>>>> FIRST POST!

Hi and thanks for visiting my blog. I'll start by saying that I'm six decades old and I live in the North West of the UK in a small place called Horwich (about 15 miles from Manchester).

I've been interested in six things since being a young lad - cars, motorbikes, photography, art and radios (I'll let you guess the sixth).

In the 90's I was an avid Shortwave Listener and spent many happy hours with a Lowe HF-150, an AOR AR3000A wideband receiver and a Yaesu FT-290R Mk1. I would have liked to have taken my Amateur Radio test, but back then the college courses were very lengthy and you had to learn morse at 12wpm. I was just too busy for all that - I had a disabled son and a demanding job! So I stayed as an SWL.

The years rolled by and the internet became available to me in the late 90's, so my interest in computers grew, resulting in a loss of interest in radio. Anyway, roll forward 18 years and here we are - a Foundation Licence can be acquired after just a few weeks of coursework and practical studies! So I've enrolled on a course at the West Manchester Radio Club and I will hopefully soon have a CallSign.

In the meantime, I've been doing a lot of listening and have built up my 'Radio Shack' in a corner of our Hobby Room. This neat and tidy room was originally our "Art Room" (we both paint) but now it has become the place where we go to do anything including painting, radioing, crafting, etc, etc.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

It has since been transformed to this (in my corner, anyway)...

RADIO EQUIPMENT...

• Yaesu FT-897 HF/VHF/UHF Transceiver
   
• Yaesu FT-290R Mk II VHF/UHF Transceiver
   
• Kenwood TH-D74E HandHeld Transceiver
   
• Baofeng UV-9R HandHeld Transceiver
   
• Tecsun PL-680 Wideband Radio
   
• SDRPLAY RSP1A Ultra Wideband SDR
   

SUPPORTING EQUIPMENT...

• G5RV Half-Size HF Antenna
   
• X-300 VHF/UHF Antenna
   
• SOTABEAMS BandHopper-2 Portable Antenna
   
• LDG AT897-PLUS AUTO-ATU
   
• YAESU FC-20 AUTO-ATU
   
• BHI RADIOMATE
   
• BHI DSP Speaker
   
• ICOM EXT Speaker
   
• SENNHEISER Headphones
   
• ALINCO DM-330FX PSU
   
• FTL Meter (S,SWL,W)
  
  
   

I also had a fabulous Yaesu FT-1000 Mk5 but I decided to sell it because my real interest in radio these days is in portable work - and the FT-1000 is not exactly small and light enough to throw in your rucksack, LOL...

So, my main rig is the FT-897 which is a great Multiband, Multi-Mode portable radio which packs an awful lots of features into a small package, thanks to the extensive use of a menu system (which takes some getting used to). 

The radio comes as standard with no built-in power but a pair of Lithium batteries can be neatly installed in the lower section. Unfortunately, the batteries are extremely expensive, so instead, I opted to install the FP30U Mains Supply.

Outdoors, it can be powered up by my car battery, or (more likely) by the LifePo batteries that I purchased specifically for the job...

These bad-boys are much lighter than car or motorbike batteries and their design is much more appropriate to the task in hand. The trouble is with them, they can be HIGHLY VOLATILE during the recharging process and this risk has to be taken VERY seriously or the consequences can be life-changing! Just google "lipo battery fires".

The FT-897 is a very rugged looking radio and straight away, you get the impression you're not going to break it easily. It has feet on the base and on the edge, with a beefy carrying handle on the side. Handily, there's an option to fit an ATU to the side of the radio and the official accessory is the FC-30 but a much better option is to install an LDG Auto897PLUS if not for any other reason than it has a CAT throughput.

The FT-897 is designed for portable use and everything about it is "energy saving". Even the display is purposely small so as to consume less power when you're operating out in the field. That's great! But when you're back in the shack, you might want to have a better view of the signal strength meter to give out quick and accurate reports. The answer to the problem is to connect an external meter such as the FTL Meter. It plugs into a tiny socket underneath the main dial and provides a variety of readings.

For HF, the FT-897D will be used with my very portable SotaBeams BandHopper II which is resonant at 20 and 40 metres. It's basically a long wire dipole and is usually operated in an Inverted-V configuration using an extending fishing pole. I use the SotaBeams Tactical 7000HDS telescopic mast.

Here's a video showing it in use...

An old friend of mine is the Yaesu FT-290 2M portable. They call it the "Voice In The Bag" because of the carry case that most people use it with. The original Mk1 that I had in the 90's had a built-in battery case for portable use, but the Mk.2 that I have needs to be powered from a separate source - that's because the 2.5W output has been boosted to 25W thanks to a Linear Amp that is clipped to the bottom of the rig. This occupies the area where the battery box would normally live.

This is a great little radio and is the perfect rig to take with you on a hill-climb. It has a neat BNC plug on top for telescopics and a regular PL259 on the base of the linear for connecting bigger antennas such as a small vertical or yagi.