There have been a few new arrivals to the EI2KC amateur station. I have not written a blog post in ages, but I have been active on the bands, chasing DX, ragchewing, occasionally contesting and improving the antennas and station setup.
A couple of weeks ago, I secured something of a bargain when I bought a "secondhand" Yaesu FTdx10, which turned out to have been completely unused by its only owner. Not only were the screen protectors still on it, but it hadn't been used and all the settings were at defaults. There wasn't a fingerprint or a speck of dust anywhere on the radio.
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| The brand new Yaesu FTdx10 is my new main HF/50Mhz rig. |
First impressions were quite fantastic, and I have found the digital noise reduction on this radio to be simply outstanding. The noise levels on the low bands in particular are reduced by engaging the DNR button and lowering the RF gain knob. Since its arrival, I have found the FTdx10 to be much superior to the Icom IC-7300 which it replaces - with one caveat. The Yaesu is more complex in terms of setup and menus, but once you get used to it it becomes clear that it deserves its second place rating on the Sherwood Engineering test page. It's the second-best receiver money can buy, after its big brother, the FTdx101D/MP.
To help with noise levels (I have a small garden in the middle of a housing estate), I also invested in a CMC-130-3K common mode filter from myantennas.com, which has been placed beneath the antenna switch in the shack. Furthermore, I have adjusted my nested inverted vees so that the lower ends of the 40m and 80m dipoles in particular are higher from the ground. All these things have improved my station's ability to hear weak DX stations. For instance, in the past few weeks - in the middle of summer - I have worked about five new countries on 80 metres alone. These included 9V1YC (James in Singapore) on FT8.
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| The new CMC-130-3K common mode filter from myantennas.com. |
The Icom IC-7300 will be staying, because I like it so much, and will become my main portable and static mobile radio. I have it fully set up with my laptop and Watson Multiranger antenna for CW, SSB and FT8 operation from my van. I bought side handles for the IC-7300 from WiMo to help protect the radio when lifting it in and out of the van.
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| My Icom IC-7300 with side handles sitting in the van, operating on 20m FT8. |
Just today, another new addition arrived all the way from China, in the form of a mini Putikeeg straight CW key, which cost a mere €38 including postage from China. I made a couple of QSOs with it and am very happy with how it operates. I have stuck it to the metal base alongside my other "cheap" morse key, the TUMD paddle which also came from China. See pictures below.
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| The new Putikeeg straight key is small but capable. And it looks great! |
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| The TUMD paddle and Putikeeg straight key mounted side by side. I now have the best of both worlds, and only need to swap out the cable from one to the other! |
Very nice to see a post from you Anthony. Very nice radio and just a question, did you make that RTTY contact with 3V8 with the radio alone or with a connected computer? Nice to see you got exactly the same sidehandles as me on the 7300. Btw I did only use the radio to make the RTTY contact. I rarely make RTTY contacts and I don't even know if it is still working on my computer. Have a good DX and till we meet on the bands. 73, Bas
ReplyDeleteHi Bas. I made the QSO with the computer, rather than the radio. I use Logger32 for logging, and for RTTY I use Logger32's built-in MMVARI engine. I must read more about the FTdx10 in terms of making direct RTTY QSOs. Always glad to read your comments on my blog! Thanks de EI2KC
DeleteSorry Bas. Just realised, I made my previous comment with a different Google login! Anyway, the QSO was made with MMVARI through Logger32. De EI2KC
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