I broke down and ordered a Yaesu FT-817.I have started learning the menus and had it on 2 meter FM through the included rubber duck antenna. Dug out an 0ld pac-12 antenna for 20 meters and listened for a bit til the internal rechargeable pack died.
Next time I will dig out the buddy pole antenna when I have some time. I want to have an antenna tuner or analyzer before I get much further see below
I have a W4RT 2700 mAH replacement battery pack that I will be putting in soon. Now what to do with the OEM unit....?
So the FT-817 is a bit of cart before the horse as I promised myself I would get my morse code up to speed before getting or building another radio. But I had the money....
Tenna dipper.
I have had a Tenna dipper kit in the work bench projects drawer for some time, this will pair with the pac-12 antenna and the SW-20+ as the light weight CW rig. It has been several years since I built the 20+ or the other kits, so I needed a project to hone my soldering skills on before I tackle the Elecraft T1 tuner kit to pair with the FT-817.
I almost immediately screwed up and soldered the wrong 14 pin IC onto the printed circuit board. So I got lots of practice desoldering too!! :) The chip was destroyed, the 25 cent replacement was quickly ordered and showed up yesterday from Thailand. so that project is in the works.
Elecraft T1
Well, I started the T1 project and screwed that up too (it was a bad week) The T1 has surface mount component capacitors that I forgot about, as I was clipping leads and checking for solder bridges etc, I draged across one and killed it. Email to Elecraft has a replacement on the way (great customer service). So that project is on hold.
Conclusion, my eyesight aint what it use to be, so I have a visor magnifier on order to go with the magnifier desk lamp that I am already using.
I think I was fighting murphy and working tired, but hey, I am having fun and that is what it is all about.
Morse Code
Hot topic in the Ham community, you either love it or don't. Learning Morse Code or CW as it is commonly referred to (continuous wave transmission) is like learning another language. You can not just poke it with a stick as I have and expect to get to an operational speed for QRP.
Getting up to five words per minute fifteen years ago to pass the novice or code plus Tech license I got back then was pretty easy looking back, but the several attempts that I have made since have gotten me to maybe 10 wpm and as I have mentioned this hobby has ebbed and flowed like the tide, so I really did not commit the time needed to 'get er done'. Insert any lame excuse that sounds better HERE.
Many years ago I read the code learning philosophy of Chuck Adams K7QO and downloaded his code lessons Chuck has it right, you have to put in the time. I did not complete the course at the time and later on tried to use several different computer based tools out there. For me, these did not work,for one thing, computers can be distracting, it is too easy to go surf the web etc instead of working on code. Going back to the basics and using Chuck's pdf books and mp3 recording and doing some code every day, I am making progress.
The problem for me with some of the programs is that they try to invoke memory aid and menomics to help you recall the character from the sound heard. For me this adds a decode step between hearing the letter in CW decoding it to the memory aid or seeing a picture that represents the letter and then writing the letter down. Learning a language is an audio exercise, adding the visual or menomic decode is just another step that was slowing me down. Now it is in the ear and out the pen to paper in one step and even better, I am (finally) able to 'head copy' a bit more. So it won't be long.
I also starting to practice sending. I have a set of palm paddles and a
built into the requisite altoids tin.Next week I will be away at Scout Camp, no radio, but I will have my Palm TX with my K7QO code course and a set of ear buds.
Stay tuned...de N8Mac
