[hackpgh-ham] Hamfest cheapo 70cm radios - too good to be true
- From: Ed Paradis <legomaniac@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: hackpgh-ham@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 8 Nov 2010 01:07:27 -0500
I bought two business band mobile radios that are spec'd in the 70cm
band with 25 Watts out. The guy who sold them to me said they could
be reprogrammed into the ham band. I paid $15 for two, with one
microphone and a 'mismatched' microphone.
So it turns out that they come in three flavors: a 'type 1' through
'type 3'. Each has a different frequency range. Of course the ones I
got are "type 3" which only go from 402-430. This only covers the ATV
portion of the ham band.
After digging around, I determined that maybe the best bet would be to
gut these for parts, so I open one up. They have a large Toshiba
power amplifier module. This would be good for making a little "brick
amp" power amplifier, theoretically.
It comes in three types; of course the type in here is good from
400-430 MHz. (Toshiba S-AU27AL)
The only hope is perhaps these might be able to be reprogrammed to the
'wrong' frequencies, but this spells danger for the power amplifier:
at best reduced output power (not so bad because 25 Watts is already
more than enough) and at worst blowing up them up due to mismatch (now
your radio is QRP!).
For the record, these are "Kenwood TK-840(N)". They have the FCC ID ALHTK-840-3
Both power up, and have clearly labeled pins internally that look like
the programming headers. You can find the programming protocol here:
http://www.interceptradio.com/wiki/index.php/Kenwood_TK-840
Generic info and link to user manual here:
http://www.ehow.com/list_7297456_kenwood-tk-840-specifications.html
If anyone is interested in messing around with them, let me know.
Ed
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