I dusted off my old Philips portable chassis, bought a new LiPo battery, and paired it with an Anytone AT-6666 I had that was not being used. I needed to 3d print some side brackets to attache the radio to the chassis but they were easy enough to print up. I'm considering whether to add in my LDG Z11 tuner which will mean another set of 3D brackets. Not sure yet.
I recently finished some antenna repair work. One HF vertical was repaired and retuned to 10m and a 2m/70cm dual band yagi was also repaired and put into service. Temps were 33 degrees although it was nicer to make the repairs in that heat rather then the next day's forecast 36 degrees.
My new QSL cards from Gennady - UX5UO have arrived. First cab off the rank was a return QSL to Peter DE9JLX.
I picked up a new to me YouKits TJ2B last weekend. I liked these some years ago but it seems YouKits are no more and have been overtaken by other SDR radios from the likes of Xiegu and others. Renowned for poor speaker volume this one was beyond a joke as you needed headphones to hear anything coming out of it. In hindsight it was a gamble as I could not tell if the speaker was the issue or if the receive section was deaf.
After taking it apart and doing some research I found a section in the TJ2B build instructions on this being an issue caused by cold solder joints on the mini transformers T1, T2, and T3. Problem was that the build instructions were for an older model and the PCB was different. I reflowed them anyway and problem solved with an actual sound coming out of the speaker for a change. I then proceeded to stuff up the assembly 4 times and could not understand why I did not have access to all of the tuning options. Well after taking it apart again I finally noticed I had put a screw through the ribbon cable from the main tune control. With that repaired, normal service was restored and receive was fine. It currently puts out a 3W carrier and I have no confirmed contacts with it yet even with local hams assisting in testing. We can hear each other but signal is so low as to be unintelligible and barely even able to tell when the over has ended. More testing to come.
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.
Well I was just about to start collecting some contacts for my advanced VK4ARA callsign (nothing in the logbook) when priorities changed and I am now the new holder of VK4ER. VK4ARA will be released back into the pool.
Previous holders of the VK4ER callsign have included Bob Lees, and Eric Reilly. Thank you gents.
Today I was assigned AI7FR as my extra class call sign. Woohoo!!! Onwards to the Aussie advanced call sign.
Biggest change in the shack has been the peace and quiet following the replacement of a droning power supply fan. Ah the serenity!
First blood for the Xiegu G90, 3462kms with 10 watts on 40m from Brisbane to Jason, VK6YTS in Gundaring, WA.
A little bit of work on the second mast with my DIY UHF beam replaced with a VHF-UHF beam and the HF vertical was straightened. Still waiting on the EFHW to 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.........
It would seem my DIY skills are not all that flash as my DIY 477MHz Yagi is resonant on 1.36GHz........ Looks like it is destined for the bin!
On a more positive note the 11M Vertical is 1.2 on channel 35, with no tuning on the antenna and no tuner in front of the rig. Caught lightning in the bottle with that setup!
Making steady progress with the HF vertical and Yagi up on the second mast and wired. Still needs to be tuned and the HF vertical straightened, and coax run into the shack. 3 new antenna switches arrived and getting ready for the rewire inside. Still waiting on the 40m EFHW.
All day in Queensland’s humidity sucks but the outcome was worth it. First 11M vertical was disassembled, tuning coil replaced, connector replaced, and some of the PVC tubing replaced. I think I have the right length but will have to wait to see when I tune it.
Next was making a UHF CB yagi (477 MHz) from scratch. I had the dimensions for a 4 element yagi and just added some extra directors. I’m not sure how this will work but keen to see once I get it up in the air.
I wasn't sure what comp this was for, sounded Indonesian and some DX spotters mentioned a Gold Trophy comp (????). Interesting to see the caller ask for quiet amongst the bedlam and then call in a few individual stations for contacts before departing the scene, and the bedlam recommenced. Not a place for QRP ;-)
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
And we were doing so well with the cheap HF radio and then the PLL unlocked again across all bands. Opening up the radio it then locked and was back to normal???????? Put it back together and it was fine for 20 minutes and then unlocked again. Opened it up AGAIN and probed around, touching/pressing two cans caused it to lock up and then on touching them again it unlocked and then locked. OK, seems to be a bad joint, bad track, or some other issue with the board, maybe due to stress??
In case this helps anyone else with FT-900 PLL issues (and I know there are a few after perusing the QRZ forums), I've circled the area that I reflowed.
