My 15A supply came in yesterday, as did the replacement microphone for my ADI AR-146 two-meter radio. This should have allowed me to "road-test" this radio, which I was planning to use for my APRS station. I ran into a hitch, though. This radio has a firmware option to operate in a "channelized" mode, in which it can only be tuned to a limited number of predefined channels, which cannot be changed by the operator. There is a procedure to switch it out of that mode (documented in the manual, which I managed to find online), but that procedure requires the OEM microphone. My radio is stuck in this mode, and since I don't have the OEM microphone I cannot switch it out of that mode. So unless I can find either the OEM microphone for an AR-146, AR-147, AR-446, or AR-447, or enough technical information to find out what pressing the "CALL" button on the microphone (in conjunction with the PTT key) does, I won't be able to delobotomize this radio, and thus will probably not be able to use it as an APRS radio.
So I'm going to start going to local group meetings in the hopes of finding someone who can help me recover this radio, while saving up toward buying a new one in the event that I can't rescue this one. That'll delay the project about two months. The main question now is whether I want to buy the antenna and put it up now, or wait until spring. It'll be winter before I can afford to buy both an antenna and a new radio, and there is not much chance that I'm going to climb up onto my roof to install an antenna in the middle of winter.
Anyway, if you happen to be reading this and you have a two-meter FM radio that you're not using, or you have one of the aforementioned microphones, and are willing to sell or loan it to me, please contact me.
So I'm going to start going to local group meetings in the hopes of finding someone who can help me recover this radio, while saving up toward buying a new one in the event that I can't rescue this one. That'll delay the project about two months. The main question now is whether I want to buy the antenna and put it up now, or wait until spring. It'll be winter before I can afford to buy both an antenna and a new radio, and there is not much chance that I'm going to climb up onto my roof to install an antenna in the middle of winter.
Anyway, if you happen to be reading this and you have a two-meter FM radio that you're not using, or you have one of the aforementioned microphones, and are willing to sell or loan it to me, please contact me.
You're missing all the fun babe. Get the ARRL Handbook and start building the projects. Build your own equipment. Build the test equipment you need as you go, but buy a nice oscilloscope and multimeter.
ReplyDeleteA "nice oscilloscope" would bust my budget for the next two years. Care to loan me one?
ReplyDeleteYou got a point there ;)
ReplyDeleteThen again, back when I started a 100Mhz scope was just craziness, while nowadays they're only a few hundred bucks.
I wanted to update you on my APRS progress. I talked to a guy from byonics.com and we decided that the TinyTrak4 should meet my needs in KISS TNC mode. I've ordered one of those and it should be arriving shortly. I should be able to get everything together in the next couple of weeks and start transmitting/receiving, though it will probably take me a couple of days to figure out exactly what settings I need to setup for a home station. It looks like my station will consist of the following.
ReplyDeleteIcom IC-28H
TinyTrak4
Copper Jpole
Aston 20Amp PS
MacMini w/Xastir
I'll let you know how it goes.
Usually the problem is that when no microphone is attached - the radio is stuck in transmit mode - hence you cannot program it.
ReplyDeleteThree things can change this.
You can use a ALINCO microphone - which will work.
Or you can erase the memory if it is not a core memory by removing the battery which stores the memory for a minute and turn the radio on - which will make it loose its memory - if the chip inside doesn't crash.
Or you can press the on button while no power is applied and see if maybe the radio will draw itself down and loose the memory that way.
The funny thing about the ADI is that it was not a very good radio by others standards, but was quite acceptable for anyone wanting to use APRS or Packet.
You will find that the microphone is worth more then the radio.
The cords were made of a material - not much more durable then a wet paper bag and from exposure to light - they disintegrated on their own in just a matter of a couple of years, while the radios still worked as good as the day they were new.