I have sold radios to Martyn and bought radios from him.  He is a first class buyer and seller.  I hate to see bad press about him from people who have never dealt with him.

Nothing compares to the Ten Tec QSK other than a K2 or K3. The relay clicks away in full break in the 703. The 703 has a slight menu learning curve and switching to the narrow cw mode is no big deal.  I have owned three of them had problems with reliability.  They are very suceptable to static electricity damage so its a good idea to disconnect the antenna when not in use if their is thunder storm activity in the area.  It is a wonderful rig, great receiver etc.  The rig is not too big for portable use and uses very little current on receive.  I have Ft 817 that I like better but if you are not used to menu driven rigs it has a steeper learning curve.  I also have Argonaut 516 for in the shack QRP which is a great rig.  I'd buy an Argo over the 703.  Alan, WA6MOW

I'm a slow learner.  I just received a new, in the box Alinco DX70.  Guess what?  The cw note is a buzz instead of a tone.  The seller was a ham and sold it with a 7 day guaranty.  Hopefully he will honor the return.  I have purchased a total of ten  rigs, and the rest of the purchases were keyers, keys, tuners, etc.

I'm curious to know how many people have been burned by non ham eBay sellers.   I love ham gear and over the last 3 years have purchaed at least 25 xcvrs, keyers, tuners, etc.  About half all my purchases had undisclosed issues.  Some very expensive to fix.  Where do these non hams find all this ham gear?  There is one eBay seller who has an endless supply of Kenwood TS-570 rigs and yet he appears to be a non ham in a rural area.  From my experiences, never buy "as is" ham gear as there is a good chance you will receive junk.  It may seem like a good deal but you are much better off payng more money or the same money from a seller that allows a 7 day return policy.  Have I just had bad luck with my eBay purchase or is this a real trend?  WA6MOW

I have worked ZL and LU recently with 2 watts.  The openings are very sporadic.  Patience is a virtue as the old saying goes.  When the band is open, a wet string works well as an antenna.

With small light paddles I use a product called Quake Hold Museum Putty.  It is a great product allowing you to hold the key in place without leaving any marks.  It is available at Home Depot for about $4.00.  A life time supply!

I also recommend the Palm Paddle.  I also use a Vibroplex Code Warrior Jr.  Both work great.
Alan

I also have used the multi wire dipole and had the similiar pruning issue.  I could never get the swr down on 40, no matter what I did.  I ended up using an MFJ versa tuner which brought the swr down to almost one to one.  I'm now using a doublet made with 22 ga. buss wire and fed with thin speaker wire.  It works great on all bands and very hard to see in the air.

I camp in the desert all the time and use a 66 ft fine gage wire, end fed with 300 ohm twin lead into an LDG 4 to 1 balun, about 33 ft of coax and an an LDG auto tuner.  My antenna is never any higher than 20 feet.  I work all bands and have worked ZL, VK, JA etc with 5 watts on 80, 40 and 30.  Fine gage buss wire makes an awesome invisible antenna.  I think if you run 135 ft. at an average height of 20 feet, it would work even better than the ground mounted vertical.  Try them both and see what you can work.  My antenna is the cheapest!
73, Alan

Does anyone know how to decrease the cw side tone volume?

I recently bought a 746 and have been using it for three weeks.  I only work cw.  Has anyone done an a/b test between the 746 and 746 Pro?  Would I notice a difference between the two rigs to justify upgrading?  Tnx for ur input.

Everyone that reponded, thank you.   A tremendous help.  Eham is awesome.

Can anyone verify that if I ground the brown power wire it will reduce the power output to 20 watts and turn off the fan?  I love my rig rig but have no need for 100 watts and the fan drives me nuts.

I use a random wire (about 50 feet, maybe less) of 24 gage magnet wire.  I end feed it with it coax.  I'm using four random length wires as a counter poise.  My antenna tuner is a Z100.  With this simple combination and 50 watts or less, I work all bands with very good results.  I'm in canyon, surrounded by trees, an awful location.  The HOA has severe restrictions on antennas.  The magnet wire makes it invisible.
73, Alan

That did it for me...  I'm in business.  Thanks to all who responded.  Alan