A Comunication Receiver Would Be Nice For The Ham Shack

  One piece of equipment I have been looking at to add to the Ham Shack is a nice communication receiver. I have looked at the various communication receivers in my ham radio catalogs. I have looked at the specifications and looked at the reviews on eham.net . For the most part they can be a little expensive, but maybe one of these days I will be able to save up some money and buy one. I do always keep my eyes open when I go to garage sales and flea markets. You just never know when you are going to come across a deal.

   The Yaesu VR-5000 seen above is one that had caught my eye. These are the types of equipment that may be cheaper or for a good price when used. If you do go with the used variety I would check the reviews on the particular seller. I have seen some Ham Radio Operators get either a dead piece of boat anchor with no way to return the item. The other problem is sending the money only to never receive the product. So always remember it's better to be safe than sorry. Here are some specifications on the Yaesu VR-5000 below.

Wide Frequency Coverage 2000 Memories Dual Receive Program/Alarm/Sleep Timer Real-Time Spectrum Display Radio Controlled Band Search VFO/Memory Scan Smart Search™ Attenuator

10.7 MHz IF Output Jack Tone Control Squelch Control Display Dimmer PC Port Password Lock Optional FVS-1A Voice Synthesizer Optional DSP-1 Audio Wave Meter

  The AOR 8600 MK2 is another well built communications receiver that I would definitely recommend to anyone. It is a well built piece of equipment. I would love to have one of these in my shack some day. It has a frequency range from 100Khz to 3000Mhz, which is a very good range. Everything I have read about it has always been good. Here are some interesting specifications below on this unit.

• Frequency range: 100 kHz - 3,000 MHz
• Operating mode: AM / NAM / WAM / SFM / NFM / WFM / USB / LSB / CW
• Memory channels: 1,000 channels
• Twin frequency readout with bar signal meter

 If you are looking for something in a little cheaper price category I would suggest a Grundig Satellit 750. I own one of these Radios and I love it. I have never had a problem with it and would definitely recommend it. I bought mine when my Kenwood TS-2000 was out for repair. I was able to listen to many of my favorite Ham Bands using a wire dipole antenna. The price of these are in a good range as well. Here is a picture of the radio below and some specifications on it.
   

 

• AM, FM, Aircraft Band (118v-137 MHz) and Shortwave (1711-30000 KHz)
• Set 9/10 KHz AM tuning; set FM tuning range
• Single Side Band (SSB)
• 360-degree rotate AM antenna
• Auto/Manual/Direct frequency key-in and station memory tuning

     

There are many other different communications receivers that are out there for sale. There are many good deals whether in the new or used categories. So I would recommend to do some searching and read as many reviews as you can.

Thank You for reading and have a nice 4th of July from Dan KC2YTI 73s.

Field Day 2014 and Propagation

  I have been listening to 14.300Mhz on the 20 meter band. I heard the Ham Radio Operators mention about someone needing to move to a different frequency. Apparently field day is going on today. Signals tend to be coming in pretty strong, but they had faded out for a short time. This is most likely due to how the sun is acting. I came across this video below and I figured I would share it on my blog. It is a bit lengthy so you may want to get something to drink.


             

   Here is a link to a pdf file for field day from ARRL http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Field-Day/2014/Field%20Day%20Packet%202014%20v2.pdf . Here is another video below on how to prepare for field day. It is getting late in the afternoon here in Rochester New York, but out west it may be 3hours earlier at least depending on how far you are from here. So if you want get out there and have fun.
             

  Thank You for reading and watching from Dan KC2YTI 73s.

The LDG Antenna Tuners Seem To Do A Nice Job

AT-600 Pro II

  I have been doing some research on the LDG Antenna Tuners . The AT-600 Pro II automatic antenna tuner gets a 4.4 out of 5 rating on eham.net, which is not a bad rating. Although there were only nine reviews they were all good. I have heard that they can seem a bit noisy when they are going through the automatic tuning process. If you would like to see a video on the AT-600 Pro II Antenna Tuner check out this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPLxPb-Umxw . I myself run the MFJ 993b auto tuner and when it auto tunes it can make some noise, but it only lasts for a few moments. The LDG AT-600 Pro II seems to be the same way, so it is not a big problem. My advise would be to buy one of the LDG meters they sell depending on what radio you are going to use it with. It is capable of handling 600 watts on ssb, which is not that bad. I have heard some stations running 200 watts to 500 watts and they sound awesome. It all depends on what antenna you are using and how much it multiplies the signal. Below are some of the specifications on the LDG AT-600 Pro II.

• 600 Watts SSB and CW, 250 watts on 6M. 250 watts PSK and digital. - Easy to read LED bar graph display for RF power, SWR and status
• 4,000 memories for instantaneous band changing - Two position antenna switch with memories for each position
• Tuning time: 0.5 to 6 seconds full tune, 0.1 second memory tune - Built in frequency counter for memory operation
• Frequency coverage: 1.8 to 54.0 MHz. - Tunes 6 to 800 ohm loads (16 to 150 ohms on 6M)
• Enclosure: 10.5D x 8.5W x 2.5H inches - Weight: 3 pounds - Includes DC power cable.