Antenna simplicity

Just a pic of my antennas. Simplicity all over the place. I have no other choice, really. I live in a rental house and landlords aren’t quite fond of antennas. I’m not complaining though.

I now have three verticals and a bunch of dipoles on my roof:

• Discone antenna (Diamond, stainless steel version, also usable for transmitting on 6 meter, 2 meter, 70 centimeter and 23 centimeter)
• Diamond X50 (2 meters, 70 centimeters)
• Sirtel GPE (5/8 wave for 10 meters)
• Multi-band dipole for 10, 15, 20 and 40 meters (all dipoles end up in one feed point)

It works, and it works even better than expected.

Yaesu VX-3: bummer

Nice looks, small, wide band receive, good medium wave reception and powerful enough for every day work. What can go wrong?

One important thing. European amateurs expected the European version of the VX-3 to support 6.25 KHz channel steps. Channel steps of 6.25 KHz have been standard in Europe for a while now, and are (amongst other services) used for PMR, the EU equivalent of FRS.

The VX-3 doesn’t. Maybe a future model (VX-4?) will. Until that time, many radio amateurs will be better of by ignoring the VX-3 and wait until Yaesu does it right.

Changes to the shack

Last week, I sold my Yaesu FT-897D. Was there something wrong with it? No, absolutely not. I just didn’t use it much, at least not on HF. I have better, more sensitive and more selective transceivers at home for that job. As a result, the 897D was only used for VHF and UHF.

Then the worries started. I needed something to replace it, but what? I live in a highly RF polluted area, and the FT-897D was one of the few transceivers capable of receiving on VHF and UHF without intermod problems. There were a few options and I tried them all.

Yaesu FT-7800(E)
A nice dual band transceiver, small and reliable. Intermod problems? Some, but setting the squelch system to S9 solved most of the problems. However, the 7800 lacks a cross band repeater system, something I had on my wish list for some time.

Yaesu FT-8900R
Quad band (6 meters, 10 meters, 2 meters and 70 cm). About the same size and about the same perfomance as the FT-7800. Cross band repeater works very well, as long as you reduce the output power to ‘low’. If not, it runs hot, really hot. Intermod problems can be solved in the same way as with the FT-7800.

Still, both transceivers lack the superb selectivity and filtering of the FT-897D. I have another Ham in my neighborhood (distance +/- 100 meters). If he’s using our 70 cm repeater – regardless of his output power – both mobile transceivers give up. A hissing noise is all that’s left.

Kenwood TM-V71(E)
A new model from Kenwood. Cross band capable and delivering 50 Watts output on both bands. When left in default settings, intermod is as bad as it can get, much worse than both Yaesu’s and almost as bad as the Alinco DR-635 (the last transceiver on earth you want to buy when living in an RF polluted area).

However, the TM-V71 has a nice feature in the menu: AIP (Advanced Intercept Point). When I switched on AIP, all intermod disappeared and my neighboring station can squeeze as much power out of his station as he wants, without bothering me. You lose some sensitivity (about 6dB), but that’s a small price to pay and a non issue for its intended use (local QSOs).

The TMV-71 stays.

Icom and Kenwood to join forces

It has been a rumor for some time, but now there’s some evidence that Icom and Kenwood are joining forces. Take a look at then new Kenwood TMW-706 and the Icom IC-208H and you will see that it’s the same dual band transceiver.

Kenwood TMW-706

Icom IC-208H

 

Download product info here (Icom version): Icom IC-208H PDF

Will Kenwood disappear? Will Icom disappear? New brand names? IcWood? KenCom? Questions, questions, but no answers (yet).

JOTA 2007, Biddinghuizen, The Netherlands

It was my first JOTA (Jamboree On The Air) ever – I just never considered spending a weekend with kids, transceivers and antennas. When Roel PE1RF asked me to help them out, I thought I’d give it a try. To be honest, I expected it to become one big disillusion. Modern kids don’t care much about radio, I argued. They care more about computers and chat programs. Not the kids of the Osborne Scouting Group, however. No JOTI there (Jamboree On The Internet), only JOTA. Fine with me. They can chat at home all year long.

We used a variety of transceivers and antennas, so we could use any band between 80 meters and 70 centimeters. Beams, full squares, rotary dipoles, bunches of long wires, you name it. The scouts had engineered a 28 meter high tower, completely out of wood. Perfect!

After explaining to the kids how HF signals travel, they talked to many European stations. The youngest kids were happy with listening. They were real chatterboxes, but became completely silent when you put a microphone in front of their faces. A good tip for parents, maybe? In total, we logged more than 325 QSOs.

Filters made it possible to use more bands at the same time

Listening, listening, listening..

Hello Japan? It’s me!

Our youngest HAM

Taking down the towers

Hey, I might be a girl, but I can disassemble a rotary dipole

Stupid coax. I hate coax.