Thank you for the info! Does this mod effect the SWR sensitivity that some say
the ALS-500 has? It seems I have read somewhere, that with an SWR slightly
over 1:5 that it will shutdown or bypass. I use an manual antenna tuner and on
most bands can get the SWR down to less than 1:5. But, a couple are right at
that point. Which doesn't effect the Flex 1500 at all as far as I can tell. But, if
the amp doesn't like it, then that might be a problem.
I may still just use my 811H and see what kind of output it gets.
james
WD5GWY
 

The Belton, Texas hamfest today had a lot of interesting stuff. And some of
it even had something in common with Amateur Radio!  
  Seriously, there was very little there that was not Amateur related. Given
the high price of fuel and reports of impending bad weather, there was quite
a turn out today. Found some things I wanted at a good price and a few things
that were a bit high priced. (in my opinion) But, overall, I think it was a great
hamfest. Belton's hamfest is twice a year. And I try to go to it and HAMCOMM
in Plano, Tx each year. One of these days, before I croak, I hope to make it
to Dayton. I have driven by it many times over the last 40 years. (when I was
a long haul truck driver, now I'm a local driver...........and love it)
I just never had the time or opportunity to go. I am saving up this year to go
next year!!
Hamfests are not dying out in this area. There are others, around that when
I do get the chance, I go to those as well. Just the three I mentioned are the
"must go's" that I tell my boss I have to do.
james
WD5GWY

That is kind of what I was thinking. I certainly know that the 811H won't be doing
much more than idling along with 5 watts of input!
   NA4IT, I looked at the manual that the seller had and all it gave was a max drive
of 100 watts. One guy I know said that even 100 Watts might be a bit high to drive
the ALS-500.
   Maybe I should have bought a Flex 3000 (100 watts) instead of the 1500!
Thanks for the help.
james
WD5GWY

Oh, about the amps that can do 100 watts from a qrp rig like the Flex 1500, I am
not too sure about them. (I'm guessing you are talking about the RM Italy HLA series
of amps, that are supposed to have good bandpass filters etc. in them......but, won't
make their full output without generating a lot of harmonics)

 

Had a chance to buy a clean ALS-500 amp at the Belton, Tx hamfest today.
Price was right too. BUT, I am wanting to use it with my Flex 1500. Would
5 watts drive from the Flex drive the ALS-500 to a reasonable output?
The guy wanted $500 for the amp and said he "might" go lower. I know he
took it home. And I have his contact info. I just don't know if I should bother
with the ALS-500 or just use my 811H. I just got a new set of tubes for the
811H and have not loaded it up yet to see how well it does.
Is there a calculation that can be used to estimate the amount of output
dependent on input drive?
james
WD5GWY

The radio may not be grounded thru the coax shield. With a dipole antenna both halves of the antenna are above ground unless you ground the shield somewhere else along the line.
(feed thru panel or on a tuner)
 Lots of radios have ground screws. Proper wiring of the electrical system with a good ground and a ground buss in the shack connected to external ground rod(s) is not considered being a moron. Depending on a single source for grounding(lightening protection and static drain) can eventually cost money. You might get away with it for years. But, one day it will bite you where it hurts.
  Since this is a mobile forum, grounding the radio to the frame of the car is a good idea too. (along with proper bonding etc. on the rest of the vehicle)
Just some thoughts.
james
WD5GWY

( I know that lightening can take out ANYTHING grounded or not, if it's in the area of a strike)

 I did the same thing with the MFJ -207 SWR analyzer, an old Radio Shack Frequency counter and an antenna switch. While that works, and works well, it is easy to forget to change the switch back to the radio and accidentally kill something. I found that the rocker switch is easiest and much faster. With the 480HX you have a NICE display to use that shows SWR and seems to be very accurate. (well, I have a 480SAT in an 18 wheeler and use it with a Little Tarheel II and have compared with a 259b attached and it is very close) Building a switch is not that hard to do. In my case I added a resistor in series for the low speed side (well, it worked........but don't remember the value) and that worked well. But, just using the rocker switch alone and learning to "bump" the switch a tiny bit gets it pretty darn close. And so far, that has been the best deal for me.
Good luck. The 480 radios are very nice mobile. If I didn't like the 706 MKII G I have in my pickup, I would switch it out for another 480.
james
WD5GWY
 

What N5UD said! I've used the Turbo Tuner for my ICOM 706 and my ICOM 7000.
Works well, when it works. But, I have found that using the supplied rocker switch
setup with my Tarheel antennas ( Little TarheelII and 100a HP) works just as well.
Of course, I do not retune while in motion! Even my homemade up/down switch with
a slow speed switch for fine tuning, works good. And best of all, the manual switches
are much cheaper and in my thinking, more reliable. Just listen real close as you move
the antenna up and down and as you get near resonance, background noise will increase.
(sometimes dramatically) Then, make sure there are no nearby qso's in progress, and
switch to AM and fine tune the antenna for best SWR. Works good and takes very little
time once you get used to it.
KISS is the idea here!
james
WD5GWY
 

Not familiar with that particular radio. BUT, could it have been modded
sometime in the past for 11 meters? If so, that might explain the problem
you are having.
james
WD5GWY

If the hash exists even in your shack, then I would suspect the radio itself. IF,
the same level of hash does not exist with any other HF rig you have in your shack.
It may simply be that the radio is generating the noise.
If you have another HF rig that you can temporarily try in your pickup, you can see
if the pickup is generating the noise that way. If it shows up on the other rig, then
it is coming from the truck or a nearby source, like a power line (A/C) insulator.
Drive out in the country somewhere away from power lines etc. and turn the truck off
and see if the noise is present.  My 97 Dodge Ram Diesel is quiet as a mouse. Mechanical
fuel injectors instead of electronic, help. But, drive into the little town down the road and
as soon as I get near the city limits, all kinds of noise pop up. The noise blanker in my
ICOM 706 MKIIG won't kill it . But, it's not too bad.
  As for your buddy's 04 being quiet, is he using the same radio? Just the difference
between radios could be the reason he is not having the same issues. (and different
location too) S2 noise level isn't that bad. And if the bands of interest are active at all,
then you'll barely notice it. On HF modes(SSB, AM, CW), you will never have full quieting
 like in FM mode. Unless, you turn up the squelch. Then, you will miss that rare DX station that you could have got with the squelch backed off!!!
 It appears to me you have done about all you can as far as bonding etc. Switching radios is about all that is left. (if it's not something you are picking up while parked in your driveway, like power line noise or a plasma TV nearby).
 Being mobile you will never get completely away from external noise sources. It's part of the mobile "experience" !!!!
james
WD5GWY
 

There are free versions of Microsoft's programming languages available from Microsoft.
You can create all the freeware you want with them. They are not distributed in a suite
like Visual Studio, but, in individual language packages. And other than a few "features"
that are missing there is very little that you cannot do with the free versions that you can do with the paid versions.
   Freeware is nice but, sometimes, a developer can get a ton of time into a project(not to mention expenses) and end up wishing he had never gone there. People start demanding features and support that someone doing it for free, just cannot do.
   A package like HRD requires a lot of work to maintain and update. Having been free for so long has spoiled a lot of people. As I understand it, the new developers are not asking all that much for it. Why not support them and help them add the new features you want?
Just my thoughts.
james
WD5GWY

How about going low tech like I have with my Little Tarheel II ?
Get the manual up/down switch from Tarheel ($12.00 from Tarheel)
and listen to the background noise increase as you move the antenna
up and down. Then, when the background noise on the band/frequency
of choice is at it's peak, switch to AM and key the mic and bump the antenna
up and down slightly, to fine tune the SWR. If your radio does not display
SWR, you can use the Power Out display and peak it that way.
Works good and is cheaper than anything else.
If that doesn't meet your needs, Tarheel has controllers with the turns counter
and memories too. (starts at $110 or so)
Or you could even roll your own !
james
WD5GWY

I have both the 706 MKIIG and the 7000. As far as features, there is no comparison between the two. The 7000 is loaded with features that are extras on the 706.
It has a better Noise Blanker, DSP, and display, just to name a few. And the 7000 is smaller too. But, it runs hotter. Which is really not a problem. The entire chassis is a heatsink. It also has a lot more menu options too. It has the ability to use an external
video display. (standard VGA) I use a 7" Coby portable TV (LCD) with mine , that has
a video input on it. Makes the 7000's already nice display better. BUT, do not go larger
than 7" or the text gets blocky in a hurry. Very low resolution.
  On the other hand, I love my 706MKIIG and I use it much more than the 7000. It lives
in my 97 Dodge 2500 pickup. I can do almost anything I want to with it, and without even
glancing at the display. (the 7000 will even announce the current frequency for you too)
  The 7000 is not that hard to use, I am just used to using the 706MKIIG.
You really cannot go wrong with either radio. But, one thing to note, the 706 series is no longer in production, so, eventually replacement parts will get tough to find.
james
WD5GWY

  Flex users that I have talked to that have had that happen, are usually running the Flex with an under powered computer and trying to run several programs at once along side PowerSDR. I run a Flex 1500 and have not had a problem with reboot even one time.
And for the price, and the performance with PowerSDR, it is a tough combo to beat for QRP.
james
WD5GWY

Be careful with the longer mounting screws going into the sides of the radio.
Too long and you could end up contacting an internal part or circuit board and
shorting something out. Could be very expensive!!
james
WD5GWY

Mounting any screwdriver antenna on the roof, even on the roof rack, is not a good idea.
As for mag mounts, the subject has been beaten to death here and on other forums. But, using a mag mount, has it's own set of dangers. They can and do, come off at high speed. And the added wind resistance of a screwdriver antenna helps increase that possibility. If you are lucky, only your car gets the crap beat out of it before you get stopped. If you are not lucky, and the coax breaks, someone behind you gets smacked
 with it. Either way, not a good idea in my opinion. I have seen the Little Tarheel II mounted on a ball mount like the one linked to a few posts back. In a location like that and properly mounted, with a heavy duty ball mount, it won't go anywhere. And it will work pretty well. I bought my first Little Tarheel II used (although it looked and worked like new) at a local hamfest. It was mounted on a three magnet , mag mount. With very large magnets. For the fun of it, I drove home with it on the roof of my 1997 Dodge pickup. I placed it in the center of the roof. By the time I got about 30 miles down the road, it had walked all the way to the very back edge of the cab. (Extended cab pickup)
That made me decide the mag mount would not ever be used. I still have it, but, I do not ever plan to use it. Hard mounting is much better and safer. And I would be willing to bet insurance companies would feel better about it too.
james
WD5GWY