Friday Apr 13th at Brewer Park

If there had not been a couple of Hockey Games on the Telvision last Nite I might of gotten this posted last nite so the delay we can blame on the CBC and TSN.  I am not a real big hockey fan anymore (even with the Senators being in Ottawa) but I do get carried away with the game once the playoff start and last night there were 3 games I was able to watch…

Anyway…  Back to Radio…

Friday afternoon Jose VA3PCJ and myself headed over to Brewer Park and tested out a couple of setups ee are planning to use this coming Saturday (thats  a week today) when we (along with a few others) head up to the old Foymount —Cold War— Radar Base, setting up at the top and playing radio for a few hours and give out lots of contacts in the Ontario QSO Party.

We even had a visitor as Chris VA3CME walked over from his QTH and spent some time with us.  I had not seen Chris since the September 2011 Ottawa Amateur Radio Club  Portable Station Demonstration  where he took an excellent Video of the event.  It was good to see him and have a chat again… In a previous life Chris used to make really good videos and it shows with the one from the park…Check out the following:

Check out the video around the 3:05 mark for some equipment you have seen and heard of before…

I took my Yaesu FT 817/LDG QRP Autotuner with my homebrewed W3EDP Antenna and Jose brought his ICOM IC 703 and his Jeep mounted S9 43 foot vertical along with two different ununs to feed the antenna with.  The first one was a commercal 4:1 unun and the second was a home brewed 9:1 unun.  As far as loading up the antenna with the 703′s built in Tuner went the 9:1 was the victor  with the system able to load up on 10m to 160m (not sure how good it would of worked on 160 but at least it loaded up)…

Another inovation Jose wanted to test was hooking the ununs directly to the back of the IC703 (like we saw in the video a few days back) so ther was no line loss.

The wires of the S9 ran directly to the unun and as he has a built in tuner on the 703 there was no coax to get lossy..  Although it does limit where you can operate from and we did discuss how we would not want to operate from so close to the antenna if we were running 100w I feel that its acceptable for a QRP SSB signal that might be at a 5w output on the peaks…

However at my end testing the W3EDP brought some interesting comparisons that were to be expected….  The antenna performed faily well on the lower bands compard to the S9.  40m signal reports were very close and 80m noise levels seemed the same.  On the higher bands the 43 foot vertical beat the Horizontal W3EDP hands down.

In the past the PAR QRP end fed in an almost vertial configuration (slight sloper) has performed just as well on 10m to 40 as the S9.  Seeing that we are not going to be operating at Foymount overnight (Just from the start of the contest till the sun goes down) I am concidering taking the PAR instead of the W3EDP for the trip…  Looks like I will be doing more testing before we leave (WX Permitting) on Saturday am

On to the weekend stuff….

Liz has hinted that I should be doing a little yard work this weekend.  I started the yardwork a few weeks ago when we had that very early heatwave then promptly lost interest when the tempetures returned to the more seasonal levels.  But now she wants the back yard cleaned up and it going to be easier if I do it as I won’t rake up the radials for the S9 that I did not  bury last fall when I installed it…  If she does the raking I will have to reinstall all the radial and then bury them so its easier just to rake carefully and then cover the radials with a slight covering of dirt and grass seed…  Other than that and a family BBQ there are no real events planned for the weekend.

With the usual weather permitting thoughts VA3PCJ and I might return to Brewer Park for the 80m Pothole Net on Sunday am… But being fair weather hams I don’t see us setting up in the rain…

I would also like to (as always check the cluster)  and try and get the DXCC count to rise.  It seems to happen in spurts though…  I sat the longest time at 124 and then in two day manged to get up to 127 where we have sat for 2 days…

The confirmed total on EQSL is sitting at 50 (and any of the Direct/Buro Cards I have are not for anything I have not got an EQSL for) so I am sitting at 50 confimred…  (And for those of you who are purists…  Yes I know that the ARRL DXCC Desk does not accept EQSLs.  But for a casural operator who has not fully gotten bitten by the DX bug it works great to keep count.  See my following comments about LoTW) For a while I have been procastinating about getting my account opened on Logbook of the World (LoTW) so I guess I should get off my duff and get the account up and running so I can u/l my log and see how I’m actually going.

The weather for Saturday if supposed to be good and they are saying that we might (in Ottawa) get wet on Sunday…  Perhaps I’ll meet you on the air over the weekend.  It fairly easy to find me though….

If you check on the right side of your screen you will see “VA3QV Links”  If you click on either the “VA3QV on line Log” or the “VA3QV on QRZ” and look around on the page you will see just above my log a little graphic that will say something like VA3QV is on the air and give the frequency”…  If you think we are within propagation range why not give me a shout…????

More later on how the weekend is progressing

73bob

Friday’s schedule

Today will be a bit of a hectic day so I thought I better get around to letting you know whats happening before I get tied up and end up telling you what I did rather than what I am attempting…

The first radio task of the day is to head over to the QTH of VA3PCJ where we will be trying attempt number two to get the weighted line over the tree branch in his back yard ,  The purpose of this of course is to install a wire antenna so he can communicate when he is not in the park or on his boat…

After that tasking has been successfully completed we will be taking the Portable Stations we plan to use on Saturday Apr 21st when we operate in the Ontario QSO Party from Foymount Ontario over to the Parking Lot at Brewer Park to give everything a shakedown…  For my part I will be bringing my FT817 but I will be leaving the Par End Fed antenna at home.  In its place will be my homebrewed W3EDP and a 6m wire dipole for 2m and 6m.  As on April 21st we will be operating from one of the higher accessesable pieces of real estate in Ontario (that we can drive right up to) we might as well bring the toys for VHF as well…

Now some might argue that todays trip to Brewer is just to sit around on a Friday Afternon and just spend what looks like will be a afternoon playing radio in the sunshine while sitting outside soaking up the sun…  For now I’ll stick to the “testing the gear excuse”….

73bob

Playing in Weston Park (Day 2)

It was a bit of late start this am….  The fog finally burned up at 0830 and I left the house at 0845 (EDST) and walked over to Weston Park.  Same radio gear as yesterday but the Par end Fed was left at home and my homebrewed W3EDP antenna came out for some fresh air…

Although there seem to be many diffierent variations of the W3EDP the main part is a 84 foot radiator and a 17 foot counterpoise joined by a 4:1 balun.  This configuration will work on 10m to 160m if you use a good tuner with it.  I have had exceptional luck with the LDG Brand of Auto tuners and I think they could load up wet string if they had to…  I have had very good luck with the following design of W3EDP.  I run the 17 foot counterpoise beside the 84 foot radiator as if it was ladder line.  This in effect gives you an 84 foot end fed long wire and this makes it very easy to set up and very veresatile to deploy in the field…

Ignore the timewave ANC4, LDG and FT847 and think of a FT817 with the LDG QRP Autotuner instead 

I have made this antenna with  84 feet of 300 ohm twin lead with a notch cut on one side after 17 feet,  I have used 17 feet of 450 ohm ladder line then added 67 feet of insulated automotive wire on one side and I have also just run the 17 foot counterpoise paraell to the radiator and kept them seperated with spreaders which gave it the effect of home brewed ladder feed line…  All three have worked well for me and I find using the 300 ohm twin lead model the easiest to build and deploy but thats just my choice…

I got the antenna set up in a sloper configuration  running from the south east at about 30 feet to the park bench I was sitting on at about 3 feet above ground.  The LDG 4:1 balun was being fed by a 5 foot long RG8X cable.

As I mentioned earlier it is versatile.  It has the same features of a dipole if you run it at hight.  If you keep it lower it acts like a NVIS antenna and if you run it as a sloper then it is slightly directional…  3 antenna all in one package…  Plus the ease to deploy as its an end fed…

At 0915 I got on the air and made my first contact (of a few) on 80m.  I started out on 3.768 and checked with Paul VA3PC who is the Net Control Station of the North Bay Net.  I got there just before the net closed but I did get some expected signal reports fro the net participants…  Signal a bit lower than usual (not at home with 100e) but the audio was good.  As any QRP operator will tell you if they can hear you …  That s the important thing…

At 0930 I slipped down to 3.755 and joined the ONTARS Net.  The NCS was VE3HA Gord who lives in Oro Ontario.  Without looking at Googlemaps let me remind you thats in the Barrie Ontario.  I had a couple of minute chat with Gord and then also with Cliff VA3CAF from Trenton Ontario who was one of the net participatnts…

There is a local net here in Ottawa on 80m on 3.760 and I wanted to check into that and say hi to the locals…  The net started at 10am and VE3EJJ Ernie was the NCS Station…  He was a solid S9 to my location and he gave me a good report as well.  Other Ottawa participants were VE3GX Ed, Glenn VE3XRA, VE3NPO and Norm VE3LC.  Good reports were exchanged with these stations with Ed and Glenn living within 3kms of the park I was operating from.  Other participant were Mike VA3TJP from Braeside Ontario and K2JAF Jim from Utica NY.  Jim was a little light with me and he never did give me a report so…Did he even hear me???

Anyway around 1045 things closed up and it was time to pack up and head home…  The park was starting to get other people in it and part of my sloper was in an area that could impede traffic as people were walking around…  It was not a problems at 930 but at 1030 it could start to be one…  Before I left I spun the dial and checked the other bands…  10m to 20m seemed fairly poor to me and I did hear some activity on 40m but there were not calling CQ or calling for check ins so I let them continue with their conversations and just packed up…

You might call todays event more of a COMMS exercise as I managed contacts all around North Eastern Ontario and it was all on 80m…  It was also fun…  If the WX guess for tomorrow is accurate then I’ll be back in the park with the PAR trying for some DX in the early afternoon

73bob

Why do portable ops???

Heck of a good question….  The short answer is because I can….

The longer answer takes in noise levels and efficient antenna systems and the like so here we go…

As anyone who knows me will agree with my statment …

“ I enjoy operating from the parks.  Portable operations give me the chance to stretch out wire antennas out and enjoy the fresh air at the same time I am flooding the fresh air with RF. “

The rig of choice for this is my FT817 which happens to be a QRP rig.  What I have noticed so far while operating QRP is that most people can’t tell the difference between my S7 signal with 5w on ssb and my S9 signal with 100w on ssb.  The antennas  I use in the park is the great equaliser in the equation. 

Picture courtesy VE3MPG- Winter Field Day 2010

If its daytime I use my Par End Fed QRP multi band antenna which will work without a tuner on 10-20 and 40 ( and works on 12-15-17 with the auto tuner) as a sloping vertical.  I try and get the very slight slope from the top down to the base of the antenna aiming in the direction I wish to talk to.  This also allows me to slightly aim my signal and also keep the base of the antenna close to the radio which in most cases mean I am using a small patch cord between the tuner and the antenna so there is no line loss.  The near vertical positioning of the antenna gives me a fanastic take off angle on the higher frequencies and makes it easier for DX. 

If its a longer event i would use my homebrewed W3EDP antenna which works fine on 10-80m and will work on 160m as well.  This end fed antenna has the same charistics as a dipole so I have the option of lowering it for the NVIS effect or raising it up and making use of its limited directionability with the bulk of the signal going out at 90 deg to the direction of the antenna.

Picture courtesy VA3PCJ

In addition I take a buddistick antenna with me which is a very easy 10-40m vertical in a compact format along with a 6m wire dipole which will also work on 2m as well.  All this fits in my padded camera bag along with a 10ah battery and a small solar panel and is easily carried.  In most cases I can be on the air and making contacts within 10 minutes of arriving at my operating position.  I no longer experiment with antennas…  I have found that end fed wires are the easiest and quickest to string in trees and the buddistick attaches to a picnic table in minutes.  All three HF antennas work great with short feed lines so I am making the best use of the 5w QRP signal.

In most cases (even in the city parks) I can normally find an operating position that allows me to operate in a zero noise or almost zero environment.  In a zero noise floor I can hear stations that I could not even dream of working from home.  If for whatever reason I can’t find a quiet location I change locations to a different park.  The drawback to this is that as I’m operating QRP I can hear more  stations that can hear me so its a good chance I am not going to break any pileups…  However I have been able to get a signal report (4 x 0) from a station in Asia when he was a 5 x7 to me.  I just kept listening and the first time no one answered his QRZ I jumped in with my call and suprisingly he answered me.  No signal to speak of…  but he did hear my voice clearly and the  exchange was made…

 

To be honest I can’t remember who took this one. 

It shows the size of the station fairly well.  Radio/Tuner/Battery

So why QRP???  This one is a no brainer….  My complete portable station including battery, radio, tuner, antennas and accessories weigh less than 15 pound and fits in one easy to carry camera bag.  The 32 ah wheel chair gel cel needed to power my FT897 along with all the stuff needed to support a QRO station weighs 4 times as much.  QRP is easier on my tired old back.  I carry less gear and the results are pretty much the same.  I make contacts with a s7 report rather than a s9 report…

So after doing this stuff for over 5 years now I think I have it figured out.  I know what radio works…  I know what antennas work in what situations….  My gear is designed so I can spend more time on the air than getting on the air…  And I have managed to keep my costs down to a minimum at the same time.  For me its a win-win situation…

Your opinions on the gear might vary…  Elecraft equipment is fantastic as is the ICOM 703 for QRP Radios.  For me I just prefer Yaesu…  Dipoles, Quads, Loops are all good as well…  I prefer end fed antennas and I can prove they have and do work for me…

The wonderful thing about this hobby is that different paths can give us the same end result…

73bob

Changes bring results…

The last week for me (Radio Wise) has just been fantastic.  If you follow this blog you know that I have sold off some old toys (FT847 and FT857) and gotten some new toys (FT450at) and lost an antenna (W3EDP) and recently gained a new antenna (S9 43foot vertical).

Above Yaesu FT847

Above Yaesu FT450

Well in the last week I have managed to bring the new toys (radio and antenna) together and to be honest they are working fantastic (for me at least)  In the years I have been living here although I have always been on the air I have had problems with electrical noise and the fact that my antennas had to be stealthy which normally means a compromise.  My signals were always good enough for talking within 500 miles of home on 40m and 80m and my idea of DX was working North America and parts of Europe.  I’m not complaining (much) and I was having fun…

Now the combination of the FT450 and the S9 Vertical comes into play and it has changed the game completely.  The advanced filtering of the FT450 as compared to my FT847 or my FT897 for that matter is the difference between night and day at my home QTH.  Before it was easy to brag that “If I can hear them I can work them” as I only could hear strong stations…  The difference between the Vertical and hidden wires seem to make signal find my transciever much easier as well.

Above FT897

Now I find myself hearing distant stations that I could not hear before and strangely now I can work them as well.  In the last week more DX has found its way into my log than in the last year.  Honest signal reports like 5 x5 and 5 x 7 are now replacing the 5 x 9 (and what was your call again?) .  I am finding it a lot harder to work them after I hear them now as I finally have to compete with pileups…  If I’m getting the station at 5 x 5 then I have to assume that my signal will be close if not lower than that so I have to work to make the contacts but with the help of the S9 they seem to be hearing me…

Part of my new found success has to be given to the improving band conditions as I am hear and working more when I take my QRP Rig out to the local parks ( see previous posts) but…  I am hearing more…  I can filter out my local noise… and I am making more contacts on all bands…

What I did at my station might not work for you but it sure is working for me…

73bob

 

VA3QV/qrp from Mooneys Bay Ottawa

November 11th – Remembrance Day

If you can read this thank a teacher… If you can read this in English then thank a Veteran!

“Lest We Forget”

The weather was not bad today.  Sunny with temps around 19 deg C but it was windy.  But compared with the Weather Bomb that blew through overnight it was a really calm day…

Today I setup at Mooneys Bay Park in Ottawa along with Jose VA3PCJ…

View Larger Map

And if you look at the picture below I was operating from a picnic table immediately west of the tennis courts…  To see the tennis courts move the map south west and increase the magnification just a bit…

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The gear of the day was my FT817 along with a Buddistick antenna clamped to the picnic table.  I operated on 10,12,15,17,and 20m but no contacts were made on 10m and 20m.

Above is a pic of my FT817 setup.  It was not taken at Mooneys Bay.  This picture was taken at the OVMRC Meeting back in May 2010…Remember my earlier comments about my skills as a photographer?  The pic taken of the setup showing the radio did not turn out…

Above- A picture of the operating position.  Shows the Buddipole on the picnic table.

Above- A different shot of the operating position.  Shows where I was operating from with the Beach Building in the background.  It you look at the map a bit earlier in the post the tennis courts would of been on the right hand side of the shot.

Above- Jose was operating with his Icom IC 703 and he was using his freshly constructed W3EDP antenna.

Band conditions were good today’s outing and I managed contacts on 12m, 15m and 17m.   15m was really good with a couple of contest stations starting to warm up the airwaves in preparation for the CQ WW SSB contest running this coming weekend.

.

I did have to fight a couple of pile ups but was able to get heard by 3 contesters flexing their muscles.  Very loud signals but they were still able to pick out my call through all the mess.  I was really suprised…  Happy but suprised!!!

Contacts making it into the log today were:

VP5/I8UZA Guiseppe who was warming up his contest station VP5I from the Turks and Caicos Islands.  He pulled my QRP Signal out on 21.320 usb on the 15m band

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Next on the list was OX3KQ Jesper, operating from Greenland with a very strong signal on 21.225 in the 15m band.  Check out his youtube video (below the map) to see why…

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And now you know why his signal was so strong…

I then managed to contact CO8LY Eduardo operating from Cuba on 24.947 on the 12m band.

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The last (but not least) contact of the day was NI5Y Calvin who was in his mobile and lives in Little Rock Arkansas USA.   This made it a QRP Portable to QRO Mobile contact on 18.125 in the 17m band.  His Yaesu FT857 sounded great…

View Larger Map

Of course, as he was operating a Yaesu it had to sound good…

The sun started to drop over the western horizon and with that came the reminder that this is Canada in October.  It got really cool… really quick…  so it was time to tear down, pack up and head home…

All in all it was a great couple of hours with antennas tested, and contacts made and the sunny afternoon with fresh air did not hurt either…

73bob

What was I thinking…

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UPDATED AS OF 2200 HRS OCTOBER 15TH

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AS IT TURNS OUT MARTIN MIXED UP THE DATE FOR THE PBMME…  ITS NEXT WEEKEND…  SO THIS SATURDAYS (OCT 16) IS THE WARM UP FOR NEXT SATURDAYS EVENT.

REST OF THE TIMETABLE, APRS FI INFORMATION, AND SUGGESTED FRQUENCIES, REPEATER INFO REMAINS THE SAME

======================================

Anyway…  I’ll let Martin’s posting give the information so here goes:::

Hi, Bears (you know who you are!).

Bob VA3QV and I are planning an afternoon/evening hike in Gatineau Park for the October Polar Bear Moonlight Madness event:

http://www.n3epa.org/Pages/PolarBear.htm

Our plan is to coordinate on VE3MPC 147.150(+) and 444.4 (+) to meet up and drive together leaving Ottawa around 3:30pm, starting the hike at ~4:15pm, setup on the air ~5pm, on the air for an hour or two and then back to Ottawa.

Yes – this is a darkness hour operation   (It is called moonlight madness).

Forecast: Cloudy. Clearing in the afternoon. Wind northwest 30 km/h becoming light in the afternoon. High 12.

!! Anyone would like to join us would be very welcome to do so !!

We will both have our APRS trackers along for the ride so check:

http://aprs.fi/?call=VA3SIE-7%2C%20VA3QV-7&mt=terrain

We will be QRV on VHF and HF.

During the hike and during the operation we should be QRV on VE2CRA (146.940- 100hz CTCSS).

If you are unable to join us but will be QRV in the PBMME then please do look for us online, we will try to keep http://qrpspots.com up to date.

73!
Martin.
VA3SIE/P.

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For my part of the trip…  I will be active on 50.125 and 144.200 (SSB Only) and once Martin has run out of Bears I hope to be active on 80m and announce my presence on the ONTARS Frequency of 3.755 and then slide up or down a bit from there.

I will be operating with my FT817 with a 6m dipole,  my W3EDP for HF and if I get it built and tuned in time an Arrow 3 element beam for VHF.

I will have my FT60R on the local VE2CRA Repeater (146.940 (-) with a CTCSS of 100.0hz) and my VX8GR will be beaconing as VA3QV-7.

Now I know this does not qualify for SOTA so perhaps if I make this hike with no issues I can dare to dream and try something bigger and better.  Either way I am looking forward to it.

Now from that location I should have clear line of sight… south east, south and south west so depending on how lucky I am with trees being in the right places I am expecting contacts between Montreal and Kingston if anyone is out there listening for me on 2m and/or on 6m.

Lets see what happens this time…

73bob

Taking a backwards step

Well after much work and many nasty words I was able to swap out the FT847 for the FT897.

The LDG auto tuner with the 4:1 balun has been exchanged for the FC40 auto coupler and I was unable to get the Timewave ANC4 to function with the set up so….

My noise level is higher…  I have turned the W3EDP into an inverted L with a 20m radial and a very folded 80m radial and I have lost 160m and 40m…

I was not able to get the FC40 to talk to the FT847 although it did before… so I am thinking there could be more than meets the eye as far as the “Flash and Boom” goes…

I am going to have to first of all test the tuner (as the reset on the LDG did not do anything) and then after that get the 847 checked out to see if it still talks and listens to the Yaesu line of Tuners…  It was designed to work with a FC20 and it should work with the FC30 as it used to work with the FC40.

In the meantime I am taking my blood pressure meds and trying to grin and bear it… I have been dabbling in different radio modes since 1972 and have had my Amateur Ticket since 1992 and this is the first time I have had what might be a lightning related problem…  Can’t really b!tch about it can I???

Still experimenting and hopefully will get back on the air soon with a working solution to my problems that does not break the bank…

73bob

The weekend updates

Something about the best laid plans of mice and men … but this last weekend we should include “hams” as well but it still was a great weekend… It started off on Friday afternoon when I slipped coming down the stairs avoiding the *&%^$%%^&^&*^!!! (gosh darn) cat… It was one of those things that I was able to stop myself from falling but probally would of done less damage if I had let myself fall those last couple of steps…

The bottom (of the stairs) line that I “twisted” my left knee and it was more than a bit tender… To be honest I aggrivated an old football injury ( I fell off a bar stool watching the Superbowl back in 1985) and no real harm was done but limping was the order of the day…

The real downside to this was that I had NO intentions of lugging any portable VHF Gear from the parking lot to the operating location at the Champlain Lookout so I had to “bail” on Patrick VA3CMD on our plans to operate on Saturday for the VHF Contest. 

Instead I hobbled down to the shack and managed to give out some rare contacts (FN25) and had a lot of fun as the 6m band was open so contacts were made into W4 Land with no problems using my rotatable dipole aimed south west with the 100w of the FT 847. 

In a non radio item… Saturday evening was spent putting together an ” EASY TO ASSEMBLE” Propane BBQ that Liz brought home on Saturday afternoon.  This was a first for me…  It actually was easy to assemble, they included the one screwdriver and the two wrenches needed to build the darn thing and there were NO PARTS leftover when we finished.  Once completed it also passed the “smoke test” and it was put to the test on Sunday for lunch and supper.

Seeing that I was spending the afternoon in the backyard I finished up with the vhf contest early and brought out the FT 817 , disconnected the antenna feed line at the W3EDP balun and strung a 25 foot length of coax from the balun to the FT817 which was sitting on a side table and I listened to the bands and also made a few QRP Contacts as well.  I was able to check into the NY State Phone Net and the 2nd Region Net but was unable to check into the Ontario Phone Net at 1900.  The noise was just way too high to hear the NCS but I did try…

Around 2100 or so the family decided to come in so the gear was packed up and the new BBQ covered and we finished up the weekend watching a bit of television…and I managed to get a quick check in with VA3RDC who was NCS of the 3730 group..  Fresh air, Radio, BBQ and more Radio…  it was a great weekend…

Monday morning update…  The swelling on the knee has come down and you can barely notice the limp…  All is returning to normal…

Enjoy your week!

73bob

Back on the air in a Temporary way

Well as you knew my 4:1 balun had failed during an ice storm.  I orignally thought it was just a wire pulling loose.  After checking once the balun had been taken out of line and brought inside to thaw a crack was noticed in the case that had allowed moisture to enter and once we had that flash freeze the rest was history and so was the balun.

One of the hardest things to find is amateur radio equipment in the week between Christmas and New Year in a “timely” fashion.

I wasted a day trying to fix things myself on the cheap…(Just like a ham) and then figured out that it actually broken and I better order a part.  Well due to New Years I won’t be getting the balun till “Next Year”

I was down to two choices which was install my FC40 Auto Tuner which is more like a coupler which has the tuner at the antenna end… or install my vertical antenna for a few days…  Swapping out the FC40 for the balun was easier so it was first choice (Just like a ham)

(Above Yaesu FC 40)

Now unfortunately this would not load up the existing W3EDP antenna using my FT 847 as when the FT 847 was manufactured there was NO FC40 and so the radio thinks its a FC20 Tuner which has less tuning ability.

With my recent contact with the VP of Marketing for Yaesu I have asked him if there was a way to upgrade the firmware of the FT847 to see if it will accept a FC 40 at “Face Value”.  I was sent a CC of an email he sent to technical services asking that question and I am hoping for an answer early in the Near Year.

(Above Yaesu FT 847)

So I then took the FT 847 out of line and installed my Yaesu FT 897 in its place and it loaded up fine on 10m to 80m although it did not liked 160m but I don’t use the “Top Band” that much so all is acceptable for  the short time use.

(Above Yaesu FT 897)

So I am back on the air and although its a bit noisier as the FT 897 does not as good a filtering system as the FT 847 and also the Timewave ANC4 does not seem to work as well with it.

(Above Timewave ANC 4)

To fix that I would need to change the phasing antenna for the timewave and for a few days I will try and put up with the extra noise.  But the good thing  is that I am on the air while waiting for the new 4:1 balun to arrive.

So noisy or not I am back on the air and things should (better) be back to normal early in the New Year.

73bob

And just incase I don’t get back into the shack before tomorrow…

HAMMY NEW YEAR