Sorry, meant to say "think *it* will work ...I'm going to use Yaesu's amp keying cable since I hate soldering mini-DINs (on the Yaesu end).  Thanks.

  Thanks, you all have confirmed what I was thinking.  I'm in the process of changing it over to hard keying using the Standby jack of the FT-847.  I don't use the preamp because I feel that the preamp in the amp would be about the same as the preamp in the radio since both are at the wrong end...ie. in the shack.  I may look at the delay pot on the side but am switching to hard keying anyway.  So do you think kit will work acceptably with hard keying and I can just ignore the bad preamp and the bad delay switching for now?

  Well, I never had a double-post before...I only hit the post once.  Oh well.

Mike KB9WQJ

  Hello all.  I need to ask a few questions about this amp.  I've had it about a year and a half.  Preamp doesn't work but that's not what I'm about here.  The way I understand it, the FM/SSB switch on this amp only changes the delay in when the amp switches out of transmit...ie. FM it switches on and off instantaneously and for SSB it delays a wee bit before dropping out.  This is the way it seemed to behave when I first bought it (used at a hamfest).  Yes, I'm RF keying it..I may change that.  Anyway, now I can hear the relays switching back and forth on SSB in between words.
  Is this OK?  Is this normal?  Should I be worried?  If this is wrong, what is the likely cause and fix?  Would merely changing to a keying circuit to keep it keyed up while I'm speaking work/help?
  Thanks for any help I can get here.

>>Or replace the glass in 1 pane of the window with masonite or other thin composite, drill holes for barrel connectors along the outside edge use washers on both sides of the panel. Aluminum sheet would also work, but tends to get pretty cold in the winter. If you move put the saved glass back in. <<

  I did exactly this...using sheet metal...which provided a bulkhead to mount the bulkhead-type Polyphasors on...one for each feedline going thru it.  This window was over a washer/dryer and looked out on the wonderful dirt under a deck so no loss on the window.  Works FB.

73, Mike

www.skullcracka.com is pretty ugly also.

73 de Mike

I used to put my own address in both places until a foreign ham made a great point of scratching out my address in the return address spot and substituting his own so now I leave it blank.  Thought I was saving them some time/effort....

  Folks,  I'm about to tear my hair out here...I've got some local noise at the QTH here that mostly shows up on 30 meters and up...really bad on 20 and 15.  Also appears as high as 6 meters.  I have yet to find where it's coming from but it's audibility falls off pretty quickly as I leave the neighborhood.  It seems to come from a north to northwesterly direction from me since I sometimes get it on 2m SSB and have a directional antenna for that so I can tell what directions it's coming from...bottom line is it's more like a single point source which I understand these units work better at.

  Until I can find and eliminate this noise, I thought one of the above mentioned units might be the thing to try.  I understand about taking time to work on the noise antenna since it must clearly hear the noise.

  I have read all of the reviews of the MFJ-1026 (there appear to be none for the 1025 or are mixed in) and the ANC-4 as well the operating manuals for these units.  My questions seem to boil down to two.  Since I am also interested in 6 meters does that llimit me to the Timewave ANC-4 since the MFJ units only go to 30MHz and the Timewave indicates that it goes to 80MHz?  The MFJ reviews seem to indicate that if you do not use the T/R switch and instead rely on RF sensing to take the unit from receive to transmit it is just a matter of time before it doesn't switch quickly enough and you blow the unit.  The Timewave ANC-4 doesn't even have a provision for such and instead only relies on RF sensing.  Is the ANC-4 just that much better at switching itself from receive to transmit or is Timewave fooling themselves?

  I truly believe that I would have 3Y0X in thelog if not for this damned noise around here and am desperate to rid myself of it.  Does the ANC-4 sound like a viable solution for my problem provided I am willing to take the time to experiment with noise antennas?

  Thanks in advance to everyone who responds and gives me some more info to ponder.

  73 de Mike  KB9WQJ

No problem, these things happen.  Much obliged and it's much easier to read now.  I understand the wide jpgs did it...I didn't even get down to those.  Tnx & 73

I'd love to read that areticle but the lines are not wrapping...have to scroll back and forth.  A little disctracting.  THanks.

I think it is supposed to be but I actually let the vertical part at one end of the antenna dangle in the breeze.  The other end (the one with the shorter horizontal section) I actually have tilted to the side and tied off that way because otherwise it would brush up against the gutter/roof of my two story house and I thought it better if it didn't actually touch anything especially metal although I have the indulated version.  Seems to work OK but the next project will be a loop skywire enclosing the perimeter of my property over 500ft.  73

I have mine only supported at the ends...there are insulators at the points on the ends where the vertical sections hang down.  The balun in the middle has a screw eye at the top (I think) but I had no way to support it there so oI didn't.  It's pretty sturdy...I have a spring tension with pulley situation on the ends so no matter how the trees sway it can give and take up the slack to remain (mostly) horizontal...as horizontal as anything supported only on the 100 foot apart ends can be....which isn't bad since I've got pretty much tension on it (the robust construction again).  Hope that helps.  73 de Mike

FWIW, I'm also a VERY casual contest participant.  I merge my contest log into the general logand use a comment field to indicate that it was a contest QSO so I can find them later if need be.  I'm also interested in what other hams are doing in this regard because like you I thought back and forth a while before doing it the way I do it.  The only drawback I saw is different location operating for LOTW or other awards.

What in the world happened to that...the text of the article is wider than my screen. I have noticed that occasionally an article will do this..and once it does it's like that for good but never as wide as this one. And this isn't counting the add space on either side. Since the actual text of the article is wider than one screen I guess I won't be following the replies to that one since I don't think I want to grab the scroll bar at the bottom to go back and forth, back and forth, back and forth to read replies. Too fatiguing for the eyes.

HH was rather disappointing...the second room had virtually nothing in it this year.  Let's hope Winterfest is strong.

de Mike in O'Fallon, IL