Just thought I'd drop by to say hello.
I'm from England, but now live in Cambodia, where I work for Air Traffic Control Service (CATS).
I'm licenced (callsign XU7ADQ), and monitor all bands regularly.
I can get 9M (Malaysia) no probs on 7 Mhz, and can talk around the world on just a crappy 3 metre long wire, I have on my balcony here at the airport.
For info, I use Icom IC706MKII-G for most HF work 1-30MHz, but the radio will also TX anywhere from 1.4-469.999MHz (its modified)
I also have a Yaesu (Vertex) VX-7r which is modded to tx almost anywhere from 40-569MHz, and I use for 147MHz (CB !!) when around town.
AT work we use icom IC-110's (AM VHF airband)
I also monitor 27.555MHz for DX contacts.Great fun site here people.
Keep up the good work.
Paul at VDSR (Google it!)
Our freqs here are:
ACC (all Cambodia FIR) - 127.500
Approach - 124.300
Tower - 118.500

Hi Sean C ??!!

At the moment, it's not very likely, cos I'm saving my money to buy a new (used!) moto.
I keep seeing adverts on TV for Malaysia (truly Asia), and it looks pretty nice.
Maybe towards the middle of 2009, I might come for a weeks vacation (I have to talk to the Jet Star rep to get a discount flight )
Yes I've spoken to a couple of 9M's on 7Mhz, because it's the best band for local (within 2000 Km) contacts, usually in the early morning.
I;m usually around on 18.150 at about 5:30-6pm most nights (Bangkok time), and listen to 7.070Mhz in the morning.
27.555MHz is on through the day if I'm at home, but not much on there.
29.600 FM is also usually busy with Thai, Chinese and Koreans.
As I said tho', I only have a short wire for an antenna (I'm restricted because I live at the airport, and can't stick a big antenna up).
When I get back to Phnom Penh in January or February, I'll be able to get a bigger antenna up, and will listen out on all bands.
If anyone wants to give me a shout, drop me an email to arrange a sked (after 5pm is best for me)
I'm playing with my new toy at the moment (Yaesu VX-7r) while I'm writing.
There are loads of tricks with this model, and I'm trying them all.
It's my second VX7 (this is a August 2008 model, my first was a 2003), and the newer models don't have any of the 'bugs' that the earlier ones had (I hope!!)
If anyone is thinking of buying a handheld 50/144/222/440MHz, you won't go wrong with the VX7.
The modification is very easy, and gives an amazing coverage of frequencies to play with.
Remember to look at the serial number on the back to establish the year it was made.
The serial number starts with the year of manufacture (5 = 2005, 8 =2008 etc)
The second LETTER indicates the MONTH of manufacture (C = January N =DECEMBER, but month isn't too important)
C
January

D
February

E
March

F
April

G
May

H
June

I
July

J
August

K
September

L
October

M
November

N
December


The other numbers are LOT NUMBER (2 figures) followed by ACTUAL Number of radio (4 numbers)
Mine is 8J (2008, August) 121125

Catch you later,
Have a good week;
Paul

Hi Buddy,

Just a thought, but the charger for the VX-6 is the same as the VX7's (72B/C), and ALL chargers are prone to getting AC interfernce from your electric supply.
True, some (most) good charger units have filters built in, and the problem isn't too bad for RX.
The problems start, when the mains filtering isn't good AND you are TX'ing.
On a normal (simplex) transmission, the receiving station may tell you that there is a buzzing on your audio, and that can indicate poor filtering from the AC to the DC end of things.
This is just a guess, because I don't know which repeater you use, or the type of access code required for it (CTCSS/DCS/1750Hz tone), but I suspect that if it's CTCSS, then any AC 'hum' will get onto the CTCSS tone, and change it's frequency to 50/60Hz (NOT a standard tone )
This may be the problem, or it may not.
It's just my opinion. What is more important is that the charger that comes with the rig is not capable of providing enough current to power the rig on TX, and the rig will usually restart if you TX.
I had the VX-6r til last week (stolen!!), and had the problem of the rig shutting down, and playing dead if you TX on anywhere outside 49-56/137-174/220-225/400-470MHz (or TX'ing on the FM broadcast 88-108 band kills it)
The rig can be bought 'back to life' by plugging in the charger for a second or two, with no lasting effect.
I had the problem of my friends kids accidently pressing the PTT while listening to FM broadcast band, and then having no radio til I got home!
I got round the problem by buying a plug the same as the one on the charger, then attaching it to a 9 volt pp3 battery.
This kicks the radio into life, so you don't have to go home to plug it into the mains charger unit.
Another way around the problem, is to select BCLO from the menu.
This stops the radio TX'ing if there is any signal being received.
Don't forget to de-select it if you use a repeater, 'cos you are receiving a signal and the rig won't T^X (but useful for stopping accidental TX on FM broacast band).
Sorry to go on for so long, and thanks to everyone who's replied.
Have a good day,

CU Later
Paul

Hi Santa;
Could you tell me which model Yaesu you have? (if VX-6 or VX-7 it is easy to fix this problem).
You can fix it by using the 'Service Menu', which is accessed by a series of key presses .
The reason Yaesu want you to return it for repair, is that they won't tell you how to access this menu, in case you screw up the rig .
As long as you're careful of what you change in the menu, it usually sorts out any problems .
If you don't take care, and change something like the PLL frequency, you will make the radio useless until you put the default value back in (it's very important to write down all the default settings BEFORE changing them, so you can return the setting back to default if you enter a wrong value) .
I changed the TX audio on my VX-7 up to 200 (it was at 73 default value, and very low audio on TX)!
Now it is very good on TX and incredible on RX, even using the standard rubber antenna it came with .
If it's either the VX6 or VX7 let me know, and I'll tell you how to access the service menu.

Cheers all,
Paul

Hi 'Sean C' (Bond?)

I'm no guru, unfortunately, but I like to help others to sort out any problems.
If I don't know the answer, I try to find it from someone else.
Regarding the VX-8r, I have been watching the usual dealers (Universal, Gigaparts etc) promising the rig in stock for months.
The date of arrival kept changing (August 4th became September 8th, then October 13th), and now the 'definate' date of delivery of the VX-8r is going to be December 18th!!
But I won't hold my breath!
I can only hope that it's worth waiting for, after all the false starts.
There are bound to be some 'Beta' version bugs, that will be discovered on the first early models, so it's always best to wait for 3-6 months, before buying one.
Let someone else find the bugs, before you part with your money!
For good advice on buying a radio, before you spend money, do some research from ACTUAL owners and users.
The BEST review site IMO is:
www.Eham.net
On there, you will find real people who will give an honest opinion on how good or bad their radio is.
The Eham site has a review for almost every single ham radio ever made, and could save you buying a 'dead duck'.
A few hours looking through other peoples experiences (good and bad) could save you a lot of time and trouble later.

Anyway, that's all for now - I'm on duty in the morning, so I'm gonna get some sleep now.
The website is :
www.eham.NET




See yer
Paul
XU7aDQ

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Added on December 3, 2008, 12:41 amPS - How do I put a photo on a post/reply.
I took a pic of my rigs here, but can't work out how to include it in the post (yeah - I'm stupid!!)
Anyone?

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Added on December 3, 2008, 1:04 amExtending the TX and RX range of your Yaesu VX-7r
If you have a vx-7 here is how to modify it to TX over a very wide frequency range.
• Remove the battery pack.
• Remove the sticker/cover seal for the pressure sensing unit (SU-1), in the battery compartment, where the SU-1 option goes.
• Locate row of eight jumpers. They are numbered 1 - 8.
• For Freeband, remove (Unsolder) all solder jumpers
• Reset the transceiver by holding down MON/F + HM/RV + Internet Key and power up the
transceiver
This will display the Vertex Standard logo instead of Yaesu. Bear in mind that resetting the transceiver by holding down 4 + BAND + V/M and powering up the transceiver WON’T work!

Now your TX Frequencies should be:
Freeband: 40-224.995Mhz and 300-579.995Mhz
Do NOT TX anywhere you aren’t licenced for, and transmit ONLY into a correctly tuned (SWR’d) antenna for the frequency in use, or your final transistors will be fried!!!.

SERVICE MENU for Fixing (repairing) low TX audio on the Yaesu VX-6r
The fix for this is to increase both the transmit deviation and PL (CTCSS) tone deviation using the service menu as follows:
Set the VFO to 440.000 or 145.000 and turn the radio off.
While holding down BAND-Internet-0, power on the radio (Internet is the button on the lower left of the keypad, with a D next to it).
You will see “ref” at the top of the display, above 440.000. Rotate the channel wheel clockwise until you see “dEU” at the top of the display.
Press the V/M key once to enter the set mode. The transmit deviation setting will appear at the top of the display (mine was set to 62 at the factory). Write this setting down in case you need to back out the changes you are about to make.
Rotate the channel wheel to change the setting to 85. Press the V/M key to exit the set mode. dEU appears at the top of the display.
Rotate the channel wheel clockwise one step. You will see 100 at the top of the display. This is the PL tone deviation setting.
Press the V/M key to enter the set mode. Write down the factory default setting (mine was 62).
Change the setting to 75. Press the V/M key to exit the set mode.
Press the HM/RV key to save the changes. If you make a mistake and don’t want to save the changes, just power off the unit instead.
I arrived at these settings after much trial and error. The “right way” to align the radio would be to put it on a service monitor and adjust the settings while measuring the deviation.
Be that as it may, by making small incremental adjustments to one setting at a time, and getting signal reports after each one, I was ultimately able to arrive at the settings which sounded the best to others. My VX-6R now gets signal reports that are equal or better than my VX-5R and VX-7R.
If you run into trouble, return the settings to their factory defaults (which you wrote down) and start again.
Use this technique at your own risk, I’m NOT responsible if you screw up your radio by changing the settings – you have been warned!!!

Accessing the SERVICE MENU on the Yaesu VX-7r (at your own risk!!!)
Important!!!!!!
WRITE DOWN ALL THE DEFAULT SETTINGS BEFORE YOU CHANGE THE VALUES!!!!!

OK:
1. Set your radio to VFO mode
2. Go through each band 50/145/440 MHz (press BAND button!) and set to the centre frequency you will use (e.g. 51.000/145.500/440.000), and leave the rig on 145.000.
3. Switch Off the radio.
4. Now the difficult bit (I’ve got big fingers!!) – press AND HOLD the 0 (zero) button + the ‘Internet’ (bottom left) button + the MON/F button AT THE SAME TIME, Hold them all (3) pressed, and TURN ON THE RADIO (Do Not let go of the buttons).
If you managed to hold all 4 (including POWER) in, you will hear 3 (three) beeps from the radio, followed by 2 more beeps.
5. Your display will now show ‘VFO 440.000 – PLL REF’
DO NOT ADJUST/CHANGE THIS DEFAULT SETTING!!!!!!!
6. Turn the tuning (outer ring) know 1 click clockwise direction.
7. If you’ve followed so far, your display will now read ‘ HIS SQL’ – leave that as it is!
8. Turning the tuning knob 11 (eleven) more clockwise clicks, and you should now have ‘MAX DEV’ on your display (maximum deviation) – mine was set at around 73 as default value.
9. Press V/M once or hold it in until ‘MAX DEV’ begins to flash.
10. Using the tuning (outer top) knob – change the value from 73 or whatever to around 120-150.
11. Press V/M once or twice until ‘MAX DEV’ stops flashing.
12 Switch OFF the radio, then switch ON – Now test the audio (with a friend nearby, or another receiver), to see if it’s improved (louder).
If you are happy with the result, leave as it is, if you think it should be louder, repeat the process again. (I had to turn mine up to 200 to get the best audio!!)
13. Remember, you will need to go through all three bands individually by pressing ‘BAND’ button while in service menu because they all have their own settings.
Also remember to press V/M when you want to save the new setting, or it will just return to the default value.

This menu also allows you to change POWER settings for High/L3/L2/L1, but I personally don’t bother.
There is also a ‘PL’ setting, which allows you to change the audio/deviation level of the CTCSS tones (if you’re having trouble accessing a repeater, and you think CTCSS level is too low).
In all cases – as I said before – WRITE DOWN THE SETTINGS (default) BEFORE CHANGING THEM TO ANOTHER VALUE!!!
That way, if it goes ‘tits-up’ (an English expression for ‘wrong’), you can simply put the values back to where they were, and start again.
DO NOT CHANGE THE FIRST ‘PLL REF’ SETTING – this could possibly stop your radio working completely.
If you are not sure that you want to mess around with an undocumented service method – DON’T DO ANYTHING FROM THE ABOVE TUTORIAL!!
It’s your radio, and I don’t want someone coming to kneecap me because YOU screwed it up!!!
This method works fine for me, but do the modifications at YOUR OWN RISK!!!

Hope this helps someone who needs it because it took me 2 hours to write it all, and many more modifications for other radios like ICOM, KENWOOD, ALINCO etc etc can be found at:

http://www.ham.dmz.ro/yaesu/vx-7r-free-ban...ope-version.php

Have fun, and DON’T Transmit anywhere for which you don’t have the correct licence!!!

I couldn't upload the tutorial photos I took to help with the mod - sorry

Cheers;
Paul
XU7ADQ



This post has been edited by Paul VDSR: Dec 3 2008, 01:04 AM

Hi Sean C,
What worries you about the 'hack' on the yaesu?
The TX mod is easy to do, and the service menu one is reversable to default if you mess up the settings.
I suppose that the fact that more frequencies are available to 'explore', but most of the radios we have in the Asian market are wide band anyway, when compared to the TX range of a standard UK (144-146/430-440MHz) radio.
Most standard rigs here are TX 137-174MHz & 400-470MHz straight from the box!!
What's the value vs. the US$ of the RM?
As regards ATC, no, I've been doing it for only a few years (but I'm GOOD :-))
The money is OK too, when you consider how cheap it is to live herein Cambodia!!!
I've set up a photo site on Flickr if you want to see what radios I've got here, and a few boring other pics too!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33007541@N04/

Cheers;
Paul

Hi S_S,

Regarding the prefix map, There are lots of them here >>>>

http://vkham.com/amateur.html

Have a good day,
Paul

Hi,
This is Paul in Cambodia.
Looks like no-one has replied, so I'll try to help.

9M1CSY is:
Centennial Scouting in Malaysia 2008
SMK Cyberjaya
Selangor
MALAYSIA

9M1CSF is:
Centennial Scouting in Malaysia 2008
Muar
Johor
MALAYSIA

The 9 Mike one etc, you quoted is the callsign allocated to what looks like a special event station, and is given in PHONETICS; alpha, bravo, charlie etc.
Nine Mike One is written 9M1, and is a callsign prefix used for Malaysia.

Hope that clears it up for you.
Cheers;
Paul


Ps. To all the others, I've added a couple more photos I took today, when I flew with the Aeronautical Radio of Thailand plane, which we're using to check our VHF VOR range and accuracy.
Had a two and a half hour flight, up to the border with Thailand, and down across the Tonle Sap lake.
Great flight, and I'm getting paid for it!!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33007541@N04/?saved=1

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Added on December 5, 2008, 10:55 pmBy the way 'ELAFYF', many callsigns are easily found on QRZ.COM

This post has been edited by Paul VDSR: Dec 5 2008, 10:55 PM

Rebels in Cambodia?
There are no mad groups or anything like that, and the Khmer Rouge have all gone now.
I think it's probably one of the most peaceful and easy going countries I've ever been to!
That's why I now make it my home, and have no intention of ever returning to my own country.
Totally safe to fly, with no fear of some crazy dude with a SAM missile shooting you down.

Having read some of the posts on here, I assume that radio is strictly controlled in Malaysia?
Its also the same in Thailand, where the government check EVERY amateur radio, and give it an approval sticker if it meets the strict requirements!
When I was in Thailand, a friend of mine asked where the sticker was on my IC-706, and was amazed when I told him I didn't have one!
He said that I could be sent to prison for OWNING a radio without a sticker - Yikes!!
Cambodia is VERY different, with very little legistlation regarding radio equipment, and almost everyone has an "Icom" (the name for any make of hand-held rig).
40m (7MHz) USB is used for businesses to contact their family in other provinces, and 147.000 is the "icom" calling channel (Cambodian CB?).
It's all good fun, and I don't mind that I spent six months at college to pass my RAE, and others are using it without a 'ticket'.
No harm done, as long as they stay off our band (108-136MHz AM)

Cheers
Paul