M0BGR – Station Description.
My objective recently has been to simplify my station as well as reducing its footprint. Being a low power station (QRP), I find digital modes, such as PSK-31 effective but that is not to say I don’t occasionally do Morse (CW) and voice (SSB).
M0BGR Station
I built my own computer-radio interface, but this required lots of cables and faffing about with Window’s control panel sound settings. The situation got worse when my old computer gave up the ghost forcing me to switch to something more modern (Aspire V). This runs Windows-10 which hides the control panel apps needed to set sound levels. New computers do not have microphone sockets so I had to add an external sound card – and so more cables and things to set up. An advantage of using an external sound card is that I can use the computer sound card for other things, listening to music or doing my Chinese lessons while waiting for bands to open.
I use the computer for other things, so I don’t leave the amateur radio setup in place. Setup was time consuming and error prone before I came across the SignaLink USB by Tigertronics. I will do a review of this later but it is a game changer, making setup for digital modes much easier.
I also installed ‘Virtual Audio Cable’ (VAC) software on my computer which does, as the name suggests, allows audio source outputs to connect to the input of apps needing an audio feed without using real cables. This is important when using things like Software Defined Radios (SDR) as there is less mess on the desktop and the real audio ports are freed up. VAC is free for a single 'audio cable'. More ‘cables’ can be purchased at reasonable cost and I found three is sufficient for my uses.
I have also upgraded my Software Defined Radios (SDR). I started with a cheap RTL2832 type SDR. The RTL2832 was a good place to start but it was very limited. It does not work below 24 MHz and it does not have good front-end filtering so it does not perform well in the presence of other strong signals. I invested in a Funcube Pro+ dongle and later I bought an SDRplay RSP1A. I will review these later but they both perform much better than cheaper units and work down to very low frequencies.
I have retained my Wouxun 4m, and 2m/70cm handhelds and carry them with me when I am out walking. I call CQ from time to time when I am in an advantageous location, so listen for me on 145.5MHz and on repeaters that cover SE London. I have added a Tytera MD-380 radio so I also have DMR capability. My station has very limited HF capability so DMR gives me the ability to work ‘DX’ with very little effort – it’s fun to work places like USA from a bench in my local park!
