Tuesday, July 13, 2010

More new gear on the way

Another New Rig!

While debating on what radio to use in my car I came between the fact that I like having the all mode capability of the FT-857D (current mobile rig) and the fact that APRS functionality would be nice for my VHF+ contest activities. So I went ahead and ordered a Kenwood TM-D710 APRS Dual band radio. I already own a Garmin GPS Map 60CSX and the interface cable so this would be a nice addition to my mobile setup. See Stock picture below.

The nice thing about this radio is that it will display your 6 digit grid square on the screen based on your position that the radio receives from the GPS....cool, no more guessing while I am in run and gun mode while in the Rover! 73 De KC2PLJ

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Update

A lot of things have been going on that has left me with very little time to update my Blog. So I will try to go over what has been going on in the past year with this and future updates.

First and foremost. New Radios! I went ahead and purchased a TS-2000 as a backup HF and a primary VHF/UHF radio. So far so good! With 100 watts on HF 6, 2, and 50 watts on 432 this rig is excellent as a VHF contest hub and also for the person that is starting working weak signal VHF/UHF. The current function is to supplement my FT-950 and so far it has been great in doing so! I really like the fact that it has dedicated antenna ports and even an "N" type connector for the UHF side of business. A stock picture is below:



I also purchased a Transverter for 222 mhz SSB operation that matches up great with my FT-817ND as it takes 5 watts to drive it and produces about 25 watts out using a 28 mhz IF. The Elecraft XV222 came to me in Kit form and was a nice little project that required some solder and component placement. These units are really nice! Of course it drifts a little as with any transverter but not enough to make using it unpleasant or difficult.

Anderson Power poles. I have upgraded all my power connections to include anderson power pole connectors and have been impressed at the ease of use and inter connectivity of the system with my mobile set up and home qth. I have crimped most connections and soldered a few, it really makes no difference in my opinion as to what way you do it.

Antennas. This is the part that matters the most! (we all know and repeat that). I have acquired many new VHF and UHF Yagis to use during the contests. Most of my antennas are made by Dave, K1WHS at Directive Systems. I do have an M2 UHF yagi also. Here they are from lowest Frequency to highest:

1. 144-6RS Rover Yagi (actually now have 2 of these for stacking!!)
2. 222-8R 8 element 222 mhz yagi (I needed something to use with that new transverter!!)
3. 432-15RS 15 element Rover special for 432 Mhz, so far it has played nice!
4. M2 432-12EME This is my only M2 antenna and is 12 elements on appx 10 foot boom.

So there it is. A nice new host of beams to take out and play in the VHF+ contests with.

My other activity that I have been playing in is VHF Roving. Being a rover in VHF+ contests is pretty much how it sounds. You operate from different grid squares and then pack up and move to a different one. (I will get more detailed on this activity when I can dedicate a whole new blog post on roving!!)

73 DE KC2PLJ