PROTECTING THE ELECRAFT AX1

Protecting The Vulnerable

The Elecraft AX1 arrived today and I was surprised at how poorly packaged it was. There's no way on Earth that it would last long unless it was afforded some protection while in transit, so I looked on Elecraft's website for an optional case and of course, there is none. So.....

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FIELD DAY

First Day BackPacking!

Today I put my backpack on and had a short climb up to the top of the hill at the back of my house. As you can see in the photo below, there's Rivington Pike on the left side of the distant hill and a bank of trees to the right of it.  The Pike is far too populated with dogs, kids and walkers, so I opted to put my station up in the gap between the trees.

The walk up to the trees is short but steep. You get the impression that you're not supposed to go there and that's exactly why I did. I was on my own and it stayed that way all day.

When I got to the top I rang the Station Manager at home and asked her to take a photo zoomed in...

I setup the SotaBeams Tactical 7000HDS and their BandHopper DualBand dipole (20/40). Once I switched the radio on (Elecraft KX3), there was nothing - pure silence - such was the noise floor. That never fails to bring a smile to the face of a radio amateur :-)

Spinning the dial on 40M brought in big signals, mainly from European Contests. They were booming in and in all honesty were causing bedlam on the band. One UK operator that I was speaking with was quite angry with an Italian station that had muscled in just1 Mhz away, causing all sorts of problems. 

The fist contact of the day was a Special Event station from Belgium - OT10WCA. He was 5/9 to me and he reported me as 5/5 with "great audio". I was quite pleased with that report, but even more so when I looked at my radio and found that I was actually on the 5 WATT setting (70 miles per watt). 

The Elecraft, the BandHopper and the location really got off to a great start, so I started spinning the dial in search of more.

The second contact was another Special Event Station (Museums On The Air) GB2CPM from West Sussex. There was lots of QRM and QSB but we managed to have a short QSO.

Next up was GM0CME in Banf, Scotland. Mike gave me a 5/6 and he was 5/9 to me. We had a good chat and to me, this is far more preferable to a quick radio report and a 73! Then it was onto a guy called Tearlach in Scotland (Inner Hebrides). Another great "chat".

Next up was a station in South East Essex! It was a guy called Kevin (M0KEB) and we were 5/8 to each other.  Kev was using a Yaesu FT-DX500 (envious) and he was also a biker like me, so we had a discussion about both our hobbies. 

Then I spoke with Tony (G6MNL) in Southampton.

Next up was Jens (DB9SAS) in Voerde, West Germany. Another great QSO. I made lots of other contacts in Europe but sadly, none from across the pond, despite being very much in the right spot. 

I had a look around 20M but it was flooded with more contesters, so I decided to call it a day. Although I don't mind helping out contesters by providing them with a report, I just can't be bothered logging them all. I want to talk with people from foreign lands and ideally meet someone on the air with similar interests to myself.

Just before I started to pack up (the weather was changing too), I picked up my handheld and put a few shouts out on 70cm - nothing! A CQ on 2M resulted in a chat with Steve (M6YCE) and Bill (M6JVF). Bill was working the WMRC Special Event Station (Museums On The Air) with callsign GB0PIT. Unfortunately, I never managed to make a contact with any of the operators on HF.

So a great few hours spent in the great outdoors, nice weather, good temperatures and fabulous views! The radio work was good experience for future trips out and taught me a couple of things :-) So I climbed back down the hill to the truck and went home for a nice (but late) Sunday Lunch.

  

Short Video

MY OTHER HOBBY

Well, one of them!

I have quite a few hobbies and sometimes, one of them will get pushed right to the back of the queue when it comes time to choosing how to burn off my leisure time. Painting is one of them and it's something that I really need to start up again because I used to enjoy it so much. It's a very relaxing pastime and sometimes you can get lucky and produce something that's quite nice.

 

 

ADONIS AM-708E

A VERSATILE MIC?

The Adonis AM-708E Desk Mic is a handsome beast and promises to bring great improvements in the quality of transmitted audio with the convenience of radio-switching! So let's have a look...

The Adonis comes with no cable to attach to your radio so you have to order separately. I have one for Alinco, Yaesu and Icom. That should permit me to use the microphone on my Flex-3000, Icom-7100, Yaesu-FTM400, Alinco-DR735 and more recently my FT-891.

The mic has a switch to allow you to hot-swap from Radio-A to Radio-B, so connecting to a third radio will require swapping over a lead physically. Most of the time I would only want to swap between two radios anyway, but the third lead is there just in case. Chances are, the mic will be used mainly with the Flex and the Icom.

The meter on the base displays battery power and the output level. There are two fixed levels of compression available courtesy of a switch (Hi/Lo) and also a Variable setting courtesy of a rotary knob. In manual mode, it's your responsibility of course to remember not to go beyond 0db by keeping your eye on the level meter.

There's also an "Audio Quality" selector switch to optimise the output for either FM or SSB.

Finally, there's a couple of buttons labelled "Up/Down" to allow you to quickly change the frequency/channel. Oh, and of course the PPT and LOCK buttons! A built-in timeout feature makes sure you don't leave it locked in TX mode for too long.

First test was to connect it to my Alinco DR-735E (using the Adonis D-8MC cable) and it worked just fine! All the switches operated as expected and my audio reports were "Crisp and Punchy", so I'm happy with that.

UPDATE : 

Since writing the above, I've tested the AM-708E on a number of radios including Flex-3000, Yaesu FT-DX3000, FTM-400, FT-897D, Icom IC7400, IC-7100  - all with brilliant results! It's great to be able to switch between my HF radio and my VHF/UHF rig at the flick of a switch.

One guy I was speaking to in Canada (on 10W) was just amazed at the clarity of the audio on SSB and said my signal was weak, but my audio PUNCHED right through the pile up. I was so chuffed! The built-in speech compressor does a fantastic job on its 'LOW' setting.

UPDATE 2 : 

I now use this with my IC-7300 & IC-9700 combo.

UPDATE 3 :

Also works great on FT-891, EXPERT ELECTRONIC MB1

YAESU FTM-400XD

UPDATED FTM-400 FIRMWARE

What's the first thing you do when you get a new piece of kit? Update it of course! The Yaesu FTM400XD (from 2E0FDF) was running V4.1 and 4.4 was available, so it needed to be done. Of course, nothing is straightforward is it?

The SCU-20 Cable (the shortest cable in the world) wasn't permitting a working connection between radio and PC despite the cable-driver being installed properly and showing up in Device Manager. I tried allsorts and eventually, out of sheer desperation, I unlugged all other USB leads from my powered hub and it then worked! Anyway, first job is to backup everything up, so back- your SDCARD before doing anything else.

Once you've backed up your SDCARD and made sure your SCU-20 Driver is up-to-date, download the latest Firmware Update file from Yaesu's website. Just go to the "Products" section, drill down to your product in the "Digital" section and click on the FILES tab to find the "FTM-400XD_Firmware_Update_0205".


Before you extract the files in the Update and run the executable, you need to put the FTM-400 into "UPDATE MODE" by flicking a switch on the PCB inside the base case. Modern FTM-400's have a rubber grommet which gives access to the switch, but if yours hasn't, just undo the 6 screws holding on the top cover and access it directly. DISCONNECT EVERYTHING before doing this!

 

When you're ready, connect the radio back up (including the SCU-20 cable), power it up and run the update software. When it's finished updating, power-off the radio and flick the internal switch back from UPDATE.

 Now reassemble the radio, connect everything up, switch on and do a FACTORY RESET!

When finished, go into the BACKUP menu and restore everything by choosing "Read From SD".

That's it! To check that you have V4.4, just go into the RESET/CLONE menu and you'll be able to see the Version Number at the top right of the screen...

In operation, I noticed that the radio can get quite hot, not least of all because the base unit is crammed in amongst a host of other apparatus, so I got one of these handy coolers which also makes the base unit more easy to place on a shelf and makes it less likely to move when you're tugging on the mic.

More soon.
M7MCQ

SHACK ATTACK

HAD A GOOD 'SORT-OUT'

Got up this morning (Saturday) and it was pouring down with rain and it was set to stay for the whole weekend so I turned to the Shack and decided to rip it out in readiness for the Flex-SDR. The IC-7100 is moving to the truck, so I disconnected all the cables and made the antenna-switches redundant. The incoming coax-cables will now go straight to their relevant radios.

When the rain stopped watering my garden for a few minutes, I ran to the truck to try out my TowBar Antenna Mast Bracket. I got this from Callum (M0MCX) at DX COMMANDER and let me tell you - it works a treat!

On his website it shows an antenna-mast mounted off the ground, but I think it's MUCH more stable if you let the mast rest on the ground and then tighten up all the bolts. I might even make a spiked cup for it to sit in. Callum describes it as "experimental" because he's obviously mindful of something going pear-shaped with  the errr, less careful of us. You can just imagine the mayhem if a big yagi came crashing down on your car, lol.

Common sense tells you to exercise caution when using something that is held up by a clamp on a steel ball! And that's why I prefer to make sure the mast sits firmly on the ground, taking the strain off  the towball bracket. Anyway, we'll see how it goes when I get out in them there hills :-)

FLEX YOUR MUSCLES

FLEX 3000 SDR

I use my computer all the time. As soon as I get home from work I switch it on and when I 'play radio', I invariably want to control the radio from the PC using the manufacturers software or Ham Radio Deluxe, etc. 

Another thing that I do is run software to provide me with a good panadapter and waterfall. Normally I use SDRPLAY UNO via my RSP1A receiver. It does a fabulous job too, but I have to be careful not to blow the front end of it when transmitting on my radio. I protect it by using an MFJ-1708B antenna switch. So in this configuration, I have a transceiver, an ATU, an SDR receiver, a computer and an "RF-Sensing" switch to protect the receiver during transmissions. Additionally I will also be running logging software.

 

 

So what's the point of all this? Well I recently decided that it might be a good idea to remove the Icom IC-7100 from the shack and put it in the truck. Then I have the perfect 1-box solution when out and about -  HF, 50, 70, 144, 430, DSTAR on HF & VHF.

So what would replace it in the shack?? Well the Alinco DR-735E would take car of my 2/70 needs (plus airband listening) and I thought that a FLEX 3000 would be the ideal HF solution. DSTAR can be done in the shack with my Kenwood D74.

So Flex 3000 it is then. It's relatively cheap and has a brilliant reputation as a good radio. It's compact (in terms of it's very low profile) and it has a built-in ATU. It's also 100W output. It comes with computer control software which includes a panadapter and waterfall. So basically, it replaces a lot of bulk and cables. It also means I can avoid antenna switches and can go directly into the radio with the antenna, providing the best possible signal path.

The Flex-3000 is a very high performance transceiver and has excellent reviews from fellow hams on EHAM REVIEWS.  I'm looking forward to it arriving. When it's set up in the shack, I'll do a little write-up about it. Meanwhile, here's the radio's operating screen. It's one of many really, because you can choose from a wide range of skins and layouts...

FLEXRADIO  POWER SDR

STATION MANAGER GETS NEW CAR

FIAT ABARTH 124 SPIDER

The Mrs fancied a new car (she's never had one before) so we looked for something that would compliment the vehicles we've already got. For a start, there's my truck which is great fun and it will lug virtually anything around. While holding the title of "commercial vehicle", it's still very car-like inside and it's extremely comfortable and also easy to drive with the big V6 engine and 8-speed automatic gearbox.

Then there's the bike for out and out risque riding and exhilaration. It's also quite good for weekends away, with its large top-box and optional tank-bag. So what would be the right "second" car? We wanted something small to replace the Mazda MX5, something sporty, a convertible and ideally, something that little bit special!

The first thing that sprang to mind was a new MX5. Very nice that new model, but it was doomed as soon as I realised that its bigger brother, the Fiat 124 Spider was available! The 124 is infinitely more stylish and attractive. Well, that's if you prefer the retro-look. And I do. It's more expensive than the MX5 but its worth every penny in the looks department.

But hold on a minute, don't Fiat do an "ABARTH" version? A hot, tuned up, racy model with a styling nod to the the 60's rally car? Yes they do. Again, more expensive, but just go and listen to one! The Abarth turbo-engine produces an extra 30BHP and it has modified suspension, better brakes (with shiny red calipers) and the AMAZING MONZA EXHAUST that is to die for!

Ordered. THE END