Antennas: Fake Nagoya. What's Inside?

Quite an interesting test / tear down of the original stock Quansheng K5 antenna and one of the many fake Nagoya antennas that are out there for sale. Don't get me wrong, just like what's said in the video, some of the fake Nagoya's actually work very well. I should know, as I have a few which I believe are not genuine. So yes, some are excellent. But some are also terrible. Problem is, genuine Nagoya antenna's are so popular and well thought of, that every tom dick and harry is ripping them off. So its luck of the draw as to whether you end up with a good one or not. Interesting video.

 

Quansheng UV-K1 (8) Walkie Talkie

The new Quansheng UV-K1 and UV-K1 (8) are available to order on Banggood and AliExpress. There are a few people that already seem to have this radio, so pre-order deliveries shouldn't take that long to be delivered. Although on some listings it does say around 30 days. Both the Quansheng UV-K1 and  UV-K1 (8) have the same features. The only difference is, I believe, the way they look. Which isn't all that different really. I think they both look great. Under the shell they are very similar to the Quansheng UV K5 8 with the stock software. Same frequency range, TX / RX etc. The one big difference between the older models and newer models is the flash memory capacity.

 

It has been increased in these two newer models to 2mb. That might not seem a lot, but in terms of firmware text code for a little analogue Quansheng radio, that is a lot. This means that these two radios can be modified to have even more features and different types of firmware installed than the older Quansheng's were capable of having. Only problem is, those firmware's need to be developed for these radios. 

So there will be a wait for that. But the maker of the F4HWN firmware is already on the case and should have something ready to be released soon. So that will be great. And I'm sure in time other developers will follow suit. Some may already be working on it.

The battery options are a bit like what's available for the Baofeng UV-5R. You have the shorter, smaller capacity battery [1400mAh] which doesn't add any extra length to the radio. And then there's the larger capacity battery [2500mAh], which does extend the radios length.

Some radios extended batteries are just fatter, making the radio thicker. But with these two it's longer, just like with the Baofeng UV-5R. Still though, the UV-K1 and UV-K1 (8) are small radios, so even with the longer life battery the overall radio size is still not huge.

Searching Using 8.33kHz Steps

Many of the older radio scanners are quite limited in how many kHz steps they have. A lot of them just have the basic ones. So it has been quite interesting messing around with a modified Quansheng K5-8 [here] to see what can be found hiding under the many different kHz step types it has. My latest step number has been 8.33kHz. I think a lot of people, me included, always associate 8.33kHz with airband. Those who love listening to aviation frequencies always want scanners that have the 8.33kHz steps available. But I have no interest in airband, so I've been using the 8.33kHz step size to scan through all the frequencies not airband and have found some interesting "hidden" frequencies.

Don't get your hopes up, I haven't found anything top secret or anything. Just things like workplaces, people talking, etc. Still, it's interesting that if I was using a scanner that had no 8.33kHz step size, I don't think I would have ever know anyone was there. And I get the feeling that by the odd frequencies that these companies and people are using, they wanted it that way and are trying to stay undiscovered. Some of the communications are quite rare and sporadic, so I think there was some luck involved in finding them.

Anyway, if you have a radio capable of searching using 8.33kHz steps, start searching if you haven't already. A modified Quansheng can search using 8.33kHz steps, as well as many other steps. Some radio receivers can still go to frequencies that use 8.33kHz, even though they don't have that step size. 

One example is the Baofeng 1701, which is digital and analogue. I use the Quansheng to find the frequencies scanning in 8.33kHz steps, then type in the frequency on the Baofeng. 9 times out of 10 the Baofeng has been able to listen to the found frequencies if I type them in manually, even though it does not have the 8.33kHz step size / spacing.

Baofeng 1701 Find Save Scan OpenGD77

This is a quick post that will explain how to scan frequencies, save frequencies, and then scan them. This post is for the Baofeng DM 1701 with OpenGD77 installed. If yours has the stock / original software, this process will be different. If you are just interested in receiving signals like I am, and finding as many DMR frequencies as you can, make sure most filters are turned off. The only filter I have on is CC scan. All the rest are turned off. Or to "none" as they are called on this radio. On some radios and to some people, it's referred to as promiscuous mode.

How to find / scan for new frequencies

When it comes to scanning for new frequencies, the user has to set a low frequency and a high frequency. Then scan in between the low and high frequency setting. To do this press the red button to get into VFO / manual frequency mode. Long press the up arrow and two frequencies [or two blank spaces for entering frequencies] on the left and right should appear at the bottom of the screen.

Then, type the frequency you want to start the scan from, which would be the lower frequency. Once done press the green button. Now do the same for the high frequency on the other side. Once done press / long press the up arrow and the radio should start scanning within the frequency range you have just set. Example: from 430MHz [low] - 440MHz [high].

How to save frequencies

If you find a good frequency while scanning and want to save it, first press the green button once so the scan stops / stays at that frequency permanently and doesn't continue scanning once the signal is no longer being received. Now press the highest button on the side of the radio, the one above the PTT button. There you will see a menu. Scroll down until you come to "VFO  --> New chan". Select that [green button] and it will ask you to confirm that you want to save the frequency to a new channel. Press Yes [green button]. And that's it, the channel has been saved.

Scanning saved frequencies

To scan the frequencies that have been saved, toggle between VFO and channel mode by pressing the red button on the keypad. Once in channel mode, perform a scan by long pressing the up arrow. The radio will now start scanning through the channels you have saved. Hope this helped you out.

Sparkelec DP-666 TEF6686 FM Radio

The Sparkelec DP-666 TEF6686 ESP32 RDS FM Radio. This has got to be one of the nicest looking radios I've seen for some time. it looks superb. And going on many of the reviews out there, it's FM performance is excellent. It does shortwave, longwave, medium wave, all the commercial FM radio stations etc. It also has AM, but if you wanted to use the AM for airband, you may want to find another radio. Reports are that it cannot pick up airband at all. I seen a great comment from a user on YouTube that I think pretty much explains what the issue is with airband. See it quoted below.

"In short. The AIR band is converted to shortwave, it only works with a converter that is purchased separately and connected to the antenna. So don't try to listen to it without a converter, the tef chip is not for the AIR band :) The donut antenna is made incorrectly, the coils are in antiphase (useless). They need to be modified to be in series and in phase (the modification is on the internet). That antenna is very good in longwave and part of mediumwave, it is useless in shortwave, its sensitivity decreases after 1200khz and above."

 

Read reviews on the Sparkelec DP66 or buy

So yes, I think this commenter is correct in that it will only work with a converter on airband. But anyway, back to FM mode. Some of the sensitivity tests I have seen have been impressive. It picks up FM really really well. The colour screen is IPS. Which if you don't know what that means, is that it can be seen clearly when viewing from any angle. It doesn't fade or wash out if viewing from side views etc. And the speaker is also very good, nice and clear.

Something not so great that surprised me, was that I thought from looking at the Sparkelec DP-666 TEF6686 only in the product description images, that it was made of metal. But its actually plastic, which is a bit disappointing to be honest. The nobs / pots at the top are metal, so that's something I suppose. But I still think they should have made the Sparkelec DP-666 TEF6686 with a metal body. Still, it's such a nice looking radio. I love it.

Some quick specifications. It also has lots of customization options, touch screen, 5000mAh battery, SMA antenna connection, USB-C connection port for charging the battery and performing firmware updates. It also has a 3.5mm headphone jack. It does remind me a bit of the Malahit DSP2 just in the way it looks, square in size and with a very similar screen. I don't believe the Sparkelec DP-666 has the same noise reduction feature that the Malahit DSP2 has. But not many radios do! Still a great radio for FM lovers. But do note - it does not have SSB.

Old Versions Of SDRSharp Are Better

I remember writing a post a few years back titled "SDR# Plugins Seem Outdated". Well, after a long break from SDR I decided to dust off the old RTL dongle and give it another go. I'd had a spark of enthusiasm relating to decoding DMR [digital] on SDR and wanted to see it I could get it to work. Well, I did manage to do that. But did end up losing faith again in SDRSharp during the process. Don't get me wrong, it's great software. And out of all the software I've been testing, SDR# has the best sound output quality overall. But when it comes to plugins and version compatibility, SDR# is very poor.

SDR# v1727 Interface working with my old dongle

Not sure what they have done to the newer versions of SDRSharp, but they certainly don't work as well as the older versions. Especially in terms of plugin compatibility. It's like they [Airspy] have kind of abandoned the project or something. I'm not sure. Maybe they just lost interest in keeping it fully updated and moved on to other projects.

Anyway, it has been a little bit annoying trying to find a version of SDR# that is still compatible with the majority of good plugins. However, after some searching and messing around, I have found a version that seems to be very stable and compatible with my setup. Working really well with my retro setup.

That is version v1727 [1.0.0.1727]. If you want to give it a try yourself, you can find / download that version and many other older / newer versions and plugins here: https://www.iz3mez.it/software/SDRSharp/

The simple DMR decoder plugin isn't on that websites list of goodies, but it can still be found here: https://www.rtl-sdr.com/sdrsharp-plugins/ And I can confirm it works fine on my system [Windows 10 / 64bit]. Decoding clear DMR well.

I couldn't get the Tetra plugin to work though. The only one I could find was for x86 systems. There wasn't a 64-bit version available that I could find. I did still add the Tetra x86 plugin to SDR# but it had errors and crashed the software, so I removed it. I might try and apply a fix and reinstall it over the next week or two. Hopefully I can get it working.

Other software worth mentioning. Openear is very basic but really good. Not the best on Narrow FM, but definitely one of the best I have tested so far overall. It has everything already built-in, so no plugins to try and find. I will be using it more going forward for sure.

My SDR RTL R820T USB Dongle Setup

Over the past few days I've been reading about decoding digital signals in SDR with other software like DSD+. This has got me interested in SDR again. I'm no stranger to it, I just didn't bother with it for a number of years. The last time I was using it, it was clear that it was outdated. And I got bored quite quickly. But lately my interest has been sparked again and I decided to get out my really old RTL R820T dongle and get it set up with SDR# and SDR console to kick things off. One of things about RTL dongles that has always bothered me, was the RF / EMF radiation that they seem to give off. I mentioned in another post that it makes me feel quite sick when using it. Even though its across the other side of the room.

SDR Console V3.2

So I decided to make a little shield for it. I read online that a good blocker / shield for RF radiation is aluminium. I had a slim drinks can laying around so thought I'd use it to half encase the dongle. I didn't want to completely cover it because I think that would affect its performance. And it gets hot and needs to breath.

So in the can it went. Just so long as it shields me and the cans opening is not pointing in my direction that's OK. I also remembered when I had to package some belongings in boxes. So I unintentionally placed a load of cardboard boxes in front of my Wi-Fi router, not thinking for a second that it would block the Wi-Fi signal to all my devices. But it did. It completely blocked the signal. So I thought I'd also place the RTL R820T dongle inside a cardboard box to give it / me some extra protection.

Why buy a new RTL-SDR dongle when this old one still works great

Only took a few minutes to make. I've tested it out and it seems to work well. Not sure if its just a placebo, but I think the 5 minute home made faraday cage is doing its job. I don't feel sick when the dongle is powered up. Lets hope it stays that way. I'll be posting some more updates on my little journey back into SDR. I was surprised at how well this old dongle still works with SDR#. The antenna isn't great, and the dongle is so old it has a coax connection. It can take a normal TV aerial lol. But it was still able to pick up some good signals. Stay tuned.