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I repurposed a DirecTV satellite mount for a Discone antenna and Airspy R2 with a Raspberry Pi400 and listen to all of SoCal now.

I was a DirecTV satellite customer for over 20 years. When it was finally time to switch to a streaming service (I went with DirecTV Stream due to the sports content), I decided to put the dish hardware mounted on the roof to use for the radio hobby. These satellite dish mounts are engineered very well for supporting moderate-sized antennas with nice wind support. Plus, the high quality RG6 and low-loss splitters in use that run the coax throughout the house can be repurposed. After taking the dish off the mast, I put up a discone antenna that I had sitting on the shelf for years. The one I used is similar to this 25-1300 Mhz one on Amazon which is about $75.


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The vertical mast is just a short piece of antenna mast from Home Depot and the mast...
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Radioddity QT80 HF Radio Review

I was recently afforded the opportunity to evaluate the Radioddity QT80, advertised as an 80 watt 10 meter all mode mobile radio. After using it for a few months, I'm ready to give my thoughts on this unique rig. When I first contacted Radioddity about the QT80, my first question was if the main "channel" knob could be used as a regular VFO, and when the response was "Yes!", I knew I had to try it. While these types of relatively inexpensive 10 meter radios are appealing to new hams that may only have 10 meters HF privileges, one of the main issues is that they continue to operate as a CB with channels, which has no applicability to the HF ham operator. This radio is different.

When the radio ships, it comes as a 10 meter radio with 40 channel "bands", much like every other radio...
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Father's Day Radioddity GD-AT10G Radio Giveaway!

To celebrate Father's Day, Radioddity is giving away a brand new GD-AT10G UHF handheld radio! This is a 10 watt, dual channel UHF radio that supports both Analog and DRM, which built-in GPS and APRS!

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Here's a direct link to the product website: https://www.radioddity.com/products/radioddity-gd-at10g



This contest will have a new set of rules:
  • Any worldwidedx.com member may enter. To enter, reply to the thread: What is your favorite Ham or CB radio of all time and why?
  • Once you have added your post to the "favorite radio thread", reply here that you understand the rules and wish to enter the contest, including a link to your post
  • Here's where it gets interesting:
    • Regular members get 1 entry in the drawing by posting...
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Flash February 2025 Radioddity Antenna Giveaway!

For the last week of Feb. 2025, Radioddity is giving away an HF-008 Portable Telescopic Antenna which covers 3.5-50MHz along with a M916 Heavy Duty Antenna Magnet Mount with coax!


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Here are the rules for this giveaway contest:

  • Any worldwidedx.com member may enter.
  • To enter, you MUST upload a personal radio-related photo to the dxGallery with a short description of what we're looking at. This can be anything: a pic of your mobile, home, or club station. It can be a pic of your favorite handheld or antenna. It can be a pic of a radio station you visited. It can be a picture of your QSL card wall. Really anything can qualify as long as it is radio related...
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Retevis Ailunce HA1UV Review

About 6 months ago, Retevis contacted me, asking if I was interested in beta testing a new VHF/UHF amateur handheld radio that is based on the design of their popular HA1G GMRS radio. They sent me a very early beta model and I began testing and providing feedback. Now that the radio has finally launched, I've received a production version and have had adequate time to provide a review of this radio.

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The Retevis Ailunce HA1UV is a dual band, VERY rugged IP67 rated 5 watt radio that is marketed toward the entry-level ham community, with a price of about $70 USD on Amazon. The general motif of the radio is much like a basic commercial radio - the 256 memories are organized into Zones and...
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W6LVP Active Receive Loop: Great Antenna, Great Service

I've used the W6LVP Active Receive Loop antenna for a few years, supplementing my primary antenna to null out unwanted noise, hear tough stations, and as a diversity RX antenna with the Elecraft K4D. I had it mounted above a 6 meter 3 element M2 Yagi. The vent pipe mount of this configuration didn't survive the recent SoCal wind storm and the result was that the W6LVP PVC mast broke when it came down.

Anyone could easily make an alternate mast, but I wanted mine to be original. When the local Home Depot didn't have the same PVC components, I contacted W6LVP to purchase replacement parts. To my surprise, he offered to send them to me for free, which I didn't need or expect!

Today I put the antenna back up.
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I love this RX antenna and wouldn't be without one. It...
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January New Year's Giveaway: 3 Retevis Ailunce HA1UV Radios!

At the time of this posting, this radio is so new, it's not even for sale yet! To celebrate 2025, Retevis is giving away THREE HA1UV radios. These are VHF/UHF handhelds, which are targeted toward beginners, but have many use cases. I have been testing one for months; it is based largely on the HA1G, but made for the ham bands.

This contest will have its own set of rules, different than the previous giveaways:

  • Any worldwidedx.com member may enter. To enter, reply once to this thread that you understand the rules and wish to enter the drawing.
  • Premium members will receive 2 entries into the drawing; non-premium members will receive 1 entry. If you are interested in supporting the site by becoming a premium member, information is at...
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Radioddity CB-500 Review

There's a new mini-sized CB on the market: the Radioddity CB-500. As luck would have it, my Uniden Bearcat 680 that I had in my Jeep died so I decided to replace it with the Radioddity CB-500 that the factory sent me to evaluate. After a couple of months of using it, this is definitely my favorite small-factor CB I've owned to date.

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For such a small radio, the screen is amazingly large. They accomplish this by having only one knob, which function as the power and volume. The display has both brightness and 7 color backlight settings. Here's purple!

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When I got the radio from the factory, it was set for EU CB band plan. To change...
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Handheld 10 Meter SSB fun: Cali Winter Style

Southern California has the worst traffic, high taxes, unaffordable real estate and whacky politics. But it also has the best weather. I had free time today, so I decided to drive down to Belmont Shore and play 10 Meter SSB during the ARRL contest.

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I brought the Elecraft KX2, an internal battery, the AX2 whip antenna, and a counterpoise wire. The mic is just a cheap flexible PC mic I got off of ebay. Sitting on the dock, I stripped a little of the sheath off the tail of the counterpoise to expose the bare wire and dropped it into the salt water.

With the KX2 power set to 10 watts, I worked contacts all over the country, Hawaii, into Argentina and even Curacao. The band was just wide open and because the contest was active, stations were happy to dig me out when...
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RadiOddity Q60 Pro; "Black Friday" Review.

I won this Radiodditiy QT60 Pro 10 Meter Radio as a giveaway prize for Black Friday 2024, right here on WorldwideDX Radio Forum. One of the qualifications for entering the radio giveaway was to post a review of it in WorldWideDX Radios Forum's,"Product Reviews". This is my review as agreed to, and it will be an HONEST one.

I'll probably also be posting it to some of the other forums I frequent, like GlockTalk (a forum centered around firearms).
I tried to also upload a few videos on Rumble, but have been having difficulty with the DVR I used connecting to my computer. Also, some of the footage on my phone is "too large" to upload via email... But I'll keep trying and post links here, if successful.

After the unboxing and glossing-over the operations manual, I was...
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