Hey... somebody has stolen the following equipment from our clubhouse in Danville, IL:

FT-897D, Dell Inspiron laptop, SignaLink USB & Samlex 25A power supply.  If you see this combination for sale anywhere, I can provide serial numbers.  The FT-897D has had the MARS/CAP mod done (yes... I'm a MARS member... AFA5TM).  The Dell Laptop is silver in color and well used... when it disappeared it had Windows XP... the "Page Up" button is missing.  Nothing special about the SignaLink.. it was virtually new with the Plug & play chip for Yaesu.

Thanks for looking!

73

NU9R (aka KG4DQJ in a previous life)
e-mail to:   KG4DQJ AT YAHOO dot Com

Tom

I just received this today.  I just thought I'd post it here in case some of you good folks run across this equipment in the Neateast TN, Southwest VA or Northwest NC area.

73

Tom

----- Original Message Follows -----

It is very disturbing to report that several equipment items are missing from the ham radio shack (Room 225) in Wilson-Wallis Hall at ETSU.

Here are the items:
 
Kenwood TS-680S Tramsceiver including the companion 12-volt power supply.

Kenwood TM-261A 2-meter Transceiver.
Alinco DR-570T Dual Band 144 and 440 MHz Transceiver.

To add insult to injury, ALL of the manuals for the above equipment are missing as well. Someone definitely know what he was taking!

It is believed that the equipment was taken sometime after the University Amateur Radio Club meeting Tuesday afternoon (October 7th).

Please be on the lookout at hamfests and on online sites such as eBay, QRZ.com etc. Please also spread the word via local ham radio club e-mail listings and web sites. If you see anything suspicious, please contact Bob May, K4SE at mayr@etsu.edu or k4se@arrl.net.

Thanks to K0ZN and W8JI...

I removed all peripherals connected between my computer and my rig... all is well...  It was just odd to me that it only happened on 40M.   I would talk to the same person on 20, 40, 80 and on MARS frequencies and only had the problem on 40.

So, thanks again for the insight.  I found it helpful.  I'll reconnect the components one at a time to see if there is a single culprit or if there is some sort of synergy with all of them hooked up.

Thanks again!

I'm recently having problems with RF back into my rig on 40M only.  I work several MARS frequencies, 20 & 80 meters regularly with NO problems.   My SWR on 40M is 1.3 which is about the same on all the bands.  I have an FT-897D with an AT-897 tuner into a G5RV dipole about 40ft up.  I have plenty of ferrite core chokes at the Transceiver end and have an air wound choke with about 13 turns on a 2" piece of PVC at the antenna end.  I have the system grounded at the transciever end direct to earth ground using 12 gauge solid copper wire.  The wire is about 13 feet from transciever to earth.  I have an 8' copper rod driven all the way down into the ground.

This only happens on 40M.  I run 100W most of the time.  Of course I can reduce the RFI by turning power down.  Even at 20W I'm told from other stations they can here the RFI in my audio even at this lower power.

I have also noticed that the tuner takes a little longer to tune on 40M.  Generally the tuner will tune within 2 seconds (much faster most of the time)... however lately on 40 meters it can take as much as six or seven seconds and has taken as long as 10 seconds even on frequencies I've been to many times before.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

73

Me again!  Well, I've finally got an issue with this old radio.  So far the rig is working well.  However, I do have an issue with the audio section.  After keying the rig and returning to recieve mode, the audio will often drop out... almost completely.  I still see the s-meter moving so I know my contact is still there.  However, the RX audio drops out.  Sometimes it's gone for the night, sometimes it's only for a few seconds.  Sometimes keying into a dummy load and then unkeying will bring audio back.  Any suggestions?

Heh...  No, it didn't send me to the poorhouse...  For the FT-101Z, the MFJ-949E and the Deluxe Versa Tuner (and a few other minor accessories), I have less than $500 invested.  Sure the rig doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles, but it's got enough I can pull weak CW out of the weeds and I can hear phone just fine!  So, I'm excited to be able to get on the air so cheaply.  When I first started looking, I was thinking Ten-Tec... they are solid rigs and the factory is less than two hours from my home.  Then I had sticker shock!  So, I started reading here and there and decided on the FT-101Z.  I'm glad I did!

73

Tom

The instructions for my G5RV Jr Dipole state, "The feed line shield should not be grounded on the antenna side of the balun." Does this mean that I am to cut away the shielding from the coax connector after winding the coax about 10 times around a piece of 4-6" PVC pipe? Am I reading this correctly? What is the theory behind it?

I'm assuming that since the dipole uses 450 ohm ladder line and is a balanced antenna, that there is a mismatch between that and the unbalanced 50 ohm coax I'm using to feed the antenna. What does cutting away the shield do? Does it just prevent a pathway back to the shack for RFI and RF feedbak on the shield? Any help is greatly appreciated.

If you'd like to read the instructions for yourself, here is the link:

http://www.mfjenterprises.com/man/pdf/MFJ-1778M.pdf

Thanks

Tom

Just wanted to say thanks to all the "elmers" out there.  A lot of you have given me quite a bit of insight here in the forums and via e-mail since making general and trying to get an HF rig setup.  So, here's what I ended up with.  I have an Yaesu FT-101Z (appears to be a MK0 - early Z-model with SSB and CW only.) My antenna is a G5RZ Jr Di-pole antenna at about 45 feet in the air.  It is strung in a primarily north-south direction giving me plenty of east-west propagation from my Tennessee QTH.  I also ended up with an MFJ-949E Versa Tuner II with crossed needles and dummy load.  The rig seems to be putting out about 125W when maxed with about a 1.4 SWR.  I've made several contacts on both USB & LSB as well as my first CW QSO pounding out a whopping 11 WPM with a straight key.  And, the gentleman even understood me!  WOOHOO!  So, thanks again.  It's great to have a place to come for positive feedback.

73

Tom

Thanks again for the feedback.  I got brave tonight and attempted my first CW QSO.  I discovered that if the "tone" control on the rear apron is appropriately adjusted, it is not even necessary to key the radio.  It works as a practice oscillator with the audio coming through the external speakers.  So, once I was confident I could hear what I was sending I made my first CW contact.  I managed pound out the QSO at a whopping 11 WPM with my straight key.  So, the radio appears to be completely functional at this point with power out up to about 125W.  Thanks to everyone that helped me get this venerable old rig on the air!

Thanks for the feedback.  I repaired militry HF systems on aircraft for 21 years.  I was hoping that this rig would be similar with the sidetone being reproduced through the AF section of the receiver.  It just kinda threw me when I found the statement about the sidetone being sent to an external receiver.  

Thanks again.

73

Tom

Greetings,

I'm the proud new owner of my first HF rig after making General only a few weeks ago.  I've had the FT-101Z for a few days now and everything seems to be in order so far.  I've moved slowly in setting this up and testing the different features.  I'm ready to attempt CW with this radio and am a little confused by the guidance in the manual (I have a downloaded FT-101ZD manaul... shouldn't be a whole lot of difference.)  The only reference I can find for CW sidetone states "The CW sidetone may be fed to an external reciever through this jack."  I found this information on the list of things for the rear apron.  Does this mean I need a separate receiver to hear CW sidetone?  Or, can I simply feed it to an 8 ohm speaker.  Or, will I be able to hear sidetone through the main rig speaker?

Any input is GREATLY appreciated.

73

Tom

I wasn't attempting to make this bulletproof or work under every imagineable circumstance.  The purpose of that portion of the post was to indicate that I don't remember how it's done.  That's why I posted in the elmer's forum.  I thought I might find constructive feedback here.  Thanks for the input though... preciate that!

AA4PB thanks for your comments.  I've spent some time this morning measuring and looking at my available space.  I have a tall pine tree in my back yard that is about 50ft to the peak of my roof.  And, it's about 75ft from that tree to my chimney tops.  That's the space available for a dipole.  So, what I hear is that perhaps a dipole like the G5RV Jr with an RF Isolator at the end of the feedline and an antenna tuner is a much better solution.  

I'm just looking for something that will meet my needs, is inexpensive and is safe.  The FT-101Z only puts out 100W.  At this point I am not looking at RF Amps or anything else.

Thanks again for the constructive feedback.

I have acquired an FT-101Z.  It will arrive in a few days.  Here's my question(s).

I'm looking at using this in my home.  The rig will be about six feet from a window.  I'm looking at a random wire antenna.  However, it is about 35 feet to a clear area in my back yard.  I can attach the random wire to a tree and then to the top of the roof at the peak of the gable.  This will give me about 30 feet or so of random wire in a fairly open space.  What do I need to connect the random wire to the rig?  Do I simply run a nice heavy coax and solder the random wire to the center?  Exactly how do I get power to the random wire.  It's been years since I was doing this for the U.S. Air Force, so I don't remember exactly how we attached the Long Wire antennas to the actual transmitter.  I do remember there was a heavy duty coax leaving the TX to go to the antenna coupler.  I remember that the coax attached to the coupler (antenna tuner) and that the coupler attached to a lightning arrestor.  From there the lightning arrestor attached to the long wire.  That's all I can remember and don't remember the specifics.

I will definitely get an antenna tuner.  So, please provide me with a little guidance.  Thanks

73

Tom

OK... I saved my pennies!  I have a line on a yaesu FT-101Z.  It belonged to a friend of my grandfather.  He's been a silent key for about 2 years.  My grandfather tells me the rig worked before his friend died.  Granddad tells me I can get the rig for the cost of shipping but it's just the rig... no manual and no key!

Will a straight key work with this and what type of connector does it have?

Thanks

Tom

Thanks for the reply.  I have another 10 meter rig that is not CW capable.  I've had general for two weeks and have been on the air three times.  I've made about a dozen contacts including some DX to Puerto Rico and Brazil on phone.  So, since I got the CW rig so cheap, I figured I'd give it a shot since I've had some good luck with phone.

Thanks again for the reply.