In praise of the FT817

My FT817 (not ND version) has been owned from new way back when these radios were new "on the block" at the beginning of the millennium when the price was still £799. In all that time it has performed faultlessly, mainly at the 2.5W or less settings.

Mine has worked the world on SSB (even handheld) and I get WSPR reports worldwide at 1W, even on 40m with a small wire antenna. I  intend to buy a new FT817ND soon so I can WSPR and work other modes at the same time. I can honestly say my FT817 does all I want and with 5W maximum output, which is more than enough power to work DX without upsetting the neighbours.

The best UK price currently seems to be around £513 but I hope to pay <£500 cash. At the current Yen-Pound exchange rate more like £450 is a reasonable price, unless the dealers want to be greedy. I hope the price includes the NiMH battery pack , charger etc. At best, the UK price fell to below £350.

The newer ND version covers 5MHz and all of 7MHz and has more rugged PAs.

Health update

Following my brain bleed I am getting better. Since being home my walking has improved and my swallow is improving too. I have still to hear from the DVLA (driving licence people) but am expecting to be prevented from driving for 12 months. I have applied for a "blue badge" for disabled parking rights. Today I surprised myself by walking quite a distance with a stick at Angelsey Abbey. I still feel punch drunk most the time and need people near me to support me.

Slowly but surely   ...a step at a time.

Thank goodness for amateur radio and all the very good friends I didn't realise I had.

New Solar Peak?

The most recent high solar activity looks likely to mean a new second sunspot peak for cycle 24.  See http://www.solen.info/solar/ .

http://www.solen.info/solar/

This page was showing the peak as 66.9 (smoothed sunspot number) in Feb 2012 but expect to see this revised to a much later date! I find this site very useful.

6m GDX?

I get G8EPA consistently at 61km on 6m WSPR at up to -15dB S/N. This rather suggests that >100km should be possible inter-G on QRP 6m WSPR with a little patience. Anyone out there willing to give it a try?

10m 134km GDX tests this evening

This evening G3WKW and I are trying to span 134km on 28MHz WSPR. I run 2W to a vertical and Bob runs a little more.  Despite Doppler and rig drift problems we managed the path (just) on 144MHz this week.  28MHz may be much weaker but with far less Doppler and rig drift. We shall see. With WSPR about 12-14dB better than CW we have the best chance.

UPDATE 2200z: Nothing at all seen since 1816 (USA) and 1824z (Es).  Will keep looking but not hopeful. No GDX seen at all.

Chinese QRP transceivers

In my recent analysis of good value QRP radios I ignored the recent Chinese entries into the market. As far as I can see, these are still immature products, but they are getting better by the day. For example, see http://www.wouxun.us/item.php?item_id=302 . I judge this by how prepared would I be to buy a Chinese radio. The answer is not yet.

10m still brilliant

As 6m WSPR was only giving me inter-G signals today, I switched to 10m. The band is still wide open to North America and has been whenever I have checked in recent afternoons. Not one report  is from less than 5000km with 2W. Sunspot count is 178 which helps to explain the good conditions of late.  The good times will not last: make the most of them as it may be a long wait.

At 1716z the 10m band was still wide open to the USA, in total darkness here.Then the band just died for me here in East Cambridgeshire. And then, a full hour later KB9AMG (6300km away) and W8AC spot me at -22dB S/N. And it has been dark here since 1630z! At the moment it looks as if the band finally died cross-pond at around 1830z -very late for 10m.

Micro-40 DSB build

http://aa7ee.wordpress.com/2013/10/19/the-vk3ye-micro-40-dsb-transceiver/ has a beautiful description of the building of this little transceiver using Me-squares. There is  a complete walk-through of AA7EE's build - truly beautiful workmanship.

6m and 2m inter-G WSPR

Although inter-G DX is possible on 2m WSPR (witness the tests between G3XBM and G3WKW over a 134km path on 2m recently with 2W and a halo) the equipment drift and Doppler shift makes WSPR a marginal mode on 2m. Things on 6m are better and longish paths are possible.See the 6m WSPR results today so far below:

So far, only inter-G paths seem to be open on 6m today. The high drift figures are almost certainly due to aircraft Doppler.

Best value new QRP transenceivers

At  the moment the running order, ignoring wSDR designs, is:

• Elecraft KX3  - best RX, expensive with all options in the UK. n ternal auto-ATU option
• Ten-Tec Argonaut VI - excellent RX and ideal base station but no  5,24 or 50MHz coverage.Expensive.
• Yaesu FT817ND - excellent base/portable unit up to 432MHz,but RX not as good as KX3 or Argonaut VI. 13-14 year old design.
• Icom IC703 - excellent base transceiver,but no longer available new. Internal auto-ATU.

Overall, the FT817ND represents best value for money all things considered, in my view. It may be an old design but I can buy 2 FT817ND with plenty of change for the price of the KX3. And I get a better design for home station digital (WSPR) use with botj 144 + 432MHz bands. Even adding a Z817 or T1 auto-ATU to the price of the FT817ND units there is still change when compared with the fully loaded KX3.

Reviews on www.eham.net are similar for all radios listed.