The Quansheng UV-K5 ( product page archive ) handheld transceiver has been notable in cheap amateur radios of 2023 by using both a wideband FM chip BK4819 ( product page archive ). With support of 18-620 and 840-1200 MHz half-duplex with 6.25/12.5/20/25 kHz channel spacing, this puts the chip in the range of five ITU Region 2 amateur bands (10m, 6m, 2m, 1.25m, 70cm, 33 cm) and spitting distance from a sixth (23 cm). Presumably hitting 4m and the rare 8m would be within reason as well. The easily hackable firmware indicates at least nominal receive capability up to 1300 MHz, though!
Last left off in the preview "teardown" despairing over the potting was my failed MEAN WELL HLG-320H. Then came a great need for mindless stimulation after a day of work and I tried cracking the case again. After the successful prying came picking and cutting away at the potting material to see what's what. Here's what's inside! Image warning: there's a lot to get through this whole device. Click on the photo for the full Blogger resolution. There you go, just a bit more force and the top plate comes off.
With all the prep done over in the other post and acceptable weather, of course I had to actually take on the adventure. My drive out to K-1441 Blue Mound State Park ( wiki ) was a little on the late side. Stopping in Verona on the way over to acquire some fast food to maintain energy through the event also put me a bit further behind schedule. Soon enough, I arrived at the middle altitude parking lot of the park to hike the rest of the way to summit W9/WI-010 all in Iowa county. Only a bit into the 1800Z March 13th start, but there's still setup and making contacts to happen. View up the trail from just above the parking lot to reach the East Tower on the summit