Give him another chance.  Bill is a stand-up guy, he has always come through for me.  He has shipped me parts when I needed them and has helped me when I did something dumb.

--Jeffrey, K2MIT

This is a great step forward.  Thank you DX Engineering for listening...

I love them but why do they make you enter in your customer ID to place an order.  No other online vendor does this.  Period. In my 10+ years of e-commerce experience
I have never seen this.  Customers just don't remember a number like this.  An e-mail or username is another thing but a random number they create.  That just ain't right.

I mentioned it to them 2 years ago and a few weeks ago.  One day they will get it right.  I agree with everything the other posters say, they get the merchandise out the door.  Its getting the order in the door that stops me up; I have to search gmail for my order id. 

My other hobby is astronomy. There is an amazing vendor of refractors (a type of telescope) that are essentially hand made near Chicago.  The wait time is 9 years and counting. 

Sometimes demand is so much greater than capacity.  Trying to increase capacity can be difficult for small businesses.

--Jeffrey, K2MIT

I buy all of my equipment from Gene.  He is an honest, old fashion service-oriented guy.  He tells me if I really don't need something and is always there after-the-sale to help with a problem I may have.  His prices are competitive and everything ships the same day.  Since I live in NY, UPS ground is similar to next day service.

--Jeffrey, K2MIT

Can't recommend him enough.  Sometimes his responses are within minutes.  I wish he came up with another product for contesting.  The contesting mode in MLDX doesn't really cut it.  But for my basic logging operations, its amazing.

Keep it up.

--Jeffrey, K2MIT

Hal is a standup guy when it comes to repairs.  As for his used radios, they all look in amazing condition and are guaranteed to work.  The great part of a market is that if you don't like his prices, you can go elsewhere.

--Jeffrey, k2MIT

I get RFI in my alarm system when I go above 600 watts.  Are the long runs of wire between controller board and fire detectors acting as antenna?  Is it better to put RFI beads at the alarm or behind each smoke detector?

Thanks in advance.

Jeffrey, K2MIT

Well, it turned out to be the feed line/coax.  The connectors look good.  I replaced the 9-year old coax with a new cable and perfect turning/working.

What's the lifespan of RG-8X? To be honest, it looks fine, but I can't find anything wrong with it.  It was bone dry.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

--Jeffrey, K2MIT

K4SAV--Thanks for your vote of confidence.  I have checked both before I posted.  I am removing the feedline and inspecting it.  I have a feeling a rodent got to it.  The rig interface looks good and the solder joint at the antenna looks good.

On interesting note that makes me think it is in the actual antenna wire (and I assume I will have to replace it after replacing the coax) is that I can tune 20 meters only but nothing below it.

Its too bad.  I love my W9INN antenna.  I wished I ordered another one from Bill before he died.  He had those devlishly small ads in the back of QST and CQ ever month.  Best 43" antenna (actually loaded on 80M and I spoke to Norway on it on 80m!).

Thanks again guys (and gals).

--jeffrey

The downspout is "dry"--its just downspout material to neaten up my cable runs.  It starts in the attic and then runs down and into the basement so theoretically, there is no water.

but, I will check since you mention it as a possibility.

thanks.

I have a W9INN fan dipole in my attic.  Has worked great for 6 years.  Its fed by RG-8X coax from teh basement (through a downspout).

I have been able to tune it with my LDG tuner on all bands 80-10 meters.  Now, all of a sudden, it won't load at all nearly all of the times.  Its 3.1:1 or greater so I can't transmit.

Any ideas on what to look for?  I am baffled.  The only  thing I can think of is some animal chewing through the coax.  The antenna appears fine.

All help appreciated.

--Jeffrey, K2MIT

Does anyone know if the Garmin GPS-V can be set to auto-on?  I can power it from 12-volt but I want the remote mount the unit next to the radio base.  The GPS-V has an external antenna port so its ideal for remote mounting.

The problem is, it appears that you have to turn it on to get it to work.  Is there a way to force it on?

If not, does anyone have suggestions for a unit that does that?

--Jeffrey, K2MIT
Scarsdale, NY

I could not think of operating without the foot switch.

Especially in contests.  Sometimes, when I actually
kick back and put my fee up on my desk I use the hand mic switch.  That's also good when you are feeling lazy.

--Jeffrey, K2MIT

There is an outboard QSY box that uses a keypad and hooks up to the computer interface and tricks the 706 to thinking a computer is attached.  Enter the frequency, push a button and it changes the radio.

I bought one and its not labeled.   I am trying to find the vendor.  I remember it was a ham in upstate NY.

Anyone know who this is?

Jeffrey, K2MIT