Yesterday evening I had the chance to test the transmit with the new battery. The relais in Cologne (DBØVK 2m and DBØSK 70cm) are not used very often, what is a pity for such a large city. But luckily we have a couple of other relais in the smaller cities around. And I was quite surprised that I received the 70cm of DBØXO in Bergheim with S9, although it is about 20km away.
There I had a QSO with Manfred DJ4EW, who confirmed that the modulation of my transmits is clear and without any disturbing noise. He said that he uses a portable device from Standard which is older than I am (what I don’t believe 😉 )… We also talked about my DOK D23, as he wondered that I’m registered in Berlin, but live in Cologne. The most important question was, how we route the QSL-cards, when you can’t fetch them at your local club-meeting.
This noon I switched on the transceiver and instantly I received a call from Michael DO3BOX via DBØVK. Great to hear somebody else from D23 on the Cologne relais! 🙂 I guess, we will have some more QSOs in the future and I hope that more D23-members in this area will join us.
As mentioned before, the battery pack of my DJ-V5 died. After that blog-post I searched again for a new battery pack – and now I got one!
The THIECOM shop has quite every usable battery-pack available. I ordered a NoName EBP-46H N (9.6V with 1000mAh). One week later I received the order and found an original Alinco EBP-46H (9.6V with 600mAh). Well, it’s not that version I ordered, but aside from having 400mAh more, I got an original product. It’s even a bit more expensive in the store. And as I don’t want to take the risk that the other version is not available, I stay with what I got.
After 12 hours of charging the transceiver works instantly and even says, that it detects more than 9.6V. I have to test how long the battery will last. And I have to test if there is still noise during transmit. But currently there is nobody on air, so I have to wait.
The device is even a bit heavier and thicker now, but I can live with it. Having a working transceiver and at least one radio device is a good feeling!
One year ago I bought an Alinco DJ-V5 handheld transceiver from my friend DK2AB. It’s about 10 years old, but still a quite handy device with all the features I need for mobile operation.
Unfortunately the battery lifetime ran worse from one day to the next. I tried to revive it, but without luck. Now I can use it with a power supply only. So I can receive some relais in the area around, but when I try to transmit, you only hear noise and squeaks.
In the end I found an online-shop in Germany which still sells the proper battery. I transfered the money and did not hear anything from the shop within a month. Asking for the progress of the order, they told me that their warehouse burnt down and every battery of that type is lost. Luckily they transfered the money back.
But that does not help. A new battery would be better for mobile communication. I doubt I can buy one in Germany. Probably I have to buy a complete new device.
These are the batteries which are usable with the DJ-V5:
- EBP-45N (6.0V/700mAh)
- EBP-46N (9.6V/600mAh)
- EBP-45H or EBP-45NM (6.0V/1800mAh)
- EBP-46H or EBP-46NM (9.6V/1100mAh)
Any suggestions for a Germany-based reseller are welcome.
