Perhaps one of the hell modes.

73, Roger

Looking back over the years, I've had several hobbies and some I have been quite passionate about. One thing I discovered was that the hobby will always be there in one form or another. Family, on the other hand, requires.......demands your attention. Don't miss out on weekend events with your children and family because of a hobby. It will become regrettable.

73, Roger

I think you find everything you need right here. http://www.ve3sqb.com/

73, Roger

I think for you a little "Off-Center Fed Dipole" research might be in order.

73, Roger

Getting to know the folks at the local motor rewind shop can be very beneficial. I scored about 100 feet of #12 magnet wire, just for the asking. Of course, a dozen donuts in trade doesn't hurt either.

73 and good luck with your project.

Roger

Given your location and interest in the Carribean, I'd point the beam just east of the area of interest. As long as the F/B is not extreme, you'll probably hear activity from most openings off the backside.
73, Roger

Do yourself a favor and bring her up nice and slow using a variac. Let the tubes cook for awhile with just heater voltage before apply HV. Hopefully the caps and tubes will survive the long inactive period. You are probably the envy of everyone that's familiar with the name Henry.

73, Roger
AI7RR

Thanks for the reply, Bernie.

I made a tiny bit of progress last night. I at least saw and heard some activity on 10.147 and decoded something that makes no sense to me, certainly no calls anyway. I still get no responses that I can see when I do a ping. How long after I ping should it take to receive a response? Should I be using TX ID? Seems everytime I turn it off, the program turns it back on?

73, Roger

WOW, another excellent success story of hams helping hams. Great job, guys. I could read threads like this all day.

73, Roger

I've spent the better part of 3 days installing and setting up pskmail (client). Already had FLdigi installed and working fine. I've read the manual numerous times, researched various other documented sites and joined the wiki. So far, I have not been able to connect to any server or copy any transmissions. I've listened and pinged 10.148 -1000 = dial setting 10.147 USB, to no avail. I've used power levels from 20 up to 100w. I've tried connecting to servers nearest to me using PSK250 and one Canadian server using PSK500R. Nothing.

Have conditions been that bad?

So far, I've yet to find a piece of software I couldn't make work but this one is kicking my backside. Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Tnx and 73, Roger

Assuming that's the rack on your vehicle, I'd suggest a mirror mount style NMO mounted on the front rail and as stated earlier, with your basic 1/4 wave vertical. Make sure you use a spring and pay particular attention to protecting the feedline.

73, Roger

A problem that I've experienced personally with multiple transceivers and antennas has to do with rf coupling from one antenna to the other. I've inadvertently taken out the front ends of 2 ( I'm a slow learner) transceivers by transmitting 600 - 800 watts on one and forgetting to ground or otherwise isolate the other rig. If you have room to adequately seperate your antennas, you should have no problem. Test and measure should surely be done.

73, Roger

Folks, there's a mod in the 820 Yahoo forum that changes the germanium diodes to 1N5711 schotttky diodes. Supposedly improves things slightly. The author of the original post should join the Forum and go to the Mods directory under Files for more detailed information.

73, Roger

I have a friend doing exactly what you want to do using the Flex1500 and it works just fine. Just do a little experimenting and find the sweet spot for driving the big amp. Also, make sure the impedance is a good match between all units.

73,Roger

Can you see Dick's audio on Ross' computer via the node?
Can you see audio on Ross's computer via the radio?

Answers to these questions will help diagnose the problem.

73, Roger