After a discussion with Yaesu in Huntsville the Yaesu’s bluetooth has and will most likely always have limited use (I hope I am wrong). Unless you are using or plan on using the Yaesu ear piece research should be made to be sure what you plan on using will work. (It does not work with my iPods.). Forget about connecting to the shack computer with Yaesu’s weak version of bluetooth. Also, if you are using a Mac as your shack computer forget about Yaesu becoming Mac friendly.
We made our first trip to the Huntsville Hamfest this year. It was very well attended and most of the major vendors were in attendance. The facilitates were excellent. It was mini as compared to Hamvention and Hamcation. Although enjoyable it is unlikely we will return. The cost of any large harvest to attend is high or more accurately put, excessive. I say this because many of us have to travel and stay in hotels to attend the big ones.
Okay – what is the difference? In my view a key collection is acquiring keys to display with a possible focus on a certain manufacturer or maybe a period in the history of morse code. A collection of keys has the focus of acquiring various keys to use on the air. I fit into the collection of keys group. I am about done with my collection of keys. However, I would like one more. Either a J-36 or a McElory bug key. I may never purchase one as they tend to be expensive and I am not knowledgeable enough to know how many of the key’s components are authentic.
When we first downsized our QTH (mistake!) my antenna made its way to the attic. I settled on running 25 watts for the following reasons:
The third bullet above is starting to be questioned. If my little 1.5 watt NorCal 40B can be heard (yes even with my attic antenna) would a power increase of less the double make a difference? This is supported by the fact that I make many contacts at 2 (HW-8), 5 (TR-25) and 10 (FTX-1F) watts. Maybe just a few watts would pull my signal above the noise level and result in more contacts.
I am now testing for possible negative effects of increasing my power level. I would like to get to 35 watts with a very remote possibility of getting to 40 watts on certain bands.
Note: RF Exposure calculations performed.
I sit and look at my HW-8 and think I don’t use it much so I guess I should sell it. So, I make a video to show it in operation and then am so surprised how well it gets out. After all, two watts on 40 meters into a 55 foot attic doublet bent to fit, who could possibly hear my signal? Several months ago, I went to sell it again and it worked so well I kept it and built an Elecraft audio filter to improve its performance. A week ago, I once again made a video with the purpose of selling the unit. I worked several parks and WES contacts and once again it never made it to the For Sale page.
I keep a log of every QSO made. I believe most hams to the same. Logs for the most part appear to be kept on shack computers, but there are still many paper logs in use today. Maybe it’s my professional background (now retired), but I like detail in my log entries for future reference. My current logging program in addition to the normal comment field offers an attached txt file option to enter additional information. Preferably, DXlab (my prior logging program) offers the ability to create custom fields to enter information.
With my working conditions (CW; low power; attic antenna), the apparent non-contest reduced CW activity and the waning sunspot cycle a hard choice is here.
The following is being done to delay the shutdown (Looking for the spark – not spark gap)
I have been using the FTX-1F for several months. Here are my thoughts so far.
But first, my operating environment:
The radio is used mostly in the shack on a 13.8 volt power supply at the 10 watt level. CW is the main mode (almost the only mode, but I have made a few contact on SSB and FT-8). The antenna is a 55 foot doublet in the attic bent to fit. I have not used the radio on VHF or UHF other than to hear the audio in an HT on two meters.
Comments:
Accessories purchased
This is a complex radio. The danger is to learn a limited amount of its functions and stop learning what else it can do. I must fight this from happening.
This morning on 40 meter CW a station in Norway was worked. He actually copied my little 10 watt signal from my attic doublet. The FTX-1F came through. A great station at the other end, great conditions, no one else calling and look what happens.
The little radio works on SSB also. Yes not a rock solid signal around the world, but it does get heard. Once again Parks are a good way to test. Since I do not operate phone often the parks worked were new ones. Not like on CW where the same parks are heard over and over again.