The Perfect Present

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I was very lucky this year as far as receiving presents. Louise (M3TLL) my lovely YL got me something that she new would be well received and appreciated more than most things, which was of course some Ham Radio equipment. Thanks Lou!

Louise managed to get a good deal from our local Ham Buddy – Adam 2E0LXA, who had a great little Yaesu FT-817, QRP multi banded/mode portable transceiver that he was selling. The little rig came with a “Miracle Antenna” and a “Wonder Wand” tunable counterpoise which I have already tried successfully on 5Watts making QSO into Estonia as well as across the Atlantic into the US. I must admit I was surprised with the performance of the Miracle Antenna and I am looking forward to getting out with the portable QRP station and finding out what the possibilities are with a simple QRP set up, as well as using the rig outside on the Satellite’s.
I have already been trying the standard rubber Whip (YHA-63) connected to the BNC located on the front panel, I worked my local buddies M0DIT, M1PAC and M3RIZ who are all around 6 miles away over in Keighley. This was done whilst walking the Dog Dudley, the FT-817 was working well whilst running off the battery pack with 5/9 reports exchanged on 2M FM. I am very pleased with this years Christmas present and should get many years of use out of it, money well spent!

I was also lucky enough to receive some cash from the family which I put too and invested in a backup 30Amp Power Supply Unit (PSU), which I had been considering for some time. So we headed into the City (Bradford) for a visit to Maplin Electronics where I picked up an Identical model to the original PSU in the shack. The new PSU can be seen in the background of the picture as well as via the link. Hope you all had a good Christmas and are ready for the New Year.

Comments

Unknown said…
Very nice, Simon. I love my FT-817ND it is such a versatile radio. I'm always pleased to hear of people making contacts with Miracle Whips, Wonder Wands etc. though it always me wonder why when I try with one of these antennas I find it such a struggle.
9:43 am
MØYKS Simon said…
Thanks Julian, I was very surprised myself with the Miracle Whips performance, hope you get better results with yours. I have a few ideas for some /P & walking types of HF antenna but will be waiting for some better WX before attempting anything too serious. In the meantime I have been playing QRP on 20m using an external antenna (Hustler 6TBV) and today I worked 6 Countries on 5W the furthest being W1AW and K3LP.

I am impressed with the exceptional receive quality and will be interested in finding out how well the FT-817 pulls in the Satellites. No doubt there will be a video showing my exploits soon, until the next time, have a Happy New Year and keep up the great posts on your blog!
7:36 pm
Anonymous said…
Hi Simon. The FT817 is a great little radio. I've had one for a few years now. Having all those bands in a little QRP package is very nice and it's only real downside is that it's so greedy (even on RX) on the juice. A battery pack made from lithium or Ni-Mh rechargeables is pretty much essential kit. That said, the 817 is a whole lot of fun. I don't have a miracle stick... just wires and a matcher. I recently got hold of one of the watson HF whips with tapped base loading coil. Still trying to get a chance to try it out though.
Too much work and horrible WX to spend time outdoors!

Best 73.
Al.
GM1SXX
3:10 pm
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