Blog or Die!

Sort of.

I have a 20-foot wire diagonally running up to a tree that I called it my WUP antenna for (Wire UP tree). The Internet said no — not a proper acronym. So I changed it to WUT.

Now, I have just installed a new antenna; it runs under the floor joists of my back porch. It is a a true WUP antenna (Wire Under Porch). It replaces my WOW (Wire Out Window) antenna which has been taken down.

It turns out that the old WOW antenna was broken. Its earth ground wire had been cut probably when gardening activity occurred, and that whole BALUN thing was probably doing nothing. But, I digress.

Zhiwhis sent me an email in reply to some manual corrections I provided them about their ZWS-802 radio and they thanked me for my input and reviews with a gift card. They also included a note about a new radio they said would be available soon on Amazon (hint, hint). Well of course I’m going to use the gift card to buy the radio.

They included this product photo:

Check out the main review here: Product Review: LiJiANi RD-239S + W2. This post is some accumulated notes.

Antenna

The W2 repeater comes with a 4.2m antenna, terminated in a 3.5mm plug. The other end is terminated with an alligator clip that’s electrically connected to the antenna. This is interesting because the clip not only provides a mounting point end of the antenna, but also a convenient way to extend it.

If you want to make your own antenna with its own plug, check the diameter of the plug. There’s a rim around the W2 connector that might be too small to get the plug in. I’m using the supplied antenna and then clipping it on to whatever I’m adding.

Mast Antenna

This little experiment uses an aluminum sailboat mast as an antenna. I’ve used the mast antenna before in an experiment with another radio. In that video I had to keep the radio in a location in full sun within the length of my antenna lead, but with the W2, of course, the location of the radio is flexible. I can sit on a shaded bench and the W2 can be close to the mast.

Introduction

I was excited about this one — my old friend LiJiANi Rd239, now with SSB. While that’s true, there is more going on. In addition to to SSB, there is app control, bandwidth settings and a new UHF band.

Check out First Impressions: LiJiANi RD-239S + W2 Repeater for the shipping box and contents. One might want to look at my review and comparisons of the original Rd239 later:

• LiJiANi Rd239: A different radio
• XHDATA D-109WB vs LiJiANi Rd239 Multiband Receivers
• Qodosen DX-286 vs LiJiANi Rd239