see what has already been used.

50 CTCSS tones and 210 DCS codes
SOS Emergency function
FM radio receiver (87.5-108MHz)
Channel or frequency mode selection
TOT (Time out timer)
Reverse function
CTCSS and DCS codes research
Busy Channel Lockout function (BCL)
Frequency step: 2.5/5/6.25/10/12.5/25KHZ
Repeater shift
VOICE: vocal indication of the function selected
Li-lon battery pack
VHF and UHF bands and channel name displayed
Squelch adjustable in 9 levels
1750Hz tone for repeaters
LCD display with backlight adjustable in 3 colours
VOX, Scan, Dual Watch functions
Power Save
DTMF function
Alarm function
Setting and storing of channel names
High/low power selection
Frequency offset (adjustable): 0-69.990MHz
2pin Kenwood accessory jack
Keypad lock
Battery allows direct charging from the DC port

Testing

I quickly made some contacts on both 2m and 70cm and both said my audio was great. I swapped antennas halfway though a conversation and found the small antenna better but that was just for one repeater. I plan on doing more tests in the coming weeks.

Programming Tip

Did you know you can program these radios via Chirp? Here is a great tip you may like with chirp.

Summary

When I received the radio, I was stunned at the price and thought I can’t really go wrong here. I didn’t check the hypnotics but everything else I checked worked well.

If you go via this link, you will get a discount:
https://radioddity.refr.cc/bensangster otherwise you can see it here: https://www.radioddity.com/products/baofeng-gt-5r-pro

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Do you cut or lengthen the antenna?

June 18, 2024May 27, 2024BenLeave a comment

When measuring SWR, I always forget if I should lengthen or shorten the antenna. So rather than jump around the bush, I will get to the answer straight away.

The graph below will help you always remember.

If when the frequency goes up, and the SWR goes up, as per the above green line, then you need to shorten your antenna.
If when the frequency goes up, and the SWR goes down, as per the above brown line, then you need to lengthen your antenna.

You can reverse the above two statements also.

If when the frequency goes down and the SWR goes down, as per the above green line, then you need to shorten your antenna.
If when the frequency goes down, and the SWR goes up, as per hte above brown line, then you need to lengthen your antenna.

Basically, if the frequency and the SWR change in the same way, then you need to shorten it.

Hopefully that helps from now on. I know I will be looking at this myself.

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Do you cut or lengthen the antenna?
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NanoVNA H4 USB Control to PC

June 12, 2024May 27, 2024BenLeave a comment

If you haven’t seen my previous blog on the NanoVNA Analyser, then I suggest you look at that first before reading this blog. This one will talk about how to connect your NanoVNA to your PC via the USB cable, so I am assuming you know the basics on how to operate it.

There is a google drive (link here) that has a lot of things on it, including manuals and software. There is lot of other things that I haven’t looked at yet also available in several languages.

If you go into the Software and Drivers folder via the link above, you will see the file NanoVNASharp.zip. Download this file onto your PC, then unzip it into a folder.

Once unzipped, you can run the NanoVNA.exe file after connecting your NanoVNA device with the USB cable. You may need to install the driver. I used the nanovna-cdc.acm.zip file you can see on the above google drive.

You may have to go to your windows device manager to check which COM Port the NanoVNA has been allocated. Below is what the program looks like (without the graph showing).

You can see above where to select the com port and connect. You can adjust the start and stop frequencies as mentioned in the last post. You can either press the Get Data button or tick the Auto Refresh box. Then you can save and open the file. I did screen shots before I adjusted my antenna, so you can open the current and old side by side and compare what your adjustments did.

Down the bottom of the chart is where you can change the chart format from Logmag to Smith Chart or SWA etc. You can also change the scale as needed.

Below is an output from my dipole antenna. You can see the SWA is very high at 3.5Mhz still but a lot better on other bands.

The other bands may not be perfect, I can now zoom in to each band one at a time and see how the antenna works across the selected band more accurately.

I would value your thoughts on this and if you found it interesting. Please send me an email or post a comment below.

Flrig

June 11, 2024June 11, 2024Ben2 Comments

Flrig is a transceiver control program designed to be used either stand alone or as an adjunct to fldigi (see my review on this). The supported transceivers all have some degree of CAT. The flrig user interface changes to accommodate the degree of CAT support available for the transceiver in use.

Download Flrig here, but not via the green button, select the setup.exe file below (if for windows).

Once installed, all I did was press the Config menu and select Setup and Transceiver. From this window, I selected my radio on the receiver page, then the relevant com port, baud rate as per the radio and selected Init. and it just worked.

While in that area, you may want to return to the Config menu and then select UI and then turn tool tips on. This will help you around the program.

The picture to the right shows a few screens of Flrig working with my radio. You can see live SWR, power used and a few others. Down the bottom is how I can quickly switch bands. If you have band stacking on this works in well also. The second bottom screen is the VFO A or B (B is on in this example)

I can tune in a frequency via Flrig, or Flrig will update should I change settings on the radio.

Another benefit of this simple software is you can point other software to it. This may include logging software and digital decoding software.

A great little free program with a lot of benefits.

Links

Download Flrig here, but not via the green button, but the setup.exe file below (if for windows)

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Fishing Line Antenna DIY

May 27, 2024Ben2 Comments

With so many different HF antennas available, I often wondered what people in high rise buildings did. If they can not put an antenna on the roof, what options are left for them? I talk to so many people from Asian cities who would have this problem, and occasionally I see what they do.

The easiest option is to stay on digital like DMR. These only require internet, and a hand held radio, but this always asks the question, is this real amateur radio? My opinion is if it connects people that are licenced and only licenced people can uses it, then I guess it is, while understanding it may not be everyone’s cuppa. I do understand there are many even in Australia in retirement villages who only have the option of digital radio due to restrictions on antennas.

Today, I made contact with Lok Shui Fan VR2VAZ in Hong Kong, and on his QRZ page, he came up with an amazing idea that clearly works for him. While it is not going to be the best antenna ever seen, it is perhaps the best antenna he is able to use. Given we are about 7450 km (4627 miles) apart, and still made contact on this antenna, you can’t say it doesn’t work.

On his QRZ page, Lok says “This is my DIY HF Fish Pole Antenna. Can be used under 80M,40M,30M, 20M, 17M, 15M, 12M, 10M band.”

He also says “If I am not playing radio, all the antenna will be hidden in flower bed”.

There are more photo’s on his QRZ page. He even has a youtube video on it.

I guess it would feel like catching contacts everytime you made a contact. If you enjoyed fishing and radio, this might be a bit of fun for you?

I think it is a fantastic idea. What do you think? Have you built your own antenna that camouflage’s when not in use?

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BlueDV Windows 10 GD-77
I found it hard to find useful information on how to run the OpenGD-77 hotpot mode with Windows 10. At the time of writing this, there is a lot about this topic using a pistar and even android or ISO, but not much with Windows 10. This is my experence with BlueDV and Open GD-77 using a Windows 10 PC.…
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Band Stacking

May 24, 2024May 24, 2024BenLeave a comment

Have you ever tried Band Stacking before? This is where you have three options per band every time you go to that band. For example, you may have one set up on SSB, one on CW and another on Data, all on the same band. You can easily switch between them all.

For example, if you are on 20 metres, press band and 14 again, and if band stacking is on, it will keep you on 20 metres but to the different stack. This different stack could have a different mode. You usually have three per band.

Have a look at the video for more on how to use it and turn it on:

If you enjoyed that, below are some more interesting reads you may enjoy:

DNR – Digital Noise Reduction
As per the Yaesu FT-710 manual, the Digital Noise Reduction (DNR) system is designed to reduce the level of ambient noise found on the HF and 50 MHz bands. The (DNR) system is especially effective during SSB operation. Any of 15 different noise-reduction algorithms can be selected; each of these algorithms was created to deal…
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Band Stacking
Have you ever tried Band Stacking before? This is where you have three options per band every time you go to that band. For example, you may have one set up on SSB, one on CW and another on Data, all on the same band. You can easily switch between them all. For example, if…
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The History Of Yaesu
As licensed Amateur Radio operators, we have all heard about Yaesu. We have all seen a Yaesu radio and most of us have used and even own one. I’ve had and have several Yaesu radios. From extremely old ones full of valves and extremely heavy. One can only assume they were transported to where we…
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10 metres 28.490

May 24, 2024BenLeave a comment

On the 10-metre band, 28.490 is the unofficial calling frequency for Australia and New Zealand. This is interesting as the Band plans state it is 28.390 as the recommended intra-VK calling frequency.

That said, 28.490 is more recognised as the unofficial calling frequency down under.

Most amateurs down under will listen to 28.490 on ten metres and put out a call there, but then QSY to another frequency 10 or 20 kHz away either after making contact, or before contacting another station by announcing where you plan to go.

Using an Android TV Box for Ham Radio
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A good friend of mine, Mike VK5ZC, put the information below together and asked me to put it on my web site. He has spent a lot of time putting it together with pictures and videos, so I encourage you to have a good read.…
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I found it hard to find useful information on how to run the OpenGD-77 hotpot mode with Windows 10. At the time of writing this, there is a lot about this topic using a pistar and even android or ISO, but not much with Windows 10. This is my experence with BlueDV and Open GD-77 using a Windows 10 PC.…
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DNR – Digital Noise Reduction

May 15, 2024May 15, 2024Ben1 Comment

As per the Yaesu FT-710 manual, the Digital Noise Reduction (DNR) system is designed to reduce the level of ambient noise found on the HF and 50 MHz bands. The (DNR) system is especially effective during SSB operation. Any of 15 different noise-reduction algorithms can be selected; each of these algorithms was created to deal with a different noise profile. You will want to experiment with the DNR system to find the best setting corresponding to the noise currently being experienced.

The DNR function can be operated individually for VFO-A band and VFO-B.

But have you ever tried this trick with the RF-Gain. Have a look at this video to see more:

Press the [DNR] key to enable the DNR operation. To disable DNR operation, press the [DNR] key once more. If you turn your RF gain back to 12 o’clock, it will sound super.

I would love to hear your views on this, and how you have used it. Please like or comment below.

If you enjoyed this read, here are some others you may like:

The History Of Yaesu
As licensed Amateur Radio operators, we have all heard about Yaesu. We have all seen a Yaesu radio and most of us have used and even own one. I’ve had and have several Yaesu radios. From extremely…
Continue reading →
Band Stacking
Have you ever tried Band Stacking before? This is where you have three options per band every time you go to that band. For example, you may have one set up on SSB, one on CW and…
Continue reading →
DNR – Digital Noise Reduction
As per the Yaesu FT-710 manual, the Digital Noise Reduction (DNR) system is designed to reduce the level of ambient noise found on the HF and 50 MHz bands. The (DNR) system is especially effective during SSB…
Continue reading →

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Interference
Interference in Amateur Radio refers to unwanted signals that disrupt radio communication. This interference can reduce signal clarity, make contacts difficult, or completely block communication between amateur radio operators. Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) is one of the…
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6m and TV Channel 0
Prior to 1989, it was illegal to operate between 50 MHz and 52 MHz in Australia. It was a real pain as that was where all the action was when the band opened up. However, after many…
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I’ve heard a lot about dipole antennas, and I’ve heard a lot about long wire antennas also. I would say I’ve seen more dipoles than long wire antennas. So why is that? What is the difference between…
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The 6-Meter Amateur Radio Band
What Is the 6m Band? The 6-meter band, spanning roughly 50–54 MHz, is a section of the VHF spectrum assigned to amateur radio operators. Its wavelength is six meters, and its position between HF and VHF makes…
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160 Meters Band
160 meters band is known as the “Gentlemen’s band”. It is right next to the AM commercial band, known as medium wave. The 160-meter band is the radio frequencies between 1.8 and 2 MHz. For many decades…
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VK3TBS

Amateur Radio Notes, from Australia

HF Mobile Antenna CBL-561

CBL-561 Review

Tuning the antenna

More information

Purchasing Tips

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Repeaters

Unlocking the radio

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10 metres 28.490

DNR – Digital Noise Reduction