no doubt about it....ten is much more fun than 6.

But why not get an HF all band rig.  HF is where the fun's at. Even for listening.

Use it for cleaning up my many old coax connectors and barrel connectors.  So I managed to empty  one of the two mini-aerosol bottles from Radio Shack in one day.

 Now Ive  got the GOLD bottle left. To use it next.

Got it. 

Agonizing, but  got it. 

Anyone know how this can be done?

Had great success with this product for cleaning up coax connectors and barrel connectors that have become noisy or intermittent due to  corrosion over the years. The noise is gone. The connectors  shine.  Even my SWR curves look different once the coax jumpers i the shack were  cleaned up.

Radio Shack sells  two tiny bottles of DeOxIT DN5, and DeOxIT Gold for $20 or so, which is  expensive for the tiny quantity you get.

Can anyone recommend a better source at better prices?

I love this stuff.  And I have   several old stereo amps with very noisy pots and switches I want to try and  restore next.

Note: there are several DeOxIT products.....not sure if one is better than the other, but the DN5 product works very well.

Part of  the fun ismaking do with what you have.  With a bow and arrow or  bait casting with a small sinker, or other method, hang some twine, tie it to stronger rope, and haul up a corner of your  loop.  Keep it as symmetrical s possible, although Ive had some pretty wierd shapes in the air and they all work well. 

Let enough sag  in the wire to let the trees sway.   If it  snaps and comes down, do it again with a stronger line or a little more snag.  Dont be Hercules when hoisting the wire. When it feels hard to move and its mostly up where you want it, accept it and start operating.

Our club uses horizontal loops as terrific antennas on 160-80-40m,  often erected just for FD, the Ohio QSO Party, etc.  Ive used them  for 20+ years and rarely had one come down.  But nothing is really lost if one does.  SO no need to sweat the details or seek perfection.

Ive used #14 solid copper on 160-40m loops ( an assortment of 4 sided and 3 sided shapes depending on tree availability) with some stretching but nothing I couldnt live with.  The tighter you hoist it the more stretching you get. So dont be a perfectionist. Being a slacker is ok!

Item 1:  Just jump in, listen for what the exchange is, and start giving yours out.  We appreciate each contact and dont ask questions.
Item 2:  If you get around to it, submit your log.  Most logs are computer files emailed in.  Once you get the hang of it, its no big deal.  BUT, f you dont know how to do it, dont let that stop you from having a little fun, and helping the contesters out. 

Hope to see you in the contests, beginning with the CQWW 160M CW contest  the last week of this month.  160 is wall to wall signals, 4-5-6 deep. Its amazing how the lesser used bands come alive at contest time.

The 2013 CQWW 160 CW Contest ( last weekend in Jan 2013)  is upon us.

More CW ops are again needed, this year, this time to help defend our  Ohio Section  1st Place award from 2012.

The 2013 station will be operating from Lancaster, OH, using a 160m horizontal loop at 70 ft, and 100w.  Bugs, keyers, keyboards all will be accomodated.  So if you can do 20 wpm or more, and live close enough to partake,  drop me an email at w3hkk@arrl.net for directions.
Remember, this is  a night time contest requiring two all-nighters.  So the more ops we have, the more sleep we get!

Guys want to help out, often have an antenna ready to go, and are glad  to help out.  Plus its always interesting to see how  different antennas perform.

We usually use  verticals for our special event stations, usually on 40m ssb, and make 125-150 contacts in a casual days operating.  On FD,  taking advantage of some 70 ft trees, we hang an 80m horizontal loop for 80-40.  With another club, we used a windom ( OCF dipole) at 35 ft on a hillside sloping down to the west and cleaned up on 40m CW.  There is no single answer for success.  Also have had good results with a fritzel multiband dipole at 40 ft. 

Surprising results with simple antennas and 100w.

Our club  won the Ohio Section high score last year on the CQWW 160m CW Contest with 100w to a 40 ft tall, quarter wave inverted L, with 22x65 ft  radials.

Trying new contests, from new locations, appeals to a group of members, and allowed us to make 6210 contacts during 2012 in 12 different contests/events. 

Identifying possible locations  for good antennas - and  nice equipment to use -is an on-going challenge.  Ohio has one of the few Worked all state parks" contests.  We used a members cabin for years,  and next year will be looking to rent a cabin for the weekend and try an even more exotic location. 

worked him on Feb 18, 2012 on 30 CW but can find no mention of this callsign on the www.

Anyone recognize the call?? Status?

Thanks, everyone for your time and thoughts.

Suggestions for a good, non-warranty  repair service technician for the Kenwood TS-50  are now being entertained.

Also am reviewing the eHam  service/repair listings.

Happy holidays.

Thanks  for the suggestions.  After the holidays, when the company leaves, I am planning to pull it apart and see what I can find. Ive got a dummy load,  and a hammer to tap on things.
( just kidding about the hammer...)

From the sound of things, there arent any/many replacement boards for this rig still available.  Been a very nice, simple but effective rig for 15 yrs now.

How about some credit for  the guys who did it best in 2012?

Share your favorites here!

Pending repairs I may be in the market for a used hf+6m   100 rig.  Suggestions  would be appreciated.

My TS50 works like a champ on 30 up thru 10 with no problems.  But, on 160-80-40m, the output will  often start out at 100w then at some point, minutes or hours later, begin to jump around,  sometimes 75w, sometimes 50, sometimes 25,  it goes back and forth.

Note: I used the radio mobile, mostly on 40 ssb, for years.  Once I had a similar problem  that was repaired by changing a T/R relay. 

But when I asked the same  Kenwood repair center what was wrong, they  said: 1. " an irrepairable mother board problem" Then after my 2nd email, they answered thusly: 2. " acid from a leaking capacitor onto a board (no replacement boards available so no can fix.) .

Almost sounds like  they dont want to work on it.

Any other repair suggestions?