First trip out with a new MILITARY style HAM RADIO
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- Опубліковано 5 жов 2024
- One of the reasons why Ham radio appeals to me is the design factor in equipment and it's for this reason I especially appreciate military grade radio equipment. The Discovery 599 HF radio is built with ruggedness in mind, the same type of design thinking that goes into radio equipment used in adverse condition.
This is my first trip out with the radio and over time I hope to use the radio in a range of environments.
I'm a licensed amateur radio operator from the United Kingdom. My UA-cam channel features videos focusing on operating portable radio from various locations plus how to videos, tutorials, insights and conversations in the hobby.
You make the equipment setup look easy. I have the mil whip and slidewinder with the tripod, yet to buy the spike and go fully portable. BTW I added a 3ft treaded rod between the base and bottom of the sliderwinder coil to make the setup centre loaded (original is based loaded) and now getting much better DX on RX and TX.
Hey there. I came over from QRZ. You were the featured member on the QRZ home page just now. 73
Oh ace, thanks for letting me know!
I have the TX-500 and managed to get the battery pack as well but purchased separately. I also use it with the MAT-10 QRP ATU and been really impressed with the results so far! Welcome to the club, Carl :)
The accessory battery pack will take a charge and operate voltage from up to 50V, so you can charge it directly from a solar panel as well as other sources - It's a worthwhile add-on if a bit heavy.
Windcamp make a dedicated carry case for the TX-500 for about £70 shipped and it fits really snugly and it''s properly cut out for the radio. It will take the radio without the battery as well as with the battery, so the whole kit plus the tuner and Digirig plus cables fit into what looks like the same case size as you have in the video. For the money, the Windcamp case is really good value and a LOT cheaper than the Lab599 one and looks just as rugged.
I also went for a third-party 50W PA and made the PTT cable up. If you are stuck for a 7-pin cable about 1m long to bare wires, please let me know as I bought some from Amazon and I have a few left. You can get the connectors but they are a bit fiddly to fit but there didn't seem to be a good source for pre-built cables. I've used others for different soundcard interfaces and I'm looking at bringing out the IQ data from that jack for another project.
I hope you have lots of fun with it Carl!
Carl, an excellent choice for your outdoor radio gear, I have read about this radio before and it seems like a great hf portable radio. Actually this is the first time that I am seeing this radio in use in the field, and from what I am seeing it looks like a great little performer, thank you for sharing, Carl, a great video as usual, and by the way I really like your location with some very nice scenery!
LiPo 3S packs pretty perfect, cheap to buy, and can charge them very fast. And XT60 connectors are usually on them. Put and XT60 on your power cable amd good to go.
73 M3KXZ
Thank God for the durability of those batteries, and the rest of the gear's flexibility! Fantastic upload - much love from this ham radio enthusiast - *me* in Canada (VE3), and 73s for the week ahead and onward!
Ive looked at these for months on end, I like the idea of the add-on battery back and amplifier. OH8STN, Julian has a good video showing the backpack options and linking them together.
Yes, it will be interesting to see them in production, the radio is physically pretty solid but when you attach things then you may introduce weak breakable points on the shell. With Mil spec gear the connections are quite idiot proof.
Once again fantastic video and informative..well done for your commitment...
It's a nice radio. I bought mine pre-invasion when it was already expensive enough. It's definitely not worth the money they're charging now. It's very sensitive to RF on the mic input, particularly on the higher bands when you have the "CMR" compression turned on. It's also riddled with birdies ....
As a CW radio, it performs very well. The band scope is excellent and the display is clear in all lighting conditions. Once you replace the cheap garbage cables they supply with the radio, it's fairly robust although definitely NOT watertight, despite their misleading advertising.
As for the battery pack 😂😂😂, sorry, but that's a ridiculous price... Mine runs for ever on a 6 Ah 4s LiFePO4 pack. For SOTA, I run it from 3 x 18650 cells in a small holder which is plenty of power for an activation or two.
Look for a nintendo switch protective case. They fit perfectly.
I do like these radio's .
Carl! Why are you not doing parks on the air? With all the portable setups that you have you would do very well. Not to mention it is encouraged to spot yourself on the parks on the air website so people could hunt you. You would get so many contacts but all you need is 10 to activate the park in your area. I activate all the time with QRP. 73.
It's the same with SOTA I should really make use of the schemes I need to get over the fact I'm not a regular activator
I enjoyed that Carl.I definitely need a new radio too haha,that looks quite substantial.
Glad the radio all worked for you with the SLAB battery ...It'll be good to see how the LiFePo will work out for you .
Hi Carl - You can use a couple of (high current?) diodes in series with the higher voltage pack to drop the voltage
I used to use a bridge rectifier module with my KX3 and Lipo 4s batteries, dropped the voltage nicely.
VK6MB
@@mikebeall3257 Even better than my suggestion - you don't even need to worry about getting the pack polarity right!
Nice video as usual Carl, hope the bite on the leg stopped itching….;-)
Hi, what app or site did you use for the ham propagation? Love your videos very informative and down to earth
Thank you, I use solar.w5mmw.net/
Nice report. I considered this radio when it came out, but decided against it. I run a KX2, but I was looking for something rugged but more features. The Discovery 599 radio is definitely rugged (but not waterproof), but dimensionally longer and wider (3.5"h x 8.1"l x 0.8"d vs the KX2 2.8"h x 5.8"w x 1.5"d) . And I really liked the panadapter. But it lacked too many other features I already have, like data modes (maybe wrong here, the webpage only says Digital in one location, and doesn't expand on it at all), and no ATU. The batteries are not even internal. There is a separate battery box, the Smart Battery Pack BP-500, that is the same form factor, but another . There is an external amplifier, the PA500, that is also the same form factor (another plus). The cost is outrageous at 1,349 Euro ($1,432.24 at todays exchange rate), and that was only for the radio. I think it is a nice radio, but just not what I wanted.
Nice ham session . Thanks .i will blame you if i buy another radio. I certainly not going to hold myself accountable
omg~ superb , later~M0szt!
You can use lipo battery, but it has to be a 3s, not a 4s battery!
To explain in more detail. Lipo is 3.3v per cell discharged and 4.2v fully charged. So if you multiply that by 3 you get 9.9-12.6v. A 4s or "14v" battery will be 13.2- 16.8v.
Been awhile since I bought myself a new radio too , about a week ago 🤣
I know how that feels 😊
Love the new toy Carl. Dead jealous.
Doesn't matter about your 'poor attire' and being bitten by Mother Nature !.' Significantly outweighed by the 'fun factor' !!
Nice video Carl. Did you know the radio has built in tilt stand legs at the back (you didn't seem to be using them) ?
Yes but due to the radio being so low I wanted to have it horizontal 👍
I really do not know if I like them or not maybe i might change my mind if I operated one G0VVT
Nice one Carl, I’d love one but way over priced in my opinion.
Love the radio but hate the bitey bugs !
Carl, what app were you looking at on your phone to determine a good band to broadcast on? I truly enjoy my TX-500.
I use solar.w5mmw.net/
@@M0SZT Awesome thank you. Added that to my Bookmarks.
Nice bit of kit. So is this an addition to the herd or has an existing piece been moved on? 😊
Some kit is retiring from front line duty 😉
I always enjoy your videos, but I would enjoy them a whole lot more without the constant HRT/AQI
Are you commenting on my sociolinguistics? 🤓
Yes, sorry, I don't know what it is with me but that always grinds my gears. I find it disorientating.
A high rising terminal signals either a question or a lack of certainty to me.@@M0SZT
Yo no se que dice porque no se ingles :,D
You made me laugh when you set up the radio and then you got the phone out of your pocket to access information🤷♂️
The HF radio doesn’t have internet access to propagation prediction sites 🤷♂️
I wasn't impressed with the one I had especially in high sunlight.
ah yes I need to see what its like in direct sunlight
Been using my TX500 for 2 years now. No problems at all. Much nicer to use than my FT817!