SHACK SORT-OUT #101

YAESU FT-DX3000 ARRIVES

When the DX3000 arrived, I was ill. Too lethargic to plug it in and try it even, so it was a few days on the desk before I could muster the strength to make a space for it. And because I knew that this was my "keeper" radio, I had to sort out the mess that had become my current shack.

For a start, I can only have one coax cable running across the front of my house to the shack, so I decided to install an antenna-switch to the back-side of the bungalow where the G5RV Ladder Line drops down. Why?? Because I quite often erect temporary Dipoles and End Fed Half Waves in the back garden and operate from there, but on rainy days it'd be nice to operate from the shack. 

Being able to plug a rear-garden antenna into the waterproof switch box would mean that I could experiment with antenna in the back garden and simply flick the switch to send the signal to the shack.Perfect! 

Once that job was out of the way, I started to rip out the shack cabling and moved all the bits of junk that inevitably builds up. I fitted a new 8-Socket extension and fitted it to the wall for ease of access and then started to tag every cable I could find with some very handy Cable-ID tags I got from Amazon.

Then I had to prep some new interconnects for the MFJ 993B including the (poorly constructed MFJ-5124Y interface). Once I'd got all the cables laid out (power, coax in/out, speaker, ATU interface, USB, CAT, Ground and an IF-OUT to the RSP1A, I could position the DX3000, connect everything up and power on for the first time. 

With the radio and ATU powered up, it took a while to figure out how to actually operate the the MFJ 993B, but eventually I figured it out and was achieving 1:1 matches along the range of the G5RV except 10M which was about 1:1.4 

The floor noise of the FT-DX3000 is exceptional! It really is pleasing to listen to compared to any other base radio I've had in the shack (only the Elecraft matched it). That alone makes me happy that I chose it over the IC-7300. Tuning around 20M I stumbled upon my mate G0UXF who was chatting to operators across the UK - another great Inter-G day! All signals were superb with good quieting. 

I then switched antennas to the EFHW that was on a 7metre pole in the back garden as a sloper. The signals were good and I managed a very clear QSO with a French operator before starting to feel poorly again. At least the job was done. New radio and a better shack layout :-).