Go to n5xo you tube channel. I have a video of a dozen or so ham shacks in our club,also a second video of my ham shack.

That should help you out.

I have spent a lot of time building a long range 2 meter station. As a rule I have 2 simple rules for anyone who wants to build a 2 meter station.

#1: altitude altitude altitude. As a very basic rule I would always recommend using as a minimum height of 15ft over the top of your trees. This will provide a large advantage in local communications. With this as your minimum height then work on as much height as you can get above that. With 50mhz and above the higher the better.

#2: I would and do consider LMR 400 as the minimum coax for 50 MHz and up, and personally run no less than 1/2 hardline.

yes
they said that I should use such rig as FT-817
 
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No matter what you do there is someone out there who will bitch about it. Non CW Generals, Extra's, etc are not real hams, wrong radio you are not real QRP.

Follow the rules and enjoy ham radio. The only person you are pleasing with your hobby should be yourself.

IF YOU ARE NOT HAVING FUN, IT'S NOT REAL HAM RADIO!

Maybe it depends on the individuals point of view...

Some say life is too short for QRP; so I suspect that crowd believes anything less than 1499 watts is QRP...

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Since I subscribe to the Tim Allen More Power theory of Ham radio and life itself....I believe anything under 1499.9 watts is QRP:)

The reality is 5 watts and under is QRP and even REAL QRP

If the rig is showing a relatively high SWR with the amp operating, then perhaps the input coil on the amp for the 80 meter band needs to be adjusted so that the rig will see a lower SWR. The rig may be folding back power (probably is if the rig is seeing an SWR of >3.0:1 going into the amp. The tuner's SWR meter is showing the match between the tuner and the feedline, not the match between the rig and the amp. If the rig's internal SWR meter is showing that high of an SWR with the amp inline and in the "operate" position, it's telling you something. What's the SWR on the rig's internal SWR meter with the amp in "standby" position and the rig running barefoot?

I have an Ameritron amp and the tuning coils for a couple of bands need some adjustment, which is reflected in a little higher SWR on the rig's SWR meter while the amp is operating than it should be (but nothing like 3.8:1!).

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Sorry for if I was not clear, no the radio has no SWR issue, the tuner will tune up with 200 watts from the radio just fine, but when I crank it up the amp and load up the amp as I cross over say 400 watts, the SWR's suddenly shoot up on the tuner meter.

and I'm unable to get more than 400 out of the amp with the antenna as the load.

I've got a Drake tuner, I'm going to swap around for the MFJ and see what happens....

At least we all have the same idea. But I wonder what the coax is (RG- 213 or better hopefully) and would it be possible for him to disconnect the coax at the antenna end and put the dummy load out there and see what the result would be.

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I tried that, I put a full legal limit dummy load out side at the end of the coax run, crank up perfect SWR and the amp cranks out full 1400+ on 80 meters with the dummy load there.

Hook the antenna back up and the issues as described.

seems to me a 3:1 vswr at the ft2000 is a problem.
have u tried to find out why?
Would this cut back your power?

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That is why I run things through a tuner.

The original antenna that I pulled down was a dipole with ladder line, this new one has the twin lead that terminates into the coax connector.

It is the G5RV-CL made by Radiowavz.com

It is 102 ft and supposed to be 10 to 80 meters. My only desire is 80 meters with this, as the rest of my antennas are tri-bander beams or mono-bander beams.

It is 102 feet and uses 300 ohm heavy duty stranded copper.

The current antenna is a G5RV styled antenna 102 ft long.

I'm feeding it with new LMR400 {I consider this minimum cable period} through an MFJ 989D tuner.

With out the tuner it is showing 3.1 SWR at 3.823 on the FT2000D, but on the tuner meter it is showing 1.9

Go figure

I am still dealing with 80 meter issues. We discussed this awhile back and I went over everyones thoughts and comments, but still dealing with issues.

Original problem was a home made dipole with ladder line, dropping down to a MFJ 4:1 balun {1,500 watt rated} going to an MFJ 989D tuner and then to an SB221 amp and FT 2000D.

When I tuned up and and ran just the radio barefoot at 200 watts it worked fine, but when I tried to load up the amp on the antenna it would not give me more than 300 to 400 watts, going to a dummy load it would push 1000 plus.

Since never could resolve the problem, I changed things up. Purchased a dipole for 80 meters, put it up on the tower {apex 50ft, ends about 15ft, it's coax fed {no balun} back to the shack and goes into the MFJ tuner and now is running on my henry 3KD classic, tuned into a dummy load I get over 1400 watts on 80, going to the antenna I tune the amp and drive it up to 400 to 500 watts no problem, bring it up over that and the SWR meter jumps to full scale, retune SWR a bit and it helps but then can't get more than 400 watts.

I have no problem with my 40 meter dipole, my beams, etc.

The only common device from the first issue to this one is the radio and the tuner. I hear no arcing, etc from the tuner....but could it not be handeling the load right or am I missing something.

So what the heck?

Personally I would not skimp on quality coax. Here at my shack I consider LMR 400 the lowest quality coax I will allow in my shack, with the only exception being quality cable that is more flexible for my beam/rotor loops.

For my HF antennas all of my coax runs are LMR 400, yes it's a little stiffer but it is not hard to use.

My 6 meter antennas are all fed with 1/2 andrews hard line and my 2 meter, 220 and 440 are all fed with 3/4 andrews hard line. All of my runs to tower #1 {HF} are in the 100ft range and all of my runs to tower #2 are in the 150ft range.

Every DB loss impacts your receive and transmit signal, you have to decide what is acceptable. But why spend money on amps, etc only to save $50 on quality coax.

Unless there is some amazing surprise that is built in, or has been added since those photo's, I'm not impressed at all.

It looks like a surface redesign of a the 570 which was a nice entry level radio for HF/6 but nothing to get excited over.

Kenwood is dying in the HF market, my TS 2000 is very long in tooth and hell I do not even use it on HF anymore and have not in over 4 years.

Where are you seeing photo's of it, and any idea what the new model is going to be called.

It is about time Kenwood got off it's rump and started coming out with something besides mobil rigs.

They used to be a leader, and have fallen a great deal behind.

Check the power connection into the back of the rig, similar issues in the past with my TS 2000 and my 756 Pro II and Pro III.

Not sure what power cord the 7000 uses, but the 6 pin plugs used by Kenwood, Icom and Yaesu have solid connection issues that can cause this problem.

KLM is now M2 Antenna's. Same model numbers, antenna's, etc. I use nothing but KLM and M2 antenna's and I'm very happy with them.

M2 has improved upon the construction of the antennas compared to the older KLM's, but they are still the same basic antennas and worth putting up on your tower.

I have 2 of the 11 element 6 meter beams, one is an older KLM and the other is a newer one from M2. I like the construction changes, but the manuals fit each other perfect for tunning and they are stacked and give me one hell of a punch.

Same with the large tri-bander {now called the killer tri-bander}.

If you need manuals, etc google M2 Antennas and get all you need.