I run an iGate just west of Boston (KB1VCZ-10) and agree that there are few iGate nodes within the 128 belt. In fact, I'm not sure there are any other iGates as close to metro Boston as my station. I usually send about 4,000 - 5,000 packets per month to the APRS network, 3/4 of those are from digi repeaters from around the area, with 1/4 of them heard directly.

MIT used to have an iGate that filled in a hole in the city, but that is no longer operational. The Clay center also used to run an iGate, but has since switched to just a digi, operating as W1CLA-1. Oddly enough, their digi doesn't beacon it seems, or at least on APRS.fi, they don't show up on the map, but you can see the packets pass through their node if you look at the raw data. In the last couple months there was another iGate that came online down by Quincy, W1ICU.

There were plans to put another digi on the Waltham repeater site on Prospect Hill, but the TNC bugs have yet to be worked out and I don't know what the status of that project is now. The end result is that most APRS users have to run a little higher power than they would otherwise to hit some of the nearby digi's and make it onto the network. Too many iGate's/digi's in an area can also cause problems, but generally I agree that coverage in metro Boston could be better optimized.

Any ideas on how this mic connect to the VX-8GR, or if its possible to do so?

Looks like it would need some sort of an adapter, but I haven't been able to get any info on this.

This is the mic I'm looking at, it was listed as an accessory for the older VX8 models:

http://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-009676

I too am having problems uploading from HRD to LOTW. I initially set this up and the very first file I sent worked, and out of 60 QSO I got back 5 QSL confirmations.

I tried to upload again by selecting 10 more QSO I made, but when the transfer page comes up--the one with all the passwrod fields etc--I never see the tab next to the green progress bar on teh bottom turn to Finished.

The entries get marked as being sent, but obviously something is not working properly.

I double checked all my logins and password, and path entries and even re-installed things, but I still can't upload--even though just a few weeks ago this setup worked fine.

I just uploaded a file manually on the LOTW webpage but that doesn't seem to have been processed yet.

LOTW doesn't give much info on files in the queue--only that the file was uploaded.

Well, I'm not going to worry too much about it, as it doesn't seem like a big deal.

You would think the engineering and componentry behind such a high use element of the radio would be better.

Well, according to the tech I talked to, Yaesu had never heard of this issue.

I'm not sure exactly what your saying from what you wrote--I can't follow your second sentence.

And I don't know why you would be pushing the knob in while rotating.

I push the knob in to make the frequency readout blink, then I can turn it in Mhz.

How can the shaft come out if you are pushing it in?

So I learned a little something about this select knob problem yesterday.

I had turned on my radio and started tuning and everything worked fine with the select knob, so I left it on and came back about an hour later.

Upon returning I tried turning the knob but nothing happened on the LCD--I tried turning it in both directions.

So I simply pressed the knob in and out once and then I was able to change the frequency normally--no other issues occured after doing that, so I left it on and came back about 45min later and it did the same thing.

It was as if the button went to sleep or timed out, for lack of a better word. I'm going to try this test again tonight when I get home. I would be interested to know if anyone else can recreate this on their rig.

You should also ground your antenna mast if you have one, as it is required per NEC.

I'm doing this now and I just bought a grounding box and arrestors from DX Engineering.

My mast ground wire terminates to the aluminum ground panel in the DX grounding box.

My lightening arrestors are flange mounted to the aluminum panel as well.

This single point panel is then bonded to a supplemental ground rod with #6AWG, which is in turn bonded to the AC ground rod with #6AWG, per NEC.

Well, that is somewhat similar to my experience, although I didn't try it with repeater memories.

It did happen when I was scrolling through the menu system--I turned the knob a couple clicks but the menu didn't change. Other times I would turn it one detent and it would move two menu #'s.

I will try and play around with this again tonight.

Well, the only thing I can think of right now is that since this knob is a rotating pot and a push on/off "button", that perhaps something hadn't quite seated itself properly and that simply pushing the button in and out a few times rectified the problem.

And as a point of clarification, I should be more careful with my terminology.

My button doesn't wobble, there is just play in the button, which is normal and by design.

A wobble would be caused by a bent shaft, and you would notice it while turning.

I will keep and eye on things and see if the "ghost" in my FT-857 returns!!

As for the 1.6khz bug I think I might have seen something similar on the Yahoo forum, but I can't quite remeber the specifics.

Well, after 3 hours of operating time since this occurred, I have yet to to replicate the problem.

Go figure!

This is not the tuning knob.

It is the select knob, which by all accounts is designed to have a bit of play and wobbliness to it.

The radio is only 3 months old.

I tried to replicate the issue again and I wasn't able to, so who knows, I will just monitor it and see if it persists.

I have read that turning the knob too fast can "confuse" the optical encoder, however, I wasn't spinning it very quickly.

I have 2 posts on the Yahoo board and one reviewer here that have mentioned this issue.

After calling Yaesu they hadn't heard of this problem.

I'm still very early in the warranty cycle, so if it appears again, I'll think about boxing it up.

The other problem with the programmable encoder functionality of the 857 is that you can't see the change in the value anywhere on the LCD, which makes this a pretty useless function if you ask me.

I guess if you like counting off detent stops then it would be appealing though... : )

Well, I have done some research and found other owners with this exact issue.

This is from a review here on eHam by KI4KVS:

"The "selector" (aka "tuning") has developed a "skip" in it - the display doesn't always move the amount it should (not just on frequency, but also in the menus). There's probably some dust in the "counter wheel" assembly, but it's "sealed" against non-Yaesu intrusion."

I also found mention of this on the Yahoo users group.

I'm going to call Yaesu and see what they say.

Ok, I'm not sure if this is the best place to post this but here goes.

Today I experienced a very odd malfunction with my 857D while tuning with the selector knob.

I was moving up the dial and then back down and realized that the frequency wasn't keeping up at times wouldn't move despite slowly turning the selector knob a couple of stops.

This happened when I first turned on the radio and during normal ops, it was as if the knob was "slipping" for lack of a better word.

This soon went away and things were normal, but then it came back again.

Didn't matter what band, but I did notice it most prone to happen while moving own the dial.

At one point, I watched as I turned the knob a couple clicks and the frequency also moved, but then when I removed my hand, like a ghost in the machine, the frequency readout ticked up 1khz, as if I had turned the knob.

I hope all this can be easily fixed with either a system restore, or, the selector knob tightening mod.

The knob does feel rather loose and slightly wobbly.

I will try and wobble the knob an see if this happens again.

I didn't have time to really look into this issue, since I was packing up my radio gear when I first noticed it.

Anyway, if anyone has any experience with this please feel free to jump in.

I wonder if there is some kind of optical sensor that is having issues?

Thanks, this antenna would used be at a second QTH, which is right at the edge of the footprint for a local repeater near my primary QTH.

The distance between my seconday QTH and the repeater is about 100 miles.

I can get into the repeater from the secondary QTH--just barely--using an X50 hoisted in a tree about 30ft off the ground, but I wanted to see if a directional antenna might allow me to get into the machine a little better.

The last time I tested this I was heard, but it was very, very weak--this was at 35W.

I have plenty of room to put up something of reasonable size.

I'll check out the links given.