A reminder of my current station: recently I bought an FT817ND to add to the FT817 I have owned for YEARS. I also bought a Z817 LDG auto-ATU. These are the "workhorses" of my station feeding either the Par 10/20/40m end-fed, the V2000 6m/2m/70cm vertical or the 2m halo. Via the 472kHz transverter they also feed the 15m spaced earth-electrode antenna on 630m MF. The FT817ND and LDG auto-ATU were supplied by Martin Lynch and Sons and they were a pleasure to do business with. I can recommend them for price, speed and good customer relations.
I also own an Elecraft K1 CW transceiver (40, 30, 20, 15m), a Mizuho 200mW pep MX2 2m SSB handheld, tiny Yaesu VX1 and VX2 FM hand portables and an MFJ Cub for 15m CW. These are hardly used, although all have worked some decent DX. My Elecraft T1 ATU is in need of repair as it operates intermittently. The FT817s are used at 500mW to 2.5W maximum and I have been spotted in Australia at 2W or less on 10, 20 and 40m this year. This power is quite enough.
I also have simple beacons for sub-9kHz and 137kHz QRSS3 as well as kit for optical comms to use /P. I neither need nor want QRO gear, preferring to work QRP.
To be built is a GPS locked, stand alone (no rigs or PC needed) Ultimate 3 WSPR beacon TX for 10m, but I am waiting until my stroke is somewhat better before starting this as I am still a bit too clumsy and tire very quickly.
The VLF and LF beacons, the 472kHz transverter and various other QRP rigs (e.g. the WISPY, Fredbox and Sixbox) not listed are homebrew and much fun too.
Showing posts with label martin lynch and sons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label martin lynch and sons. Show all posts
4 Mar 2014
22 Feb 2014
2nd FT817 and a Z817 auto-tuner
After a lot of consideration, this week I purchased a second FT817 (this time an FT817ND) as well as the LDG Z817 auto-tuner. One thing to bear in mind is the Z817 is no longer supplied with a 0.5m long coaxial RF patch lead. It comes with the CAT cable only.
My FT817ND has been widebanded so it covers 5MHz and I went on that band for the first time today and was spotted on WSPR in Holland with 1W to a totally non-resonant antenna matched with the Z817.
I must say from a QRP base station point of view the Z817 is a neater, and much cheaper, ATU solution. It matches the Par 10/20/40 end-fed on most bands and seems to do as good a job as the Elecraft T1, which I need to repair as it is intermittent.
The second FT817 means I can WSPR on one band and operate on another band at the same time. As I have just bought the OLD version, you can be sure now that Yaesu will showcase a NEW version of the FT817 next month! Martin Lynch and Sons were very easy to deal with and thoroughly helpful suppliers. I can recommend them.
No stateside DX on 10m today but just exchanged spots with CX2ABP at 11127km on 10m with the new kit.
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| Current operating position with 2 x FT817s and a Z817 auto-ATU |
I must say from a QRP base station point of view the Z817 is a neater, and much cheaper, ATU solution. It matches the Par 10/20/40 end-fed on most bands and seems to do as good a job as the Elecraft T1, which I need to repair as it is intermittent.
The second FT817 means I can WSPR on one band and operate on another band at the same time. As I have just bought the OLD version, you can be sure now that Yaesu will showcase a NEW version of the FT817 next month! Martin Lynch and Sons were very easy to deal with and thoroughly helpful suppliers. I can recommend them.
No stateside DX on 10m today but just exchanged spots with CX2ABP at 11127km on 10m with the new kit.
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