My crazy blog

Now that I have owned the Wouxun radio and given it a good test can say that it is a good product. The Chinese are really trying to enter the communication market. Their bonuses with this radio are impressive. The drop in charger will work from 100 to 240 volts and has a plugin 12 volt cigarette lighter included. Most sellers are providing a USB program cable and software. I recommend a serial cable because of reliability. The problem is new notebooks are stripped of the serial a parallel ports.
I have Japanese radios and the problem is software and cable costs $50 plus to program radio. On the base radios a voice module is extra. This added costs are difficult for handihams to fund. It is like saying if you have a disability STAY AWAY as it will cost too much to buy radios. The Japan market is driven on large numbers of radios produced for the masses not small groups with special needs. I have lived in Japan and know. There is a company called Quick silver that made tube amplifiers for musicians. They survived because the Japanese did not want a small market such as vacuum tube amps.

I am glad this radio is being produced as it fills a niche. At the price of $130 delivered is a real bargain.

I just received a new ham radio handitalkie from China. This radio is loaded with features and has voice output when the keys are and when the radio is turned on it speaks the channel being received. The maker is Wouxun.com model # KG-UVD1P and sells for about $110 + shipping. The frequency range is 136-174 mhz tx and rx 400-471 mhz tx-rx . The radio can be programmed from keyboard or computer. I program my radio from computer. The only negative I have is the USB as I have always used serial. The USB has already proved to have a problem. Each time the radio is programmed com 4 has to be turned on again. The positive is the small size and good battery life.
Use in the amateur radio band and have a ham license to avoid a fine from the FCC. The radio is advertised as FCC approved.

Listen to this recording.

http://www.handiham.org/audio/handiham.mp3

Just because people have a disability us hams have a place in are hearts for them. We have a group called Handihams http://handiham.org/ Below is a picture of some members having a good time. Join us and enjoy our hobby.

http://handiham.org/

For the $50 cell phone bill I can buy beer instead. I talk on the ham radio FREE and drink a beer. We have a group it spans from California to Florida in the USA with check ins from other countries. Us HAMS call it a net could be 10 operators and some have 100 just listening for their turn to talk. Yep we all get along and help each other. I love the tech talks and learn a lot. We come from all walks of life see :
http://dodropin.org/gallery/main.php

Radio operator

I you want to join the strange ones and ham it up go to http:www.arrl.org

I do not own a cell phone because they cost money to operate BIG MONEY. Consider that they charge for every minute, every message, every picture and surfing the web. You say I have a blanket plan oh ya that is ONLY $50 to $100 a month. Well the minutes are figured into that amount and just go out of range. Roaming awsume that basic goes up to what ever. I went to Guam on a business trip and found that my prepayed calling card was less per minute then a cell phone. We were in Yellowstone NP as you can see in earlier posts and the cell phones only worked in certain areas of park but my ham radio worked and it is free.
I talk to people around the world FREE. I have talked to Australia, New Zealand, England etc for hours FREE. Can you do that with your cell phone ? The only hangup is getting a radio license. Yes it requires some study[work] but your cell phone does too. You trade labor hours for cell minutes. My license is good for 10 years and is free to renew. The Exam costs a few dollars to buy supplies for the VE volunteer examiners.
If you look at my main web page will see information on amateur radio sites.
Want to make some more comments can you talk to the space station or space station with your cell phone I can on ham radio.
I have attached a picture of My and Cathy an accidental meeting in Japan. She was visiting China and I was returning from a job in Japan. Both of us were returning to the USA.

@ hams meeting in Japan

The problem with this group is not having the ability to use a mouse. Windows is not really compatible with sight impaired people. They make really good radio operators and it is a way to supply community service in disaster conditions, and community affairs. Jaws and win-eyes is the output device vocal device and makes operating computer manageable. Amateur radio needs more blind operators and getting a license is easy.

I helped KI6ZZE learn to program his hand held radio. No small task because he can not see the screen and uses a screen reader called Jaws. The Icom software is on the desktop and he reads and writes to the radio. Realize that the channel positions must be memorized because the LCD display can not be seen on radio. Radio manufactures generally do not compensate for handicapped persons.

Deer in state park are tame and just wonder around with humans there.