In my earlier post, I should've said Pryme RD-98SMA (the RD-98 has a BNC connector).

Yaesu FT-60R is an excellent handi-talkie and seems to respond very well to after-market antennas; especially for out of band scanning (which is hopeless using the supplied duck).

Look at the Comet SMA-24, Pryme RD-98, Diamond SRH77CA (SRH77CA is mostly out of stock right now) or for something smaller, the Diamond SRH-519. See also the FT-60R and VHF/UHF antenna reviews on this site.

The new Yaesu FT-60R has Smart-search which will scan and load up to 30 memories (active repeaters that it finds) for you. Once you have found the repeaters it can be set to scan the (PL) CTCSS or DCS tones.

The ArtSci Repeater MapBook Directory is another resource which can be found at http://www.artscipub.com

CT ? Instead of CT, it could be you heard .-.-.- (full stop or period).

Yes, you could swap the wires, but wouldn't it just be easier to learn the "orthodox" way from the start?

Also, if you were using someone else's paddles/rig, the owner might take exception to your wanting to re-wire their equipment.

It *does* actually matter that you learn the orthodox way of doing it, as if at some stage, you buy a new keyer, it is more likely to be wired for dits on the thumb than the other way round.

That's not to say that you can't relearn to swap fingers but why not start out learning the most often used implementation.

The generally accepted standard is that for right-handed people, the thumb makes the dits and the forefinger makes the dahs and that's the way you should learn to do it to save you having to unlearn it later!

This would appear to have its origins in the early (mechanical) semi-automatic keyers (bugs) which had this configuration. Have a look at one, the large paddle is for the thumb (dits) and the small paddle is for the forefinger (dahs).

I went from an Ameco K4 straight-key to a Ten Tec single-paddle and from there to a Heathkit iambic keyer-paddle and from there to a mechanical bug! Hmmm... I'm not sure I see the reason in that last step other than just wanting to be able to use a bug, but the transition from straight-key to single-paddle keyer to twin-paddle iambic seems to make the most sense to me.

Don't be frightened-off using a twin-paddle iambic (squeeze) keyer. You don't have to learn the squeeze technique in order to use them but once you get some experience under your belt, you will want to. I.e. you can use them in a similar fashion to a single-paddle keyer by holding thumb and fore-finger on the paddles and  moving your hand (pivoting at the wrist) to make either dits or dahs. The more correct technique for an iambic keyer/paddle though, is to not move the hand or wrist and just move the thumb, fore-finger or both (squeeze) together.

So once you've learned to play them all, you can pick whichever one suits your mood. Iambic for speed, straight key for laid-back ragchew or whatever...

Code Quick works great and is actually fun.

I passed 5, 13 and 20wpm extra exam using only Code Quick 2000 software. There are reviews of Code Quick 2000 in the reviews section of eHam.

Most of the people who criticize CQ2K have never used it!

Re. reshaping the driven loop.

Do not of course do this (or ever touch any part of a magnetic loop antenna) whilst transmitting as there are *very* high voltages induced in these loops.

If you can't get the SWR low enough and have moved the loop away from metal objects, try opening up the cover and re-shaping the small driven loop from oval to circle (or vice-versa). It's held in shape with some rubbery goop but that can be peeled off of the casing (and re-stuck if you can be bothered).

I had to do this on my MFJ 1786 and could then get SWR down to 1:1 almost everywhere.

You might also want to check out the Fists CW Club Code Buddy program. This is a program open to members and non-members whereby they'll pair you up with a more experienced CW operator for on-air QSOs with a view to giving you practice and improving your speed. Check it out at the link below.

http://www.qsl.net/w9em/index.html

You might also want to check out "A Beginner's Guide to Making CW Contacts" by Jack Wagoner WB8FSV. There's loads of great info on CW procedure etc here.

http://www.extremezone.com/~nk7m/cwguide.htm

GL ES 73 OM ..

That's good advice from K1ZC. There's really no point in trying to send faster than you can copy. In fact, when I was learning, I found that often, the other OM/YL would reply faster than I was sending - either unconsciously or to "stretch" me

I'd avoid 20 meters if you can, until your speed gets up a bit as although the DX there is loads of fun, they're kinda "serious" on 20. Also avoid the lower portions of each CW band as that's where the speed demons (many of whom use a keyboard to generate the code) hang out.

You'll find lots of people who are more than happy to have a slow speed QSO with you and if they start going too fast, just ask them to PSE QRS; they'll understand, we've all been there. Only once did I have an idiot (lid) start responding at about 1 wpm in response to my PSE QRS. He was obviously doing it "for a laugh" as we'd been going at about 10 wpm prior to that. I got the last laugh however as I just QSYd and left him to it Hi Hi.

The main thing is to enjoy it and try to have a little conversation; not just the RST, Name and QTH. I know it can be a little tedious at 8wpm but all the sending experience counts towards your ability to receive according to the experts.

Persevere and before long you'll be proud to have achieved something a lot more rewarding than "Push To Talk" and you'll meet a lot of great people in the process.

What you are describing (I don't remember the exact keystrokes) should put you into power-up menu mode from where you can flip through the menu items to select between paddle and straight-key options. It should *not* invoke transmit at all (check the power-out meter on the rig to see if it is transmitting).

Why not tray a "factory reset" (see manual) and try it all over again. Note that you will of course lose any settings you may have already set (they will go back to default values).

BTW, a dummy load is a handy item to have around the shack, however, you should not need it for what you are describing.

The manual for the 1786 says DO NOT PUT ANY DEVICES IN THE FEEDLINE between the remote control box and the (loop) antenna (i.e. no meters, antenna switches, etc.)

As most antenna switches ground the contacts which are switched out of circuit, this is incompatible with the 1786 as any grounding of the remote box will ruin it (according to MFJ); that's also why you have to use the special non-grounded power supply (or internal batteries) with the 1786.

This is roughly what it says in the manual (going from memory). You can download the manual from the MFJ web-site I believe.

As you probably know, despite the drawbacks, these are really great apartment antennas !

I used an MFJ-1786 with an SG-2020 at 5 watts for a while and I was well pleased with the results.

The 1786 only needs a few hundred milliwatts or a watt at most for tuning. First-off make sure you have the 30 watt meter setting set (not the 300 watt setting).

The procedure is to tune first (via up/down buttons) for maximum motor noise heard in receive (go back and forth (up/down) until the capacitor drive-motor noise is at it's loudest through the rig's speaker). Once you have reached this point, you should be in the ball park as regards SWR. You then transmit a CW or AM carrier. The cross-needle meter on the 1786's control box should now show a reading and you should then fine-tune for lowest SWR using the up/down buttons until you get minimum SWR. That's all that's to it.

There is an "auto-tune" mode but it's not in fact an automatic tuner and "auto-tune" doesn't work that well anyway. Use the procedure I've outlined above instead.

Also make sure that you only use the ungrounded power supply that comes with the unit (or internal batteries) and that you have no antenna switches or anything else between the control box and the loop or damage to the control box can result.

When my 1786 was new, I couldn't get the SWR down so opened up the casing and changed the shape of the driven loop (the small inner one) from an elipse to a circle. SWR could then be set to 1:1 on all bands.

Persevere, they work great !