Bryan,

If I'm looking at the same eBay listing, it says there are 4 available, the item location is Oceanside, CA and expected delivery next week. The ad implies that he has them in stock. Since he doesn't have any in stock and doesn't have an ETA from his supplier, I'd ask for my money back.

Next time, try HRO in Oakland. They have RadioWavz G5RV's in stock and should be able to get one to you in 2-3 days by mail.

73
Ray KJ6AMF

My guess is that Bill is looking at the FT-2000 vs FT-2000/D. The D model is the 200 watt model and costs about $600 USD more.

What about the one that's already built into the FT-857D?

Start off simple and cheap. Use ham sticks for 10 and 40 meters on the van. If you can operate stationary and have time to set up a fixed pole, you can use ham stick dipoles for 10 and 40. 40 won't be great but using CW will certainly help. Being mobile isn't so bad as you can operate well away from the typical RFI that plague many residential stations.

For 6 and 2 meters, use loops or small yagis. Not hard to make, plenty of plans in the ARRL books and on the internet. M2 is once source for antennas if you want to buy a finished product.

  Thanks alot! Now monitor is covered in coffee!

As technology evolves, most rigs will now have user upgradeable firmware or will require an external program to use it (e.g. Flex radios).

And even if the proposed law doesn't apply to typical ham equipment, the restrictions could put a serious impediment to second hand on-line sales. Imagine the costs eHam.net and qth.com would have to bear if they were required to screen their classified posting for infringements.

Steve,

hamcall.net say the J38 prefix is Grenada/West Indies.

You want to buy a loop tuner, an item that pretty much only a licensed ham would need. You got a response from a guy who is either unlicensed or is hiding his call. If I were you, I'd trust my instincts and ignore the email.

Ray KJ6AMF

Did the buyer read the manual?

Can he get it into LSB mode?

Mode selection USB/LSB is on page 20. If LSB is not accessible, it might have been locked out. See page 44. Might be a good idea to have him do a CPU reset, page 53.

TU Stephen, these are the exactly the sort of books I am looking for.

Ray KJ6AMF

Hello all,

I've been learning code this summer and my two boys, 8 and 5, have become quite interested, enough so that they each want a key and oscillator so that the three of us can try to talk. As you might guess I'm very happy they want to join me and I hope they stay interested long enough to get licensed when they are a little older.

Anyway, my older one is reading books now and I thought if I can fiction where radio, especially CW, is a central plot element it will help to keep him interested. I'm looking for a series, something along the lines of The Hardy Boys. Anyone remember such books from their youth?

73
Ray KJ6AMF

Dave,

Unless it's a private, exclusive club, net control should call for guests and visitor sometime during the net so you can try to check in then.

Another thing to try is 5-10 minutes before the net, call out for a radio/audio check. You'll have the most people monitoring then and at least one friendly soul should get back to you.

Ray

I forgot to mention you should also check your repeater shift. Modern rigs have an automatic shift feature so that it will transmit on the correct input frequency but usually you have to enable it. If it's disabled or if the repeaters use a non-standard shift, you'll never get into the repeater even with the right PL tone but you will hear other people talking on the output frequency.

Dave,

Do those repeaters give you a courtesy tone after you unkey the mic? If you don't get one but you hear one when others are talking, you either have the wrong tone programmed or tones turned off.

If you are getting into the repeater, id yourself and ask for an audio report. Around here, at least, that will bring out at least one person who is just monitoring when all is quiet.

Good luck,
Ray KJ6AMF

Not only brief but it invites are response before the other op looses interest. Like "how well does your low wire do on EU Dx?"

If you are going to send a macro, at least make it look like you are typing. Usually what I do, or did as I don't do PSK31 anymore, was to taylor my macros so that it could start a conversation and as it was being transmitted, I could type a follow up sentence or question before it was done. The time while the macro was transmitting gave me a chance to think of what to say, then type and correct my typing mistakes before my transmission ended. This helped eliminate some of the dead air of trying to think of something to say. Also, if I was really quick, I'd pop up the other ops qrz page and see if they had anything in their bio that might be interesting to talk about.

Ray KJ6AMF

Really sorry to hear about your situation Michael. But you aren't alone as many of us are suffering under this economy.

If your rig has any significant value perhaps it's time to sell it. You can always get another or better one later.

But can you stay in the hobby? Sure you can. Especially if you know or are willing to learn CW.

Learning CW will take you a fair amount of time and you don't need a transceiver. You can use a computer or even a phone for practice and a cheap SW radio to listen.

Once you know the code, you can build a nice QRP radio for around $100 or less. Ten tec has some nice kits. Building is fun and keeps you active in the hobby even if you aren't transmitting. Add a few more bucks for wire and you can play radio in the park or make a stealth antenna for your QTH.

Another thing to try is get an HT, build a hand held tape measure yagi and work satellites. Or go fox hunting.

Also, as far as HF antennas, do you have a car? Perhaps you can put on a ham stick type antenna on it and run the coax into the house to your HF radio? The you'd be W9HQE/SM (staionary mobile).

GL
Ray KJ6AMF