Foxdelta APRS Units

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 “Foxdelta FoxTrak”

Part 1.

Last may 2011 Peter 2E0SQL brought himself a Foxdelta FoxTrak I had never come across this unit before Peter paid around £14 plus P&P So far so good as is often the case a lead or two has to be home brewed some times that easy but I was soon to discover a few pit falls were waiting for me to fall into hook line and sinker that came in the way of serial plug 3.5mm 4 pole and battery connector that we brought from maplin I had no problem with the battery connector however I soon fell into a large whole regarding the serial plugs however after a couple of tries I soon got the lead made up properly however it took a little longer for the penny to drop that regardless the maplin 3.5mm jack just did not fit correctly into the VX-150 handheld and the next hole came as a complete surprise I own two Garmin e-Trex’s GPS the newer one for some reason did not supply the NMEA data but the older GPS did much time could have been saved by trying the older GPS first. Peter Got a lot of fun using this set up bicycle mobile also I could monitor his progress in the shack.

For some reason Peter thought it might be a good idea to use this set up in the shack with the GPS handing out the shack window so it could and more often than not – did not pick up the satellite signal that would supply the location He was transmitting from  – I asked Peter was there any chance of a different unit that has a programmable pic that we could program  our latitude and longitude instead of risking a GPS I was delighted to learn that there was and it was called the Foxdelta Foxview 3 So I ordered one so that Peter could use this in the shack.

Part 2.

“The Foxdelta Foxview 3 APRS”

The Foxdelta Foxview 3 APRS viewer Peter had ordered the MX614 chip from Argent Data in the states and this arrived first Getting it all connected up was easy enough to start with we used the lead for Yaesu VX-150 handheld as the connection was the same as the Foxtrak but later on I made a new lead up so it would work using the FT-7800E and this has been very success full one of the big advantages of the Foxdelta Foxview 3 APRS view is that it is a stand along unit and does not need to be connected to a computer because it has its own display.

The Foxview features are

APRS viewer on a 4×20 LCD

APRS Position encoder (Fixed or GPS (not easy to setup)

Digipeater

APRS TNC

Peter 2E0SQL has had a lot of fun out of this unit that only cost’s a few pounds and perhaps an hour helping peter set the unit up. Since Christmas 2010 peter has taken this one set further and you can read about this on his website

Digital Voice Memory Unit DVS-6 Vertex Standard Co., Japan.

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For my Birthday this year I asked for a Yaesu DVS-6 Digital Voice Memory Unit. It is made especially for the FT-950 (my current HF transceiver of choice) the DVS-6 Voice Memory System includes five memories capable of storing up to 20 seconds of voice audio each. The maximum that any memory can hold is 20 seconds. You can store and then repeatedly transmit short identification and information messages. At the time I purchased the rig the voice memory unit was not available.


To my great delight my Son and daughter brought me the DVS-6 for my birthday with peter’s help we had the bottom of the FT950 removed

 

and in no time we had installed the DVS-6 voice memory unit – This unit has five memories capable of storing up to 20 seconds of voice audio each this is ideal for two operators sharing the same transceiver I have the first two memories and Peter has 4,5. Memory player 1 transmits my call sign once which is ideal for calling in the pile up’s and the second memory player 2 transmits CQ CQ Mike 3 Juliet Foxtrot Mike – M3JFM is calling CQ and standing by for any possible call please.

Experimenting with Bicycle mobile and Bicycle portable

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For as long as I can remember I have enjoyed cycling over the years I have had the standard three gear bike and during my time up in Scotland I was the proud owner of a Phillips racing bike I cycled miles on this bike one time Dai Jones and I cycled from Lossiemouth to the village of Tomintoul the gate way to the Cairngorm National park we stayed overnight in the Tomintoul Scottish Youth hostel going for dinner in the Gordon hotel. In the morning we cooked breakfast at the SYHA before cycling back to Lossiemouth stopping for morning coffee in Aberlour and stopping for lunch in Elgin my trusty racing bike often was my main mode of transport of choice and used when going salmon fishing on the river Spey or trout fishing on the river Lossie and on Wednesdays the prayer meeting and the Fridays bible study at Calvary tabernacle United Pentecostal Church Elgin upon returning to Oxford I brought a mountain bike.

‘Calvary tabernacle United Pentecostal Church Elgin’

I first started operating mobile using a yaesu VX150 hand held on 2m from then I thought I might like to take things one step further and operate Bicycle portable on HF using the yaesu FT817ND with the antenna mounted on the rear wheel carrier of my town bike. On my last visit to the Kempton park amateur radio rally I purchased from MoonRaker the SPX 100 “Plug N Go” telescopic portable antenna this antenna covers from 80 meters to 4 meters to change band you simply using the fly lead and socket on the base of the coil. I use the ZL 817 LDG Autotuner for the best SWR. From sandpiper I brought a roof window bar mount. And in my tool box at home I had the leads and connectors required to install the transceiver and antenna on my bike. Finally I needed a safe way of carrying and storing the radio on my bike and for this I went to my local cycle shop in town and I brought the Arran rear wheel cycle bag.

‘out side Metron college sports pavilion’

My first couple of trips bicycle mobile was over to the Merton College sports field I parked up at the sports pavilion and resting the FT817 on the bike rack this was fine for making a short trip in orderto check how things were working and making a few local radio contacts but to go further the back wheel cycle bag was a must.

‘Peter 2E0SQL Operating along the river Thames’

Our first cycle ride out portable mobile was over port meadow we set up beside the river Thames just south of Wolvercote lock  Peter 2E0SQL had some fun on 40m and it was here that we used the ZL817 Auto tuner for the first time this atu tunes up the antenna giving a 1:1 VSWR.

‘Peter 2E0SQL’

Peter and I cycled up to the farm on the Saturday of CW National field day on the way Peter 2E0SQL operated bicycle mobile on the old London road at shot over using a small hand held operating through GB3RD once at the field we were put to work as there was a few jobs that needed completed before the start of the contest we helped put up the dipoles for 160m, 40m, and 80m.

‘Bicycle Portable’

once the contest started I set up my bicycle portable station it came as no surprise that the radio club station G5LO/P was end stopping on my station but what did surprise me was that I could hear on my simple antenna the pile up that G5LO/P was working.