Red Rose Rally Find - Kenwood TM-411E

I found a bargain at the Red Rose Rally a couple of weeks back here in Manchester in the form of a Kenwood TM-411E 70cm FM transceiver. The seller let me have it for a reduced price of £30 so I snapped his hand off.

It works exactly as it should and is in great overall cosmetic condition. Produced from 1984, this is a classic little 80's looking radio in silver/grey with blue accents. It came with the original mic in great condition and also a mounting bracket although it won't be being mounted anywhere. Designed as a mobile rig it is nice and compact and features a swivel front which goes up and down for ease of use. 

It doesn't have CTCSS, just the 1750hz tone but I only got it for a bit of simplex testing and not for repeaters anyway so this isn't really an issue. It doesn't have a speaker but has an audio output on the back for a speaker.

Frequency range is 430-440MHz, 5 watts on low power and 10 watts on high. I gave it a quick test with 3 stations. The first being 8 miles away, the second 6 miles away and the third 2 miles away. Great reports from all of them too!

Thanks for reading!

73's, Lewis M3HHY.

Manchester, UK.

DMR Vs dPMR Simplex Testing

Myself and Roydan M0LEX recently decided to make a video showing the Kydera DP-550S dPMR and the TYT MD-380 DMR handhelds in action. We tried to do a range test in an urban area as everyone knows that in an open area or hilltop to hilltop any radio will perform particularly well.

We chose our locations after consulting Google Earth and I went to Irlam Locks and Roydan went to Barton Locks in Trafford Park, Greater Manchester. The two points are about 2.8 miles apart.

The Kydera is a fantastic little radio but we concluded that the stock antenna it comes with is awful. I wanted to do some footage of it with a Nagoya NA-771 whip antenna but the wind and recent drop in temperature made me retreat to the car and use a small Nagoya SP-80 magmount making the test unfair. The radio worked fantastic over the distance with no packet loss whatsoever.

However, the MD-380 performed fantastically well on the stock antenna and even better on the Nagoya NA-771 with only a slight bit of packet loss when I moved into the shadow of a large iron bridge.

I was going to scrap this footage and shelve the video for a while but I thought I'd share it. It's a look at how both radios work and sound if nothing else. Enjoy!

I've seen it all... 'Motorola GP328L'...

I have no words for this Baofeng BF-UVB2+ masquerading as a 'Motorola GP328L'...

Transmitter Trail Part 1 - Ashton Moss

As I said in a previous post I visited some transmitter sites around Greater Manchester recently and came across some really interesting places. So I thought I'd share some pictures I took along with some info in a series of parts as there were quite a few.

The Ashton Moss transmitting stations are two independent facilities for medium wave broadcasting about 3/4 of a mile apart on Ashton Moss in Greater Manchester. The first one I visited was the original BBC transmitter which was built for BBC Radio Manchester.
 

The facility has been used for transmitting Gold on 1458 kHz since 1994, with a power of 5 kW. It consists of 3 free-standing lattice towers, arranged as a directional array, insulated against ground and is one of the few broadcasting stations in Europe using free-standing tower radiators. It is designated "Ashton Moss (West) MF" by Arqiva. At the base of each transmitter sits a small unit that houses the transmitting eqiupment.

The masts can be best viewed from Wren Close, and Rayner Lane in Ashton-Under-Lyne. They're not accessible as they're on private farmland which is fenced off but you can get close enough.

 The other station is Ashton Moss IBA site which was built by the Independant Broadcasting Authority in 1974 for Piccadilly Radio. It still transmits Piccadilly Magic 1152kHz and Asian Sound on 1377kHz today.

It uses a directional antenna consisting of 4 guyed masts, insulated against ground. This antenna has a maximum output toward 250°. In this direction the ERP is 1.5 kW, but the transmitter output is actually 350 Watts. The antenna of this transmitter has a highly directional pattern in order not to interfere with other nearby transmitters on the same frequency.

It is designated "Ashton Moss (East) MF" by owners Arqiva. The best way to view it is from Rayner Lane on Ashton Moss or the M60 where it passes Ashton-Under-Lyne. It is also on private land so I couldn't get nearer.

The stations were constructed and owned by the BBC and IBA as indicated above. Over time, (1974-2007), by a series of asset sell offs, and mergers, both sites are now owned and operated by Arqiva.

Hope some of you found that of interest. Look out for the next part coming soon.

Thanks for reading!

73's, Lewis M3HHY.

Manchester, UK.

West Manchester Radio Club - Red Rose Winter Rally 2016

Today was the West Manchester Radio Club annual winter rally so I decided to go down and check it out. I'd not been to a rally in 11 years; the last one being Llandudno 2005 so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I was pleasently surprised! There was a huge turnout despite the snow that had fallen overnight which possibly hampered things a little but there were lots of traders and equally lots of visitors too.

The rally was organised by West Manchester Radio Club and held at the George H Carnall Leisure Centre, Kingsway Park, Davyhulme which is near the Trafford Centre. The venue is easily accessible from junction 9 of the M60 (opposite the Trafford Centre itself) and has disabled facilities with good access as it is all on one level. There is a large free car park and a café on site which is always nice to see. Doors opened at 11am and we queued to get in too which was also nice. It sort of reassures my faith in the hobby to see so many turn out.

There was plenty of stands there such as Lamco, Total Mast Solutions, RSGB and UKFMGW along with numerous radio club stands. The sports hall was divided into two halves with the main sale area on the left, and the right half had the clubs stands, bring and buy, and UKFMGW.

I got some bargains too, the main one being a Kenwood Trio TM-411E, a Maxon SM-2450 UHF ex PMR radio (£3 working!), a Key UHF ex PMR radio with mic (£3 working!) and a nice Pye Telecom handheld in a charger which doesn't work but it looks nice in the shack for £2.

All in all a great day at the rally and really good organisation by West Manchester Radio Club.

Thanks for reading!

73's, Lewis M3HHY.

Manchester, UK.

Transmitter Trail

Some business this week took me around Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire so I decided to stop by some transmitter sites on my way round. It turned out to be quite interesting and I managed to visit alot of places whilst sticking to my route and schedule.

Here they are in order:

Ashton Moss MF West:
Location: Ashton, Greater Manchester.
Type: 3 tower freestanding directional array.
Serves: Gold 1458kHz

Ashton Moss MF East
Location: Ashton, Greater Manchester.
Type: 4 tower guyed directional array.
Serves: Key 2 1152kHz, Asian Sound 1377kHz.

Oldham North Relay.
Location: Oldham Edge, Greater Manchester.
Type: 45m freestanding TV relay mast (from Winter Hill).
Serves: BBC Television. Other local use.

Lees Relay.
Location: Oldham, Greater Manchester.
Type: 10m eouble freestanding directional TV relay (from Winter Hill).
Serves: BBC Television.

Saddleworth.
Location: Lydgate, Saddleworth.
Type: 45m TV relay/other (from Winter Hill).
Serves: BBC Television, BBC Radio, Arqiva, SDN, Key103. Other local use.

Holme Moss Transmitting Station.
Location: Holme Valley, West Yorkshire.
Type: 228m guyed tower.
Serves: BBC Radio, Classic FM, Digital One. Other local use.

Emley Moor Transmitting Station.
Location: Kirklees, West Yorkshire.
Type: 330m freestanding concrete tower.
Serves: BBC TV, Various TV multiplexers, Capital Yorkshire 105.1
Heart 106.2, BBC Digital, Digital One. Other local use.

Primrose Hill.
Location: Primrose Hill, Kirklees, West Yorkshire.
Type: 35m TV relay (from Emley Moor).
Serves: BBC Television. Other local use.

Ainley Top/Flixby Ridge.
Location: Salendine Nook, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.
Type: Freestanding radio relay (from Emley Moor).
Serves: BBC Digital Radio.

Vicars Lot.
Location: Outlane, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.
Type: 64m guyed transmitter.
Serves: The Pulse 102.5, Pulse 2 1530kHz.

Scapegoat Hill.
Location: Scapegoat Hill, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.
Type: Multiple unidentified towers. Reservoir telemetry transmitter.
Serves: Possible former Home Office. Possible Yorkshire Water.

Moorside Edge.
Location: Pole Moor, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.
Type: 158m double guyed transmitter towers.
Serves: Radio 5 Live 909kHz, Absolute 1215kHz, Talk Sport 1089kHz.

Dog Hill.
Location: Shaw, Oldham, Greater Manchester.
Type: 30m freestanding TV relay (from Winter Hill).
Serves: BBC Television.

I'll post some more info and photographs this week on all these places.

Thanks for reading!

73's, Lewis M3HHY.

Manchester, UK.

Baofeng UV-5X Power Test With GY561 Power Meter