Updated shot of the operating area

This is always changing but I took a new photo anyway.

First DX as VK4ER is in the log

Very happy to have the first DX as VK4ER in the logbook. I joined VK4BT as we had a QSO with EA3AR. A not so little clip of the QSO is on youtube.

...and it did arrive

The DMR Handheld is here along with the FT-891, and the 2m/70cm Yagi. Just waiting on the 40m EFHW. I love taking the plastic off new radios, some don't but I do.........

VX-7R

A little photography on a lazy New Years Day......

Nearly but not quite into Japan on 40m tonight.

Tried for JA5WNH (Tosi) but unfortunately he could not copy all of my suffix. Tosi was calling for Europe and Africa long path on 40m. I didn't think I would qualify as long path so waited till he finished his calls and went back to his Japan based QSO and then I called. Nearly but not quite as he could not hear all of my suffix. Oh well, until next time.

Tosi's QRZ profile: https://www.qrz.com/db/JA5WNH

Quick contact with Mic (FK8IK) in New Caledonia

First contact on my new to me $40 Hamfest special is FK8IK (Mic) in New Caledonia. Using my max licence limit of 10W which is still QRP for phone and it made the trip of 1463 kms no problem. Audio is much nicer than the Anytone 6666 and the notch and shift make a big difference there.

Mic's QRZ profile: https://www.qrz.com/db/FK8IK

A Yaesu FT-900 for $40?

$40? Well yes, at todays GCARS hamfest I picked up this FT-900 which the seller said was missing the PA module but received fine. Well it’s a little deaf but it does have it’s PA. I think the seller confused the space for the ATU as a missing PA....at least I hope so. Took a lot of cotton buds to clean it and now to buy a mic, get it in front of a tech and see if it’s salvageable otherwise it’s off to the chop shop to be broken up for parts and sold.

Easy install in the Alfa Romeo 159

So I'm a glutton for punishment and bought myself another Alfa Romeo and not only that but after swearing to never buy another black car, I bought this black one, now black car #3.

As stated before the install for the Yaesu VX-7R is really easy using the ClicOn phone mount and RAM mount for a GPS 'button' which matches the Yaesu perfectly. Now to figure out how to attache a button to my iPhone so I can interchange the 2 as desired and only use one mount otherwise I'll have to get a second ClicOn mount which goes up on the dash....not my ideal mounting spot.

Here it is in the car, nice and simple.

I think it needs some more antennas on the back...............

Mobile is almost done

The KT-8900D arrived and I was able to easily mount it in the car. Programming it however seems to be a different story. I manually entered all my local 2M and 70cm repeaters but the radio does not seem to keep the shift and tone on each memory. I'm not sure where I'm going wrong but will keep at it.

VX-7R can hear again

RF Repairs got back to my email with a lead time of 6 weeks for the part to be in the country. I spoke with the guys at JNB Electronics (http://www.jnb.com.au/) who had the part on hand, shipped next day and in my letterbox the day after. Great service. After a stiff drink I opened up the handheld, following TimC's instructions (http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~timc/e/vx7r.html) I was able to easily replace the part and then put the unit back together...twice - I forgot the battery latch. Whack on an antenna and hearing was restored. Always great to make your own repair and I'm glad it was through hole as I'm not an SMD guy.

Yaesu VX-7R has gone deaf

I turned on my Yaesu VX-7R after a long time of inactivity and found it to be a little deaf. By comparison my Alinco DJ-G5 was a powerhouse of sensitivity. Swapped antenna, completed a factory reset...no difference. It's out of warranty so no chance of getting it repaired from the original buyer - Andrews Communications. Time to google it and I found that there is a problem with one of the ceramic crystals in the radio that fails and leads to no sensitivity on NFM receive.

http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~timc/e/vx7r.html

I've hardly used this unit so I'm not very pleased that it has broken while sitting in a drawer. Anyway, I emailed RF Repairs (http://www.rfrepairs.com.au/) and will see if they have the part on hand and if I can get it going again.

Reliving past glories

A long time ago I bought a Yaesu FT-530 and moved it on after about a year. It seems to have reached some sort of cult status as it is very popular in reviews and sought after to some degree. I started looking for another one.......didn't find one but up came an Alinco DJ-G5. Cue past glories from around 1998/99. I sold my last one as I headed over seas for a year but had fond memories of it as a solid performer. Price was right and I won the auction. Opening the parcel I received a mint example and am very happy with the unit. Feels solid in the hand - more than the Yaesu VX-7R I have.....

.....and in typical fashion right after I buy the Alinco a Yaesu FT-530 pops up for sale and goes for $65.....DOH!

Annoying antennas and other updates

I had some problems last night with the antenna giving me a high SWR intermittently. It didn't seem to matter what I did or what rig I was using I was getting a reasonable SWR reading and then a high one. The antenna tuner was struggling bringing it into something usable and it switched back and forth for a while until I came to the conclusion that my 25 year old 11m vertical is due for retirement.....so I bought a new one. I gave Peter a call at Shockwave Antennas - http://shockwaveantennas.com/ - and after a quick chat settled on just replacing the Station Master with like for like. Some advice on tuning the antenna length for 10m and that was it. I'm looking forward to retiring the current vertical and putting up the new one, I also have a new connector coming and will dump about 5 inches of the RG213 in case I have some water in the coax. Hopefully the intermittent problems will disappear after that although...it is behaving itself really well at the moment. Doh!!!

Other items of note are that the LDG Z11 auto antenna tuner has arrived, gave it a quick test and it worked well. A bit noisy when cycling it's relays during a tune but nothing to worry about. It's about an inch smaller width-wise than the Dragon SS485H I'm looking to pair it with but no problems on depth. Should work well portable.

I also have another 3 antennas on the way: 1 Military HF antenna ~2.7 metres in length, a 10m dipole, and a super flexy antenna for my VX-7 handheld. Gear Acquisition Syndrome (GAS) has bitten hard. I also have an old Kenwood 2 metre VHF rig on the way which I'll pop into the car to replace the scanner I have now returned to the shack.

The Standard licence study material has arrived from the Radio and Electronics School (RES) - http://res.net.au/ - so it's time to knuckle down with the books and get to work on the passing the theory and reg exams.

And the last thing I have done is to install the HRD suite of Ham software. I'm not fussed on the remote control stuff but the HRD Logbook app certainly looks complete.

Another portable component

I'm still gathering the bits for my new 10m portable rig. Latest addition is the LDG Z11 Auto tuner. Should be here shortly.



Other items on the list:

• Stick with the 3x12V 7.5AH SLAs I already have? How many to use vs. weight?
• Transceiver - Have 10M rig
• Auto Tuner - On the way - needed to allow for different types of antenna
• Antenna - ex-military whip on the way from Greece, need mounts for new antenna
• Counterpoise?
• Enclosure - this is the problem, stick with what I have or go with a new enclosure like EC1CW?
• Wiring - looking to expand my first effort and some extra features especially on the charging and fuse side.

Japan is open for business

Propagation on 10m was pretty good this evening and after trying for a while I managed to generate a contact on 28.480 with Masa - JE1SDO in Japan.

Great to talk to another ham in a different country and he very kindly gave me a 53 to 55 signal report. Masa was running 200Watts into a Yagi so I didn't feel too bad making the 6,631 kilometre return trip on my 10 watts and the 1/4 wave vertical. WooHoo!!!!!

Youtube inspiration

I've been spending a bit of time youtubing and thought I'd share 2 of my current favourites. There is of course the well-known GoatHiker (along with the goats Peanut and Rooster). Always enjoy seeing WG0AT - Steve operating mountain tops with his poor beasts of burden in tow:
http://www.youtube.com/user/goathiker

Next one is EC1CW - Diego. I stumbled across Diego's channel over Christmas and I think I've worked my way through just about all of his videos so far. Another mountain top operator Diego regularly activates a number of peaks for the SOTA program.
http://www.youtube.com/user/ec1cw

But of special interest to me is how Diego has contructed his Yaesu FT-897 based manpack. Definately something I'm looking to try in the future.