PLAYING FT-8

SAME CONTACTS AGAIN

I was playing FT8 again today and realised that the contacts on-air were pretty much the same that have been on-air each time I go on!  Occasionally there'll be a new individual, but in the main, there's no one new to work.

The other night I got a Cuban who I've been chasing for ages and I got a Turkish operator who had been avoiding my logbook, but other than that, I couldn't find anyone new.

And what puzzles me a little is that the same people appear when I change bands. I don't understand that - unless they've got multiple radios working.

FT3D WHIZ SOFTWARE

FREE FT3D PROGRAMMING SOFTWARE

Hard to believe it, but Yaesu (at the time of writing) have no programming software for their flagship handheld transceiver - FT-3D - and have no plans to offer any!

Thankfully, someone else by the name of Brek Martin in New Zealand wrote some software and put it into the public domain. It's called FT3D WHIZ and is available here...

I strongly urge you to do the right thing and make a donation to Brek for all his hard work.

LDG Z-100PLUS ATU REVIEW

LDG's "ZERO CURRENT" ATU

When using a portable radio (eg..ICOM IC-7100) during a Field Day Event I need an autotuner. I could of course use my diminutive Z-817, but that can only handle around 20W which would be no good if one of my radio-club colleagues wanted to sit at the mic.  So the answer was to find a small, light ATU and a quick search resulted in me choosing the LDG Z100PLUS.

It's similar to my LDG Z817 and shares the same "Zero Current" technology which means that in standby-mode there is virtually zero current draw - which is why there's no ON/OFF switch. The unit is powered from internal batteries (which should last for approximately one year) but can also be powered (and controlled) by the radio if you purchase the appropriate lead.

With the control lead fitted, the unit takes its power from the radio (the IC-7300 Molex connector in my case) and also permits the radio's "TUNE" button to be used instead of the LDG's. 

The Z100PLUS can handle 125W which makes it perfect for most of today's popular rigs. It will also handle about 30W in Digital mode. It has 2000 memories for near-instant tuning of previously tuned frequencies.

The LDG Z100PLUS also interfaces with the QRP ICOM IC-705 superbly, using a regular 3.5mm jack to jack stereo lead, so it's a great option for that too. Makes a nice change from having to buy expensive interface leads (are you listening Yaesu?). I think you can also program one of the 705's front-panel buttons to act as a TUNE button. For the IC-7100 you’ll need a 3.5mm to Molex interface lead available from TechnoFix…

I see Waters & Stanton posted a video on 14 Aug 2021  virtually claiming that this ATU was designed specifically for the 705 but of course it's not - the Z-100PLUS was in production way before the 705 hit the shelves.

The ATU weighs 570g. Download the manual here.

Since writing this post, I've also bought an Elecraft T1 for portable use with my IC-705. The LDG is much cheaper and performs extremely well in terms of what it will tune-up. It's a great little ATU and I recommend it highly!

Thanks for visiting - please take a minute to leave a comment below 

73, Tom, M7MCQ.

NISSEI NS-1230D PSU

THE DIGITAL SCREEN PSU

Nissei have been producing electronic goods for over 50 years and I've found them to be a reasonably good product at the price point. This NS-1230D psu is the updated version of the 1230M and now includes an attractive Digital LCD screen instead of the older analogue meter.

NISSEI  NS-1230D  30A  PSU

This Switched Mode Power Supply unit provides up to 30A (surge) at 13.8V, although a maximum constant draw of 25A would be more realistic. The unit is incredibly compact for such an output, measuring just 127mm wide! On the front panel it has the large and bright display showing the output voltage and current, a variable voltage dial (4-16V) and two banana/binding posts for quick connection.

At the rear is has two sets of powerpole sockets. Personally, I've always used 4mm banana plugs and sockets, but I'm slowly moving over to Anderson Power Poles.It seems to me that everyone favours the powerpoles but in all honesty, I don't see a great advantage other than they can be stacked.

The NS-1230D has short-circuit and output over-voltage protection, so there's little chance of accidental damage to the unit by ham-fisted users. The psu is enclosed in a smart steel case and it weighs just 1.35Kg. The fan is reasonably quiet.

I plan to use this Nissei NS1230D to power my VHF/UHF radio and let my Alinco DM-330FX power my HF radio and the rest of the shack components.

SHACK PIC

Yes, Another Shack Photo!

Changed things around so that even the portable/mobile stuff is stored in the shack instead of being in cases.

QSL CARDS & CAP

NEW QSL DESIGN

Last night I had a little time on my hands so I designed a QSL CARD and ordered some to be printed by VistaPrint here in the UK. I also ordered a baseball cap.

ICOM IC-7400

And it arrived.....

The Icom IC-7400 arrived and I must say, it is MINT+++ with not a single mark or scratch on it. Very impressed! But how does it work?

Well after faffing around connecting it to power and to the MFJ 993B ATU, I soon discovered that yes, it works fine. Nice audio from the built-in speaker and without reading a single word of the original manual, I was soon chatting away on 40M SSB. I then flicked it over to 2M and chatted to some local friends who reported good signal and audio.

I was using the supplied (original) microphone but I will probably also buy a lead to give me the option of using my Adonis AM-708E desk-mic. The radio has built-in speech compression and you can also tailor the transmitted audio, with adjustment to both treble and bass.

The screen is big and bright - love it! There's lots of button, knobs and dials and they all have a great feel to them apart from the four tiny rotaries on the bottom left of the rig - they're just a bit too small for my liking. And they're proportionally longer than they need to be which always gives me the feeling that they'll be under undue lateral load over the years. It's also quite annoying not having a readout for the power-setting; you have to key-up to see the power on the bar-meter.

Moving from band to band and mode to mode is very simple and so too is the tuning - be it fine or coarse. The menu system is pretty intuitive and like I said, I've not had to pick up the owners manual yet.

At the back, the radio provides two HF antenna connections and one for 2M (all of them being SO-239). There's connections for a linear, data, tetc, etc and one for an external tuner. Speaking of tuners, the radio has one built-in and it's good for up to 3:1 matches.

It has a bandscope (of sorts) which was probably considered very good in its day, but it seems a bit old hat now that there are so many rigs with high resolution panadapters and waterfalls. It's one of those passive things that you have to manually set sweeping and the audio cuts out while it's doing so.

The filtering on the radio is pretty impressive and you can adjust the filter shapes in SSB & CW even on 2M! The radio uses the same 32-bit IF DSP as used in the IC-756 PRO-2 and overall, I really warmed to this radio right from the get-go. I look forward to using it more and will probably set it up in the shack for winter so that I'm completely familiar with it by the time it goes out on any field days.