抱歉，這個活動被取消了。學校必須支援一個國家考試，所以當天不可以有活動。那個老師也比較玩擦起發現了… 我猜這個學期可能已經沒有辦法做，但希望下個學期可以…

各位朋友們，我最好寫在這裡，這樣不會像在Skype很快就不見…

12/11我的計劃如此：學校位置在自由路/大中路交叉口。活動是0930到1200（學校說會準備便當，但是不確定到什麼人數，我們這裡定人數我再問）。我先在教室介紹一下，因為目前他們（學生跟老師們）先想到的是卡車司機拿著麥克風跟他伙伴講一堆有的沒的。1000之後（大概1000-1030之間）學生應該會到外面看實際的東西。我覺得這也是一個我們必須重視的點：我們跟那些司機等之間有什麼區別？

所以，我會希望在體育場可以有至少一個，最多兩個短波電台。不過請注意：每一個OP必須有至少一個解說員陪他。人家會有問題，最好也要有人能夠回答。剛操作的人沒有這個時間，他要表演。CW也可以表演，但我認為SSB會比較好，因為他們會比較懂。而且，我們可以把我們的無線電當一個語言學習的機會推薦，所以最好也要連到一些周邊的國家：日本、韓國、而如果還可以連到澳洲就非常好。也許也做一點SSTV或RTTY… 最好也不要一直做一樣的，不管是SSB、CW、SSTV或其它。

VHF/UHF比較麻煩，因為這就是大家常能夠看到的，所以我們也許真的可以展6AM提的天線，不管會不會實在用到。也許在VHF或UHF可以有一個人從家裡跟現場的人連線，例如用SSTV。這樣我們可以把現場的畫面送出去，這對學生可能還比較有趣。（當然送到別的國家更有趣）

所以，不管怎樣，我們最好要讓我們VHF/UHF電台看起來比較”特別“。

那麼，誰想參加，誰想做什麼？因為是學校一個有計劃的活動，他們也會有一些金費。多少不知道，但我想如果學校給我們前，我們可以直接放到KDARC的金庫… :-P

PS：請大家記得，這不是比賽。我們雖然可以順便幫BV100再做多一些QSO，但是主要是要快樂，要好玩…

狀態：

我們有兩個幾乎完整的短波電台（GC、CW），只缺他們各至少一個解說員。CW, SSB, SSTV, RTTY OK。

另外有VHF/UHF收發機跟一個OP（FO），但是沒有天線或解說員。

現在也有一個”解說員“（LT），但我想我們大家應該會輪又當OP/解說，所以不用特別分。

為了完整目前的狀態還需要VHF或UHF天線x1、人員x2，最好還有一台可做SSTV的電腦。

I think I have not ranted for a while, right? Just recently I bought a simple dual band handy transceiver, to be able to use the repeaters here. So far however I have not had a single QSO with it.

Repeaters are a difficult topic in Taiwan. Years ago I had the chance to witness the construction, installation and later failure of a "repeater" in Taizhong. Said repeater consisted of an Alinco mobile dual band transceiver in crossband repeater mode with two linear amplifiers, one for 144 and 430MHz each. That repeater was set up in a back metal box (with fans, but that did not make any difference) and installed on a building roof - directly under the sun. Do I need to elaborate what happened? Probably not.

The local radio law mentions repeaters, but AFAIK it is impossible to apply for one. Besides, 430MHz in Taiwan is only 2MHz wide: 430-432MHz. There are no repeaters on 144MHz (probably copied from Japan). So how come there are repeaters on 430MHz when you can not apply for one and do not have the space to place uplink and downlink within the allowed frequency range?

The answer is "emergency services". When an earthquake or typhoon takes down regular communication networks, these repeaters are supposed to allow communication in a wider area, ideally throughout the whole island. This is however like a China Crisis song - wishful thinking . "C6" is the repeater supposed to cover the Gaoxiong area. So far I could not open it with my handy transceiver, not from Zuoying, not from Sanmin, not from Xiaogang. So I think I better not rely on it in case of a real emergency...

Emergency services was of course only an official reason to get the repeaters approved. They are connected to echolink, and in the Northern part of this island, people even seem to be using them on a regular basis. But now comes the technical side: You may already have wondered how a repeater fits into 2MHz. The answer is simple: It does not. the downlink frequency is 430.980MHz, uplink frequencies are above 439MHz.

Did you notice the use of singular and plural? Good. This is not a joke. There was a time when even the uplink was on the same frequency. Not kidding. People even noticed that this caused problems (Hear, hear...), and I only shook my head when I read about those problems on the local Skype chat. This is FM! Two FM signals on the same frequency will cause interference or you will only hear the stronger one. So, if a station is closer to C5 (the Tainan repeater) than to C6 (Gaoxiong), but can be heard by both repeaters, while a replying station can only reach C6, do you think the calling station will hear the reply? I think not...

So the solution was to use different uplink frequencies, but still use the same downlink frequency. Ingenious. Do you have an idea how much time it takes to set those frequencies up in your transceiver? Usually you would set a shift (say, 7.6MHz in Europe), and then just tell the transceiver to use shift on certain frequencies. If you follow standard frequency assignments, your transceiver may even switch the shift on automagically. Here however...

Let's see if I can convince anyone to fix this mess...

Ich war am Wochenende auf einer Hochzeit, und obwohl es keine spezielle Amateurfunkhochzeit war, handelte es sich beim Bräutigam um DD6ULF. DD6UDS und ich waren die einzigen nichtfamiliären Gäste, womit Amateurfunk doch noch etwas für Ulf zu bedeuten scheint...

Alles Gute für Anke und Ulf!

我雖然有一台auto tuner，但它是室內用的，我還沒有找到比較適合的外殼允許我把它裝在屋頂。所以，我有找一下在台灣目前有哪一些相當的tuner，遇到一個好玩的地方：網際網路允許我們很方便比價，但廠商當然也可以。因為廠商一方面不要放棄錢，另一方面不要放棄客戶，他們也會盡量把同樣產品調整跟競爭對手一樣的價格。

而且，在台灣還有一個購買動力：折扣。很多人好像已經不要買標準價格的產品，一定要有打折。所以廠商其實可以做一件很簡單的事：先定比較高的價格，然後打折更多。你不想買我的東西因為沒有打折？沒有問題！我先定兩倍的價格，然後給你65折。65折！不錯吧！

如果你看這三張圖片你就會看到這個現象。在同樣的產品很奇怪地有三個不同的建議售價，但是打折後大家達到同樣的價格。好神奇…

此外：有沒有注意，其中兩張根本是同一家店…

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...

一段時間前在Skynet又有發射機的論題出現。根據中華民國業餘無線電管理辦法，在台灣業餘無線電發射機是一種“需要電台執照的電信管制射頻器材”。簡單地說，發射機在NCC經過驗機合格後才可以用。雖然平常是量產的機子（聽說只有一個人有去驗自己組裝的發射機），但是NCC要驗每一台。比較奇怪的是：功率放大器沒有這個必要。為什麼這較奇怪，我待會解釋。

另外，法律根本沒有談（或想）到transverter。如果你不知道：transverter這個詞是transmitter跟converter結合的。它會把接收跟發射的信號從一個頻帶轉到另一個頻帶。如果你只有HF收發機，但是有28/144的transverter，你還是可以用144頻帶。這種transverter不會自己發射，它一定需要輸入信號。所以，它發射的部分是一種另有轉換頻率功能的功率放大器。

沒有任何業餘無線電家喜歡需要把每一台收發機帶去NCC驗機。我們在Skynet討論有沒有方法不用去驗機。我猜大部分的人跟我一樣沒有看法律，只有考試前背正確的答案。考題跟NCC程序讓我們以為法律寫得不太周到，所以也許有後門、漏洞、弱點可以利用，可以依照法律過輕鬆一點的業餘無線電生活。可惜，法律雖然寫得比較糟糕，但是它“沒有用”。

寫一個法律的時候，平常第一件需要做的事情是定義。我必須清楚地定法律裡的用詞。業餘無線電的話，我必須定什麼是業餘無線電，什麼是業餘無線電家等。中華民國的業餘無線電管理辦法也做這一件事。不過，做得不太好。

“不以營利為目的”真的是業餘的重點，但是“持有執照”是不是要改成“持有業餘無線電執照”？他們平常那麼小氣，怎麼這裡突然不會？這應該算是他們了解的部分。好像不太了解的在這裡：

此外，十八是“外接射頻功率放大器套件”… 看這個定義，你應該會贊成？看起來沒有很大的問題。這個定義列在發射機定義前，而看發射機定義，你應該會發現問題：

失敗。不是我們業餘無線電家的，我們“只有”失望。失敗的是寫這些定義的人。為什麼？他好像不太了解發射機（而也許接收機、功率放大器等）的運作。首先，我可以在功率放大器後面再接一個功率放大器。如果我的收發機只有5W的輸出功率，而我有一台500W的功率放大器，但是它需要50W才達到這個功率，我好像還需要多一台放大器可以接在中間。所以，前面的部分不是一個很好的定義。後面也不是。請問，除了把“電能轉為電磁輻射能”，功率放大器在做什麼？

這個定義根本沒有談到發射機的特色。根據這個定義，任何功率放大器也算是發射機，所以原則上應該也要去驗。（不過，不用）發射機的特色其實是電磁波的產生。不過，這又會造成問題。

你有沒有收音機？那你也有發射機！你說你不知道了？哈，誰會相信… 

我跟Wikipedia借一下上面的圖。這是你家裡的收音機。它接收一個頻率，用一個可以調頻率的oscillator把頻率轉成它的中頻（IF），然後解信號。它需要固定的中頻因為只有這樣可以用好一點的filter過濾接收信號。重點是，它的oscillator做什麼呢？產生電波！它雖然不會對外把這個信號發出去，但是它也沒有辦法完全避免它信號出去。請拿兩個FM收音機，讓它們中間距離不要超過一公尺，一個調到90MHz，一個到100.7MHz。有沒有發現什麼？一台會影響另一台，因為它的oscillator現在發射在另一台的接收頻率。FM收音機的中頻是10.7MHz，所以只要你調兩個差10.7MHz的頻率，你就有這個效果。你也可以拿兩台AM收音機，這裡的中頻是455kHz。

上面的圖其實有包含一個錯誤：根據oscillator的圖像，它好像是固定頻率的XO（crystal oscillator - 用震旦器產生固定頻率），但是第一個oscillator平常都是可調的，不然你必須把過濾器調，而這個有一點困難。所以，我其實可以用這個oscillator產生的信號，接到一個功率放大器，然後我就可以發射… 當然，如果我要發射FM信號，我還需要一個modulator - 但是它不是“管制射頻器材”。收音機也不是。功率放大器也不是。那麼…

正確發射機的定義其實還需要一個項目：電波的用途。在一個發射機我不只會產生電波，我產生它因為我要經過一個天線把它發出去。一個RF signal generator（高頻信號產生器）可能會產生相當大頻率範圍的信號，有時候也已經有一點強度，所以直接接天線的話我可能已經有辦法在例如一公裡的範圍內讓人家接收我的信號。不過，重點是：這不是那個儀器的用途。在德國很簡單：沒有任何無線電執照的人也可以有信號產生器，但是他不可以接天線。這裡的業餘無線電管理辦法都沒有考慮到這種事，因為對寫那些定義的人來說，放大器、發射機等都是一個上面寫“放大器”或“發射機”的盒子。他好像沒有了解運作原理…

那對台灣的業餘無線電家這會有什麼用途？可惜，沒有任何用途。定義雖然不正確，但是不是對我們有利的錯誤。原則上都是一大團亂。到處都有矛盾。我還是認為transverter不需要驗機，因為它本身無法發出信號。你拿一個transverter給NCC測，他們可能根本不知道要做什麼：輸出功率跟輸入功率有關，所以功率到底多大？沒有輸入功率，就沒有輸出功率。沒有把它接到一台發射機，它就不會發出信號。而且，頻率也有關。如果我用28輸入144輸出的transverter，我收發機發射在28.5MHz的時候，transverter會發射在144.5MHz。輸入29.7MHz變成145.7MHz的輸出。有沒有發現一個問題？NCC要求我的收發機不可以有辦法在業餘頻帶之外發射。（因為我們業餘無線電家太笨，雖然有背頻帶範圍，但是當然不會懂）那麼，如果我要到145.86MHz？合法沒有辦法，因為我短波收發機不可以有辦法發射在29.86MHz。笨。

各位台灣的OM，要不要聽到丟臉的事？我出生在德意志民主共和國，所謂的“東德”。謝謝，不用可憐我，因為也許我們東德的人沒有各位以為的那麼可憐。我有時候聽到台灣人說東德“很落後”。對，我們1952年（世界大戰結束 七年後）才制造350ccm的摩托車 ，不會像台灣200x年已經量產。我們1950年代設計噴射飛機 ，比台灣晚…多少年？台灣有設計過嗎？而生活品質方面… 我不會記得一個東德沒有地下排水系統的時代。我現在住在台灣第二大的城市。2010年市政府這裡終於做排水系統地下化…

在這個這麼落後的所謂“共產主義國家”（而不要忘記：隔壁就是“西德”的“敵人”），業餘無線電家可以用像SEG-15 （更多漂亮的機子 ）的業務無線電機。它輸出功率只有15W，但是頻率範圍是1.5-12MHz。連續。接收跟發射。我以前也有這一台。（接收跟發射其實是完全分開的，放在同一個盒子而已）我可以用它因為我在考試有證明我有一定的知識跟能力。所以我得到多一些權利。（而且，在東德這種發射機不需要一個“電台執照”。現在的德國也沒有這種要求。法律很簡單地要求：你要用這種發射機，你必須有業餘無線電的相關執照。這樣就好，不用玩像台灣的這麼無聊的電台執照遊戲。）在台灣果然是相反的：我過了考試就開始受一堆限制，而那些限制根本沒有任何道理。為什麼這裡的公務員還沒有發現現在不是1950年，沒有“中共特務”會考業餘無線電執照，然後從台灣把省道一號速限用莫爾斯發射到中國？下一次跟NCC開會的時候可不可以麻煩問他們一下為什麼要比“共產主義國家”還要更嚴格限制一些沒有意義限制的事情？東德的業餘無線電果然比台灣2010年的業餘無線電自由。請告知他們此事，請他們解釋…