Welcome! Each month, Rob Mannion G3XFD - the editor of Practical Wireless - introduces topics of interest and comments on current news

• Recently in the UK we've had an extremely interesting 'technical taster' of what's just round the corner regarding the entry of the People's Republic of China (Communist China) into the field of wide scale manufacturing of Amateur Radio equipment.

The 'taster' appeared in the UK (I've not heard if they've appeared in the Republic of Ireland yet) in the form of apparently well-made v.h.f. and u.h.f. hand-held f.m. transceivers.

Rather amusingly, the Jing Tong transceivers I've seen (they've also been recorded as JT45/ and JT435 together with various other designations and names) are seemingly of the same design. The most common models appear to be the 144MHz version, with fewer of the 430MHz versions seen in use. Incidentally, the Jing Tong name, despite seeming to be an amusing joke - is actually a Chinese term and not some importer's attempt at reminding us of the Goon Show!

I first became aware of the arrival of the Chinese-made Jing Tong transceivers when I overheard a conversation in Polish on 144MHz - emanating from a nearby building site close to my home in Bournemouth. I also heard Russian voices in conversation and it was words such as 'concrete' and 'crane' that provided the clues as to what was going on!

I approached several building workers and - despite my limited Polish (and even more restricted Russian) I learned that the rigs - of course they don't have CE markings - had been introduced into UK from Eastern Europe by people coming to work here. At the time, when I spoke to Ofcom I was told by an official they hadn't heard of what was happening - but things soon began to move apace!

Of course, the eBay auction site soon had a good choice of Jing Tongs, but soon the importer (yes, they seemed to be arriving in the UK to be sold) soon stopped. Despite this, occasional reports of Russian, Polish and even Spanish voices - connected with building sites - on 144MHz were being reported. However, these have now dwindled and I'm not hearing so much on 144MHz. Have they gone up to 430MHz I wonder, or are they using licence free p.m.r. radios?

I've heard varying reports of the quality of the Chinese Imports. Some readers tell me they think they're "Quite good", other Amateurs say they are "cheap and nasty". But, despite these comments everyone agrees that at less than £40 per unit (in some areas you could buy a pair of rigs for less than £50) they provided exceptionally good value for money.

I think we're in for a real surprise when China fully enters the Amateur Radio market! Just imagine, taking into account the almost Serf-like level of Chinese worker wages, the equipment prices are likely to be very cheap. However, there's one decadent Westerner (me) who would feel most uncomfortable in taking advantage of Chinese workers for the sake of my radio hobby.

Two ZN414/MK484 Projects

Because of a remarkable, and unavoidable coincidence we have two ZN414/MK484 projects in PW this month. This will no doubt bring some adverse comments - but it's a rare occurrence and in fact, both projects (Oliver G3TPJ's and George G3RJV's) are different in approach.

My Thanks

My thanks go to everyone who has written, telephoned and
E-mailed me since I returned to the office. It's great to be back!

I was very pleased to see the favourable comments regarding the efforts of my colleagues who stepped in while I was ill. What particularly struck me was the appreciation by all correspondents that producing PW involves far more than the Editor. It's all too easy for readers to think the Editor does it all by himself but the days of Fred Camm - when he appeared to do everything by himself - are long gone!

Producing a magazine can only be done by a dedicated group of colleagues nowadays. In fact, as I always point out during club visits - this Editor is backed up by some very hard working colleagues.

Everyone else here has at least three separate jobs, and they're often doing all of them at once while working on PW or Radio User. I'm the only staff member with one special job - but I could never manage the entire process by myself! Thanks again everyone.

Rob G3XFD

• In this month's Practical Wireless