I purchased a Yaesu 747GX at a government auction recently, and I now own a rig that has been used in the past by some very bad men. I know they were bad people because they neglected to include a manual with the rig before they were throw in the slammer.

The 747GX came with a Yaesu MH-1 B8 hand microphone that has a two-position switch on the back marked 'TONE.' The switch positions are marked '1' and '2,', but have no other markings.

What kind of tone is associated with each switch position? Are there any specifications for the tone quality from the manual?

Thanks for any help!

73,
James / AG4DX

I've been running my HF rig in my car for a couple of months, and it's been working perfectly. I've run 8AWG power cables directly from my battery terminals and through the firewall. Both the positive and the negative leads are fused at the battery. These power leads are directly connected to my rig, which sits on my passenger seat.

This power setup worked great when I only needed a single power source for my rig. Now, I'd like to add some additional equipment, such as a digital signal processor and a SWR meter with a backlight. Both of these use very little power, but they need a 12V power source.

What's the best way to connect these additional power leads? I'd like to have the flexibility to connect and disconnect these systems at any time, and add additional power at a later date for additional equipment. This also should be something asthetically pleasing, if not easy to hide under the seat or behind the dash.

I want to do this right, but I don't have the background to understand the proper connectivity requirements (or safety considerations) for automobile use. Can anyone help?

73, James/AG4DX

I've recently installed a HF rig (Icom 747GX) into my car (1995 Nissan Maxima), and I'm pleased so far at the results. However, I'm fighting a nasty noise problem (thank goodness for noise blankers!).

The noise disappears when I remove the antenna feed from the rig, so I know it's not getting in through the power connection. If I disconnect the antenna from the feedline, I still have noise. This means at least some of the noise is coming in through the coax itself.

So, I need to replace the coax with something that has additional shielding. My Hamstick is mounted on a magnet mount on the trunk (one of those big three-magnet jobs). The existing coax is run from a low-profile connector underneath the magnet mount. What would be a good replacement for this coax connection? Remember that there isn't a lot of clearance underneath the magnet mount, and I need something with some good shielding. Is there a good quality coax with a low profile connection available commercially, or should I make something myself?

Should I also concentrate on getting some additional shielding for my spark plugs? I've seen the Magnecor line of spark plug cables that are built for RF shielding, and I've had suggestions of changing the spark plugs to some new and higher quality plugs.

Where should I concentrate my efforts initially?

James, AG4DX