First HF rig recommendati
From
Gate Keeper@1:3634/27 to
Daryl Stout on Thu Sep 8 00:34:52 2022
Re: First HF rig recommendati
By: Daryl Stout to Gate Keeper on Sun Aug 28 2022 09:06 am
Oh, i agree 100% I bought my 718 new when it came out, still use it to this day. Got my DXCC, WAS, WAS Centennial, and many many more awards using it and an ordinary G5RV at 30 feet barefoot! As of right now my 718 is my backup rig, the main rig is a 746 (non-pro), also barefoot.
GK - N4DLT
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From
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ALL on Sun Oct 16 17:04:50 2022
Fell off the map for a bit, but I am back on now. Been really busy with work + prepping activities. I decided to go with the Yaesu FT-991A. I tried to go with a US seller, however it appeared that the US sellers I could find were sold out of this radio! So, I decided I would import it not realizing that the radio would be programmed for the band plan of the nation I was importing from (in this case, Japan). There is a good bit of overlap between Japans band plan and the US and most frequencies I use are within that overlap, but because it is hard programmed for Japan, there are some US frequencies, especially in the VHF and UHF range I can't transmit on with this radio. Doh!
You can put the radio into service mode and get around the programmed limitations, but be ABSOLUTELY careful that you only transmit on frequencies YOU ARE LICENSED FOR! Service mode will let you transmit on any and all frequencies.
I am sure a soft (or hard?) mod will come out in the future to unlock and maybe even let you reprogram the radio, but until then, I will just use this radio in the frequencies that overlap. I have plenty of other V/UHF radios, so its no real loss for me. There is a MARS hack you can do on the 991 (some say it works on the 991A, others say it doesn't - seems to depend on which iteration of the 991A you have), but that doesn't open all bands, just MARS. As I am not a part of MARS, I have no need to TX on those bands :).
For an antenna, I am using a Buddipole configured for 30M (I am receiving wefax on 12.784 USB as I speak). The dipole works really good too - received a ton of DX stations on 30M yesterday and today! Been having so much fun receiving the different modes, that I haven't even keyed up yet! One of these
days I will finally get around to keying up and calling CQ, I promise!
I have some parts arriving in the next few days and I will be building a window sill pass through for the coax, instead of drilling holes in the wall. I seem to remember there was a company that made wall outlets with SO-239 connectors on either side? I can't seem to find those anymore.
Anyways, Thanks everyone for the recommendations! I have been having a TON of fun with this new radio!
73, de KG7UJH.
Hope to work you on HF soon!
How ya gonna do it? PS/2 it!
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