interesting radio for a "play" on 860 MHz

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bigbloke
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interesting radio for a "play" on 860 MHz

Post by bigbloke »

http://pmr446.free.fr/index_srd860.htm

Ive not seen this one before

regards

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bigbloke
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Re: interesting radio for a "play" on 860 MHz

Post by bigbloke »

cant find it on ebay,

found one link claiming to be 69 euros and a 1W export version..guess what

link went no-where

allegedly these are eu wide LPD devices

why so hard to find one I wonder ?

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RogerD
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Re: interesting radio for a "play" on 860 MHz

Post by RogerD »

There used to be a bit of discussion about SRD860 on the old 446user forums, but I don't remember whether it was actually decided that they were legal in the UK or not :)
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Re: interesting radio for a "play" on 860 MHz

Post by BK »

Blimey, how many low power channels do people need? 69 LPD channels, 126 SRD channels, the whole point of these 10 and 5 mW power limits is that the devices are short range, so channels can be reused. 860 MHz is right at the sweet spot where spectrum is at its most commercially valuable, how can they possibly justify using it for low power licence exempt devices that could just as easily go somewhere else.
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Re: interesting radio for a "play" on 860 MHz

Post by bigbloke »

i wondered long term if 430 lpd was an interim assignment and 860 will ultimately supersede it as digital tv rollout frees up the spectrum. The JRC boys on TV channel 69 are alledgedly being ousted down somewhere near to channel 38

There have been a number of LPD products around 863 mhz. Mainly wireless headphones. i have some ROSS branded headphone adapters which work very well.
I have a friend who lives about 2 miles away, who is well into space and satcom, before he got broadband he used to listen to the audio from the NASA TV stream using his scanner on WFM tuned to my headphone adapter, placed next to a convenient window ! admittedly though,this is the first "comms radio" ive seen on 860 in europe though

I know the dutch use WFM equipment on the band too - I imagine the alan 860 would
sell well in the Netherlands if it can be modded to1 watt.

My medium to long term quest for an 863 MHz wireless doorbell (no way do I want one on 433MHz !!) has yet to bear fruit though...anyone ever seen one ?

Its an interesting area of spectrum propagation wise too having been involved with the old Rabbit phone hardware .

in some ways 860 has potential to become the ultimate EC band as with some TV antennas being resonant on the band, you can get high gain, cheap, and "hide in plain sight" amongst the rooftop TV antennas !

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Re: interesting radio for a "play" on 860 MHz

Post by 2E0YGG »

860 is around about the wireless microphones (channel 69) isn´t it?
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Re: interesting radio for a "play" on 860 MHz

Post by BK »

Channel 69 is 854-862 MHz, SRD860 is 868.00625-869.99375 MHz in 5 different bands. PMSE is being chucked off channel 69 anyway and moved to channel 38.
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Re: interesting radio for a "play" on 860 MHz

Post by overlandadventures »

I dropped Midland Alan UK an email asking for more info, and they said they're not legal in this country -hence not available. :(
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Re: interesting radio for a "play" on 860 MHz

Post by bigbloke »

found out some more about these radios and SRD860

Seems its legal in:

Austria
France
Italy
Greece (with limitations)
Iceland (with limitations)
Ireland (with limitations)
Luxembourg (except 869.4 to 869.650)
Netherlands
Norway (with limitations)
Portugal
Switzerland.

But not little old blighty (yet) hmmm..... I wonder why! ;-)

I have done some digging on the chip that is used in the radio. There seem to be power switching lines
and a number of option lines which are activated by grounding , probably to provide band switching
within markets. There are rumours that there is a 1w mod for this radio, but the references in the chip description
(4 logic lines) point to at least a 500mW mod.

Speaking on IRC to a Norwegian guy I know who has one, he claims to have the circuit diagram and is keen to try out
any mods so I'll feedback on our findings (me reading the map , him soldering !!)

It looks like Power on with UP & DOWN may be the sequence to switch bands once the right link set is made

Oddly though , my man says these radios don't scan !!

@Guzzy - you may have finally found your 69 channel UHF CB!!?? - admittedly with different radios from the US
trunk market but used in conventional mode!!??
;-)

The dutch are pretty active around 863 MHz I am told , though I've never listened for them - they used to be about on 934
as well in the "old days"


regards

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Re: interesting radio for a "play" on 860 MHz

Post by bigbloke »

good news,

Working with my foreign friend who owns an alan 860, we have, so far, got all bands (A,B,C,C2, and D ) enabled and switchable,

we have also got the tx power up to 500mW. and enabled the high low power switching facility
in the radio menu

our quest for the 1w mod continues - although I suspect thats vapourware as we can find zero references to it anywhere online, and the only pcb/circuit references are up to 500mW too.

in fact we can find NO mods reference for this radio whatsoever !!

Regrettably my friend norwegian friend prefers to be anonymous (so I'll refer to him as "D"!) , but I thank "D" for his patience, and being my eyes and ears on this project

a full modsheet will be published just as soon as we have confirmed (finally) that the 1w mod is vapourware and a 500mW is the best we can get , and as soon as "D" can get the close up board pictures.

regards

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