Wow, unexpectedly my AT-11 is still alive. I had thought the MCU malfunctioned, because after a few years the tuner ceased to tune properly and its idle current consumption was a bit too high. I had already given up hope and started to create a small board with a different controller, but resoldering of a few spots and readjusting the SWR bridge helped. The culprit for the high current seems to be the crystal oscillator, it gets warmer than it should. In case you do not find the AT-11 on the LDG website : It is a discontinued model , probably one of their first (the first?) products.

Mine is even a relatively early version within the AT-11 series, I only saw one manual with a photo of a PCB probably predating mine. Looking at its inner life, you may notice that LEDs and switches are not mounted on a daughterboard like shown in the final AT-11 manuals. You will also not see the shift register used later, here the MCU still controls all relays directly.

I bought this as a kit back in the 90s, something not possible any longer. It was fun to build and now serves me again pretty well. I am planning on putting this onto the roof (in a suitable enclosure, of course), so I had been toying with the idea of making a remote cable. But then I found a very simple solution for activating the "Tuner" button on my IC706mkII. (no "G", unfortunately). The 706's manual explains every pin of every socket on the transceiver, with one exception: The tuner jack. Luckily, I found W4INF's article regarding an external tune switch and built one. I still do not know the exact requirements and functionality of each pin, but now I can get the 706 to tell the tuner to do its job, with 10W in CW, regardless of power or modulation settings.

There are problems though, at least with my 706mkII: After using the external tune switch once, the transceiver will initiate tuning on every band change. Also, to deactivate this function, I need to press the transceiver "Tuner" button twice shortly, different from what the manual says.

I had mentioned already that I replaced my spoke (not spook!) antenna for 2m with a weird contraption for 21MHz - which now even yielded DX in SSB. To get back onto VHF/UHF again, I needed a diplexer.

If you never opened one: Basically you have two Butterworth Tee filters, a high pass for VHF etc and a low pass for HF. Originally I tried two fifth-order filters, but the enclosure was probably a bit too small.

So I fell back to third-order filters and changed a few more things - and the diplexer seems to work fine. I used a relatively high crossover frequency of about 80MHz, so components would be smaller. (Just use an on-line calculator for this.) Originally I wound the inductors onto bamboo chopsticks, but later switched to a 6mm drill bit, to make them shorter. The capacitors in the high pass actually consist of a varicap with a 16pf ceramic capacitor in parallel. You can not see the 16pf caps, they are beneath the varicaps.

HF did not need any adjustments, on VHF one only needs to adjust the varicaps for best SWR. It helps btw to have an LC meter to measure the coils' true inductance after soldering them into place. As you can see, I did not use any PCB. What you can btw also see here is my RF screwdriver - I could not find the set I did not use for about ten years, but I also did not want to go out and try to buy a new set, so I made my own - again, with a bamboo chopstick. And if you wonder how I got the holes into the enclosure: Step drill...

Crossover attenuation seems to be close to 30dB. Nothing sensational, but considering that 100W HF only result in a little more than 100mW on the VHF port, I think this is acceptable. Now I only hope the component dealers around here have restocked on RG213 (or 8D here in Asia) PL connectors. I already plundered two of them, and last time I checked both were still out of connectors. I will need a few to get diplexers and antennas set up.

So what is next? Perhaps reviving my old LDG ATU? (CPU is dead, but the rest should still be working...)

I had noticed that conditions on 21MHz were getting better, even though I still suffer from the increasing noise every evening. But now I even worked DX - with my simple JAIG antenna, which basically means only 2m of effectively usable wire. When I tested another incarnation of the diplexer I was working on I suddenly heard LA3BPA.

After a few other Asian stations with probably better antennas had worked him I gave it a try - and even received a 57 report. OK, if you see his antenna , you will understand why he came in here with S9, far above the noise level at this time. (Just recently I had a QSO with HS0ZIN, but it was a bad timing, because his signal slowly went down while the noise level went up. Btw, he too worked LA3BPA today.)

So, this QSO has shown me two things: 1) My antenna is really not as bad as some might think. 2) My diplexer can take 100W HF - I had just tested it with low power when I heard LA3BPA and did not want to take it out again.

Yeah...

Before I talk about the antenna, I need to show you my roof. OK, you can see the antenna here already, because there is not much space. The house is about four metres wide. When I took this photo, I was standing on the stairs of which you see the handrail, leading from fifth floor to the roof. As you can see, the fifth floor veranda is mostly covered by a tin roof that extends from the neighbouring house to the (less than one metre wide) stairs. In the front, there is less than one metre left until the front facade creates a rather sudden and significant drop in height.

Houses in Taiwan usually have a flat roof and this one is no exception. Unfortunately, here too the landlord has set up another tin roof, this time covering the whole width and extending almost to the edge of the lower roof. The distance between both is slightly more than two metres. While the landlord allows me to set up antennas, I had to realize that there is nearly no place where I could actually do so - at least with "regular" antennas. Enter the quick JAIG antenna...

In case you do not know JAIG , the acronym stands for "Japanese Amateurs In Germany". It is a group originally founded by a few Japanese (and one German - yes Bertin, I remember the photo) hams in Germany, later included German hams who had been in Japan or had relations with it and then generally everyone who had an interest in either Japan or Germany or both. There is a weekly JAIG net on 21MHz, which I had joined whenever I was able to.

I was not able to do so for the last 11 years, due to many reasons, one being the law here in Taiwan not allowing me to operate as easily as in other countries. But I took the exam recently, got a local call and now I wanted to see if I could join the JAIG net again, so I needed an antenna.

Due to the limited space available I had to come up with a shortened antenna, and the only solution I could think of was a groundplane of about two metres height, done in wire and hung from the upper tin roof. I know, I would love to get something above that tin roof, among others to get rid of the noise created by all the electronics around here, but I would not be able to secure such antenna.

I was lazy this time, I admit it. I did not do any manual calculations. I used one of the online calculators for dipoles, since a quarter-wave GP is just half a half-wave vertical dipole. Those calculators are not very precise though, they only give integer values for the coil, and the result I got was a 2uH coil that should match the two metres of wire on 21MHz.

Did I mention I was lazy? This time I also did not calculate the coil, but instead used my AADE LC meter to wind the coil to the correct value. I found an empty one-litre Cola bottle and cut the top (or now bottom) off. (That was a mistake, the next version will feature a complete bottle.) Unfortunately, the plastic bottles here in Taiwan are pretty crappy, made of very thin and soft plastic, quite different to the sturdy PE bottle in Germany.

Nevertheless, since the wire goes all around the bottle, it is relatively stable. There is a hole at the top for the antenna wire. The coil then uses 1mm enamel copper wire. I applied three strips of double-sided tape to keep the windings in place. I actually had to adjust them later, because the resonant frequency was above 22MHz (and the coil had less than two microhenry). Now the l/d ratio is not 1:1 any longer, but it still works. SWR is about 1.3 on the desired frequency, because resonance is still at bit high, at 21.8MHz.

I will use a complete bottle next time because then I can put the connector into the cap. Now it is just dangling there. Looking at the coil picture, the word "radial" may perhaps come to your mind. A groundplane antenna usually needs a ground pane, a counterpoise. Many vertical antennas employ radials, often of the longer kind. I do not have the space for that, but you may have noticed a few tin roofs and some more metallic structure on my photos.

This is probably the only good thing about these tin roofs: I can use them instead of radials. So far it seems to work rather well. Japan is at about 25 degrees from my location, which is opposite to the tin roof radial. Conditions were pretty good when I tried the antenna, and although there was (sometimes heavy) QSB, the continuous reports I received from both JM2HBO and JR0DLU were S5 at least, with a S9+60dB (Yes, JM2HBO said that.) peak, but usually around S7 with about 50W blown into this contraption on my side.

Such a short antenna does of course have its drawbacks, and a significant one is reception. I may be able to burn lots of RF energy, but only two metres of wire do not receive a lot. I was lucky both stations I tested with had Yagi antennas. But when I listened in to the JAIG net last Sunday, I could barely hear the net control, which currently is unfortunately not JA1DKN with his enormous antennas. But I will try again next week.

If you expect very specific data to replicate this antenna - sorry. But I may perhaps even calculate the coil next time, so that I can present some data for it other than the volume of a bottle. (and about four windings) I also thought about making this multiband, but while 1uH should do the job on 28MHz (only about 50cm of wire missing), 14MHz would require 7uH. But all this is "TBD"...

Oh, btw, this antenna did leave me with a new problem: I only have one coax cable going up to the roof, so I had to take down my 2m spoke antenna to get this one working. So, I guess next on my workbench are two duplexers...

This is not just the title of the above Depeche Mode song, it is also the situation of amateur radio in Taiwan - officially, so to say. The only official amateur radio organization in Taiwan is the CTARL . They are the only ones who can talk to the "relevant authorities", so they are also the only ones who could initiate any changes - and they don't.

From previous posts you can probably see (if you can read Chinese) that I tried to explain concepts, analyze legal problems etc related to amateur radio. I did so because I hoped it could be useful. Well, it turns out I was wrong. While the CTARL may be aware to some degree that the local amateur radio law is flawed, they do not attempt any change because some of these problems were apparently caused by the CTARL. The crazy situation that a call sign is assigned to a transmitter instead of a radio amateur is one such problem.

So I was told directly that there will not be any change, for a number of reasons:

• Taiwan is special (Never forget this one!) 
• Civil servants do not like to change anything because they may make mistakes and that would make them look bad. 
• Some of the problems were caused by CTARL, so they do not like to stand up and say "Hey, we made a mistake last time, can we change that?"
• There are too few radio amateurs, so we have no power to change anything.

Especially the last argument is funny. It is anything but new. About ten years ago I had been CTARL member - more or less. I had asked for the situation of foreign hams in Taiwan and they told me that foreign radio amateurs could only get short-term licenses and they could not do much about it, and that I should join them to strengthen their voice if I wanted any change. Interestingly, I could only join as a second or third-class member, because I was considered an unlicensed citizen - even though I had a license since 1987. This means that I was allowed to pay, but not allowed to open my mouth.

So the arguments are still the same, the situation (snafu) is still the same, only the people have apparently been replaced over the years. So, what exactly is so "useless" here? A few days back I read that there are about 60,000 people with an amateur radio license here in Taiwan, but only 20,000 who set up a station. If you wonder about this discrepancy, the other 40,000 are drivers (coach, lorry) and other people using amateur radio equipment and frequencies illegally. To avoid fines, their bosses ask them to take the most basic test so they can show a valid license if the police checks. If you now think the system is flawed, you may be on to something...

But these numbers show more. Taiwan has a population of about 23m. If about 20,000 have set up an amateur radio station, then one in thousand Taiwanese is a radio amateur. I am German, so let us compare this to Germany: Population is about 81m, and the largest (the official one, so to say) amateur radio club has 45.000 members. No matter how many radio amateurs joined other clubs or none at all, the total number of radio amateurs will not reach 80,000. So, per capita, Taiwan has a lot more radio amateurs than Germany - but still, the German amateur radio club can achieve changes. How is that possible?

Maybe it is not just about the weather and whatever else gets blamed in Taiwan. When I was a CTARL member, I only noticed this fact because I had paid membership, received two CTARL stickers and sometimes (though very irregularly and usually one to four months late) a small brochure. That was it. There was no info about the local chapter (which did not really exist), no info before an event. (I read about those a few months later in that brochure.) Compared to the German DARC , the CTARL has no visible organizational structure. Btw, want to have fun? Go to Google, search for "darc site:.de" and you will see the official DARC website on position one. Now search for "ctarl site:.tw"...

There is a famous saying in Taiwan: "沒辦法". It is extremely popular, partly because it is so convenient. 沒辦法 itself can be translated as "there is no way (to do this)" or "it can not be done", and it is a very convenient excuse. It should however be noted that "我沒辦法" also means "I do not have the capability to get this done." I admit that sometimes I forget this and try to achieve some changes. Fortunately, there are always people reminding me that they are unable to do what should in theory be one of their objectives. I shall not disturb their peace again.

I already ranted about the exam, the law etc. Here are some pics from the NCC facility in Gaoxiong. Let us start with how/where the exam is conducted.

You will sit at such a computer. The computer is in the office, vehicles will drive by sometimes (though the area is rather silent), people will walk in, out and by, talk etc. When I went there, the house across the street underwent some kind of construction. There are no headphones to shield ambient noise. Questions appear written on the screen and are not read out aloud. On the left you see another "exam station", on the right is the "conversation room" - a small table and four seats. Right of that is the entrance.

Here are all kinds of fees. Missing on this list is the exam fee of NT$200, the same for all exams. That means you pay NT$200 for class 3, NT$400 (written and morse) for class 2 and NT$200 for class 1. The "amateur radio phone station license" is not correct (not even in Chinese), this should be a "movable amateur radio station license". (I do not want to use "mobile", because that usually means operation on a vehicle. The term used here, 行動式, just means that your station is not fixed.) The inspection fee for this is only NT$100 in comparison to the NT$500 for the fixed station because you bring the transceiver (or transmitter) in, while they have to go your place for the fixed station inspection.The NT$500 are for the card you can see further down.

A nice touch: You can check your blood pressure at all times, in case you remembered the garbage written in the law, the extremely intelligent and useful exam questions, or that the call sign is not actually given to you. As you can see in the upper right corner, this is right next to the fee table. What I did not photograph was the spectrum analyzer they use to verify your transceiver's power and harmonic emissions. I wonder though how far up that toy goes. Would they be able to test 10GHz equipment? How about 24GHz? Hmm, this may be worth another try...

Here you can see the class 2 license I was issued. Not much here, just my name and photo, no address, no ID number. So anyone with the same name and somehow looking the same (You may have noticed that rather large numbers of Asians have black hair and wear glasses...) could use this one, there is no unique identification item.

The back is insofar interesting as it is not quite correct. Considering how meticulous these people can be when they want to restrict you, it is funny that they issue a license with incorrect data. I tested in Gaoxiong, not in Taibei. And I was sitting there when this license was printed, so I know for sure that this did not happen in Taibei. Do they care? No, because this is their mistake, not yours. Their mistakes are not important, not even mistakes, only yours are.

Above is my station license. Above the table it says "movable (or non-fixed) amateur radio station license", then comes another faux pas: The first line is the "station name" (電台名稱). It is not "station type" or "station category", but still, as you can see, they wrote the same again: Movable amateur radio station... I already mentioned that the civil servants and the people who wrote the amateur radio law here in Taiwan do not understand amateur radio. They just see it as another kind of commercial radio, and here it shows again. The second line is the "owner" of this station - me. Please observe that there is no call sign on the front, only a note saying that this license has to be used in combination with the amateur radio license - which states not call sign either. So I have a license class 2, and I own an amateur radio station, but that is about it. To the back:

Here it gets interesting: The column on the outmost left says "radio device", so here you will find informations regarding the transmitter. (They do not care for receivers, only transmitters.) The first line is brand and type. I bought a cheap 2m HT for this, but I wonder what they would write for a homebrew transceiver. The transmitter's serial number must of course be registered in line two. Line three lists the output power (Does this thing really emit exactly 4.3000W?) and then (drum roll) the call sign. See? The transmitter has a call sign, not me! Now this is really stupid and is not even done in commercial radio.

Btw, the frequency range in the last line is the range where the device actually transmits. If your transceiver can transmit outside amateur radio bands - fail. What they either fail to notice or do not care about is that not only this cheap HT is only restricted through software. Press the right keys and it is "open"... You also get a sticker put onto your transmitter. It contains the device serial number, type etc, and funnily my ID - but not my name, and also not the transmitter's call sign.

One last reason to laugh (or cry, decide yourself): Fines. This flyer (A4 size, available in the NCC office for free) tries to convince you to "go legal", because otherwise you may be fined NT$100k to NT$500k. Ha, now this is a joke. The only people who could be fined are radio amateurs (and this fine also applies if you use frequencies or output powers that were not "approved"). If they would indeed go for illegals, they would swim in money, but also be in lots of trouble, because many of the illegal operators inside amateur bands or with amateur equipment do this commercially - and are sometimes linked to some legislator or other "powerful" person. So, the only people who could be fined, are those who try to be as legal as possible, everyone else is just fine.

Btw, the stupidity of the laws and regulations also shows in this rule: You need to show proof of where your transmitter comes from. You do this by either providing a receipt (which is why I bought a HT) or getting the ownership transferred from another station. Or you can "try" to import a device. (import permit...) It is not possible however to buy a second hand transceiver that someone used illegally, because then you can not provide the necessary "proof of origin". Why this "proof of origin" (來源證明) is necessary - no, you better not ask. But this rule effectively prevents the number of illegal transmitters from being reduced - good job!

Lovely...

After getting a local call sign, I hoped to get in touch with local hams on VHF (no UHF equipment currently), so I assembled a simple 2m GP from a UHF case socket and a few bicycle spokes.

I did not want to spend too much effort on an antenna that may not be up for too long - fortunately. This is a very quick solution. I used that UHF socket because it had four small holes for screws in which the spokes fitted just nicely. They did not accept the solder, but are covered in it anyway, so they should conduct. The radiator is screwed into the small tube where usually the inner coax conductor gets soldered. This contraption is put onto the top of a PVC pipe with the coax cable hanging inside, so the cable's weight keeps the antenna in place.

I am glad I did not put more effort into this, because after putting it up, all I heard between 144 and 146MHz are truck drivers, house wives and whatever else, but no amateur radio call sign. Time to find a solution for an HF antenna...

One of the crazy things one can do in Taiwan is taking an amateur radio exam. I did recently. They do (surprise!) not recognize foreign amateur radio licenses here, at least not long-time, so I had to. But I only did after I was encouraged by a number of local hams, like BV7BU, BV7CW, BV7GA, BV7GC, BV7RC and BM7GFO, plus many hams on the Taiwan Ham Radio Skynet, whom I would like to thank for their pushing and support. Without them, I would have thrown that book I bought to "learn" for the exam into the garbage and slammed my head against a wall.

First thing: You do not learn for the exam, you only memorize. You can pass the exam without having any clue about amateur radio. Next: Lots of questions deal with commercial radio issues instead of amateur radio matters. But somehow that is fine, because it is also how the government deals with amateur radio. And the best: Everything is in Chinese, most of it a pretty archaic Chinese not taught outside Taiwan usually, and even many numerals and units are in Chinese characters.

You have to start with the exam for class 3, and can proceed to the class-2 exam if you pass. If you pass that too, you have to wait one year after setting up a class-2 station, before you can test for class 1. Tests for class 3 are on Monday, for classes 2 and 1 on Friday. So I went there on Monday, passed the exam, and at once they issued me a license and charged me NT$500. When I went there on Friday, they told me that I did not need to get the class-3 license, I could have waited until I passed the class-2 exam. Nice... And even better: After I passed the class-2 exam, they asked me whether I wanted them to issue the class-2 license. Helloooo? Without a class-2 license I can not set up a station, and without having a class-2 station for one year I can not test for class 1!

The second exam itself was rather "entertaining". A few moments after I entered the office, all the civil servants suddenly streamed back into the office from a neighbouring room and rushed to their stations. Hmm, did I disturb a party? The lady who took my application was then unable to start the exam software on the exam computer (which is in the same office, so you have all the office traffic around you), because she did not have the control software installed on her computer. The software was installed on the computer next to her, but... Unfortunately, that lady had not yet received training for this "new" control software. After a while they found someone who had the software and knew how to use it and I took my exam.

Class 2 also requires a telegraphy (vulgo: morse) test. At this point, that test could actually be skipped. You only need to hear, not to send something yourself. What you need to copy are 18 groups of each five letters (no numbers or other characters!) at a speed of 5wpm. At that speed, you could basically copy every dot and every slash and sort it out later. This should be simple, but even this can get messed up. I suppose there have not been many people taking the class-2 exam for a while. There was only one person in the office who could start that exam, but... "Can you hear anything?" "No." In the end, he re-installed the software on another computer.

After you copied the groups, you have to use the mouse(!) to enter all letters into the computer. For this, you have 18 minutes, but the computer I used got bored after about two and closed the exam, so they had to check from my notes. An exam costs NT$200 (so NT$400 for class 2 due to two parts), the license fee is NT$500. On the license there is my photo, it is issued to me, but the license only mentions the class, no call sign at all.

For a call sign, you need a transceiver. Not just any transceiver of course, you need to provide proof of its origin - meaning you need a receipt. If you planned to buy a used one second hand from someone without license to get an illegal device off the air and make it legal - forget it. You can buy new, get the ownership transferred from someone who has a "legal" transceiver, import one after you applied for an import permit or (I heard only one person ever did this in Taiwan) build one.

But whatever you do, you need to get your transceiver "certified". You, as a licensed and (at least theoretically) qualified radio amateur have to use a device that only transmits within the amateur bands, while all the people who use them illegally just go to a shop and buy one that runs as far as its circuitry allows. So I bought a simple VHF handy transceiver and asked the people in the shop to "lock it up for inspection", because otherwise... It tested OK. They have a spectrum analyzer with power display there at their office, and the man behind the counter did indeed hook my HT up and checked its power and whether it would send outside 144-146MHz. One day I really want to take a homebrew transceiver for inspection...

Anyway, I got the call sign: BX7AAH. Interestingly, the card for this does not have my photo on it, because the call sign is issued to the transceiver. Commercial radio, anyone? The small (and of course not worth to mention) contradiction here is that if I "transfer" the transceiver to someone else, then his call sign will be written on the card. So, the call sign is issued to the transceiver, but is not really issued to the transceiver. They have probably not come to a decision yet, so they play these games. "Inspection" is NT$100 for an inspection in their office ("mobile station") and the transceiver ID card or whatever that thing should be called costs another NT$500.

I will probably write these things down in a slightly more systematic order one day, including tips for the exam (You do not need to memorize that much, actually. There are tricks...), but I set up a folder especially for amateur radio articles already and put there a slightly more extensive rant about the exam. After reading it, you will understand why it had to be a rant...

 Amateur Radio exam in Taiwan