Product Review and Short Takes from QST Magazine August 2009 Product Reviews: Alinco DJ-175T 2 meter FM handheld transceiver Four switching power supplies Short Takes: The PIEXX SO2Rxlat USB to LPT Translator Copyright © 2009 by the American Radio Relay League Inc. All rights reserved.
product review Alinco DJ-175T 2 Meter FM Handheld Key Measurements Transceiver Summary Reviewed by Steve Ford, WB8IMY QST Editor With handheld transceivers, as with anything else, you get what you pay for.
by Isidor Buchmann at www.buchmann. ca/Article10-Page1.asp. If you need more battery capacity, you can get the optional EBP-71 1200 mAh lithium-ion pack. That requires a different charger, though. Programming Software Alinco offers a free Windows programming application for use with the DJ-175T. You can download it from the Alinco Web site at www.alinco.com/main07-05.html. To use the software you’ll need Alinco’s ERW-7 USB cable, which retails for about $50.
the front. With the DJ-175T clipped to your belt, you can activate the VOX function to key the rig at the sound of your voice. Alternatively, you can manually key the radio with a pushbutton switch. With the EME-12 attached to the handheld, I roamed the Hamvention with ease. The microphone has a fairly “close” pattern, so the VOX wasn’t tripped by extraneous noise. Of course, I had to be a little careful to disable the headset when I was involved in a face-to-face conversation.
Table 2 Daiwa SS-505, serial no. 1708 Manufacturer’s Specifications Power requirement: 90-123 V ac. Output voltage: 5-15 V dc. Output current (continuous): 50 A. Size (HWD): 4.4×8.5×11.1 inches; weight, 8.4 pounds. Price: $370 ARRL Lab Measurements Output voltage, no load: Output voltage, 21 A load: Output voltage, 35 A load: Voltage range: Low line drop out voltage: Dc variation during dynamic testing: 13.71 V dc (set by Test Engineer). 13.53 V dc. 13.51 V dc. 4.48-14.42 V dc. 69 V ac. ≈200 mV.
QS0908-Prodrev03 0.2 Conducted Emissions Testing 0.15 0.1 0.05 0 -0.05 -0.1 -0.15 -0.2 0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03 0.035 0.04 Figure 3 — An oscilloscope trace of the dc output of the Daiwa SS-505 under load. The vertical scale is 50 mV/div and the horizontal scale is 5 ms/div. The level of the dc ripple is approximately 35 mV p-p. There are no discernible spikes due to switching.
well below the Part 15 levels on the amateur bands. The Daiwa and MFJ supplies were above the limits at several frequencies below 1 MHz. The Jetstream and Samlex supplies were under the limits at all frequencies, and overall the Samlex was the quietest of the units tested. The Samlex and MFJ supplies had the required FCC Part 15 compliance notices on the cabinet. The other two units did not, nor did they mention Part 15 testing in the accompanying literature.
Table 4 MFJ 4245MV, serial no. L4000006845 Manufacturer’s Specifications Power requirement: 85 to 135 V ac 47-62 Hz or 170 to 260 V ac 47-63 Hz Output voltage: 9-16 V dc. Output current (continuous): 40 A. Size (HWD): 4.7×7.5×9.0 inches; weight, 5.5 pounds. Price: $185. ARRL Lab Measurements Output voltage, no load: Output voltage, 21 A load: Output voltage, 35 A load: Voltage range: Low line drop out voltage: Dc variation during dynamic testing: 13.63 V dc (detent). 13.54 V dc. 13.47 V dc 7.63 to 14.
short takes The PIEXX SO2Rxlat USB to LPT Translator Pete Smith, N4ZR 96 Willow Well Ln Kearneysville, WV 25430-5811 n4zr@contesting.com gained quite a reputation for their broad line of computer-to-radio interfaces, antenna switchboxes and other products. To support the company’s MK2R+ multi-mode SO2R controller, using only a single USB cable to the computer, MicroHAM developed and began encouraging software developers to support the MicroHAM SO2R Protocol.
