I guess it depends on what you mean by "28 MHz and up". Just how far up is "up"?

If it means 28 MHz to 30 MHz, no problem. Coax is cheap.
If it means 28 MHz to 10 GHz, that's another story.

I agree with the others above who suggested The RF Connection. Joel will help you out and sell you something that fits your budget and needs.  I am fortunate enough to work a couple of miles from his shop, and I enjoy going in to buy my stuff in person just because Joel is such a nice guy.

The original poster can correct me if I am wrong here. It *may be* his problem thanks to Great Britain's "Antisocial Behavior" ordinances. There have been cases where hams have been forced to take down their antennas because the neighbors don't like the looks of them. Having an "eyesore" on your property comes under the realm of "antisocial behavior". If he doesn't help his neighbor solve the problem, the local authorities may force him off the air as a way of solving the problem with him coming out of the neighbor's PC speakers.

A modern amplifier should be a black box with a coax connector marked "Radio", a coax connector marked "Antenna", and a power connector.

No power switch - the modern amplifier owner would never dream of turning it off.
No standby switch - see above.
No knobs - because if it had knobs, they would all be turned all the way to the right anyway.
No ALC connector - that just gets in the way of over-driving the amp.
Must be fully self tuning.

  - 73

I am probably going to get flamed for this. There is no such thing as an SWR ratio. SWR is an acronym for "Standing Wave Ratio". You don't measure a Standing Wave Ratio ratio. Have you ever been promoted to "Enter your PIN number" at an ATM? I'm sorry, I don't have a "Personal Identification Number number" so I can't enter my PIN number.

From Wikipedia: "In telecommunications, standing wave ratio  (SWR) is the ratio of the amplitude  of a partial standing wave at an antinode (maximum) to the amplitude at an adjacent node (minimum), in an electrical transmission line."

People who work in electronics know that electronic circuit run on smoke. If you do something that causes the smoke to escape, the circuit stops working. Well know fact :-)

My two biggest problems with the USPS in my area are opened mail, and undelivered mail.

For a long time, I noticed that some of my mail came with one corner of the flap torn back. It was always the same corner, and always torn about the same amount. At first I wrote it off as envelopes getting caught in the sorting machine. Then, over time, I noticed a pattern. It was always credit card bills and bank statements, never junk mail or personal letters that were torn.

More recently, I have been having a lot of trouble with mail just not showing up. People send me things through the mail (reliable people who have no reason to lie) and I never receive it. It happens quite frequently.

When choosing a fuse for any application, you should look at the I-squared-T rating of the fuse. This will tell you, at a given current, how long it will take for the fuse to blow. As Tom said, even "fast blow" fuses can be pretty slow.

For applications where a quick-open response is needed, look for "semiconductor fuses". These open more quickly under overload conditions.

73 - Jim

If the guy is lucky, those "rebuttal" reviews are all that he got. More than once I have posted a less than glowing review of a rig and ended up getting nasty emails from guys who felt that the rig was one of the best ever made and informed me of my lack of intelligence and expressed their doubts about my ancestry being human :-)

73 - Jim

Part 15 covers all radio frequency devices, digital or analog. If a device has a CPU operating at more than 9kHz it automatically falls under Part 15 requirements, that is true. That does not mean that Part 15 ONLY applies to such devices.

Part 15 applies to ALL radio frequency devices that are intentional radiators, unintentional radiators, or incidental radiators unless they are specifically exempted in Part 15 or by other sections of the CFR.

"The bottom line is that radios on the FCC's "banned" list should not be commercially sold in the U.S. That doesn't translate to any requirement that radios be Certified for amateur use before they can be marketed in the U.S. That's the wrong conclusion to jump to. As a licensed amateur, you can use any radio on amateur frequencies without regard to any type of Certification - making sure it meats FCC technical requirements is YOUR responsibility."

The bottom line is this: ALL radio frequency devices, including ham radio gear, must pass FCC Part 15 certification to be imported or sold commercially in the US. Period. It is ILLEGAL to IMPORT into the US or SELL COMMERCIALLY in the US any radio frequency device (including both intentional radiators and unintentional/incidental radiators) that have not passed Part 15 certification.

The legality of the radios has nothing to do with Part 97 and it has nothing to do with your personal responsibility over spectral purity or other issues with emissions. For those who claim that Part 97 does not require any FCC certification of ham radios, you are wrong. It certainly does require that, it the fact that Part 97 does not EXEMPT ham radios from Part 15 requirements. Take another look at your Kenwood or Icom, or Yaesu. You will find a sticker indicating that the equipment passed FCC Part 15 requirements. Why do Kenwood, Icom, Yaesu, and others spend money testing and modifying their gear to pass Part 15 requirements? Because they HAVE to in order to legally import them and sell them in the US.

Is it illegal to own and operate one of these non-certified radios on the ham bands? No.

Was it illegal for someone to import it and sell it commercially in the US? Absolutely yes.

Should licensed hams support the illegal importation and illegal sale of non-certified radios? No.

Does the fact that the radios are cheap justify supporting the illegal importation and illegal sale of these non-certified radios? No.

Stop spewing this BS that "Part 97 does not require any certification so you can buy your $35 HT from China if you want to".

"Simple To Use - just configure all your credit card and PayPal information, and you'll be "online" in minutes."

This is hilarious. Is it April 1 already?

"So how'd the factory getter them after they pumped them down and sealed them off? Clearly putting any HV on them to develop Ip is out of the question, so is it safe to assume they were RF induction heated till the plate structure was at incandescent temperatures? "

"Gettering" means nothing more than restoring the vacuum in the envelope. When the tube is manufactured, it is pumped down (evacuated) and sealed. It is then ready to use. The "getter" is just a material that, when hot, reacts with stray gas molecules and traps them. It is basically a "chemical vacuum pump". It serves the purpose of maintaining the vacuum over the life of the tube. Slow leaks (especially common in high power glass envelope tubes like the 3-500Z) would slowly fill the tube with air otherwise.

73 - Jim

The gettering material in the 3-500Z tube is coated onto the plate. Nothing that you do will getter these tubes unless the plate gets hot enough to glow orange/red. Anything short of that is a waste of time.

As HFRF said, the tubes are either good or bad. If you turn it on and apply RF, one of two things will happen. 1) the tubes will work and you will be able to run enough CW power to get the plates hot and glowing so they getter, or 2) they won't work because they are too gassy and nothing you do will getter them.

73 - Jim

I would like to suggest that the "last post date" tag be changed to "original post date" on forum threads. With the new sort based on most recent reply, it is perfectly obvious that posts near the top of page 1 of a forum have had recent replies. It would be more useful (imho) to know when the thread was started. I find myself reading a thread, thinking it is something new and interesting, only to discover that the original thread was started in 2005 with 15 replies in 2005 and has just recently had a single reply added to it.

For example, if a post in the Company Review forum has a subject like "XYZ store stole my money, don't buy from them" and the original post was from 4 or 5 years ago, it really isn't something of interest now.

Another example, some guy posted a question about a problem with his rig in 2006. You look through the Mods and Repairs forum and you think this guy needs help. So you read the thread to see if you can help him, only to find out that it is a 4 year old thread that came to the top because some guy found it and posted a reply (which might not even be on topic).

73 - Jim

Ron,

I don't have any specific suggestions for your problem, but the IC-701 is notorious for having cold/bad solder joints. I have poked around inside a 701 once, but not as far as the main PC boards. I have heard, though, that Icom did things in the 701 like put 2 PC board at right angles and solder the traces in the 90 degree joint. Those are especially known for breaking.

If you open it up and give it a good inspection, you may find broken joints that can easily be fixed.

Good luck and 73,
Jim