Does anybody have any suggestions on how I can run my power cable from the inside of my Nissan Pathfinder to the battery?  Is there an easy access point or trick?  Thanks.

Jonathan Gottlieb
WA3WDK

Can anyone tell me what this DX station is instructing me to do?  He has told me the following:

THE COUPONS(IRCs) ARE NOT VALID HERE. PLEASE PUT A "SMALL SELF ADDRESSED ENVELOPE" AND POSTAGE (G.S.) FOR THE QSL-RETURN.

What is "Postage (G.S.)?

Also, what is current protocol for DX QSLs?

Thanks for the insights.

Jonathan
WA3WDK

I own an IC-706MKIIG.  It is probably more radio than I need.  Have you looked at the IC-718?  Check out the reviews.  This may be the most bang for your buck in an HF rig.  If I had it to do over again, I might go with the 718 over the 706 for straight HF use.

Thanks for all the continuing ideas guys.  I am using a 35A Astron supply, so I don't think that is the problem.  Also, I did try the ladderline suggestion just as you describe it John, and that did not help either.  I'm going to try a horizontal loop with the feedpoint about 40 feet from my rig.  Hopefully that will do it.

Thanks for the suggestions guys.  I'll try a new antenna configuration this weekend and put the feedpoint as far away as possible.

Here's my story in a nutshell.  I've been using an FT-817 running 5 watts through a 110' longwire. The wire terminates at the house with a 20' straight drop of wire. I guess you would call this an inverted L. The wire is run into an LDG 4:1 balun grounded to 12' of ground rods.  I am using RG8x from the balun to a Z-11 tuner.  The 20' section of wire and the balun are just outside my shack, about 4-5' away. Works great with contacts all over the world. With the 817 I show tuning to SWR of 1.4:1 or less on every HF band.

On March 1 I decided to upgrade to an ICOM 706MKIIG figuring if 5 watts worked so well, 100 would really work great.  Using the same antenna and an AT-11 tuner, I can't get the rig to tune at full power.  The 817 works, but the 706 won't.  The first time I tried full power, the power supply shut down.  I wrapped the PS cord with torrids and that stopped.  Put in three 8' ground rods just to ground the tuner, but this did not help.  I've shortened the longwire, and subsituted 450 ohm ladder line for 20' vertical section of wire to the balun and disconnected the ground on the balun.  Returned the AT-11 and bought the matching ICOM AT-180 tuner.  None of this has helped.  I've now got $1200 worth of radio that won't work with my antenna. I'm being told that it sounds like RF in the shack and to change the antenna.

Has anybody had this kind of experience before?  What is the solution?  This has been a frustrating three weeks and I'm hoping for a little help.  I will appreciate any and all thoughts.

Jonathan Gottlieb
WA3WDK

Any advice on running cable through a wall with fiber glass batting?  I'm thinking that a drill bit won't actually cut through the fiber glass, but grab on to it instead.  What do folks do about this?

I'm getting back into ham radio after a 25 year abscence.  My last rig was a Tempo One with a Hy-Gain beam, Hy-Gain vertical and longwire through a home built tuner.  I want to get an all-in-one rig which will take up as little space as possible as I have a small house with a small yard.  Any suggestions?  I want to keep it simple.