No new operating to report - but I went to Ham-Com this weekend and replaced my Yaesu VX2R that the TSA so thoughtfully removed from my luggage last month.
I also picked up some quick disconnects for the many antennas I will be needing soon.
Stay tuned.
UPDATE! Monday I received a letter from TSA approving my claim for the lost VX2R. They will be sending me a check for the full amount of the loss.
Back here I mentioned running power cable through the gap between the door and body of the truck. Since then I have read many accounts of vehicles that caught fire because of this, so I have reconsidered. (Of course, had I done this I would have fused the leads next to the battery. I'm not a complete idiot like those whose cars burned up.)
Also, it has arrived, so the power issue has become a critical question. Like the title says, developing ...
I got my new radio wired into the truck. It turns out the AMFM coax grommet is huge, and I was able to route the power wire through that hole without too much trouble.
I slit the grommet to make room for the cable and shoved it back in the hole. A trip to Car Toys scored some (expensive) battery post adapters and ring terminals, and I was fully wired up before noon this morning.
Unfortunately, the RM7000K remote mounting brackets are out of stock nationally, so I have to wait for the back order to come in to fininsh up.
Now comes the period I always go through when I have a new radio - making the first contact. Invariably, I am never able to start making contacts right from the start, so I'm in the period of tuning around and trying to score my 1st QSO with the new radio. The bands are pretty dead here, which isn't helping.
But I will keep trying. Puerto Rico is on 6 right now, so got to go - catch up with you later.
Okay I made my first contact with the IC-7K. My apologies to Dave in Maryland but I was chasing too many loose ends to have a proper QSO.
But that's my 1st contact with the IC-7000, and my 1st 6 meter QSO ever.
Second contact, this time on 20 CW with KN0WCW/5, Pat in Houston, who gave me 559 for my 25% power which equates to 25 watts? I won't know until I put a wattmeter on it to check how linear the power indication actually is.
I love the smooth keyer and break-in of the 7K, and I expect to have a lot more contacts with it.
I also connected my Z-100 autotuner with the Icom I/F cable, and it works flawlessly so far.
Okay this is fun.
Worked Ismael, 6H1AY (XE1AY) on 6 SSB this morning. I will try to get a QSL for that one, I need Mexico confirmed.
With two 6 meter SSB contacts in the log i the last couple of days, I started thinking of the last time I worked anyone on SSB.
1976? No later than that for sure. Thirty-one years!
Worked Eduardo, CO8LY, this morning before work on 20 meters. I have worked him before, on 15, but inexplicably did not try for a QSL card. I think perhaps he did not have a manager back then (2005). Now he is managed by the excellent EA7ADH.
At lunch, I hung up the 10 meter stick and quickly found WA5KWS, Bruce, in McComb, Mississippi. We had a nice QSO with good reports both ways. He even said my audio sounded good, something that is an issue with the 7K radios.
And incidentally, this is my lifetime first QSO on 10 meters. Before becoming active on HF again in 2003, I had stayed exclusively on 2, 75, and (rarely) 40. Now I have two 6 meter contacts and one 10 meter contact in the three days since I got the radio going in the truck.
It's working very well, gets a little warm but nothing alarming. Today was the first time it warmed up enough for the fan to come on. I have ordered a coax jumper made from RG8X to go to the tuner to get a little more robust connection there. I worry the Radio Shack RG58 jumpers aren't up to the task.
I am anxious to get the remoting kit, which was back ordered. The power cable is just long enough to permit mounting the main unit on the floor behind the passenger seat, and I can find a spot near or on the dash for the control head.
Then I will really be uptown.
Wow, 15 contacts with the IC-7000 in just over a week. I am getting a QSL backlog, so I really need to get hustling on redesigning my card.
My old card has a picture of my QRP equipment on it, so I don't want to keep using that design now that I am mostly QRO.
I checked my power output last night and determined that 10% power on 20 meters equals 5 watts (according to my meter, at least), and coincidentally the summer QRP Fox Hunt starts next Thursday, July 5.
So now I know where to set the radio to keep the power at 5 watts or below for foxhunting. I expect having an agile transceiver with true split operation (not sort of RIT, like the MFJs) will prove to be valuable in the foxhunts. I will see how the first one or two go before deciding if I'm in for the season.