I’ve owned an FT-857D for about six years now. I bought it for the same reason that I can’t bring myself to sell it – its diversity:
DC to daylight, a gazillion modes and all that…CW, V/UHF repeaters, satellite work, mobile operation, etc. Heavy on the etcetera.
The FM “easy-sats” were fun for a few days, APRS for a couple weeks and 2m FM for a few milliseconds.
Now there’s a new use for the ’857. An article in July’s QST talks about a way of converting the it (and other rigs) to a “psuedo SDR” radio. Continue reading 'The FT-857D: My most versatile and least-used rig'»
For most of March & part of April, I’ll have a lot of spare time on my hands and not many of life’s normal distractions – a dangerous combination. And I’ll be in that hotbed of cultural activity – Oklahoma City.
As William Clark said upon reaching the Pacific Ocean in 1805, “O! The joy!”
To fill in the idle hours I’ve arranged a series of projects that I’ll be posting about here: Continue reading 'Upcoming for March'»
January is shaping up to be a great month for DXing…except for the Spratley Island problems.
UPDATE: Postponed indefinitely. Bummer.
According to Bernie W3UR and other sources, the team that was supposed to have aired January 6 is still being held up by customs with no definitive word yet on their likelihood of obtaining permission to operate. A lot of big plans and a lot of big money has been put into this endeavor – hopefully it will come to pass.
I’ve added two new overall countries to my log this week – SV5 Dodecanese on 40m and T88 Palau on 17m. And last night, with incredible luck, ST2AR Sudan on 80m. Lucky because he worked two stations after me, then went QRT. I had Sudan on 80m from my old Nueva Jersey QTH, worked during a previous DXpedition (ST0RY), but it was good to get them on that band from here in Texas.
And speaking of DX, the Utah DX Association has a 44-page book on DXing in pdf format available free for your pleasure. Continue reading 'January miscellany'»
A few months ago a lightning strike took out some of the equipment here. All of it was soon replaced, with one exception – my FT857D.
After the strike, the ’857 would no longer power up and a check of the fuses showed them to be okay. I’ve only used a repair service once before, one with whom I was quite happy. Unfortunately, N1EQ (who I continue to recommend highly) doesn’t work on the smaller mobile DC-daylight rigs. A call to several other services, based on their eHam reviews, ended with the same result – no one wants to touch these tiny rigs! Continue reading 'Yaesu customer service'»
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