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Update 13/09/2015: After 2 weeks of mostly JT65/9 contacts due to bad band conditions I am really missing CW! I did manage to have a nice CW rag-chew for over an hour on the local Antique Wireless Association's net yesterday so that was fun. But I need some CW DX soon....

This weekend we had the local SARL Field Day but I did not really compete, might do it again sometime of I can go put up a field station but from home it is boring plus I am still a bit "anti" SARL due to them doing things their way and not listening to members. I did make a few contacts, CW and SSB but mostly to people I know.

Since I am slowly becoming more mobile and want to spend some time out of bed I cleaned up some cabling in the shack today, slowly getting ready to move back to my usual operating position rather than the "bed-side-shack", looking forward to that! The last full weekend in October is the CQ WW SSB contest and I would like to compete from a real shack!

Talking about contest, I see the CQ WW RTTY contest is the end of this month, I am not a huge RTTY fan but I think it will be fun to make some contacts, it would also be a chance to hopefully add a few more DXCC entities to my digital totals. Before the I just need to play a bit more with my RTTY setup to see how much power I would realistically need.....  

Update 10/09/2015: A quick note on the CW interface that I use to key my radio via the computer. I use this in conjunction with N1MM+ logger during contests. I have had a few readers ask me for more information. Here is the very simple circuit and a photo of the final device build "ugly style" into an old DB9 connector. I have been using this circuit for many years on many different radios and programs without any issues. The circuit can also be used with a USB to RS232 converter.

Basic CW keying circuit, you can use DTR or RTS to key.

The completed CW keying circuit.

Update 09/09/2015: I found some time to look through some stored stuff. I found a box with valves that I had completely forgotten about, it must have been in storage since around 1998. I was a mix of glass valves, mostly driver valves and spares for my FT-200 radios. There were also quite a few ceramic amplifier valves, Eimac 4CX250/350 and 3CX800's's still brand new, need to build something to use them! I must have around 12 4CX250's that are brand new.

Eimac 4CX250's need to find a use for them!

I also ran across a Webster BandSpanner mobile HF antenna, complete with spring and mount, never used. I must try it sometime and maybe compare it to my trusty Hustler.

While I was up and about I also checked my 6m antenna, hopefully the 6m TEP season will start soon, all seems well so with a bit of luck we will be working into Europe again in the next few weeks, time will tell....

6m Yagi just waiting for TEP season!

Update 05/09/2015: Sometimes I wonder about radio amateurs, well some of them anyway..... After publishing the results of the CQ WPX contest below many of the local, and not so local guys congratulated me, great! BUT, for two of the local guys it did not go down well, negative and snide remarks were posted, amazing.... Funny but the old saying "jealousy makes you nasty" still applies. I have noticed that this is not only aimed at me, the same guys treat others who do well the same. Shame on you, you know who you are! If you cannot be happy for someone else then chances are you will never be happy....

Anyway, let's forget about the "Haters", they will always "hate", poor suckers.....

The bands have not been good, I have been DX'ing every day but mostly on JT65 with a few CW contacts every now and then. I am hoping for a bit more activity over the weekend.

On a different note, with my health improving in leaps and bounds I have been thinking about my radio/amplifier collection again, time to add something to the collection? I have been thinking of getting a nice radio that can run from 12V, something that I can use away from home, but not from the bush and also something I can use when we have power outages here in dark Africa. I have lots of storage batteries and solar chargers but I prefer to not run inverters, they are just too noisy so 12V operation is preferred.

At the moment I am looking at two different radios, the Yaesu FTdx-3000 and the Icom IC-7600. They both have pros and cons. The 7600 has the nicer screen and scope, and the 3000 has the better receiver. Time to do some research, always fun!  

Update 02/09/2015: Well, the final results are out! I am happy to report that I managed to capture #1 South Africa, #1 Africa and #1 World in the category I entered. As it turned out my decision to use 10m was a good one and chasing multipliers rather than lots of QSO's also works. I think I can safely say that my contest strategy is working!

You can see the certificates (10m QRP unassisted and Tribander Low power) below.

The main 10m QRP single operator unassisted certificate.


The overlay Tribander 10m low power certificate, not sure why they put me in the low power and not QRP?


Contest committee comments as published in CQ Magazine.

My full write-up about this contest can be found HERE  

Update 30/08/2015: With the bands being really dead I have had some fun recently on JT65. Even when CW signals are in the noise I can still make contacts on JT65 running very low power. Most of the time I run 5-20W. I have been concentrating on 80m, 40m and 30m most of the time, this is because these are my "weak" bands as far as DCXX is concerned to there are still plenty countries to be added. In 2 weeks of intermittent operation I have added more than 30 band-slots, this is slowly pushing these neglected bands closer to DXCC.

JT65 is a very slow mode, a contact can take from 4 to 6 minutes but it is still better than making no contacts!

Even on days with no signals in the CW portions of the bands you can often find lots of activity on JT65!

Lots of JT65 signals on 40m!

Most people run very low power on JT65, unfortunately not everyone and they then spoil it for others by splattering and blocking large portions of the band segment used. Unfortunately we have a couple of local guys who obviously do not understand that high power is not only not needed, it is not desirable! From the way some of the local signals (and a few DX stations) look is seems like they are running huge power...

Look at this ugly dirty local signal, and no, the guy (I know who it is) is not close to me....

Update 08/08/2015: The last week has been rather quiet on the bands but yesterday things started picking up and today 20 and 15m was packed with contest stations again, lots of fun! It was nice to work strings of stations again mostly with good signal reports. I am hoping for the same tomorrow. Tomorrow morning I would like to try some 80m DX before sunrise, hoping the band will behave! I have not managed to do any restoration work recently, very frustrating with the Yaesu FL/FR station waiting for me, unfortunately it will have to wait till my back has healed, still around 2 months to go so for now my only ham radio activity is a bit of DX'ing..... 

Update 29/07/2015: My first update for a long time! The operation was a success and I have been home for 2 weeks. I am still bed bound but the pain is a lot better now. I have been active a bit, mostly 20 and 15m CW in the afternoon, my bed-side station is working well but doing everything while you are flat on your back is not so much fun. At least the radios entertain me most of the day when I am bored listening to some of the local nets on 40 and 80m.

I did manage to work around 40 IOTA stations last weekend in the IOTA contest, was fun!

Band conditions are not great, hoping they will improve soon.

Update 05/07/2015: 20m was open till late last night and this morning when I switched on it was still open, great fun! Signals are mostly weak, seldom more than S4, but workable even on QRP power level if you have patience. After working a few stations I was surprised to be called by a KH6, Hawaii, station, my little 5W signal was readable on the other side of the world!

Today will be the last day for a while that I can operate from my main station, I know I am going to miss having more than one radio online at the same time...

Main station in full swing, having lots of fun!

I am not sure when I will be able to update this page again, but I will as soon as I can, see you then! And if I do not update this page again, please know that amateur radio enriched my life a lot and gave me many happy hours, it also made me many great friends all over the world!

73 till we meet again, Rudi de ZS6DX/V51VE  

Update 04/07/2015: The past week was hectic on the work front and VERY quiet on the amateur radio side. The bands were really in a bad state with a couple of major solar flares. I only managed to make a few DX contacts every day, there were even two days with no contacts!

I have now received my next restoration project, the Yaesu station consisting of a the FL-101 transmitter, FR-101 receiver and FL-1000 amplifier. The equipment seems complete, other than the lack of a microphone, but it is in a rather sad state, there is lots of rust on the outside and the inside as well as outside is filthy. I will put it away for another day, I do not have the energy or time now, it is going to be a major job to get it up to a reasonable standard, a bit sad......

We had a lot of discussions on the local social page dedicated to amateur radio as well as the SARL (South African Radio League) forum this week. The discussion started around if dealers, or those who some perceive as dealers, should be allowed to advertise on the swop page. The majority seemed to be for it, only a few SARL officials, and their friends were against it. But it seemed like there was no democracy or negotiation. And then it turned into a mud slinging session with people getting VERY personal and saying things that are downright deformation of character. They can be glad I was not the one on the receiving side, I would have sued them in a blink. The local bunch of amateurs are mostly great, but there are a few real sour apples in the bunch. Funny, it seems they are the same people who have flung bad "vibes" my way as well... One thing is sure, I will make sure I no longer mix with certain people, and I will avoid the SARL in general since they seem to support this behavior by not doing anything about it....

On a brighter note, the bands were a bit better today and I had lots of DX fun from my "bedroom" station, I wanted to see how well it works and I am happy, I will have fun while I am bed bound over the next three months. I will be going into hospital this coming Tuesday, but I will also be there for tests on Monday so Sunday is my last "free" day. The operation is scheduled for around 1pm on Wednesday, then I will spend 7-10 days in hospital if all goes well before going home. So there will be at least 7-10 days of no amateur radio, other than reading magazines that I have downloaded on my iPad, and maybe a few contacts on Echolink. I know I am going to miss DX'ing.

For a change I also had time to report into the Antique Wireless Association's CW net this afternoon, it is always great to have a chat with old friends and like minded people, a rather nice bunch compared to some of the arrogant prima donna clique of local contesters and DX'ers.... I will make a point of reporting into this net more often, my faith in the local amateur population was restored to a large degree after this session!

Having fun with the "classic" stack, FT-102 at the top active with a FT-990 below that and a TS-930S at the bottom, all great radios!

I am hoping tomorrow will bring more good conditions, we have a special lunch planned but there should be time for some DX!     

Update 29/06/2015: Not a very active amateur radio weekend. Saturday was really cold and miserable and my back was really sore so I did not do much, hardly spent time in the shack. Today was a bit better so I got stuck into the big job of setting up a mini shack in the bedroom. I ended up moving the antenna cables as well as the rotator controller. I setup a temporary station just using spare radios to test, in this case one of my trusty old IC-756's for HF and a IC-706 for VHF/UHF. I also installed an amplifier, the FL-7000, just in case the bands get really bad, and I get desperate....

Due to the very limited space next to the bed, and the larger radios than the single one I will eventually use (FT-991) I had to make a temporary plan with the tuner I use on the G5RV for 40m-160m and the power/SWR meter. It should be neater once I move the 991 into position...

Compact bed-side station.

I wanted to do most of the bed-side station setup his weekend rather than next weekend as I did not want to take a chance and have something happen next weekend that prevents me for doing it. The thought of being stuck on my back for 3 months without a radio within reach is rather depressing! But it is done and as a test I worked a few CW stations on 10 and 15m. One of the contacts was a nice long rag-chew with DF4MV, I just love CW!

Update 25/06/2015: I have added a page that shows some of the interesting QSL cards I have received. For now these are mostly electronic cards but as I get time I will scan in more paper cards. I will add to the collection as time allows and as new interesting cards come in. I need to go through my old collection as well, I have over 17 000 cards "filed" in boxes. You can see the growing collection from the link on the home page or directly from HERE

Almost weekend, the plan is to move a basic station to my bedroom this weekend in preparation of my 3 months on my back that starts soon. The bands have been quite bad the last few days with lots of solar disturbances, maybe it will get better over the weekend!  

Update 23/06/2015: While browsing around on the internet today I found an interesting link of a QSO I had with EA6DX on 6m. He video recorded the QSO and posted the video on YouTube. I can remember the QSO well, I called CQ and a whole lot of stations came back to me. I heard a 6DX and wondered if someone repeated my call so I sent "6DX?". EA6DX came back to me and we exchanged signal reports and grid locators before I continued working the pile-up. Here is the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9LPleDstiQ

Today I only had one QSO, it was with Hartmut - DK2SC on 15m CW, we had a really long and nice chat, I am sure it is one of the longest CW QSO's I have had for quite a while, it was fun!

I am hoping to hear from the transport company who is shipping my Yaesu FR/FL-101 and FL-1000, it would be great if I can spend some time on it this weekend!

Update 22/06/2015: After a hectic day at work I did not have much time or energy for amateur radio, but I did call CQ a few times on 15m, running at 60wpm I did not get many "bites" but the few I got were fun. Most of them were UW and UA stations with a PY added for fun. Interesting that even after calling CQ and working stations in South America and Europe/Asia I did not get a single spot on RBN, this proves my point that RBN does not paint a realistic picture when high speed CW is involved. But some locals, like ZS4TX, does not seem to realize this.....

I also spent some time looking at incoming QSL cards, nothing special in todays batch but I did enjoy the card from DS5DNO, Republic of Korea, just wish it was a P5 from North Korea, but I suppose that will only happen once the world is rid of that crazy little dictator running that poor country.....

A nice contact from the Republic of Korea, thanks Terry!

 Also in the batch I found OD5PY from Lebanon with a great message on it, great card and message Marwan! I wonder if that is his son?

Interesting card from Marwan - OD5PY

 And last but not least in the "interesting" group of QSL cards we have VK9XSP, Christmas Island IOTA OC-002, not a DXCC entity that I have worked often!

Looks like the guys had fun!

I am planning on doing some work on my old Yaesu FL-2100Z amplifier this week, a service and I want to add a second fan since the standard fan is not really capable of keeping the 2 x 572B's cold. The amp was working fine but I think it can be improved. What prompted this?

Well, in a  quick deal this weekend I "procured" some equipment for my collection, a complete station consisting of the Yaesu "Twins" and an amplifier. The Yaesu FR-101 receiver, Yaesu FL-101 transmitter and Yaesu FL-1000 amplifier. I am hoping to restore the station to full functionality to use on the weekly Antique Wireless Association's weekly net. I know the weak point will be the FL-1000 amplifier, the sweep tubes used in this amplifier are not really robust and very difficult to find these days.  So this is where the FL-2100Z comes in, I will restore the FL-1000 but for general use I think the FL-2100Z would be a better option.

Time will tell what the condition of the station is, hope to be posting some photos soon......

Time to clean up the old lady and give her a service, fortunately I have a nice stock of NOS, non Chinese, 572B's

Update 21/06/2015: 15m was alive and well today with the AA contest in full swing, like yesterday I worked a few before getting bored with only working JA stations. I did work a few Thailand stations, a Mongolian station and a lot of Chinese stations as well so it was worth it.

While having fun on the air I also played a bit with my SDR enhanced IC-756 Pro3. The band scope on the Icom is rather small and does not have a waterfall option but the added SDR band scope is a lot better. A few hours on HF running CW proved that the scope works well, it also proved that the IC-756ProIII is not my favorite CW radio. The RX is noisy with lots of clicks when the band gets busy with strong signals, giving it a real digital sound. I though this was the noise blanker but it is the same with the NB off.

The pass band is also not even with higher frequencies, above 1000Hz being favored, would have been nice it was around 600-700Hz, far better for CW. I tried to compensate with IF shift and tried to play with the DSP options but it is still not perfect. In general the older IC-756 is better, a nice even pass band and no RX clicks when there are strong signals.

Time to go back to Yaesu for CW after having played with a few Icom radios over the last few days, I know my ears will appreciate it!       

IC-756ProIII on 15m, lots of CW stations even early in the morning. Not the best CW radio in the shack....


SDR based band scope with waterfall display connected to the IC-756ProIII showing a few active stations.

This afternoon a few friends activated a SOTA summit, ZS/MP-013 and later ZS/MP-014. I managed to work them on 40m while they were on ZS/MP-013 but by the time they got to ZS/MP-014 the 40m band was closed for local contacts and they were too close for 20m. Well, that is the way it is, you win some and some you never hear! Well done Sid, Adele, Magda and Lucas for activating two more SOTA peaks!

I am hoping to be fit enough again after my operation to activate a few peaks as well, have not been able to do it for far too long.....

A update on the AAA contest as discussed yesterday, I am happy to report that the local organizers have received a letter from the RSGB contest organizer asking the locals to change the dates. The reasons mentioned are exactly the same as what I mentioned, but I was shot down by some locals. Now people are listening and the contest will be moved. As I said, you win some and.... Well, this one is a win and I will take part in this contest next year, hoping for good conditions, maybe we can put Africa in a few more logbooks!

Update 20/06/2015: A rather cold weekend, best spent in front of the radios! The bands are not in great shape but 15m seems to be producing some contacts. There is an All Asia CW contest running this weekend. It is making for lots of activity but unfortunately it is one of those silly contests where you can only work Asian stations, unless you are in Asia then you can work the world. As a rule I do not really support contests like these, it is far too frustrating hearing good DX and not being able to work them!

A far better arrangement for this kind of contest is to give stations in the appropriate area, like Asia in this case, higher multipliers than the rest of the world so you encourage the world to work them, but everyone can work everyone, else I feel the contest is rather "selfish"......

I did work a few stations, but I won't send in my logs in silent protest of the rules....

And on the point of contest rules, our local "All Africa All mode" contest clashed with the Beru contest this year taking away the focus on Africa and causing quite a bit of confusion. Amazingly enough some locals are now advocating keeping the date and running the contest along with the Beru contest! Interestingly the people who are advocating this the loudest did not even bother to compete in this year's contest, so they did not experience the mess we had! I am afraid if this is the way it will be I won't support this, the last SARL contest that I was still supporting, next year. Let's see what will happen and if sanity will prevail.......

Out of boredom I played a bit with PSK31 again today. I made a few contacts but I have to admit the mode really does not inspire me, seems way to much like the computer making the contact and not me. What I did play with was to run a remote PSK station, using HRD to control the radio and Remote Desktop to see the screen. It seems to work well. I also tried it running CW but I am not happy with the fine tuning of the RX, I need to look at more user friendly software then HRD to do this.

I know theoretically PSK31/63 is a lot more efficient than CW and you can work signals a lot weaker, but I have to say I am not experiencing this. I just about always run only 5W on CW and I make lots of contacts. I have noticed that on the PSK modes I really need to run 50W to be heard, else I get no contacts. And this is on the same band and antenna where I can make lots of CW contacts during the same time! I am not sure if this is the mode or maybe the users? Maybe equipment used? What power and antennas are most PSK users running? The subject deserves further investigation, when I have time, during my coming forced spell in bed, I will make some more PSK contacts and ask about antennas and power.

Old work-horse IC-756 being used to test remote PSK operation.

While I was playing around I decided to test the recently repaired IC-746 on CW as well. The radio does not have CW filters installed but I wanted to see how well the BPF and the APF filters work. Well, it turns out the BPF filter works well, but you cannot really make it narrow, the narrowest setting is still around 1000Hz but it works well. The APF filter can go a LOT narrower than this but it has a limitation, close strong signals still pump the AGC to the extend that the signal in the filter pass-band simply disappears when there is a strong local signal, you cannot hear the close signal but it still blocks the wanted signal.

This is different than the APF filters I have tested on Yaesu radios like the FT-847/857/897/991/950. On these radios strong signals close to the APF pass-band do not seem to cause trouble by "pumping" the AGC and de-sensitizing the receiver and the APF filters acts just like a narrow CW IF filter. I have always quite liked the 746, the SSB audio is good and it is solidly build, unfortunately the poor CW performance really kills this radio for me! Score one for Yaesu.....

Testing the IC-746 on CW, in the past I only used it on SSB and digital modes. It is not the best CW radio without CW IF filters.

Update 19/06/2015: Friday and a weekend ahead again. This afternoon the bands were quite dead again. I only spent a short while in the shack, my back was really not happy with me sitting, I suppose after a long day at the office I need to rest it a bit. I am actually considering moving a radio to the bedroom this weekend, it is a week or 2 earlier than planned as I wanted to do it just before the operation and becoming bed-bound for a few months. I think the longer I wait the more difficult it will be.

I listened to a bunch of local guys on 160m last night, using the G5RV, but it was obvious that even though I can tune the antenna to resonance on 160m it really does not work well, I need to get a better option in the air. I suppose I won't get it done for this winter, will have to wait till next year.....

Update 18/06/2015: I managed to work a few stations this afternoon on 15m, the band was a lot better than the last few days, I am hoping the good conditions will last a few days.

The post I made yesterday with the QSL card made me think about other cards I have received over the years, the original paper cards, like the Z81X card, and also newer electronic QSL cards. I think I will post a few of them every now and then.

Here are two old 6m QSL cards, these are special since these countries are not always so easy to work on 6m.

Lebanon

The well known Koji Tahara, this time in Jordan, I still own a radio that belonged to him.

Update 17/06/2015: Band conditions have been really poor the last few days! I have only been hearing really weak signals on the normally active 10/15 and 20m bands. 40 and 80m have been great locally with low noise, but that is not really my scene. I am hoping things will improve by the weekend, I know a large sunspot group has just rotated into sight, it should improve the situation.

I received a nice surprise in the mail today, even though I did not request a QSL card I received a Republic of South Sudan card, thanks!

Thanks Olli! Hope to work you again from some other exotic location!

Update 16/06/2015: We finally have the results of the All Africa All Mode DX contest! There were so many categories, some with only a few competitors, that I am listing the scores from highest to lowest, for the top 10, below regardless of the class. Note that my score, as a QRP CW only station, is higher that all other competitors even the one's running high power and mixed mode. I am quite happy with the result!

Position	Call		Class					Score

1            	ZS6DX      	Single op - QRP - All Band - CW           2002
2            	ZS1VV      	Single op - High power - 10m - SSB        1940
3            	ZS1TMJ     	Single op - High power - All Bands - SSB  1694
4            	ZS6AI      	Single op - Low power - All bands - SSB   1528
5            	UA4PM      	Single op - High power - 10m - Mixed      1308
6            	ZS1EL      	Single op - high power - All band - CW    1197
7            	UT1DX  		Single op - High power - 10m - Mixed      1146
8            	K3PA    	Single op - High power - All band - Mixed 1129
9            	V51WW 		Single op - Low power - All band - SSB    1127
10           	RT7M    	Single op - Low power - 10m - Mixed       1032

So even though I had limited time to compete I ended up with a result that I am really happy with! I am hoping the 2016 version of this contest will be even better and I will make a serious effort to do well again!

Update 13/06/2015: As my back is still giving me a hard time I have been keeping activity levels low. At least this has resulted in more time for amateur radio, even if i is just short sessions between resting my back!

I had another look at my Icom IC-746 with the tuner problem today. Well, after going through all the adjustments again like SWR sensitivity and resetting all the cables and resoldering all suspect solder joints it is now working perfectly! I have to admit I do not quite trust the situation as I did not find a definite fault. I will use it for a while to make sure it is ok. I hope so, I have always enjoyed the radio. I had a long SSB rag-chew on it today and received good audio reports. Even after long overs at 100W it stays cool. Think I will try some CW on it as well.

Icom IC-746 up and running again!

While I had the soldering iron out I decided to also fix my old FC-901 manual tuner. The power and SWR meters were no longer working. I suspected that the detecting diodes were blown, possibly by running too high power through it. It is rated at 500W but it could have been exposed to more.

The first thing I noticed when I had it open was how well it was constructed, really built like a tank!

The inside of the FC-901 tuner, beautifully made!


The problem area, I replaced the power/SWR detecting diodes.

It was not difficult to replace the diodes, turned out that solved the problem! I replaced the diodes with one's that can handle higher power, hopefully that will allow the tuner to handle a bit more power, it is built so robustly with heavy duty components I am sure it will be ok up to 750W or so, but I will limit it to 500W to be safe.

FC-901 working again.

I made a few CW contacts every day over the last week, unfortunately nothing new but still fun! Today there was some EU contest running, exchange was RST and CQ zone so I had fun giving away some points. Hoping for some more fun tomorrow.   

Update 10/06/2015: I have not been posting here often lately, I have not only been busy but also not feeling well due to my back problem and the medication I am taking. Well, there is hope, my operation is confirmed for 8 July, I will spend a week or so in hospital and then 3 months at home recovering. During those 3 months I am hoping to be active on the radio a lot! I won't be able to sit but I can still talk and send CW while lying on my back!

I have managed to spend some time on the air lately, Other than playing with the new FT-991 I also managed to find the time to do a bit of DX'ing. 15m has been the band of choice recently with some decent opening most days.

I also managed to spend some time on the air during the CW WPX CW contest, I worked a few bands but concentrated on 15m CW QRP, it was tough going most of the time but also real fun! My totals were not huge but I did send in my log, time will tell how well/badly I did... I used the FT-991 and I must say I am really impressed, this radio is really great, I did not once wish I was using one of my larger radios, the RX performed really well even in the rather crowded conditions of a wide open 15m band during a contest!

Having some QRP fun during the CQ WPX CW contest.

The results for the ARRL 10m contest were also released recently, I did reasonably well even though I could not spend much time on the air during the contest, my mom had a stroke and a few other things went wrong. You can read the full report with results HERE.

As a summary I managed first in class (QRP CW) in Africa and 7'th in the world, not too bad. I am hoping I will get more time this year during the contest.  

Update 25/05/2015: After a rather busy day at work I managed to spend a hour or two in the shack this afternoon, always good therapy! I am still playing with the little FT-991 and it is behaving really well. It is actually working so well that I sometimes forget I am running a "little" radio and not one of my base station radios, it really sounds that good and the RX is that clean and selective. I have never used a portable/mobile radio before that was even nearly as good as this. The Elecraft K3 that I used also had a RX that was selective and had good dynamic range, BUT, I could never forget what radio I was using, the noisy RX (white noise) and the "build in the garage" feel of the controls would never allow me to make that mistake... (Sorry K3 lovers!!)

Well done Yaesu, I believe the FT-991 will become a classic and you will sell LOTS of them!

The bands were in a reasonable condition, well 15 and 20m at least, 10m was open but signals were weak. I worked quite a few DX stations running 5W but nothing special, well, I suppose 5Z0L is special, they had a large pile-up on 20m but it was not a new one for me, still worked them just for fun!

I think I need to start getting ready for the CQ WPX CW contest from tomorrow, no more playing with the FT-991. Since I do not have the correct config file for Omnirig to interface to the FT-991, and my logging program uses Omnirig to get the frequency information from the radio, I don't think I will use the FT-991 for the contest, will pick another radio tomorrow.

On a different note, I just realized that around this time last year I came back on the air after my 11 year "quiet spell". I must say the last year has been fun and I am looking forward to the next year!  

Update 24/05/2015: What a pleasant and peaceful weekend! I am still having a bad time with my back so I planned to rest as much as possible. I am hoping to get a date for the pending operation this week, the sooner the better!

I did get time to play with the FT-991, not only making many QSO's but also spending time making direct comparisons between the 991 and other radios in my shack. Initially I wanted to compare it to the radio it replaced in the Yaesu line, the FT-897. First I did a physical comparison, when you compare the FT-991 with a FT-897 including the attached FC-30 tuner, a fair comparison as the FT-991 has an internal tuner, you can see that the FT-991 is slightly smaller, quite a feat from Yaesu!

FT-991 on top of the older FT-897

Next I did some direct A vs. B comparisons on HF of the two receivers. It did not take long to see that the FT-991's RX is far superior to the FT-897's RX. The DSP is also far better and so is the DSP IF width filter. A few more tests comparing it to a IC-746Pro and IC-758Pro3 showed just how good the little FT-991 is! The RX is quite but sensitive and selective, even running a nice pile-up on 15m I could pick out S0 stations calling amongst many S9 signals. On the FT-897/IC-746 those S0 signals simply did not exist. Even the IC-756Pro3 struggled and the FT-991 was the winner in all tests.

I will next compare it to the Yaesu FT-847/950/1000MP mkV/FT-2000 and lastly the mighty FTdx-5000MP. I know it won't beat the 5000MP but there could be a few surprises, initial tests shows that it is better than the 847, next I will test against the FT-950.

The menu system on the FT-991 works really well, Yaesu managed to make a menu driven radio easy to use with a combination of front panel controls and the touch screen, other manufacturers should take note.
Below are a few screenshots of the FT-991 menus, you push the dedicated front panel control to call up the many and then simply touch the required menu item on the screen!

Band selection

Mode selection

Main configuration menu, you scroll through the items with the multi function knob

Soft button selection, the ones you use most you can select to be displayed permanently at the bottom of the screen.

Normal operating screen, you can also select a waterfall display below the band scope.

 As a test I made up cables to connect the FT-991 to my Yaesu FL-7000 amplifier, easy with the use of the manual. The result was an amplifier that follows the band changes from the radio and, if you want to, also tunes the antenna for each band from memory or by keying the radio.

In between all these tests I also worked a bunch of stations, mostly on 15m but also on 10 and 20m. Interesting catches were M0RSE for a nice call, and Gibraltar and Liberia for new QRP entities.

I have now decided I like the FT-991 so much that I will be using it as my "Bed-side" radio for my enforced 6 week (3 months?) plus recovery period after my operation. I am hoping conditions will be good enough to have lots of radio fun during that period.

Before that happens I still need to re-route my antenna and rotator cables from the shack to the bedroom, not a fun task as I want to take the over the roof to be a bit neater that through the house.

Next weekend is the CQ WPX CW contest, if I am not in hospital I am hoping to put in a semi serious effort in this contest, the only reason it would not be a major effort is that because of my back pain I struggle to sit for long periods and I also won't be able to take time off from work. I normally take the Monday after a contest off as some recovery time. If nothing else I hope to have some fun and maybe add a few new band slots to my collection. I have not decided on what equipment I will be using, it might well be the FT-991 to give it a serious workout. Since there is a large possibility that we will have load shedding during the weekend I would need to use a 12V radio anyway, so that disqualifies my FTdx-5000MP/FT-2000/FT-1000MP mk5 leaving me with the Icom IC-756/Pro3 or the FT-950 amongst the better radios. Will think about it during the week.....

Update 21/05/2015: The latest addition to my shack, the Yaesu FT-991 arrived today. I managed to set it up and make a few CW contacts. So far it is looking good. I am aware of one issue/bug that is still left in the firmware but if you know about it is not a problem. I am hoping Yaesu will release new firmware soon!

Setting up the audio feed via the USB cable was easy, the CW keying via the USB part also works well. I have not tried CAT yet as the software I normally use, Omnirig, does not support the FT-991 yet, hopefully that will change soon.

With a bit of luck I will get the time to play with the radio a bit over the weekend.

Unpacking the FT-991

Looking for local QRP contacts.

Having some DX fun!

The RX on the FT-991 sounds great, sensitive but quiet, none of the white noise you hear on a Elecraft K3 or Kenwood TS-590S 

Update 17/05/2015: Band conditions have been great the last few days with lots of DX workable on 10,12 and 15m during the day, after sundown the MUF moves down a bit and the 15/20m becomes bands of choice for DX.

I got up early this morning to check out the lower bands, 160 and 80 were still very noisy with no DX heard, I suppose I will have to wait till it is really winter here. 40m did produce a few signals and I made a some  CW contacts, running 5W into EU and Asia. QRP on the lower bands is a lot more difficult than on the higher bands.

Talking about QRP, I saw an online advert for Pixie 40m QRP transceiver kits costing a whole $4.00 including postage. I ordered 10 getting a further discount! When they get here, it could take 4-6 weeks with the "slow boat from China" I want to build one and get it on the air. I told the local guys the first 5 to make contacts with me while I am running the Pixie will get Pixie kits from me free, hopefully it will work. They are all "Rock bound" at 7.023mHz, if we can get a few going this could well become the local "Pixie QRP" frequency.

I received good news yesterday, my FT-991 is in the country and with the importer in Cape town. I will get the couriers to go and pick it up tomorrow or Tuesday, should have it by Wednesday or so. I am looking forward to putting it through it's paces, lots have been written about it on the internet but it seems no CW operator has actually tested the RX to see how good it actually is. I can feel a review coming from this side....

Over the last few months I have been considering getting a SDR radio, something like the Flex 6300 or the Anan 10. There is a local guy, who is very active on 40m, who has both. I have been listening to his trails and tribulations on the air. I must say he has single handedly convinced my to stay away from both radios, seems like there is always some kind of a problem, bad audio, terribly dirty signal, echo, drivers that need to be reloaded, computers crashing. No thanks, after 30+ years in the IT industry I do not really trust computers running any Micro$oft product anyway and making a rather expensive radio dependent on the garbage produced by Bill Gates and M$ seems silly! (Yes, you are right, I am NOT a Micro$oft lover, having seen the light with Unix/Linux/iOS!) So the decision is made, for now anyway, I will stick to real radios and get my "SDR functionality" from tapping the IF of the radios. I have been doing this for a while and it works well and seems a lot more reliable than the true SDR radios. Things might change as SDR's develop but they are not there yet....

Tomorrow I am going to see the specialist about my back, who knows, I might be in hospital soon. As long as I get time before it happens to move a basic shack into the bedroom I am happy, maybe I can spend more time on the air, even if it is while being flat on my back! With the CQ WPX contest coming up on 30-31 May this is really important to me.     

Update 12/05/2015: I had lots of fun on the bands today, 10m was not that hot but 15m and later 20m was really great. I added T6T as a new one on 15m QRP and just after that A45XT, slowly the GRP totals are growing.

Later in the evening I had a great QSO, lasting more than an hour with Ed, RX6CB/MM who was off the Mozambique coast. We were chatting at a comfortable 30wpm. I am looking forward to chatting with him again as he rounds the South African coast, hopefully we can also have a 40m contact.

I have decided to start setting up my "shack in the bedroom" this weekend, just in case I have to go into hospital next week else I might not get time. I was hoping the FT-991 would be here in time but it looks like I would have to choose something else. On the one hand something small like the FT-897 or 857 would be nice but I am worried that I would miss a decent radio. I also have to consider that I would most probably be doing the CQ WPX CW contest at the end of the month with this setup from bed. On the other hand I do not have that much space so something like the FT-1000MP or 2000/5000 would be out. Looks like I might be stuck with the FT-950 or IC-756Pro3.

Have a few days to decide, will see how much space I have......   

Update 11/05/2015: End of March I competed in the CQ WPX SSB contest. With all the logs now submitted the provisional, unprocessed "raw" log totals have been published. These numbers are published so that everyone can check if their logs are there and if everything looks right.

According to these scores I did well, now I am hoping that my log was reasonable accurate without the time error that I had in the 2014 CQWW CW log. Here are the top 10 scores in the category I competed in as published.

2015 CQ WPX QRP 10 Meters raw scores

ZS6DX.(T).........632,125
YB9KA..............438,306
JH7RTQ.............242,252
PU1MHZ.(R).....172,520
LU4VZ...............145,734
WA6FGV...........140,904
YT3TPS.............115,236
IZ5JLF................110,142
I5KAP..................99,792
SP7VTQ...............82,641

Update 10/05/2015: The past weekend we had the AWA AM (on Saturday) and SSB (on Sunday) contest. I did prepare the FT-200 for the contests and I made a few contacts on AM on Saturday. Unfortunately a combination of the "bad taste" left in my mouth from the controversy after the SARL ZS3 Sprint, and the very narrow band segment allocated for the contest, from 7.063-7.100mHz took the fun out of the contest for me. I decided to rather look for DX.

The band segment allocated was extremely narrow for AM, 2 AM stations could fill the whole band! This is just another example of what happens if rules are written by a non-contester, and the actual organizers of the contest do not check the rules. The funny thing was during the contest I came across a prominent AWA personality OUTSIDE the contest segment making contacts. When  asked him why he was outside the band he said, "sorry, I am not aware of the rule, will go and check after the contest". That was when I lost all further interest in the contest and future SARL contests.....

I did manage to work some DX on the weekend, 10 and 15m were really wide open, it was fun to get a pile-up again. I am really looking forward to the CQ WPX CW contest at the end of the month. Unfortunately it looks like I will be competing from bed lying on my back after an operation. Time will tell if it is feasible to spend around 36 hours competing on your back.....   

Update 08/05/2015: Since I have ordered the Yaesu FT-991 I have been doing some reading and research on the radio. It really looks like it is a great little radio, according to reports for a few DX'ers and contesters the receiver is great, similar to the Yaesu FTdx-3000. Since the receiver front-end and DSP is similar to the FTdx-3000 this is as expected but it is always good to get confirmation.

Now the wait is on, if all goes well another week or so......

Update 03/05/2015: Today the annual SARL ZS3 Sprint was held. The purpose of this contest is to encourage radio amateur from ZS3 region to make contacts with other ZS and Southern African stations. I decided to compete and made around 60 contacts including quite a few ZS3 stations.

Unfortunately during the contest the SARL contest organizer made a post on FB saying that people were making contacts outside the contest segment. I did check the rules before the contest and I knew there was no segment mentioned. It said the 40 and 80m bands. Anyway, after the contest I queried the comment and was told "Those are the rules", I then quote the exact rules. Suddenly the story changed to "You have to follow the Region 1 band plane as it precedes any contest rules.". I then quoted the Region 1 band plan, it talks about "preferred" contest segments, but like all band plans it is merely a suggestion whose main purpose it to allow like minded amateurs to find each other when there is little activity. In international contests a non written "rule" like this would be laughed at!

Anyway, a long and heated debate formed, mostly between the contesters who agree with me, and the non contesting rule makes who read the rules and band plan differently. So in the end I left it, and decided not to send in my log. I am also rather disappointed with the SARL and a few of it's "officers", I think this could well be my last SARL sponsored contest....   

Update 02/05/2015: I received my certificates today for the 2014 CQWW CW contest, I almost forgot that I also entered as ZS/V51VE on 40m QRP! You can see the 2 certificates below.

10m QRP, #1 RSA and Africa, #2 world, also new Africa record.

40m QRP entry, #1 RSA and Africa, #18 world, also new Africa record, not bad for 1.5 hours of operating!

 The 40m result surprised me number 1 RSA and Africa, 18 world and a new Africa record, not bad for about 1.5 hours of operating!

I see I also broke the 10m Africa record, the old record was set in 1984! 

With the DX bands quiet, there are no sunspots at the moment, I did not spend much time DX'ing. I did have a great, and long, CW rag-chew contact with a bunch of guys from the Antique Wireless Association.

After that I felt like working on a radio, my old IC-728,that I used for rag-chewing in the past dropped to a max of 50W output a while ago. I downloaded the service manual and proceeded with fault finding. As it turned out the fix was easy, the max power pre-set was wrong, it is quite sensitive and a tiny twist of the pot would change max output from 100W to 50W. It is now running 100W again, I will use it for a while to make sure it stays like that.  

Update 01/05/2015: A relaxing public holiday. I did manage to spend some time in the shack though. The day produced a few new QRP entities, amongst them JD1BLY (Ogasawara), FK8CE (New Caledonia) and XV9NPS (Vietnam). 10 and 20m produced the best results with 15m getting better late in the afternoon.

I received my May 2015 CQ magazine today. Inside I found the results of the 2014 CQ WW CW contest. Unfortunately they did not print the complete results, only the top 3 in each category for the world and more detailed results for the USA and EU. CQ, do you realize there is more to the world than the USA and EU? Shame on you!! I had a look at their on-line results but they have not published the 2014 results there at all! Shame on you again CQ.... I did manage a second place in the world on 10m QRP, unassisted. I would actually have had first place if my %#$%$# log conversion program did not decide to "fix" some zones I logged during the contest, this cost me more than 100 contacts! Lesson learned, dump the AALOG contest software and only use N1MM+ in the future....

Clip from the CQ magazine

I am hoping for a good result in the 2015 CQ WPX contest as well, not sure when we will get the results...

On the equipment side I ordered a new Yaesu FT-991 today, a local importer managed a deal for 3 units at a really great price, a lot lower than I can import for so I reserved one. They are on their way, should be here in about 2 weeks. I hope it gets here before I have to go for my back operation, it might just become my "bedside" radio for my 4-6 week "confined to bed" period.

I selected the FT-991 in preference to the popular Elecraft KX3 since I do not like the sound the Elecrafts produces. The Yaesu is actually also more compact if you consider it is a100W radio with internal tuner, once you have added the 100W amplifier and tuner to the KX3 it is a lot more bulky and also not one unit. The KX3 is also a LOT more expensive. Time will tell if the FT-991 RX is as good as the KX3, on paper it should be close.

The ordered FT-991

Update 30/04/2015: Well, I am back from my little break in the mountains! It was great fun with lots of hiking (my poor back!) and lots of photography. The area tuned out to be really photogenic, I will be going back there as soon as I can to explore the many areas I did not have time to get to this time. I need to sort my back out first as I really had a lot of pain this time. I am going to see a specialist 18 May, hopefully I can then have the needed operation soon after that so that I can start the road to recovery, as it is I have waited too long.

One of the hundreds of landscape images captured during the hike.

 I did get a bit of time at night to operate, due to the time I could be on the air only 20m was open so I only attached the 20m legs on the antenna. The antenna was simply hung from the front of the log cabin, about 8m above ground level, with the legs thrown over trees, it seemed to work ok.

The log cabin, you can see the dipole hanging from the roof.

 The radio ended up next to my bed on the bed-side table, it turned out to be a good option as I could operate before going to sleep. I made many CW contacts, all of them DX. I also tried PSK31 but did not have much success with weak signals. SO much for PSK31 being better for weak signal work than CW, that is a rumor spread by non-CW operators as far as I am concerned! PSK31 seems to need a better antenna and more power than CW under the same conditions to make reliable contacts.

CW still rules! 

Having some CW fun with the little FT-897D, a great little radio.

Since I had so much fun with this setup I am considering upgrading the FT-897 to a FT-991, not that there is anything wrong with the FT-897 but the FT-991 promises to be an even better radio! (And I do love new toys....)

Update 25/04/2015: This morning we had another Habex balloon launch, this time from Lichtenburg. There were actually 2 balloons, one just carrying APRS to try and break the altitude record on 40000m. Unfortunately this balloon burst at 38000m so it did not quite make it. I found out later that the team who launched the balloon handled the balloons with their bare hands, a HUGE no=no so I am not surprised that it burst lower than the theoretical altitude it could reach.

They are launching another on 1 May, I am hoping the will learn from their mistakes...

The second balloon carrying the parrot repeater and SSTV transmitter started climbing slowly at first but it did not get much higher than 2000m before the payload became detached from the balloon, sad... I never heard anything from the balloon, well, maybe the next time!

Since I am going to spend a few days in the Magaliesberg mountains I tested my portable station today, the Yaesu FT-897 with the FC-30 antenna tuner. For an antenna I constructed a basic dipole in such a way that I can attach different legs to it, for now I have 40m, 20m and 15m legs in a fan-dipole configuration. According to my MFJ antenna analyzer it is resonating nicely in the CW portions of the bands. I hoisted the antenna up about 5m and tied the legs to tree braches. I soon had a few DX contacts in the log so it seems to work. Time will tell how well it works in the bush!  

Testing my portable radio and antenna running PSK31

Listening out for Habex-10

Habex-10 setup with HF for co-ordination, turned out to be a waste of time, well, these things happen....

Update 19/04/2015: A resting day spent mostly playing with amateur radio! Early this morning I connected up the camping antenna to the FT-857, surprisingly, even as low as it is, I managed to work a few W stations, a few Canadians and even a Brazilian station on 40m, I was pleasantly surprised. Next I want to try it with the 20m legs as this will be my main band for the upcoming mini expedition/proof of station test. This is mostly because I will only get time to operate in the evening when 20m would be the choice to work some DX. The expedition is primary a photo trip so amateur radio had to take a close second....

The rest of the day produced some decent conditions on 10-20m, I had fun and worked quite a few stations many of them busy with various contests. Unfortunately no new band/mode slots. I need to put up a better 17m antenna as 17m is badly neglected on this side....

While playing around in the shack I came across the Yaesu FT-950, the poor radio hardy got used after I bought it as I acquired a FT-2000 a few days later and I kind of fell in love with that radio. So I connected the good as new FT-950 up and used it to report into all the normal Sunday morning nets as well as to chat to a few friends, mostly on 40m CW and SSB. I had forgotten what a nice radio it is, and how easy it is to use. I think I will leave it connected for use for a while before packing it away again...

FT-950, having some fun chatting to old friends!

 Update 18/04/2015: Most of the day was spent working but I did get a little bit of time to put up my camping antenna, in this case a dipole in 40m configuration. I purposely put it up very low, no more than 5m high in the center with end around 2m, and with legs running through and over trees. First test shows that the antenna needs a tuner on all bands, but that is expected due to proximity to branches but it seems to work. I will give it a try tomorrow when I am a bit more rested, I spend 15 hour at work today so time to go to bed......  

Update 17/04/2015: With a working weekend ahead I was not expecting much on the amateur radio front, well, there is often a surprise around the corner! I bit of casual DX'ing late this afternoon netted me DX0P, Spratly Isl. DXCC #330 all time and #278 QRP, what a pleasant surprise! Unfortunately it was on 20m SSB, but they do not seem to have a CW operator in the team so I had to settle for that. The signal was extremely weak. Initially I could hardly hear them. At one point they were above the noise and I called, I am sure they came back but I could not confirm the contact. About an hour later they were just above the noise most of the time and I tried again. This time they came back to me after the second call but it took me a few tries to ensure they had my call correct, finally the magic "ZS6DX you are 59" came with a "TU" after my over.

First new one for the year, 10 to go on all power and 62 to go on QRP...  

Update 16/04/2015: A while ago I wrote about the problem I had with the tuner in my IC-746, well, I am happy to report that I finally managed to solve the problem, and the solution was easy! I notice while it was attempting to tune that the SWR would drop right down to what looked like 1:1 but the tuner continued to tune till it timed out. I was wondering about this and had a look at the maintenance manual. It turned out that there was a SWR sensitivity adjustment on the tuner, as slight tweak of this and now the tuner tunes and stops when it gets to a SWR of 1:1, problem solved!

The bands have been bad the last few days with 10m just about dead, today I could hear a few weak signals on 15m and slightly stronger signals on 20. I gave up and only listened again at around 17:30 UTC, 20m was alive and well! This is good news, I think for my trip in just over a week's time I will take a 20m dipole, I was only planning on operating later in the evening so it should work out. I am hoping to work at least a few DX stations but I am not expecting much, I will be running low power into a VERY low dipole, chances are it would not even be 5m high.

I want to give the radio/tuner/antenna setup a try next weekend, I don't think I will get time this coming weekend.... 

Update 14/04/2015: I only made a few contacts today even though 15 and 20m were open. I decided I wanted to build a compact keying circuit to use with my portable setup and N1MM+ logger. For contest and pile-up use a keyer like this makes life easy, and saves your wrist from a lot of strain!

Since I wanted a compact circuit I decided to build it right into a DB9 connector, not difficult since the circuit only uses 2 diodes, 2 resistors and a transistor. I used "Dead bug" construction style to build the interface, it is not pretty but it is quick and functional! I also attached both 6mm and 3.5mm plugs to this keyer so it can work with all my radios.

After initial testing I filled the open spaces in the DB9 casing with hot-glue before closing it up, this way it becomes very robust since all the components are encased in a plastic block.

"Dead bug" style construction used on CW keyer build into a DB9 connector,

After the interface was finished I tested it for a while, I ended up having a very nice and long QSO with Peter, DF4MV running 5W into my trusty A4S antenna. Sometimes it is just fun to chat a while rather than doing the normal "machine gun" style DX and contest contacts.

Now I still need to test the whole potable system together, radio, tuner, antenna and keyer/logger, maybe I will get time on Sunday as I am working on Saturday.

Once the station is tested and proven during my coming trip I want to keep it all together in a case for future use. I will then also add a better antenna, maybe a hex beam and a nice long fiber glass pole that can collapse to no more than about 1.2m. Add a solid state amp like my Metron MA1000, or maybe the cute little Elecraft amplifier and it will make a nice mini DX'pedition setup! 

Update 13/04/2015: For a change I had a free afternoon! I played around with my "field station" setup, first the FT-897, the DSP CW filter actually works REALLY well! Better than many filters, that cost a lot of money, that I have used in other radios. There seems to be no ringing and the skirts are nice and steep. I did not get a change to test with a really strong signal close but I could hear a S2 signal with a S9+ signal just outside the 240Hz DSP filter. I will do a few more tests but I am really impressed! I also briefly tried the 120 and 60Hz filters and they seem to work well but I need to do more tests under crowded conditions.

After playing with the FT-897 I unpacked the FT-857D and connected it for the first time to an antenna. Within a few minutes I made a few CW contacts on 15m, the DSP CW filter works just as well as on the FT-897. This is really an amazing little radio, I think my choice is made, the FT-857D will be going on the trip! Well done Yaesu for producing such great radios, no wonder they are so popular!

Little fun radio, FT-957D, working a few CW stations on 15m

Later in the afternoon I head a few weak signals on 6m, a few calls and I managed to work a few stations, nothing special, just the usual 4X, IK and EA stations. Unfortunately, before the band closed, I suddenly had S7 QRM. This has happened before, I suspect one of my neighbors have bought a new plasma TV, they are notorious for creating lots of QRM. If this continues I will have to trace the source..... 

Trusty old IC-756 working DX on 6m, these days she is a dedicated 6m radio.

Update 12/04/2015: Conditions on HF was rather bad this weekend with things only improving a bit later on Sunday. There seemed to be 2 CW contests running, a JA contest where you could only work JA's, I ignored that one, and a Russian contest in memory of Yuri Gagarin. I made a few contacts in this contest, mostly to test my camping setup. I ended up using FT-897. I have had this radio for many years but have only ever used it on 2m and 70cm.

One of the reasons was that it does not have a normal 6mm CW key jack, it has a smaller 3.5mm jack. I made up a cable today that has a 6mm and 3.5mm plug so I could finally test the radio on CW. I was pleasantly surprised, the radio does not have any CW filters but the RX coped well with the crowded bands during the contests. The radio had a FC-30 tuner fitted, this seemed to be happy tuning the 40m (portable) dipole to 10, 15, 20 and 40m. This radio is slightly smaller than my FT-890, the radio that I have used in the past when camping but I am worried that I might miss the nice CW filters I have on the FT-890, time will tell....

I did find out later, after reading the manual (what a strange thing to do lol!), that FT-897, as well as the FT857D, do actually have DSP CW filters, you can select 240, 120 or 60Hz, I have not tried this but will tomorrow, hoping that at least 240Hz would be usable!

Something I never noticed before was that the FT-897 has a CW tuning indicator, if you tune the incoming CW signal to the same tone you setup in the menu (700Hz in my case) the "CW-T" LED just above and to the left of the VFO dial flashes in time with the CW! A neat way to ensure you are right on the other person's frequency. Nice little feature Yaesu!

One other option might be to use the brand new FT-857D I have sitting in a box, it is basically the same radio as the FT-897 just in a more compact case. I could use the same FC-30 tuner with it or maybe the great little LDG tuner that I sometimes use with my FT-817. Well, I have 2 weeks to play with the options.

I also used an IC-706 for camping in the past but I must say the RX is rather noisy, the FT-897 is far more pleasant to listen too!

The little FT-897, seems to cope well on the crowed bands.

 Update 11/04/2015: Today was the second leg of the SARL QRP contest. I started on 40m SSB but it was soon obvious that there were not many people competing. I worked the usual few club stations and other regulars but then things slowed down. After the first hour on 40m, the rules say you must stay on 40m for the first hour, I only had 25 contacts in the log. I then moved to the higher bands but the normally active 10-15 and 20m bands were very quiet, looked like conditions were not great.

I called CQ a few times but then decided to call it a day. Sometimes the local contests can be fun but often the limited participation makes them rather boring after the first hour or so. I am not sure if I will compete in any of them, I will rather concentrate on a few large international DX contests and DX'ing.

I have started looking at putting a compact portable antenna together for my holiday. I think I will stick to my proven 40m dipole with tuner combination, it work well on 40 and 15m and is useable on 10 and 20m. Not ideal but ok for a few contacts. 

Update 10/04/2015: Finally Friday after a hectic week, not only at work but I also had family visiting from Europe. In total I only managed around 12 contacts for the whole week. The only nice one was a HS0 for a new one on 12m.

I am planning a mini holiday at the end of the month. The plan is to spend a few days in the bush hiking and relaxing. It is primary a rest and photography break but I am considering taking a basic radio setup, maybe a FT-857 with power supply and a dipole antenna that I can throw over a tree. If I take a 40m dipole I can use it on 40m for some local chatting and then by using my LDG tuner I can DX a bit on 10-20m CW at night. Hopefully propagation will play along.

I am planning a bit of shack work this weekend, I need to make up a few cables and I also want to check a few spare tubes, mostly 3-500Z's. We also have the second leg of the local QRP contest tomorrow afternoon. I might enter the contest if I have the time to go out and run a portable station in the local park again.......    

Update 07/04/2015: I have been thinking, in the past I mostly competed in CW contests and I still love CW most but after having so much fun in the recent CQ WPX SSB contest I think I will add a few more SSB contests to my contest calendar. I think one of the main reasons I enjoyed the WPX contest was because I used a foot PTT and a voice keyer, I hate shouting CQ contest for 48 hours!

CQ WW DX SSB would be a good option, I wonder what else could be fun? Maybe one of the ARRL contest? But I dislike them because I am not allowed to work any stations but USA stations.

We have a local, quarterly, QRP contest coming up next weekend, I am still in two minds if I will compete, the first round this year was just too easy to win, maybe I will change operating class to reduce the multiplier and make it more difficult, need to think about this.... 

Update 06/04/2015: We had another 6m TEP opening yesterday, this time I looked for more rare DX and did not call CQ, it worked out well! I only worked around 50 stations but I added a EU9 and a 9K2 for two new ones on 6m, the new antenna has already paid for itself! I am only running 100W from the Icom IC-756Pro2 at the moment and it seems to be ok most of the time, only with the 9K2 did I wish for more power as I had to repeat a few times before he got my call but it could also be because my antenna is fixed at the moment and not pointing in his direction. I also need to take the antenna down, right now it resonates best at about 51.3mHz, need to get it down to 50.1mHz, would be easy with the MFJ antenna analyzer.

I also heard a HS2 station but he was in the noise and could not hear me, need the amp and rotator sorted out soon!

While on the roof the other day I saw my old 2m co-phased folded dipole antenna flat on the roof. I put it up this morning, at least I have something for 2m up and I can work some simplex and get into all the local repeaters. I wonder if I turn the dipoles horizontal how well it would work for SSB and CW? Will give it a try sometime.

HF seemed to be quite dead today, I only worked a few DX stations, since the rest of the week is hectic with family visiting I suppose I will only DX again next weekend, not a happy thought....

Co-phased, 2m folder dipoles, seem to work surprisingly well!

Update 03/04/2015: I have now collected the Cushcraft 6m antenna and it is up in the air! Not very high, about 12m above the ground and not even on a rotator, but that does not matter much since all 6m DX is to the north! As soon as I can get some rotator cable I will add the rotator and also put up my 2m and 70 antennas on the same mast like I had in the past.

Cushcraft VB-64DX antenna up in a temporary position.

Less than 2 hours after the antenna was up we had a TEP opening and I had a nice little pile-up, first on CW and later on SSB, I ended up working around 150 stations before the band closed! Great fun, I now remember why 6m is the "Magic" band! Since we have a long weekend, Easter, I am hoping for a repeat opening over the next few days, it would most likely be the last one of the season, at least till around September this year. Once the TEP season is over I would like to play with a few digital modes like JT65 on 6m, 2m and 70cm, could be fun. I need to get my Henry 6N2 amplifier going for 2 and 6m and the Fisher amp for 70cm. 

Update 02/04/2015: The last few days have been busy but I have managed to make a few DX contacts every day. The bands seem to be in a good condition. We have had a few 6m TEP openings as well, I managed to work some stations in EU but with my 6m Yagi still out of commission I have been using my 12m dipole with the internal tuner on the radio, not ideal!

Well, this is about to change, rather than fix my current antenna, I decided it would be quicker and I would end up with a more robust antenna if I buy a commercial one. I managed to strike a deal for an as new Cushcraft VB-64DX 6m yagi. This is a robust but light 4 element yagi that can easily be disassembled for transport, I am thinking "DX'pedition". With 10.2 dBi gain it should be a lot better than the 12m dipole! I am going to collect the antenna tomorrow.  

Update 30/03/2015: The day after.... I had a good night sleep and with a rest day today I had time to clean up the log and submit it. You can read me report on the contest HERE. With the SSB contest behind me I am looking forward to some CW fun again, with all the software setups and getting ready for the contest I did not touch the CW key for more than a week!

This afternoon brought a surprising 6m TEP to Europe! It was a really great opening from around 1pm local to around 6pm (16:00Z). I worked lots of stations, had pile-ups on CW and SSB with some reports of signal strengths of 30dB over 9, not bad for a 12m dipole tuned with the radio's internal tuner! It was great to work CW again. As per usual a few Italian stations did not behave, but I tried my best to ignore them.... 6m really is the "Magic band"! After the opening I worked a few more station on HF, just to hear the CW music again!

Back to work tomorrow, but only for 2.5 days before the Easter weekend, and hopefully more radio fun!

Update 29/03/2015: Day 2 of the CQ WPX SSB contest! After a rather slow an uninspiring day yesterday I decide to only concentrate on 10m rather than to jump around all the time chasing a few contacts. This morning 10m opened up really early, I could hear, and work stations just after 8am local time. Signals improved so much that I decided to call CQ at around 9am. After a few calls I managed a short run to Europe but my frequency was too close to a strong station. I searched and pounced a while before I found an open spot on 28.513. I started calling CQ and soon I had a nice, if rather unruly, pileup! This kept going for more than an hour before a strong QRO, EU station decided to park almost on top of me. I had fun but I decided it was time for a break, my voice is not used to this!

Hopefully the conditions will be as good for the rest of the day. If I can get a run going to the USA in the afternoon it will be fun! At the moment @10:20am local time, my total sits at 340, not too bad for a SSB QRP station!

The morning and afternoon did produce a few runs, by the time the 10m band closed I had 603 contacts in the log, not a lot but on SSB running 5W it is not easy...  

Update 28/03/2015: CQ WPX SSB contest day! I was up and running at 2am local time, but it was a very slow start, I could here US stations on 20m with strong signals but they were calling CQ again and again but never going back to the people calling them! Running 1.5kw but without a decent receiver is a waste of time. After the first hour I had 2 contacts in the log, one on 20m and one on 40m, so I went back to bed....

A few hours later 20m and then 15m was a bit better, but still not great with many loud stations with no ears. There were some stations with good ears, mostly outside the USA, including a Mongolian station and quite a few from the middle east. One thing is sure, SSB QRP does not make for a large score...

Update @13h00Z, things are picking up, at least stations are hearing me now! But I have tried calling CQ with no luck so the QSO rates are low, at this rate I will be lucky to make 200 contacts! At least I have a few nice ones like Morocco, Greenland and Mongolia in the bag for my QRP totals... 

Update 28/03/2015: An early, 2am local time start for the CQ WPX SSB contest was not really fun but I was rather excited about the contest so it was worth it! Here I am ready to roll! Now all I need is good propagation, no equipment or power problems, no thunder storms and a voice that lasts.....

Here I am ready to roll!

ZS6DX in his rather crowded shack.....

Update 27/03/2015: The day before the CQ WPX SSB contest! I think I am mostly ready, just need some rest before the 2am local time start! The last few days the bands have not been spectacular but I am sure they will wake up during the contest, lots of RF pumped into the air always seem to help!

Since we have "load shedding" again, with more predicted outages coming this weekend I have setup a second radio/computer that I can run from a large 12V battery, this should last a few hours at a time so hopefully power failures won't bother me too much this weekend.  

Update 24/03/2015: Other than a hour or so a day I have not had much time for amateur radio. Fortunately we have a few public holidays coming up and I have taken a few days leave here and there so I am hoping that I will get more air time. I have been using the FT-1000MP MKV most of the time, I am really enjoying this radio!

I have decided to enter the CQ WPX SSB contest on 28-29 March. This will be my first WPX and SSB contest since 2003! In 2003 I really had fun in this contest and I ended up winning the class, world-wide, that I entered. I am hoping to get a good result again!

Since I seldom work SSB I decided that I need to make a few changes to my station for this contest. The first thing I did was to install N1MM+ logger and learn how to use it. I interfaced it with a radio and configure the voice keyer to work via a SigmaLink sound interface. It seems to be working well so it should save my voice a bit!

I also decided I needed a headset with a boom mike and a foot switch. I do have a foot switch so it was no problem but it was a bit short notice to import a headset, there is nothing available locally. Since I recently upgraded my aviation headsets from Dave Clark to Seinhouser I decided to see if I could get one of the Dave Clark's to work. It turned out to be easy! Using the ring and ground connector on the mike output from the headset directly into the radio worked. The matching seemed to be ok with decent audio levels. On the air tests got me a few unsolicited reports of good strong audio! Good news! The headset has gel ear pads so it is really comfortable, hopefully it will still be comfortable after many hours of contesting!

I have not made a final decision of the class/band/power I will be entering for this contest, I might well only make the final decision after the first few hours of the contest when I can see how band conditions are! Hope to hear you on the air during the contest!        

Update 19/03/2015: The All Africa All Mode DX contest has come and gone. Due to various reasons my plan to run a Multi-Multi station did not work out. My second operator had to attend to someone in hospital so I ended up working only a few hours. I decided to concentrate on 10m CW (QRP) but when 10m was closed I did make a few contacts on the other bands, mostly looking for new band-slot contacts. I managed to make over 100 contacts so I suppose it was not that bad.

Having some QRP fun on 20m CW during the All Africa contest!

Also tried the old FT-990 on 40 and 80m, this radio will also turn down to below 5W so is great for QRP work

I was a bit disappointed in the level of participation, locally, the rest of Africa and the rest of the world. I think the main reason for this was an unfortunate clash with another contest, the Beru contest that is quite popular. For next year we need to find a time-slot that does not clash with another major contest! The last I heard the scorers had received 25 logs, mostly from outside Africa.  

Update 11/03/2015: Lots of DX fun lately, even though I have been really busy at work and with family matters I have managed to work some DX just about every day recently. Since none of the DXCC entities I still need have been on the air recently I have been concentrating on filling band-slots. I have also been concentrating on 12 and 17m more. On 12m I use the Q5RV or a dipole at the moment, when I get more time I will put up a better antenna but I can mostly work what I can hear.

On 17m I do not really have an antenna but I fount that the H2V vertical tunes nicely to 17m and it seems to be quite effective as I have added quite a few new entities on that band with it.  

Update 04/03/2015: I am really falling in love with this FT-1000MP Mark V. I love the ergonomics and the sound from the receiver I can listen to all day. I have done several comparisons of signal strength and noise levels between the FT-1000MP and the Icom IC-756/756Pro3 and every single time the FT-1000MP had lower noise and higher signal levels. Really quite impressive for an older radio, but I suppose it is due to modern trend of doing everything digitally, the digital/analogue mix in the FT-1000MP really works well.

I have now worked quite a bit of DX with the FT-1000MP, the first QSO was with ZD8D on 12m, nice catch!

Working DX on 15m while monitoring 6m, need to make this temporary installation more permanent.

Update 03/03/2015: We had an interesting, and for me unexpected, 6m TEP opening this afternoon! Other than the normal I/F/9A/DL stations I also worked a YT and a few OK/OZ/RA stations. All but one on CW. This was with the IC-756 (only because it was on sitting on the desk) and a G5RV antenna. See, you don't need much when 6m is open!

I went to collect the Yaesu FT-1000MP Mark V today and was pleasantly surprised to find it in a great condition as I bought it "sight unseen" but from a reputable dealer.

As soon as I had it home I had to open it, and then I had my second pleasant surprise of the day, it is loaded with lots of additional filters including two Collins mechanical filters and a few others! The previous owner obviously had no idea how to setup the filters as only one was activated via the menu. A bit of manual reading and playing around and I had the filters setup and mapped to the filter buttons to my satisfaction!

Bottom view of the FT-1000MP with the covers off

Nice optional filter collection!

The second surprise inside the radio was that it was also fitted with the optional high highly stable TCXO, really nice!

High precision TCXO fitted

After setting her up I soon had her up and running, the bands were not in a great condition but I soon had a few contacts logged. I had forgotten how great the FT-1000MP's sound, many of the modern radios like the Elecraft K3 and Icom's sound really harsh and noisy compared to this radio! As I have said before, Yaesu really knows how to build radios with great receivers.

Running for a while at full power, 200W, showed that it takes quite a while for the fan to come one but even then the radio stays cool, again unlike radios from some other manufacturers! Some of the Icoms run so hot even when you are just listening for an extended period it is scary!

FT-1000MP Mark V doing what she does best, making DX contacts!

I hope to test her in a pile-up and maybe a contest soon, would like to compare her to some of the other radios in my shack.    

Update 02/03/2015: Good news, I managed to strike the deal on the Yaesu FT-1000MP Mark V! I can't wait to add this classic to my collection and also to use it on the air. Would be interesting to compare it to the newer Yaesu's I have as well as radios like the Icom IC-756/756Pro III.

Now I would love to find a full set of CW filters for it. I wonder if it uses the same filters as the FT-990, if it does I would already have a few to test, time to Google....

I managed to re-arrange my shack a bit today making space for another few radios at the main operating position.

More space vertically!

Old IC-756Pro 2 and Yaesu FT-950, temporary in the spot where I want to put the FT-1000MP Mk V

Update 02/03/2015: I have been playing with one of my old IC-756's recently, the main reason being that it is fitted with a 250hz CW filter. I must say the filter really works well in weak signal and crowded conditions. The radio also has a great APF (Audio Peak Filter) that is even narrower that the CW filter but it is more affected by adjacent strong signals.

Below you can see photos showing the unfiltered spectrum with the radio in CW mode, only using the wide 2.8Khz standard filter. Then I show the APF filter engaged and lastly the 250hz CW filter.

2.4kHz wide filter set on IC-756

Wide filter spectrum

250Hz narrow filter

250Hz narrow CW filter spectrum

APF spectrum

I must say even if the CW filter's skirts seem less steep than the APF filter it really seems to lift a weak signal out of the noise, really impressive. Unfortunate the rest of the RX front-end on all the IC-756's are not so great and they all get hammered by close strong signals.

Update 01/03/2015: This weekend I had a lot of fun on 12m. With a few contests running on the non-WARC bands I decided it was time to do some DX'ing on the WARC bands. 30M was not really productive and since I do not have a decent antenna for 17m I was left with 12m.

At the moment I have two antenna options on 12m, a dipole about 15m high and the G5RV at about 18m on the same mast. Many tests this weekend proved that the G5RV is way better than the dipole. The noise is lower an on average the signals are 2-3 S-points stronger. On transmit it is also better as I get far better reports on the G5RV. The G5RV seems to be really great as I have noticed that I often manage to break pile-ups that locals with 4 element Yagi's seem to struggle with. I often get unsolicited “big signals!” reports from DX stations when using the G5RV, and I always run 5W!

The 12m activity over the weekend landed me no less than 8 new DXCC entities on 12m, including a few rather scarce one's in Africa like Rwanda and Uganda. Further afield South America and the Caribbean also seems to be wide open.

On the radio collection side there might be some good news, it looks like I might have secured a pristine Yaesu FT-1000MP Mark V for the collection, I should know in the next 24 hours if the deal is done. I think this radio might ultimately end up in the museum but initially I am planning on using it in the main or backup operating position for a while, I am sure it is good enough to keep it's place there medium to long term. I am really looking forward to the 1000MP since I always regretted selling my original 1000.

Update 25/02/2015: I had some fun on 12m this afternoon, a quick CQ call produced a nice pile-up, I should call CQ more often. A but later 20m produced a new one on 20m, Mauritania, there seems to be quite a few African stations active at the moment, good news! Today 6m was quite but I know it was open a bit further north, maybe we will get one more opening before winter is here....

This Sunday we have the Hamnet 40m Emergency contest, since Katti (ZS6KVR), my XYL, is keen on competing (we won the contest a few times in the distant past) we will be setting up a field station and make a few contacts, it should be fun! I am glad she is getting back into amateur radio, we had lots of fun in the past!  

Update 24/02/2015: We had a nice 6m TEP opening to Europe this afternoon. I did not manage to work anything new but it was great to see there is still life in the old band!

After the 6m opening skip seemed to be particularly short on the higher bands, I managed to work Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania, Morocco and Egypt on 10 and 12m, great fun! Slowly but surely the QRP log is filling up, more and more band-slots being marked "Worked"  

Update 22/02/2015: This morning 40m was wide open to the USA, I managed to add quite a few states, was really fun!

As my "task of the day" I decided to have a look at the faulty tuner on my Icom IC-746. It was quite a job getting to the tuner. I was thinking that there might be an issue with one of the motors turning the variable capacitors. As it turned out the motors and gearboxes are fine. I did oil and clean them. After e-assembling the tuner it does tune but does not seem happy and would often dis-engage before finding a match, even on antennas with a vey low SWR. I think I will stop wasting time on this and take the radio to specialist to fix....

IC-746, top cover removed

There is the tuner, finally, so many screws to remove...

The offending bit, checked the motors and gearboxes, seems to be fine!

Back together, time to test, still not right.....

This afternoon 10m was really amazing! There were wall to wall CW signals up to as high as 28.150mHz. I had a feast working new states and even the odd county till I had my fill!

Update 21/02/2015: I finally got around to building a new CW key interface for my computer. In the past I used an old circuit that user CTS on a RS232 port the key the radio, As I often run more than one radio I had to swop cables all the time since my laptop has only 1 RS232 port and USB-RS232 converters have proved less than perfect in a high RF environment. My new keyer has 2 separate circuits with 2 key outputs. The one is keyed vie RTS and the other via DTR so I can now run 2 radios from the same port.

This weekend the ARRL CW DX contest is running. I am not really interested in the contest as you are only allowed to work US stations, a really stupid rule!  But I am planning on making a few contacts looking for a few states on bands still needed for WAS.  

Update 16/02/2015: I managed to add a new radio to my collection today! I finally found a pristine Yaesu FT-102! The radio seems to be in a great condition and was recently serviced. All the relays were replaced with Omron sealed units and the driver and final tubes also seem to be new. I am still looking for the optional AM/FM board for this radio. It has a reputation of producing really great sounding AM audio, perfect for the odd occasion when I want to join the local Antique Wireless Association's AM net.

The receiver really sounds great and the specifications shows that even though it is a 1984 vintage radio the receiver is still better than most modern radios, well done Yaesu for producing such a classic, these days it has an almost cult following.....

Here she is with a few internal photos as well.

FT-102 up and running.

Top view with the covers off.

RF section with driver tube, I am glad the troublesome relays were replaced!

Final compartment, those 3 6146's can produce 150W on CW and 200W on SSB

I will run this radio on the workbench for a while, to get to know it and also to make sure all is well. After that it will go to my radio museum where it will only be used occasionally for a bit of nostalgia or an AM net. 
 
Update 18/02/2015: The last few days have been quite productive on the bands. I did not have much time but an hour or so every evening has produced no less than 3 new ones on 40m and 2 new ones on 12m. There seems to be a lot of little Dx'peditions on the go at the moment, they are a lot more fun to work than the monster expeditions like EP6T and K1N, long live the small DX'pedition!   

Update 16/02/2015: After the craziness on the bands during the K1N expedition it is great to settle down to some normal DXing and rag chewing again! A few nice ones today included T6T, Afghanistan on 10m as well as Martinique on 10 as well, all QRP.

To top of a good day in front of the radio the January QRP contest results were announced, seems like my setup is working well! Soon the other stations will realize the secret is to work as much DX as possible, once they do my advantage will be gone!    

The results are as follows:

The results of the QRP contest held on the 24th Jan 2015 are as follows. 10 logs were received which included 2 check logs.

1st  - ZS6DX - Rudi Venter - 1911 points (Ultra light category)
2nd - ZS6WR - West Rand ARC - 408 points
3rd - ZS6TVB - Theo Bresler - 245 points
4th - ZS2EC - Theunis Potgieter - 120 points
5th - ZS6BV - Brian Jones - 72 points
6th - ZS6BNE - Eddie Leighton - 60 points (Ultra light category)
ZS4BS - Dennis Green - 60 points
8th - ZS6JHG - Jan Gelderblom - 8 points

Check logs received from ZS6PTA and ZS6MSW

My strategy of working mostly DX seems to work! I can also say that my "new" field antenna works a lot better than my old one.

Update 14/02/2015: With the K1N expedition just about over I have returned to the band, I must say the K1N operation was not that enjoyable for me, the idiotic behavior of many stations added to the expedition not taking much notice of real work propagation made for a less than enjoyable experience. After a few QSO's I was so fed-up that I switched off and did not even listen again for a few days. Well, I managed to work 4 band-slots so that is ok I suppose. I am looking forward to normal DXing again....  

Update 07/02/2015: Update: It turned out easy to work the guys on the Magaliesberg. Eddie - ZS6BNE and Andries - ZS6VL on 40m SSB and Mario - DL4FMF on 10m CW, sounds like they are having fun! 

Update 07/02/2015:  I managed to add a 20m CW contact with K1N this morning!

I have to say that working the K1N expedition is far more difficult than any other recent expedition I tried to work including the EP6T one. I think there are various reasons for it. Firstly the propagation path is simply more difficult than most DX entities. Secondly the location of Narvassa is such that the antennas are never pointed to South Africa when they are working high volume regions like the USA and Europe, we are always on the back or side of the beam. This is assuming that they are turning their beams, so far I see no evidence of that....

Another reason is that they seem to have little CW activity, I have heard, and now worked them on 20m. I also heard them on 10m but since they said they will not be on 10m CW, and many stations reported the signal coming from NA it might well have been a pirate.

I have now heard a few of the K1N operators on CW and SSB and some of them are sharp, BUT, some are not so sharp, slow to get calls, calling for a long time to a region where there is no propagation, working by numbers taking hours to get to the next number when you are not making contacts on the current number, using a band and then calling a region with no propagation, and keeping on calling. Disappearing without a word from the band. Saying QRX and then never coming back. So I am sorry to say this is not the slickest operation I have worked. But I am thankful to be in the log.....

While looking for the elusive K1N on 40m this morning I managed to work a few US stations with good signals. I also worked a 7Q7 station for a new one on 40m CW QRP, the time on 40m was not wasted!

Having a keen interest in older radios I have been listening to the local Antique Wireless Association's net recently, I reported in this morning and had an interesting chat. They have a different subject each week, this week it was how to get your home, and station, off the electricity grid, a very relevant subject due to the problems we are facing with the power supply due to out incompetent and corrupt government. We are getting more and more load-shedding and power outages, and with the useless bunch running the power supplier things will get a lot worse before it gets better.

I have started working towards power independence, I have 2 large batteries that are charged by a solar panel that can supply the basic needs at home and still run a radio or two. I can also supplement charging these with the alternator in one of my motor vehicles but I really need more solar panels and a new generator. My old generator has a problem and there are no spares available.

Later today I am hoping to work my friend Eddie, ZS6BNE, on the Magaliesberg, I am hoping conditions will be good for a few QRP contacts.

Tomorrow from 13:00 to 15:00 UTC we have the local Antique Wireless Association's CW QSO party. I am planning on being active using one of my Yaesu FT-200's. If we should have load-shedding during that time, and it is likely, I will revert to a more efficient 12V radio.    

Update 05/02/2015:Update: Looks like I spoke to early in my ramblings below! A few hours after I wrote the bit below I was listening to a weak K1N signal on 21.206, listening 21.400-420. Suddenly the operator said "Japan and far East only, 21.300". In a flash I QSY'ed, he worked one or 2 JA stations and then called CQ without a reply, I took a chance and gave my call. He came back at once and I was in the log! After that he call "AF only" and worked a EA8 and then a few more ZS stations.

With DXCC all time #329 and #275 QRP in the bag I will sleep well tonight. Now I am hoping for a few more Band/Slots over the next few days...  

Update 05/02/2015:  K1N, the "Ghost expedition"? I have been looking forward to the Narvassa Island, K1N expedition since it was announce in 2014. Well, they have been on the air now for a few days but I must say so far I am not impressed. Their signal, on all bands is really weak, and I am comparing them to other signals coming from the Caribbean. The second point is that they seem to favor SSB most of the time with only short periods of CW operation on some bands. They have not even tried 10m CW and the band has been wide open! And then there is the constant "NA only"....... Not impressed at all. I was hoping they would be #329 but I really have no inclination to chase them, feels like I can do better with my time.

So I suppose I will leave them for #340 in a few years time when Narvassa is activated again by a group interested in CW and capable of putting a decent signal on the air.

This coming weekend I hope to have some fun on the radio, more fun than spending hours on the air looking for a station who has no interest in working me. Saturday afternoon a friend, Eddie ZS6BNE and a German visitor Mario will be activating a nearby peak in the Magaliesberg range, I am hoping to work them on at least 40m SSB/CW and maybe 10m CW as I know Mario will be active there.

Sunday afternoon we have the annual AWA (Antique Wireless Association) CW activity event. I am planning on participating using one of my old Yaesu FT-200 radios. I have used them in the past during the AM and SSB legs of this event but I think the FT-200 is more suited to CW, should be fun!

My "contest" station for the weekend, Yaesu FT-200

Other little tasks for the weekend include putting up a dedicated Winlink antenna and maybe something for 17m? I think I will also, if I have time, give one of the FT-200's a quick service Saturday. Saturday is also the annual MISASA fly-in at my local airport so I am planning on spending a few hours there with friends.

A quick note on the TS-930S, I have now installed a new PA fan that runs all the time. The fan is extremely quiet and I run it from the 28V supply dropping the voltage with a few resistors. It is keeping the PA really cool even after a long chat. I did notice that other parts of the radio like the stage just before the final, still gets hot even when I am not transmitting, not extremely hot but warmer than I like. Unfortunately there is not much I can do other than put en external fan so that it blows on the radio. I think this will preclude me from using the radio regularly as I do not feel comfortable running it in the shack in a position where there is less than ideal airflow around it. It is quite a shame as I like the radio and the receiver seems to be particularly good. I have been using the TS-930 for rag-chewing on 40 and 80m but I think I will go back to using my trusty, and cool running, Yaesu FT-990AC for that function.

Working well but running a bit warm for my taste, rebuilt Kenwood TS-930S

Trusty old FT-990AC, moving back to the rag-chew position in the shack.

I have also made a list of equipment that still needs work, just incase I get bored!

1. Icom IC-746 - Tuner not working on all bands all the time, I am pretty sure I know what the problems is, it is the connection between the motor and the shaft that turns the capacitor. Not difficult to fix but it is quite a job to get to it....
2. Yaesu FT-767GX - more than one problem here, at the moment the radio goes into TX the moment you switch it on, I also know that the RX is extremely deaf. I am not sure I have the time or energy to sort out this grand old radio, might just take it to a local specialist to sort out.
3. Yaesu FT-901DM - Bad hum on transmit, I need to replace the power supply capacitors, doable I just need to find the correct capacitors.
4. Yaesu FT-107M - Low power output, I suspect blown finals, need to find replacements.
5. Heathkit SB200 - Rear band switch broken, not sure I will be able to find a replacement unless I can find an amplifier to strip for spares.
6. Heathkit SB-102 transceiver - Power supply needs new capacitors and maybe I need to replace a valve or two, need to make a spares list.
7. Icom IC-738 - Display lights need replacement and the radio needs alignment. It still works well but I think it can be better.
8. Two Henry 6N2 amplifiers - I need to sort out the TRX relays.

So there is plenty to keep me and my soldering iron busy......

Update 02/02/2015:
[RANT]
A short note today. I used to be a member of the SARL long ago, before I became inactive. Recently I decided to join again but I must say I am having second thoughts. All due to one person, one of the "leading figures" and an administrator on the SARL web page. This person has, over a period of time, been making little snide remarks in my direction, sometimes almost accusing me of not playing fair or having bad things to say to whatever I post. Well my dear friend(NOT), please keep you snide and jealous remarks to yourself, other people have picked up on it and you are only doing yourself, and the SARL by association, harm. If you read this you will know who you are....
[/RANT] 

I do not often write bits like the above, but this individual has gone far enough, I have really had enough of his cr@p, steps will be taken, and since he does not exhibit "Ham spirit" neither will I....

Ok, back to amateur radio! With the TS-930 running, even without a PA fan, I made a few CW contacts with it yesterday, I must admit the APF is really working well and I like it as a CW radio. Now to sort out the fan!

Update 01/02/2015: I have been looking for a TS-930S for my collection for a while, well, I finally found one! A local ham offered me a TS-930S in a "Good condition" having been recently serviced. We negotiated a price and after a few delays I finally went to pick it up. When I first saw it I almost decided not to take it, it had a large mark on the top cover caused by what looked like something corrosive. I was ensured it worked well though and I was offered a test. Since the seller was in a hurry I accepted his word that all was fine, paid for the radio and took it home. I knew I could bring the top cover back to perfect condition.

Once I had it home a check showed that the 2 fans were replaced, as noted by the seller, but they were replaced with units that were too large and the fan-cover over the power supply fan was fastened with long self tappers! Disgusting, and this work was dome by one of the local radio suppliers! I fired her up and played around a bit. Since 10m was open I made a few contacts, it seemed like the audio was good even though output seemed low, no more than 70W. I soon noticed another problem, the power supply fan was running all the time, a good thing and standard modification, but the PA fan never switched on, by the time I checked the heat sink was way to hot too touch.

I decided to download the service manual, while I was doing this I left the radio on. After a few minutes I noticed silence, a look at the radio showed a blank display. A few tests showed that the PLL would unlock above 28.500 MHz once the radio was hot. I moved it too 7.070 MHz but soon it did the same thing there, simply shutting down with just the meter light remaining on.

So much for the "good condition" So my quest to fix the 930 started.....

Covers off, top of the radio. The PLL PCB is below the speaker, and below the Digital PCB under the speaker....

Bottom of the radio, all seems well here.

I also noticed that there were mods done next to the VOX/Delay and ANTI-VOX controls. 2 switches were added. The once would activate scanning the memories, I am still not sure what the second switch does, need to investigate

Extra switches on the right hand side, not even the same kind.....

Research soon showed that PLL unlock issues were common with the 930S. The adjustment is pretty simple, you need to adjust 2 transformers for a specific voltage.

The offending bit, the 2 transformers to adjust are the ones below the copper plate.

I soon had the voltages adjusted as specified but it was still not perfect. The PLL would unlock if you are between 28.500 and 28.510mHz and you changed modes or the set got really hot. Playing around with the adjustments I finally managed to get the PLL stable on all bands and both ends of 28mHz.

Stable!

I still need to investigate why the PA fan does not work, a quick check showed that the fan works, but it is VERY noisy, I will replace it with a slimmer and quieter fan, maybe I will make it run all the time if it is quiet. For now the radio is working well and when I run my normal QRP power levels the PS does not heat up at all. There are a few other modifications I will do, mostly to make the power supply more reliable.

 Lesson learned? Never believe a stranger that a radio is in a good condition, test it well and if you cannot do that, find another one......

Up and running, making contacts!

Update 30/01/2015: While new DX has been scarce I have been playing with digital modes, WSPR and JT9/JT65 most of the time! I have now setup a permanent digital station using an IC-738 and a dedicated computer with CAT control. This allows me to run the station even remotely via Teamview software.

I have also installed Winlink software on this computer and it is setup as a RMS Tri-mode access point so other hams can use it to up and download email. I will be putting up a separate, dedicated antenna for this away from the rest of my antennas so that it can run 24/7/365 without interfering with my normal operations. 

Update 24/01/2015: Today was the summer leg of the annual SARL QRP contest. I decided to run a ultra light, portable station again. Last year I went to a local nature reserve, I decided to do the same again just changing my antenna. The antenna I used last year was an end-fed dipole but it proved to be noisy and less than efficient. But even with this antenna I managed to win so I had a standard to keep up!

The decision was to run a 2 band, fan dipole this time for 40 and 15m since those were the most productive bands last year. The radio was again the FT-817 powered by 4S 6000mAh LiPo batteries. I added a battery monitor this time to keep an eye on the batteries. I also added a 10V regulator this time as the more than 16V from a fully charged 4S pack is a bit high for the FT-817. Last year I just chucked the antenna into some trees but I decided to take a portable, ex-military, mast this time. It worked well but was rather heavy to carry for the 2km there and 2km back hike to my operating spot under the trees.

Yaesu FT-817 with LDG Z-11Pro II tuner and power supply

Fan-dipole on ex-military mast above the trees.

 The first hour of the 3 hour contest is limited to 40m forcing stations to work locals. I managed to work 26 local stations, all but one on SSB. Part of the reason for this was that I forgot my CW key at home so I had to key the radio via the UP/DOWN buttons on the mike, how stupid can you get?

Once the first hour was over I moved to 15m, unfortunately there was a French contest running so very few non French stations were prepared to work me, they were all looking for French contacts. The result was around 24 DX CW contacts, most of them with French stations. In total I managed to work 10 DXCC counties including a nice surprise, a JY9 right at the end for a new QRP DXCC entity.

My score was better than last year but I am sure the other guys also did better, I will have to wait and see how I did..... 

Update 20/01/2015: After waiting since August 2014 for parts that I ordered from Harbach electronics for my Heathkit SB-200 amplifier they finally arrived! The delay was caused by our local, useless, postal service going on strike for months! Minutes after the parts were delivered I was busy assembling the kits. I ordered a power supply module, soft start and soft key for the SB-200. I also ordered 2 soft key kits for my TL-922's but I will install them later when I have nothing to do....

Below you can see the 3 kits for the SB-200 assembled.

3 Upgrade kits assembled.

The old (right) and new Power supply PCB

Installation proved to be easy, thanks Harbach!

Top view of old power supply

Bottom view of new power supply. The extra transformer at the bottom supplies 12V to an extra cooling fan on top that I installed a while ago.

So the old SB-200 has a new lease on life! It produces an easy 600-800W depending on the band. It is now moved back to the museum since I do not use amplifiers! But I love amplifiers, and mostly the old tube ones....  

Update 10/01/2015: After a hectic week back at work I finally got around to looking at my Yaesu FL-7000 amplifier that had a problem.

I finally have my FL-7000 running again. A while ago it had a brush with lightning, it was unplugged from both the antenna and the power but a direct hit on one of my antennas caused some sparks, and I assume induction, into the shack.

The next time I wanted to use it it was stone dead, a quick check showed that the fuse was fine so the amplifier was moved to the workbench for later attention, well, that attention only happened 4 years later!

It turned out that the fix was simple, the 48V supply seemed to be fine but there was no 8V or 12V to be found anywhere. So I replaced the 8 and 12V regulators and checked everything else on the power supply PCB.

After putting it all together again I switched her on and there was life! A few checks showed that all was well, she is producing power as expected, the auto-band changing and tuner is working and the fans switch on when they should. I am happy to have the old workhorse back, the amp is so quiet and you do not have to even touch it when you change bands it is a real pleasure to operate.

Up and running again!

Power regulator section, this is where the problem was.

Top view.

You can see a few more photos of the insides of the amplifier in the Amplifier section.

Update 04/01/2015: Conditions have not been great recently, I am still working DX but nothing new for a while, out of pure boredom I have even started to chat to some locals on 40m SSB every now and then! Since I select technical conversations before joining it can be fun and educational. I now have a permanent 40/80m setup running using the G5RV, the radio I am using at the moment is the Kenwood TS-870 because it never gets a chance and because it is renowned for good audio.

Update 01/01/2015:  A new day and a new hear, lets hope it will be a year filled with health and happiness, and yes, lots of time for amateur radio!