Specifically on 40 meters,  there is a section where we do cw.. and the rest of the world does ssb.  
this will be addressed in 2007 when the band plan changes made in the iaru confrence of 2003,  and it will also get rid of the am broadcasters on the 40 meter band.  ya never hear any one saying lets not have the foreign brodcast stop on weekends..

most folks on 40 contests from world wide evevts  work split on 40.   they tx on 7.020 or so and listen at 7.220 and we listen at 7,020 and tx at 7.220.    

life is full of little inconvienences..

73  tom N6AJR

lets  see... there is satalites, Leo satalites, 2m 220, 440 mhz, 10 to 160, warc bands, am, fm, ssb, cw,  psk31, hellschriber, atv, packet, irlp, and so on on each and every band..  

surely there is some where on some band  with no contesting..  really.. use contesting on your favorite band to get you to move some where else to try a different part of ham radio..

I had them all from 811's to clipperton L and Bbe 33's and 34, and sweep tube amps.  I would reccommend you get the ameritron als 500 ( made for mobule use ) for about $650 or so new and a big used power supply like and ameritron 70 amper, or set up a battery and charger set up to run it off of at home ( outside, hydrogen gas..) I love mine, no tuning and a solid 500 watts on most bands, a bit less on 120 meters with the kit installed. ( or buy the 600 and it comes with a power supply but cost $1200...) I got mine on ebay for $300

I don't think its illegal to use, I think you have to take responsibility that it has a clean output that meats the requirements set by the FCC

ya mite try some of the nets for fills, like the century club ( on several bands, ssb and cw and rtty too I think or at least PSK31) and the HHH net on 40 meters. Jump in and say hi for a couple nites, they are all nice folks..

For around $300 you can pick up a nice used ham radio like a Icom 730 or 720 or a yaesu FT-840 and such. These will be all solid state, not tubes to tune, and you can unplug the mike and use them as a good Ham band reciever, , most recieve from 1.8 to 30 MHZ all the way across and only TX in the ham bands.  

This way if or when you get your tech with code, or your general you are ready with a rig and not a now unusable recieve only radio.  Just my opinion, but that is what I would do.. 73 and good listening.

I guess the government of a country can set what ever standards they choose and visitors must follow them.  This could be a left over from the Viet Nam war, or a personal quirck of the ruler of the country.

We are used to doing what we want in relative freedom here in the majority of the western world, and find personal restriction of our freedoms some what limiting and unusual.  I've lived in lots of places around the world, but choose to live here.  Thank goodness for the democratic system.

73  tom N6AJR

I love my ft-1500 and have used it for a couple years with out a problem. I like the unique mount, and  I usually velcro to my Power supply fixed use, and velcro it into a pocket in the dash for mobile.. good job guys...tom N6AJR

I use HRO Oakland, Ca. and have nothing but praise.  Mach, who is retiring soon and Mark who used to be there and is taking over for Mach is also a good guy.  I have had excellent service, bought tons of gear and never had a problem.  

Thanks for the good service guys.  I even got some stuff from them as door prises for our local radio club.  These folks have mt business., and shipping over night is their norm.  

Thanks for treating me like a customer...  tom N6AJR

Ahhhh  the truth is  like they say in real estate...location, location, location.

I have friends in the concord area (30miles away) and friends in the San Francisco Oakland bay area ( 50 miles and a range of hills) and a friend in Pacifica (70 miles and right on the side of a 800 foot hill looking over the ocean. I live in the area next to Travis AFB.


We will all tune in to a signal, and you would not belive the difference.  The pacifica fellow does better on pacific rim stuff, but so does the concord guy, amd I ma usually 3rd or 4th in S strength.  On U.S. calls, I usually do well an concord #2, Pacifica #3, and SF bay area guys 4th.  If you are talking about east coast , africa, europe etc, the SF guys are usually 3 s units better, then concord, then me , then pacifica, but sometimes the pacifica station recieves the best.

I think some of it is location, and local noise level and structure blocking a specific direction, and some of it is jusy wacky propagation. For instance one nite I was working a guy in Kuwait, and a friend in Kwajalien caled me and I worked them both, not 2 minutes apart, and that is  weird propagation, unless they were both coming over the poles, but it didn't have that echoy sound to it.

My reccommendation is to put up as much antenna as you can and enjoy what you do work  ( do an elmers search on FAN DIPOLE here.) Wire antennas are cheep and effective.. tom N6AJR

good amp but expensive because you are buying the power supply too, I have several large power supplies (50 and 70 amps) so I bought a used als 500 for $300 and use it just fine, It is made for mobile use but works fine as a base unit.  They don't do real good with the ten meter kit installed, ten is really sensitive to even minimal swr, it kicks it off.  

I usually drop the input to 25 or 30 watts on ten meters and get about 300 out.  I find a good honest 300 watts is usually all you need , it gets you out of the noise, so run your rig at 75% out and save a bit ov extra unnecessary power.  73  tom N6AJR  

the apps ar KL-400  or KL-500

 it is a kl-400 or a kl-500 either on.

The only draw back to the 840 is the amp problem.  I found a rf sensing amp and when I key, it turns on , so no problem.

Rm- klv 400 or klv 500 will work, cheep and available on ebay new $250 or so.  Max input is 12 to 20 watts ssb, and autosensing  so you don't need a rly line. pull the case off and move the jumper to pins 1&2