[amsat-bb] Re: DJ-G7T and full-duplex satellite operating

[Andrew Glasbrenner]

My EDS-10 arrives this week, probably tomorrow. Saturday I did hook the 
radio up to my ancient Arrow antenna and took a listen to AO-27. Receiving 
on the subband as I would if working the satellite, one thing odd I noticed 
was the off frequency response of the radio. If I was 5 kHz off, it seemed 
that very little could be heard. Most of my other radios give more of a 
partially readable signal when off frequency. Sensitivity was excellent. I 
also listened on the triband Diamond rubber duck I purchased to replace the 
stock duck, and reception was still decent.

I'll agree the manual is horrid, but there is a note included that says it 
is a preliminary version and an updated one will be posted to the website 
soon.

More to follow after the headphone adapter arrives.

73, Drew KO4MA

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Patrick STODDARD (WD9EWK/VA7EWK)" <amsat-bb at wd9ewk.net>
To: <amsat-bb at amsat.org>
Sent: Tuesday, May 26, 2009 1:21 AM
Subject: [amsat-bb] DJ-G7T and full-duplex satellite operating


>
> Hi!
>
> I spent this afternoon using my new DJ-G7T HT on a few passes, with
> mixed results.  Working with the incomplete manual that came with
> the HT has been a challenge.  I still need to use it more, and be
> ready to make more changes to settings.  So far, I'll say it is a
> good radio for satellite work.  Not great, but good.
>
> I first tried this HT on the satellites during the weekend of the
> Dayton HamVention.  The first report I received on it related to my
> transmit audio - sounding quiet and compressed.  There is a mic gain
> setting in the firmware, which I put to the maximum setting.  Over
> this weekend, I received the EDS-10 speaker/mic adapter cable to go
> into the speaker/mic jack on the top of the HT - a 4-conductor 1/8"
> (3.5mm) plug with threads around the base of the plug.  Without this
> cable, I did not want to risk trying full-duplex operation on the
> birds.  With this, I could feed audio through a splitter to my
> earpiece and audio recorder.
>
> I tried AO-27 and SO-50 passes this (Monday) afternoon around 2120-
> 2140 UTC.  The 5W transmitter and change to the mic gain setting
> meant I could be heard, but I had difficulties hearing the satellite.
> Also, I could not hear myself while transmitting.  I tried another
> AO-27 pass at 2301 UTC, and part of the pass was covered up by a
> loud bout of intermod (Phoenix Fire Department VHF dispatch channel
> swamped the receiver).  Not good.
>
> Before the first AO-51 pass I had this afternoon at 0027 UTC, I
> talked with John K8YSE about the radio and the problems I had.  He
> suggested I turn off the extended-receive capability of the HT,
> limiting it to just the ham bands.  I did that, and then tried the
> AO-51 pass.  Things went much better.  I had an easier time hearing
> the satellite, and could hear myself through the satellite while
> transmitting - something I've never been able to do with my IC-W32A.
>
> I still need to go back to AO-27 and SO-50, to see if limiting the
> receiver to just the ham bands yields any improvement when working
> those satellites.  I can't wait to see a new and improved version of
> the instruction manual, and improvements to the firmware to fix some
> of the idiosyncracies I've seen in trying to get this radio set up.
> Even with those issues, I'm glad I bought the radio.  I plan to
> continue working with this radio, to see if I can improve on what I
> heard this afternoon on AO-51.  This may turn out to be a nice radio
> for the satellites.  For now, it's a work-in-progress.  Maybe others
> who picked this radio up at Dayton - or have ordered it since then -
> will chime in with their comments about the radio.
>
> 73!
>
>
>
>
> Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK
> http://www.wd9ewk.net/
>
>
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