I have been using the DX Doubler (DXD) by Top Ten devices as my central Station controller. This box is widely known as an SO2R box for Contesters using two radios, but it is a great solution for anyone with two radios who wants to use a single Mike, Headset, Keyer, etc. Instead of buying... Continue Reading →
In Contests, Seconds Count
I attended a Meeting and Food Fest at the NR4M "Goat Farm" today. This is the location of an incredible Multi-Multi Ham Station like nothing I have ever seen before. It is one of the Flagship Stations of the Potomac Valley Radio Club PVRC, which I joined last November. There was a great bunch of... Continue Reading →
IC-7600 V2 Firmware Upgrade – FINALLY!
I have been complaining that ICOM has not provided any software upgrade for the IC-7600 in the three years I have owned mine. In the past year, they offered upgrades for both of the "bigger" transceivers in the family, the IC-7700 and IC-7800. So I was hoping they would give us something for our 7600... Continue Reading →
VA QSO Party 2015 – Plaque Sponsorship
I have the opportunity this year, for the first time, to sponsor an award plaque for the 2015 VA QSO Party. The plaque I will be sponsoring is for the Single Operator Station that works the most VA Counties and Cities. This award is available to any station. I am especially happy to sponsor this... Continue Reading →
K2 Survives (apparently) the “Alpha Brick-on-the-Key” Test
You have probably seen that advertisement in the Ham magazines, where the Alpha Amp's toughness is shown by a brick on a hand key. Well I did something close to that this weekend with my K2, by accident of course. I was getting a RTTY setup ready for the upcoming VAQP Contest. Everything was setup... Continue Reading →
ARRL DX CW Contest
Last weekend I worked the 2015 ARRL CW DX contest. I could not put in a full-time effort, so I entered in the "Assisted" category. This allows you to use a Telnet (or other) spotting service that provides a realtime list of active stations that you can work. It also highlights potential new multipliers. I... Continue Reading →
Don’t Ever Do this – Flaming Someone that asks a question to an email reflector
Here is a response I got when I asked a question on a Ham Radio Forum about people's experience using RF Sensing External Antenna Tuners with a particular radio: ************************************************************************************ Let's play a game: It is called... "Find the Provision." Here is how it works: 1 Start a stopwatch. 2 Do a Web search to... Continue Reading →
Comparing the ICOM IC-7600 and the Yeasu FTDX-3000 – UPDATED 1/21/2018
No more updates to this Post. Interesting developments in the marketplace. The prices on used IC-7600 radios are crashing, apparently as a result of the introduction of the IC-7300 and the IC-7610. I still love both radios, but at these prices, it would be hard to turn down a 7600. Whichever way you go, enjoy... Continue Reading →
FTDX3000 USB Virtual COM Ports
Setup of the USB interface with the FTDX3000 is very simple but it can seem confusing. It is only confusing because people may not be familiar with the idea of a Virtual COM Port, which only exists inside the USB connection between the FTDX3000 and the PC. Yeasu has done a nice job of implementing... Continue Reading →
FTDX3000 USB Interface with N1MM+
This note is to help you setup your FTDX3000 with N1MM+ using WINDOWS (I am using WINDOWS 7). I am using only the USB interface. So the Radio has one cable to the PC, the USB cable. BEFORE YOU CONNECT THE USB CABLE, install the FTDX3000 USB Driver from Yaesu using the instructions that come... Continue Reading →
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