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Father forgive me, for I have sinned
I bought another Icom IC-706MkIIG. Why would I do that when I already own one? First, I don’t ever want to have to buy another HF rig for as long as I live. When my existing radio dies (if it dies), I’ll have a backup. And who knows, it might be in better condition than…
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Back on HF digital. What took me so long?
It’s been over 10 years since I’ve been on an HF digital mode like PSK31. When I couldn’t find an adapter to plug my home-brew interface (I built it almost 20 years ago) so I decided to upgrade to a Digirig and boy am I glad I did. It took a while to figure out…
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Adventures with DMR
So I’ve got a Mototrbo XPR 4350 on VHF and have a UHF version on it’s way. I’ve been having a lot of fun programming this radio and getting it to work the way I want. There was one thing I was stuck on for a couple of days: I didn’t hear anything on the…
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Plagued by interference on HF
You know how it sounds when a station on HF is just a few kHz away? You can tell it’s someone talking but of course you can’t make out what they’re saying. Here lately, I’ve heard this all across both the 20 AND 40 meter bands. It’s overwhelming all signals with an S9 level that…
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Amateur radio gear as investments
I heard a conversation between two hams recently where one was trying to talk the other into buying an amplifier. One can justify the purchase by considering it to be no (or little) money lost. In other words, ham radio gear holds its value well. As I look at my own radios, this is true….
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Mini-UHF connectors are superior to PL-259s
I absolutely hate soldering a new PL-259 onto aany cable. It’s pretty much unavoidable for large-diameter cables like the RG-8. But for smaller cables like the RG-8/U, RG-8/X, and RG-58, we often use a PL-259 with a reducer so we can connect our radios and antennas. But the wisdom of Motorola engineering gave us the…
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New antenna farm is up
Pictures have been uploaded to the other pages on this site. My new truck is fully-outfitted for 2m, 70cm, and 33cm. The house has a new 33cm antenna, a new dual-band 2m/70cm antenna, and a new G5RV Jr. hanging between the trees about 30 feet up. I couldn’t be happier. It took a few hours…
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Fun with Motorola radios
About 20 years ago, I met some guys in the Dallas area who were using modified commercial Motorola radios on 2m and 70cm. I never saw a dual-band radio but the radios they had were pretty nice. Tough as nails, too. They were a bit pricy and I was happy with my Icom HT and…