The Mosley TA-33M will also cover 5 bands BUT you have to specify that you want the TA-33M-WARC. It just adds an extra element for the warc bands. I run the TA-33jr which is just a little smaller than the 33M and I love it. Construction seems durable and when reading the reviews and comparing it to Hy-Gain and Cushcraft, the Mosley won hands down. Mosley gets a lot of great compliments about holding up in extreme environments. I have heard a lot of people complain about QC issues with Cushcraft lately but I can't confirm 100% as I haven't bought a Cushcraft in the past 15 years.

One additional note. The added WARC element on the 33 is a rotatable dipole but I cannot tell that it performs any less on those bands than any other band. I get awesome signal reports on 17 and 12 meters as well as great reception. Much better than anything I have used on those bands before. SWR is very good on all 5 bands without a tuner and it will easily handle your amp.

Personally I like the construction of the Mosley as compared to other brands that use hose clamps to hold the element sections together. No hose clamps here.

Just throwing in my 0.02 cents worth from my experience. I cant speak for the other mentioned antennas but good luck with whichever you decide to get.

Jason

Sorry to hear about your experience with Yaesu's repair service, or the lack thereof. I had a similar experience with them last year but luckily I was only out a small shipping cost. I had a Yaesu mobile speaker that went bad just a short time after I had bought it so I contacted Yaesu, explained the problem and mailed it in. About 3 weeks went by and they called me and told me they could not find anything wrong with it and I reassured them their was definitely something wrong with the speaker (low audio and distorted). About 3 more weeks went by and it showed up via UPS at my door. Opened the box, got the slip of paper out and nothing whatsoever saying if they had done anything to fix it. After hooking it up and trying it out it was obvious they did not do anything.

Not being worth the money to send it back I just opened the case myself and found the speaker material to be separating at some of the seams where it is glued together. That was the reason it had failed. Cheap junk. Brand new $50 speaker and shipping cost just tossed over in the junk drawer. I suppose if I ever find a speaker at a hamfest for a dollar or two that will fit in the case I might fix it but otherwise not. I would have just had it exchanged at the place where I had bought it but I was already past the time they allow for returns and exchanges. Just my luck.

Bottom line, If I ever need any of my Yaesu gear repaired I think I'll just send it to a certified repair person and not bother directly with yaesu anymore.

Jason

This type of QSO doesn't bother me in the least. At least theirs some activity on the air. It's far better than a lot of things you will sometimes hear. In fact, I cant say that I haven't had similar conversations many times on 2 meters in the past. It don't sound like anything that's against the rules is taking place. As long as the repeater owner don't mind, (I'm assuming they are on a local repeater) then no problem. As a former repeater owner, I would welcome the activity because most repeaters just sit idle these days anyhow and that's one of the main reasons I'm out of the repeater business these days and have no plans to return.

Jason

Way back 15-20 years ago I remember hearing a couple of these kinds of nets on 11 meters. Was always a mystery to me and kind of interesting. Some of those control stations had some of the best audio I had ever heard. Probably running modified ham gear. Never really figured out their purpose.

I have done this with a Yaesu control box and it works great. As cheap as LED's are I usually buy way more than I need just to have a stock of them. Never know when I might need them. If you look around you can find them dirt cheap online. I buy them from www.futurlec.com and I have never had a problem with them. They ship directly from Asia so it usually takes 2-4 weeks to get them but if your not in a hurry you might want to give them a try. They have a lot of other stuff too.

Just an added note. The converter I have works great with Windows XP. I haven't tried it with Win 7 or Vista but it should work.

Just get a USB to Serial converter cable. That's what I'm using and it works great with the PCC-950 software. I'm using one that MFJ sells (MFJ-5429) for about $25 but you can find them much cheaper if you look around. Just make sure it supports Automatic Handshake Mode and you'll be all set.

In my experience a good vertical antenna will work best on 10 meters. Not saying the dipole wont never work at all but you might be surprised at what you would hear with a vertical antenna versus a dipole on 10 meters. 10 has been open lately but not quiet as much activity as their was a short while back.

I don't have an issue with no-code hams. In fact, after being a General for the past 12 or 13 years I am finally going to attempt my Extra class pretty soon. Yes, I wanted to take it years ago but just too many irons in the fire and I had to stop at General for a while. Am I going to get bashed after I get my no code Extra? After all, I did take the 13wpm code back when I did General Class. The fact is that things change, sometimes they might not change the way we think they should but if they didn't change at all where would we be? Where would we go? Who knows. Back when all the hype first started about dropping the code I think I was a little disturbed with the idea but today it don't bother me one bit. I'll talk to the new Ham just as I talk to the older Ham and hopefully help the newbies with some things that I have learned over the years.

All of that said their is one thing that bothers me about some, and I said some, not all new Hams. When I hear a fairly new ham on the air asking where (what frequencies/bands) they are allowed to talk on and not allowed to talk on that bothers me. This is something that all newbies should know regardless of how new they are. They should have had to know this to pass their exam, that is the basics. When I hear someone on the air asking questions like that it always raises a brow of suspicion but that's just me. Those are the kinds of issues that make me wonder. Not whether or not they had to learn any code.

Their are a lot of good starter radios out there that can be had pretty cheap. Depends on what your budget is and whether or not you want new or used equipment. I had an Icom-718 for a while and it wasn't a bad radio to start with but the noise blanker was lacking a little in mine. I haven't looked at the price of them in a long time but they were somewhere in the $500 to $700 range brand new. You wont get a lot of the filters and features of a more expensive radio but for the price that would be expected. Of course that's just one suggestion. Theirs quiet a lot out there to choose from and some good used radios can be had for maybe $300 to $500. I couldn't help you much when it comes to hiding your antennas coz luckily have not been in that situation but their are lots of creative ways hams have come up with to do so. I'm sure someone on here can give you some good ideas there.

Good luck and have fun. 73,

Jason

I second the Ameritron switches. They have several different types and I have owned several of them over the years and none of them ever gave me any problems. I currently use the RCS-8V and it works great.

I'm not an electronics expert but I have had some luck taking the rubber keypad out and cleaning the reverse side of it with a damp cloth. Sometimes they will get dirt or goo buildup and just wont make contact. I would suggest you be gentle since their is usually a conductive coating on the back of the number keys. I guess it is possible to damage the coating while cleaning. I think you can buy the coating and repaint it on the back of the keys and that would probably be the best fix. I have never tried it but maybe someone with a little more experience than myself can give you a better answer.

I quit the club scene years ago. Seems like (back in the day when I didn't know any better) it was nothing but arguing and politics and I eventually got burned out on the hobby and because it I sold all my equipment. It wasn't fun anymore. Seems like when you have other people involved with something whether it be a ham club or some other group activity you always have people that cant agree, or make a promise to help out then ditch you at the last minute so the whole ordeal just becomes a big hassle. To make a 5000 page book short, I ran a repeater system for a local club years ago and the support was always promised but it was always NONE. It all fell on my back both financially and physically. I eventually ended up buying out the system, invested a lot of money in it, and fixed it up really nice. I got finally tired of the continued politics and offered to sell it back to the club but they didn't want it because I essentially wouldn't give it to them as a donation so I just sold it to someone else and walked away. This is the kind of things that you get into with clubs.

I got back active in the hobby a couple years ago and have had more fun just enjoying it for myself and doing my own activities than ever before. I once again seem to get invitations to come to this or that clubs meeting, and some repeated invitations but I just politely refuse and will continue to do so. I have friends that are still in different ham clubs and seems like their always complaining about some aspect of the club. That takes me back to a time I just assume to forget. It's nice to breath easy and know that when I get tired of operating all I have to do is flip the power switch, walk away for a while and not be concerned with nobody but myself. I personally will never again have anything to do with a club or group whether ham related or not. In my opinion it takes all the enjoyment out of the hobby and becomes one major headache. These days I just do things that don't require me to depend on other people and their false promises. Ironically, as bad as it all sounds the problems are in the past and I continue to be friends and communicate on the air with many of the now defunct club members. Hope some have a better experience than I have had. Clubs are like drugs, just say no  

73's all

Jason

Your going to get a lot of different answers. Their really is no BEST mic that is better than all the others period. The mic that is best for you might not be the best for me or the next person. That being said, Heil does make some really good mic's that sound great. You can also get mics that sound just as good or better from a lot of other manufactures such as, Shure, Marshall, etc.  for a reasonable price. I currently use a Heil pr40 Yaesu and it sounds great, looks great, and works well for me but to be honest, their are mics out there much less expensive that sound and look every bit as good.

I haven't looked at the 590S much but I assume that it has an equalizer built in which is very helpful when using studio mics.

You certainly wouldn't go wrong with Heil microphones but they are a little pricey, especially the pro mics but to say that they are the best mics hands down over another brand is just one persons opinion.

Good luck and hope you find the mic that works for you  

Jason

I will probably get flogged for my opinion but I'll say it anyways. I just don't feel sorry for anyone who chooses to buy a house in an HOA neighborhood then complains about the restrictions, whether it has to do with putting up antenna's or anything else for that matter. Shouldn't be living in an HOA controlled area. I will NEVER live in any place that the HOA has anything to do with. Their a bunch of looney's on a power trip and paying fee's to them is about the dumbest thing ever. It's money wasted that could buy some nice radio items or whatever else you choose to spend it on.