I have been asked about the progress of the AntDecoder project. I have been working with a prototype PC board along with a 2X6 Antenna switch. The antenna switch is a homebrew model made by Mike, K4GMH. Mike was kind enough to provide the switch at minimal cost and also has supported this effort with... Continue Reading →
Updating FTDX-3000 Firmware
I finally decided it was time to update my FTDX-3000 to the latest Firmware. Yaesu has been good about making updates available for this Rig. Recent updates have greatly improved the spectral display including adding a nice waterfall below it, and added access to the 5 MHz Band using the Band buttons on the front... Continue Reading →
Building an Elecraft KAT-500 Antenna Tuner
I have had a number of automatic Antenna Tuners in recent years.I have had MFJ tuners, LDG tuners and the built-in tuners in my TS-930s, Elecraft K2, ICOM IC-7600, and Yaesu FTDX-3000. They have all worked pretty well. The first LDG tuner, the IT-1100 has been a real survivor. I put it in my mobile... Continue Reading →
Assembling Glen Martin Rt-424 Roof Tower
The RT-424 is a 4.5 foot tall roof-mounted tower for rotatable antennas. As I have heard, this looks like a nice product but the instructions leave something to be desired - something HUGE. Here are a few notes and warnings from my assembly process. Things you MUST know: There are 28 bolts, and eight of... 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 →
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 →
ARRL CWSS 2012 – Preparation
Well, hurricane Sandy did no damage to my Chesapeake Bayside QTH. I am thankful for that and I wish a quick recovery to those that were ravaged by this nasty storm. The winds did leave one of my antennas needing attention. The winds pulled my anchor for the center of my ZS6BKW antenna out of ... Continue Reading →
Options for using the IC-7600 on RTTY with a PC
There has been a bit of discussion on the IC-7600 newsgroup about using FSK vs. AFSK when connecting a computer to the radio. Here is a summary that I posted in that group. Hopefully it will help some others get a kick-start on the process: I found what I think is a good summary of... Continue Reading →
N1MM and Rig Control Macros
I am using my K2 remotely with N1MM for CW operation and Ham Radio Deluxe (HRD) for other modes. My problem was that I did not have good rig function control with N1MM. So I fnally started reading the N1MM manual and saw that you can encode rig control functions in the Macros, accessed via... Continue Reading →
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